Insipid
Gavin Wilson | 10/04/2001
(3 out of 5 stars)
"In the 1970s, I seemed to devote much of my prog-rock listening to the English 'G's -- Genesis, Gentle Giant, Greenslade and occasionally, Gryphon. I suppose it saved shoe leather in record shops. Looking back now, I cannot believe I would have given Greenslade a minute of my time if I hadn't seen them in concert.The band had a very unpromising start. Their 1973 debut album is one of the worst prog LPs I've heard. They employed two keyboards players to create a sound that frankly one competent player could have handled, and Dave Lawson had, to my ear, one of the most annoying, whining voices in the whole of pop music. But clearly their record company, Atlantic, spotted potential which eluded me, and funded Greenslade to produce their brilliant second album, 'Bedside Manners'.I saw them on the Bedside tour, so it's something of a disappointment that this Live album focuses on the tours either side of their masterpiece. But it gives you a good idea of how the band evolved, how keyboard technology had moved on in two years, and how their audience had grown. Applause (always respectful, and never ecstatic) is only allowed to intrude at the end of each of the two sections. After the best track on the album, 1973's 'Melange', a cheer goes up in an echoing hall, and you can tell that there are all of 120 people in that audience! It's really funny.Greenslade never had much stage presence, but they were severely hampered by the band's format. Most of the time the audience could only contemplate Lawson's ridiculous haircut, but occasionally it moved. Sometimes either Greenslade or Lawson would stand up. Sometimes Tony Reeves swayed. Andy McCulloch just wore a professional but dour ("What the hell am I doing here?") expression. Strangely, I really enjoyed the concert.This CD is a reasonable souvenir of the period, with good extended versions of the album tracks."
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1