RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE

I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed with this one after hearing Gryphon's first self titled album from 1973 which I think is far superior to this. 'Red Queen...' just prances about like a big girls blouse. I really like the mediaeval parts of their tunes but that's not nearly so prevalent on this one. To my ears it just meanders about all over the place. Maybe I'm in the wrong mood while listening to this just now. It's a nice enough listen. It's colourful and plenty of instruments get twanged, pressed, strummed and thumped. All very acoustic sounding. It has a very nice front cover too. But a good front cover does not a good album make.

Not bad, but I much prefer the two earlier albums. At least this still sounds original and distinctive, unlike a lot of prog bands I could mention. Good, but nothing more than good, and I really don't see what all the fuss is about.