Customer Reviews

Gryphon / Midnight Mushrumps

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Gryphon was a '70s band that combined early music with rock to form an unusual but catchy prog-rock blend. The band centered around bassoon/krumhorn player Brian Gulland and keyboard/recorder/krumhorn player Richard Harvey, with guitarist Graeme Taylor and David Oberle on drums/vocals both capable players. This CD combines the first two albums, "Gryphon" and "Midnight Mushrumps", which by themselves would be 3 and 3-1/2 star albums. "Gryphon" is soundtrack music for a Renaissance fair, more folk-based than their later music, and comes off as a junior varsity version of Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span. There are solemn ("The Unquiet Grave") and humorous ("Three Jolly Butchers") takes on traditional pieces. On the second half of the album, the band starts stretching the formula, especially on "Estampie", where Oberle gets to cut loose on drums and Gulland throws in a quote from "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" during his bassoon solo.

On "Midnight Mushrumps", bassist Philip Nester was added and rock was added to the mix. Here you can hear the beginnings of the unique sound that reached its peak on the superlative "Red Queen to Gryphon Three" album. The centerpiece of the album is the 19-minute title cut. The melodies on this album aren't as memorable as on "Red Queen", but "Mushrumps" is still good. My favorite cut is the closer, "Ethelion".

(1=poor 2=mediocre 3=pretty good 4=very good 5=phenomenal)

While I realize that tastes are subjective, I find the opinion of the reviewer below me to be barefaced nonsense. Composed by Richard Harvey (who is now, it appears, something of a hack who churns out orchestral muzak scores for British film and television), the title track to *MM* truly represents Gryphon's finest hour (or at least, the group's finest 19 minutes ;-) ). It brims with memorable themes that dwarf the group's occasionally fine but progressively spotty output as it became a more "conventional "progressive rock band.

Next, "The Ploughboy's Dream" shows the band's arrangements at their most imaginative, even bizarre. The album falters a bit from here, as the remaining members' contributions are less memorable than the preceding works, but these pieces cement this album in my mind as one of Gryphon's better efforts, not to be missed by those who are discovering--or re-discovering--the work of this wonderfully eccentric, original, and ferociously gifted group.