Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Gryphon - Gryphon CD (album) cover

GRYPHON

Gryphon

 

Prog Folk

3.39 | 273 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Lupton
5 stars Predictably, Prog fans tend to zero in on Gryphon's third album "Red Queen To Gryphon Three" with its combination of instrumental doodling and lengthy tracks and total absence of vocals and general sense of seriousness.The group's eponymous debut is by far their most enjoyable partly because of the musicians refusal to take any thing they do too seriously while still displaying serious musical chops. And make no mistake- all four musicians are absolute virtuosos. Richard Harvey is a phenomenal recorder playe as displayed towards the climax of the album's opener- Kemp's Jig,Brian Gulland is an expert on the crumhorn and his wayward accompaniments add to the creative whimsy.Guitarist Graeme Taylor playing is extremely tasteful throughout and is almost jazzy in places especially on "The Astrologer".Dave Oberle plays an assortment of drums while taking on most of the vocal duties. While the album is dominated by the group's quirky takes on medieval and Renaissance tunes they also incorporate their own medieval inspired instrumentals. The best of these by far and by far my favourite track on the album and infact my favourite ever Gryphon track is "Juniper Suite". I remember being totally smitten when I first heard this wonderfully intricate Prog Classic (yes that is Prog with a capital P)and have never stopped enjoying listening to it. It is a shame that the group were almost impatient to abandon the quirky approach of the first album although the final Transatlantic album saw them recapturing some of the magic of their debut. A wonderful album. A full 5 stars
Lupton | 5/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this GRYPHON review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.