180g colored gatefold wax! The group´s fourth studio album, it was the first by a new line-up that included Simon House on synthesizer, Mellotron and electric violin; absent were Robert Calvert, who had previously contributed lyrics, vocals and spoken word interludes, and Dik Mik, who provided electronic effects. House´s addition was generally seen as enhancing the band's musicianship and sense of structure, though perhaps at the expense of the improvisational nature of earlier work. The album's title was a nod to Edvard Grieg´s "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and to a Portobello Road cafe called The Mountain Grill (now closed), frequented by the band in the early 1970s. The cover of a derelict spaceship in the mists of an alien lagoon was painted by the band's regular artistic collaborator, Barney Bubbles. The rear cover was by noted space artist David Hardy. * Rock Classics
