Spyglass Guest & Time And Tide [Double CD]

Greenslade's first two studio albums, Greenslade and Bedside Manners are Extra, were unique in that here was a band based on drums, bass, and two lead keyboards. The music was in-demand psychdelic blues and jazz. Sadly by the time Spyglass Guest was released, the creative oomph had left the band and they were stretched for new material, even having to do a somewhat pointless cover of Theme For and Imaginary Western to fill the album up. Time and Tide saw a further descent into pop-rock anonymity and much much shorter tracks, many more of them with Lawsons strange vocal stylings - it sounded like a collection of bits that hadn't been considered for the first three albums. Both these albums are here on their own CD, tho the runtime of each means they could easily have been squeezed onto a single CD with room to spare for "extra" b-sides or demo versions. Curious...... Ah well, at least Greenslade stands the test of time and still sounds fresh and interesting, perhaps more relevent than many modern bands from their keyboard approach to rock music. Worth having in your collection - but check out their first two albums also on this dual release series, they're five stars each!

If you've found yourself on this page then you almost certainly know what Greenslade sound like and have probably made up your mind about whether you like them or not.

They never competed with prog giants like Genesis, but they carved their niche and produced excellent music. Sure it was 'of its time' but, for me, it still sounds great. My personal fave was always 'Spyglass Guest' which had a warmth and a reliance on really good songs rather than musicianship. However, the other ablums are all fine too, so dive in!

For a price little more than a London pint, you should buy both these 2CD sets. I did.

Like many longhaired spotty-teenagers in the early to mid 70's, I was completely drawn in by PROG ROCK and its mind-expanding themes. I'd be sat there on a Saturday morning (before Alan Freeman's Rock Show on Radio 1) with my Garrard SP25 turntable, Dustbuster and Emitex Cleaning Cloth all on the go - whilst I devoured the graphically drawn lyrics on Genesis and Yes albums. It wasn't long before my sensitive addiction spread to Uriah Heep, Gentle Giant and Badger - in fact anything with a Roger Dean album cover on it. It was therefore a natural progression to stumble on Dave Greenslade's keyboard vehicle - GREENSLADE. I thought the first two albums "Greenslade" and "Bedside Manners Are Extra" (both 1973 on Warner Brothers) had good moments, but their 3rd LP "Spyglass Guest" saw a level of sophistication that was undeniably better - and in places - even rather beautiful. Which is where this timely reissue comes in...

Released May 2011, Rhino/Edsel EDSD 2098 contains Greenslade's 3rd and 4th studio albums on two CDs:
Disc 1 is "Spyglass Guest" - originally released August 1974 in the UK on Warner Brothers K 56055 (38:49 minutes)
Disc 2 is "Time And Tide" - originally released April 1975 in the UK on Warner Brothers K 56126 (32:33 minutes)

The 20-page booklet is much better than I thought it would be - all the original album artwork is here including the lyrics and inner gatefold pictures; there's a knowledgeable history on the band and the albums by ALAN ROBINSON and best news of all is the hugely upgraded sound. PHIL KINRADE has done the remastering at Alchemy Studios in London and a superlative job it is too - far better than the dull Eighties CDs I've had for years just to have the music. Speaking of which - the music is keyboard-driven Prog Rock with sophisticated Jazz rhythms, chord changes and a lyrical lightness of touch that was even fun at times. Bandleader Dave Greenslade played a huge array of instruments - ARP Synthesizers, Fender Rhodes, Clavinet, Harmonium and Mellotron. The band also featured Dave Lawson on Guitars and Keyboards, Tony Reeves on Bass and Lead Vocals with Andrew McCullock on Drums. Ace sessionman and guitarist Martin Briley joined them for "Time And Tide".

To the music - no matter how much affection I once had for these albums - in 2011 a lot of it sounds horribly dated. Tony Reeves vocals still feel strangulated to me. But there is still wonderful stuff on here nonetheless - in particular the instrumental that ended Side 1 of "Spyglass Guest" - "Siam Seesaw". Alan Robinson's liner notes describe it as "...thoughtful, elegant and a real gem..." and he's right. I've waited decades to hear it sound this good - and I'll admit that at 52 - a little Proggy tear of joy came out of my eye on rehearing it. "Little Red Fry Up" has the guitar of former Colosseum axeman Dave "Clem" Clemson, while Andy Roberts of Liverpool Scene and Plainsong did acoustic guitar on the lovely "Siam Seesaw". "Joie De Vivre" is excellent (lyrics above) - featuring Violin work from Graham Smith (String Driven Thing) trading off keyboard codas with Greenslade. "Red Light" is the nearest they ever got to a single track - clever lyrics with the keys aping the melody. "Rainbow" opens with rainfall and a sinister piano lead-in - it's then added to by treated drum and cymbal patterns, which fades into a prettier piano passage halfway through that is beautifully produced by Jeremy Ensor. It's very Prog, but it's actually very good. "Spyglass Guest" ends on a cover version of Cream's "Theme For An Imaginary Western". In fact the album saw their only chart action in the UK - 3 weeks - peaking at Number 34.

1975's "Time And Tide" saw collaboration with Patrick Woodroffe on the album artwork (they would work later on 1980's double "The Pentateuch Of The Cosmogony") - Woodroffe's art bearing more than a passing resemblance to Roger Dean's iconic work. While it might have looked the part, the opening "Animal Farm" is awful and the bitchy "Newsworth" isn't much better. The Treverva Male Voice Choir lends itself nicely to "Time" which in turn segues into the full-on Mellotron instrumental "Tide" - as a duo, they're very good. "Doldrums" is nice (like an outtake from "Wind And Wuthering"), but most of the rest sounds wildly out-of-place for 1975 and even tedious.

1976 would see the arrival of PUNK which would blow away all this Hippy nonsense - and rightly so. But for a brief moment back there - to me and many others who held this band and that period of music in great affection - a 25-minute Mellotron solo seemed like the most natural thing in the world - and even beautiful somehow...

To sum up - this 2CD set is a five-star reissue of three-star material - making available again two rare vinyl LPs with enhanced packaging and really great sound. And at less than a fiver, if you've any affection for even parts of them - it's a deal.

I'm off now to get a haircut and find a real job...

PS: their first two albums "Greenslade" and "Bedside Manners Are Extra" are also reissued May 2011 on Edsel as a 2CD set for rhe same cheap price