If can be considered a group who dabbled in the main strains of early-'70s without ever settling on one (were they a outfit like , a unit like ensemble like , or just a band like ?), the confusion compounded by their relative facelessness and the generic nature of their compositions, , their third album, was the one on which they looked like they finally were going to forge their own unique amalgamation of all those styles into a sound of their own. The album boasted extended compositions, some of them ( ) actually medleys of different tunes, played with assurance and developing into imaginative explorations of new musical territory and group interaction. The lyrics touched on medieval themes ( ) always popular with bands, adding a majestic tone to the music, but it was the arrangements, with their twin lead guitar parts and open spaces for jamming, that made the songs work so well. was a bigger hit in the U.K., where it reached the Top Five, than in the U.S., where it set up the commercial breakthrough enjoyed by the band's next album, , but over the years it came to be seen as the quintessential recording, the one that best realized the group's complex vision. ~ William Ruhlmann