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ALotOfBottle View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Gryphon
    Posted: May 03 2016 at 00:31
I like the first three albums. I really like them. Radiance is (for me) not a great album. I've just done a review on it. yestarday or so. Treason  is pretty nice, though.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 02 2016 at 18:32
Treason is definitely one of my favorites of their material. I love the apparent classical influence in Red Queen to Gryphon Three but Treason has some weird melodies that get stuck in my head quite a lot (chorus of Round & Round especially). 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 10 2016 at 11:48
I own all Gryphon studio albums except Treason. My favorite are Gryphon and RQTGT, so if you don't like those, I don't recommend Midnight Mushrumps and Raindances, either. I find the material duller, but that's partly because I prefer their livelier and Renaissaince-influenced material such as Kemp's Jig, Estampie, the Juniper Suite, Ethelion and parts of RQTGT.
However, I do have a soft spot for the last track on both Midnight Mushrumps and Raindances, Ethelion and (Ein Klein) Heldenleben, respectively.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 09 2016 at 18:37
Only know their first and RQTGT, which are very different, and I don't like either.  For the first, so many bands did similar work much better.  It sounds soulless and without emotion to me, like a medieval musician afraid that slipping up might mean a premature beheading.  As for RQTGT, no matter how many times I listened I found it just so much uninteresting doodling.  I've never tried anything else
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 09 2016 at 17:24
Yes, Gryphon!  As I'm also into the darker side of prog, I discovered them way to late.

The folk label might be a bit misleading where Red Queen is concerned. Maybe that's why I ignored it for so long. It's really great for anyone who likes woodwinds and inctricate counterpoint. People into these aspects should give Gryphon a chance, even if they are sceptical about folk!


Check out, midnight mushrooms as well OP, it's nearly as great imho.

The comments here make me consider getting Rain Dances as well.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 04 2016 at 23:54

Gryphon had one of the more extreme changes between their debut and second LPs, with the first largely given over to traditional folk tunes, though admittedly far from traditional arrangements.  Done to often hilarious effect, especially in Estampie, where the bassoon player slips in riffs from Chattanooga Choo Choo, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and the main riff from Cream’s Politician.  The Devil and the Farmer’s Wife is one of the funnier things put to record, with its voice characterizations of the Devil and the Little Devils, the varied guitar treatments, and the hilariously out-of-place Maple Leaf Rag riff at the end.


RQTG3 is, as noted by others in this thread, is an astonishing album.  In its own way, I think it equals King Crimson’s best work in its contrasts of quiet, pastoral moments to ones more driving and rhythmic.


Midnight Mushrumps I’ve found a bit harder to get close to but it has its great moments too.


Raindance may actually be my favorite, though it has shorter tracks (except for the epic Ein Klein Heldenleben).  The title track is one of the more evocative instrumentals I’ve ever heard, and its effortless segue into the Beatles’ Mother Nature’s Son gets me every time.


Treason I very recently bought, and my immediate impression was that it sounds like a whole other band recorded it (which is partially true) but not awful by any means. Clap

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 27 2013 at 18:38
Going way back when I first was introduced to Yes, and I'm talking 1972, CTTE was the 1st album I bought. It was a hard album to top. My 1st Gentle Giant album was Free Hand and it took me about a year to warm up to because I always compared it to Yes. Over the years Free Hand is almost on par with CTTE. So predictably my 1st Gryphon album was RQTG3. Again this took about a year to warm up to because i was comparing it to GG. Since then I've come to appreciate all 3 great albums for possessing unique qualities in their own right. I think everyone should have RQTG3 in their collection. It really is a quite unique astonishing album.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 24 2013 at 21:11
Gryphon opened for Yes and their "Relayer" show, 16 November 1974, Normal Illinois USA.  

They were visually interesting, as I recall the drummer was unique in that he stood for the entire show & used his drum kit in a unique manner.  I was impressed with their energy and unique instruments (recorder, sackbut etc.).

And then Yes came out and blew the top of my skull off.  I've never recovered. 


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 24 2013 at 19:51
Originally posted by hellogoodbye hellogoodbye wrote:

That kind of elizabethean music often bores me, but here it works. Their counterpoint is fantastic


I agree. At the time I had also bought Gentle Giant's Octopus. A week later Gryphon's Red Queen. Both offered an enjoyable similarity full of crumhorns, oboes, bassoons, recorders, and yes, intricate counterpoint.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 24 2013 at 12:54
I've always loved Midnight Mushrumps and think it is as good as Red Queen personally. I have yet to check out Raindances, but i will soon. 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 21 2013 at 23:06
Originally posted by RockHound RockHound wrote:

Seeing Gryphon open for Yes during the Relayer tour was by far the most wonderful treat I've ever been given by a warm-up act. They were warm, humorous, dexterous, and fantastically entertaining.

