Greenslade — Temple Songs- The Albums 1973-1975

Temple Songs is a recent four-CD boxset bringing together all of the studio albums from UK prog band Greenslade.  They have a decidedly keyboard focused sound, which is often fairly playful and creative in its genre-blending. In all the set takes in four albums- Greenslade, and Bedside Manners Are Extras both from 1973, 1974’s Spyglass Quest, and 1975’s Time And Tide- which is often seen as the band defining release, though each album here has its charm/ worth.

The boxset appears on Esoteric Records, which is Cherry Reds prog focused label. The boxset comes in the form of a bulky thick card flip side box. This takes in double mini gatefold reproductions of the original album packaging. Also included in the set is a glossy thirty-two-page inlay booklet- this takes in a new fourteen-page write-up about the band and the album by Malcolm Dome. Along with full album credits, pictures, press cuttings/ etc. It’s a nicely presented set, and it’s neat to see the label recreating the original gatefolds too.

Greenslade were formed in London in late 1972- originally been centred around keyboardist David Greenslade and bass player Tony Reeves, with keyboardist Dave Lawson and drummer Andrew McCulloch. Initially, the band ran between 1972 and 76, resurfacing in 77, and between the years 2000-2003, with different line-ups with Mr Greenslade been the only constant throughout the bands' career. As you can imagine with two keyboard players- the bands sound is very keys forward, though they did have a guitarist in their line-up, so it certainly wasn’t a Doors situation.

So, the band's first album was their 1973 self-titled, which appeared in February of that year on Warner Brothers. It took in seven tracks, and these offered up a blend of prog, 70’s singer-songwriter fare, and rhythm ‘n’ blues. I guess in the more formally prog focused moments the band come off as a blend of early ELP and Yes, but it’s in the more quicky genre-blending and singer/songwriter moments they shine.  Highlight wise we have the albums opener “Feathered Friends”  which moves bounding bass and organ rolling, through showy singer/songwriter fare. There’s the oriental-meets- grooving organ of “Temple Songs” which has semi falsetto sing-song vocals and wavering backing harmonies. The almost totally Instrumental “Melange” that goes from a jaunting-to-rising blend of keys and bass, more flowing organ ‘n’ almost slap bass runs, onto male harmonizing and tunefully climbing. On the whole, this self-title is a competent and well enough laid out debut album.

Moving onto the second CD, and we have Bedside Manners Are Extra- this appeared in November 1973 once again on Warner Brothers. It took in six tracks, and it found the band expanding its keyboard sound pallet, with synths, clean piano, and various organs, also the showy singer/ songwriter meets prog tendencies increased. Highlights/standouts here are the title track, which moves from rolling piano 'n' bass meets showy vocals, onto  bright ‘n’ grooving almost semi reggae-inspired organ break downs, and wavering synth strings meets swooning higher lead vocals topped with slight clunky harmonizing vocals. There are the pulsing drums, organ/ synth weaves, and at points rock-out to wailing vocals of “Time To Dream”.  Or the jiving bass, jaunting organ runs, and sailing ‘n’ wail synth work-outs of the final instrumental track “Clark Hill”. As follow-up albums go Bedside Manners Are Extra is effective enough, with the band starting to sound a little more at ease with themselves.

On disc three we have 1974’s Spyglass Guest- this appeared in the summer of that year, been released on Warner/Mercury/Vertigo. This took in eight tracks, with three of these been instrumental- and it saw the band deepening its keyboard/ bass focused sound more. Highlights here we have grooving oriental keys meets funk-out bass and wavering mid-to-high sing-song vocals of “Little Red Fry Up”. There’s sweet tolling and swooning harpsichord keys,  meets clean-to-blues out guitar, and darting bass lines of the instrumental “Siam Seasaw”.  With the album been topped off with showy singer-songwriter vocalizing meets rising organ pop prog of “Theme For An Imaginary Western”. Once again this is another rewarding enough album, though in places it does feel like egos are been pulled out somewhat, with at times this been detrimental to some of the tracks flow.

Lastly, we have 1975’s Time And Tide, which appeared in the February of the year on Warner Bros, it’s seen as the bands best album, and I’d say that’s a fair assessment, as it’s the band most involving/ varied album. We move the sassy upbeat opener  “Animal Farm” which features a blend of boogie-woogie piano, synth horn embossments, lead vocals that mix Greg Lake &  blues-rock type singing, and dramatic backing vocals.  Track three & four, “Time” And “Tide” find the band in their more dramatic neo-classical setting- the first tracks just over a minute runtime finds harpsichord grand-ness meeting grand choral male La-La’s, and the just under three minutes of "Tide" is a blend of a mysterious bass bound pulsing & mystic string set mellotrons.  As we move through the rest of the record the focus stays mainly on vocal-based tracks- these go from sub-up-beat ELP tracks "The Ass's Ear", onto wavering felt & theatrical "Doddums"- which takes in dramatic banks of backing vocals, sea sounds, and grooving harpsichord blends.  So all in all a great end to the band initially run, and the box itself.

 

It’s great to have all the Greenslade albums in one place, and the boxset itself and the reproduced mini-double gate look great. If you like more keyboard focused 70’s prog, then you’ll be wanting to pick this set up.