Red Queen to Gryphon Three is the third studio album made by the band Gryphon

Gryphon (band)

Gryphon were a British progressive rock band of the 1970s, best known for their unusual Medieval sound and instrumentation.-Career:Multi-instrumentalist Richard Harvey and his fellow Royal College of Music graduate Brian Gulland, a woodwind player, began the group as an all-acoustic ensemble that...

. The album was released on Transatlantic Records

Transatlantic Records

Transatlantic Records was a British independent record label. It was established in 1961. It started began primarily as an importer of American folk, blues and jazz records - by many of the artists who influenced the burgeoning British folk and blues boom. Within a couple of years, the company had...

 in the UK with a blue cover, while Bell Records released the album in Canada with a black cover.

Red Queen to Gryphon Three is a concept album

Concept album

In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

 around the game of chess. The music, which frequently evokes a medieval

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 mood, blends and alternates among baroque

Baroque music

Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...

, renaissance

Renaissance music

Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance. Defining the beginning of the musical era is difficult, given that its defining characteristics were adopted only gradually; musicologists have placed its beginnings from as early as 1300 to as late as the 1470s.Literally meaning...

, English folk

Folk music of England

Folk music of England refers to various types of traditionally based music, often contrasted with courtly, classical and later commercial music, for which evidence exists from the later medieval period. It has been preserved and transmitted orally, through print and later through recordings...

 and progressive rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

 music styles. Themes

Theme (music)

In music, a theme is the material, usually a recognizable melody, upon which part or all of a composition is based.-Characteristics:A theme may be perceivable as a complete musical expression in itself, separate from the work in which it is found . In contrast to an idea or motif, a theme is...

 are presented

Exposition (music)

In musical form and analysis, exposition is the initial presentation of the thematic material of a musical composition, movement, or section. The use of the term generally implies that the material will be developed or varied....

, developed

Musical development

In European classical music, musical development is a process by which a musical idea is communicated in the course of a composition. It refers to the transformation and restatement of initial material, and is often contrasted with musical variation, which is a slightly different means to the same...

 and recapitulated

Recapitulation (music)

In music theory, the recapitulation is one of the sections of a movement written in sonata form. The recapitulation occurs after the movement's development section, and typically presents once more the musical themes from the movement's exposition...

 in the style of Classical music

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

.

Track listing

1. "Opening Move" (Gulland, Harvey, Oberlé, Taylor) – 9:42
2. "Second Spasm" (Gulland, Taylor) – 8:15
3. "Lament" (Gulland, Nestor, Taylor) – 10:45
4. "Checkmate" (Gulland, Harvey, Oberlé, Taylor) – 9:50

Line up

• Richard Harvey
  Richard Harvey
  Richard Harvey is a BAFTA Award–winning British musician and composer. He is best known for his film and television soundtracks...
  
   – keyboards, recorders, krumhorn
• Brian Gulland – bassoon, krumhorns
• Dave Oberlé
  Dave Oberlé
  Dave Oberlé was percussionist and lead vocalist with the 1970s band Gryphon. After the band split in 1977, Oberlé went on to help launch the heavy rock magazine Kerrang!...
  
   – drum kit, drums, percussion, tympani
• Graeme Taylor
  Graeme Taylor
  Graeme Taylor is a British electric guitarist.Taylor played lead guitar with 1970s medieval/rock band Gryphon, and leading folk rock bands including the Albion Band and Home Service...
  
   – guitars
• Philip Nestor – bass guitar

External links

• GRYPHON Red Queen to Gryphon Three reviews and MP3 @ progarchives.com retrieved 6-8-2007