RAINDANCE

Raindance is an eclectic excursion in many different (only slightly more commercial) directions for Gryphon. Far from ignoble, this album suffers mainly due to comparisons with its masterpiece predecessor "Red Queen to Gryphon Three".

"Down the Dog" is funky, fusion-y, powerful, catchy and "to the point". As far as "instrumental" tunes garnering AOR airplay in the 70's, this is the type tune that could have done it.

The band seems interested in integrating sounds into their music on this album. "Raindances" is a nice mood piece that begins and ends with the sound of rainfall. The song "Ormolu" conveys the mood of an ornate gold-plated clock consistently tracking time. Is it mere coincidence that this song clocks in at exactly 1 minute? Not a second more nor a second less!

Even before their first album was released, Gryphon was known for performing medieval/renaissance style adaptations of Beatles songs. This "style-sampler"' album afforded them the opportunity to cover "Mother Nature's Son" as only Gryphon could do!

"Raindances" closes on a high note with "(Ein Klein) Heldenleben", a 16+ minute piece that takes the band's medieval sound even deeper into Progressive Rock territory than much of the material on Red Queen to Gryphon Three.