Shortly thereafter, I found a DJ copy of RQTG3 at a record store. I still get a huge smile every time a track shuffles forth on the iPod that dwells in my car. I really enjoy the first three Gryphon albums, and RQTG3 stands out as a shining example of how woodwinds can be integrated into progressive rock.

I was wondering if anyone was going to mention that Gryphon opened for Yes.  My 1st Yes show was the next tour with Gentle Giant as openers.  Yes sure had great taste in opening bands in those days.  Anyway, I've heard a few Gryphon albums and Red Queen... is my clear favourite.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 21 2013 at 12:57
Seeing Gryphon open for Yes during the Relayer tour was by far the most wonderful treat I've ever been given by a warm-up act. They were warm, humorous, dexterous, and fantastically entertaining.

Shortly thereafter, I found a DJ copy of RQTG3 at a record store. I still get a huge smile every time a track shuffles forth on the iPod that dwells in my car. I really enjoy the first three Gryphon albums, and RQTG3 stands out as a shining example of how woodwinds can be integrated into progressive rock.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 21 2013 at 12:52
I think there are some nice tracks on all of their lp's....my favorite is Red Queen....
I either play that one or a compilation cd I have.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 21 2013 at 12:20
I bought Raindance recently, and love it to bits! Only one of theirs i have heard, though, so far
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 21 2013 at 11:16
That kind of elizabethean music often bores me, but here it works. Their counterpoint is fantastic
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 21 2013 at 11:07
Originally posted by Paravion Paravion wrote:

I don't like them much. RQtGT was a huge disappointment. I have forgotten how it sounds - haven't listened to it for years, and I've gotten rid of my copy. The debut was more appealing to me, but increased exposure to more authentic folk music made me think that its renditions are somewhat too silly and too 'perfectionist' and don't communicate the all-important authentic folk vibe at all.    
 
Considering this band, anywhere near the "folk" side of things would be incorrect in my view.
 
This is electric, elizabethean music at its best ... and probably should be appreciated as such. The only issue is that the sound/compositional side of this is somewhat limited, thus, the band expanding this would be hard and it would likely become something else.
 
For my tastes, and this is a musically exceptional bunch of folks, this is the high level of musical education in the Brittish areas. And for their work they got an A+ and even had one of their compositions adjusted to match a play at the West End (Midnight Mushrumps) ... which tells you, again, that a lot of progressive and experimental folks, were not exactly waiting for the definition of the music to come alive later ... they were experimenting and working what they saw.
 
This is exceptional musicianship like you will rarely hear it on most rock or jazz musicians in the popular idioms!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 20 2013 at 19:47
A few months ago I bought Red Queen to Gryphon Three for the princely sum of $3.99.  I had never heard of the band but the album art and the songs seemed like my cup of tea so I gambled that extensive sum and was not disappointed.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 11 2011 at 04:40
Originally posted by iluvmarillion iluvmarillion wrote:

The first four albums are all worthy additions to any Prog Rock collection - The first is more traditional folk rock with unusual instrumentation including oboes. They do get more progressive and less folk influenced with each album, but each album is distinctive in its own way (one thing they don't do is repeat themselves). Raindance (4th album) has the brilliant 'Ein Klein Heldenleben' suite which is my favourite Gryphon piece. Red Queen is all instrumental and is their most consistent album and also their most highly regarded. Line up changes affected the quality of their fifth album 'Treason' and I personally find this one very difficult to get into to. 
Raindance was the first Gryphon album I purchased, 34 years ago, and I liked it at first hearing. But Ein Klein Heldenleben was a real jump on the chair... I suppose I'd fallen in love with the band with that tune.
Treason is a good album but, IMHO, slightly easier than the previous works. Major Disaster is nothing but a simple pop tune (with a strange mediaeval middle eight). Best songs are the opening long Spring Song and the bizarre Falero Lady.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 19 2011 at 20:45
I need to give RQTGT a re-listen.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 19 2011 at 20:44
Originally posted by Lizzy Lizzy wrote:

Interesting. I've listened to RQTG3, Midnight Mushrumps and the s/t several times, but I could never get into them. Great instrumentalists, but I simply couldn't find the outcome of their work exciting. I suppose I'll have to listen again sometimes.
 
Just let go of the progressive ideas, and simply listen to it when you are having tea anc crumpets and maybe even reading a Shakespeare play!
 
Try it. ... you might like it!
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