ROBERT JOHN GODFREY: FALL OF HYPERION

The Key to the Enid, a transitional moment between BJH and Godfrey's own eccentric brand of classical music, The Fall of Hyperion, titled from a poem by Keats, is a collection of slow-moving orchestral rock songs, but without the hype, primitivism, and overworn gestures of symphonic rock. Given that the form was reaching its apex at the time this album was recorded, Godfrey and his crew create a wholly new sound, and one that no one ever got close to, except for the Enid in their recordings. The lyrics are not good, however, for archeological musical purposes they are a set of paradigmic faux- medievalistic formless ramblings that undercut the excellent musicianship on the album. This album does improve with listenings, and if one can blot out the lyrics on "The Daemon of the World," the mini-suite has it's pleasures, including a real percussion solo, and real organ work. Only Godfrey truly fused classic music with rock; others appropriated textures, some technique, but little in the way of form or dynamics, or true compositional ideas.

Not the best work of its era, but truly original. Expense to buy now, but worth the price, if you are an Enid or Prog Rock fan.