Prog and "renaissance" fanatics will probably loathe this, and indeed reviews on Amazon would suggest as much. A shame, because by this point Gryphon decided to write their own blend of classically-tinged kinda-folksy prog-pop with flushes of jazz and - of course - those dang renaissance influences.Spring Song begins as a fairly long-form, but ultimately tightly-composed "universalist" piece ("Spring is the dancer, the lover of men" - Gryphon were always well-meaning AND thoroughly professional), with some crashing drums and huge organ chords. The album has it's share of shorter pieces though, the quirky stop-start nature of "Flash In The Pantry" and the breezy "Round & Round" both having their share of hooks, but with many changes of tempo and little predictability.There's also a truly unbelieveable instrumental in the form of Snakes And Ladders, while it is jazz-influenced, those dang crumhorns return making this rather difficult to describe. It has an "outrageous" hook, propelled by incessant drums. The band were firing on all cylinders for this album and, after a delightful, folksy "nature ballad" (?) in Fall of The Leaf (some lovely vocals on that one), we come to one of their very best songs, and it's the closest to straight pop they ever came...Major Disaster is a "ballad", despite the title. As always, tremendous melodies (Gryphon became rather better at writing memorable hooks by this point) both in the verse and choruses, massed vocals, again propelled by a solid rhythm and great keyboard parts. It rocks out more than you'd expect from such a band, again, propelling drums, but the massed vocals make a very strong and immediate impression. Why do ballads have to be quiet, when they can just as much be powerful, and bombastic?Highly recommended, a lost treasure I'd say, supposedly panned and forgotten on release (darn prog fans!), it's full of sterling musicianship, professional and tasteful composition, and even a fair dose of rocking out. (mid-70s rocking, you understand, these guys completely ignored punk!) Don't make the mistake many do by ignoring Gryphon when they weren't writing prog or madrigals!