TREASON

I find it difficult to understand the other somewhat glowing reviews of this album. I was a fan of Gryphon when they were actually around, back in the early 70's and I cannot remember an album that disappointed me more than Treason. Treason is an apt name, because in this album Gryphon betrayed everything they once stood for and produced pure and simple trash. I listened to this album exactly once and then literally tossed it into the garbage. I can only liken it to the very similar betrayal perpetrated by Gentle Giant with their release of Civilian. The culprit here, as with so many Prog bands, is the desire to achieve popularity and money. While I certainly understand the financial stresses such bands surely endure, the end result of attempting to become "popular" inevitably ends in mediocracy.

Really people, this album, Treason, contains NOTHING of what made Gryphon interesting. There is NO melodic complexity, no complexity of structure, none of the gentle good humor and integrity of their first album and none of originality and beauty of either Mushrumps or Red Queen. Both of those albums were fabulous works of art. I still listen to them now, almost forty years after their first release. Treason, on the other hand, belongs in the dust bin which is where my own copy went some 34 years ago.