LARGE AFTERNOON

Several reviews with no comments for this weak "Greenslade" effort. I will try to depict what is available on this album.

While the first track is being played, some sort of bad feeling can be expressed. What's this??? The man was usually performing quite decently; but for some reasons he just felt useful to record a new album under the old umbrella after twenty-five years of silence.

Was this a good idea? I won't say so. The man had almost put an end with his musical career while releasing the poor "Going South" as a solo effort and there were little reasons to get the "Greenslade" act together for another release. The "Hallelujah Anyway" is such a poor song!

But to find great tracks on this album is such a difficult task! Impossible to tell the truth. Such a come back is totally USELESS. Maybe to cash in on the name with the old and devoted fans. Maybe?

But I hope that the trap didn't function because the result is damned poor and should only be condemned to the trash. Yes, I understand that I'm not positive while describing this album; but it is the only feeling I can write about it: weak, poor and best to be avoided. The disco "No Room?" is an absolute confirmation, believe me (or just listen to it).

Some jazzy combition like "In The Night" are actually the best of what's available. Since I am absolutely NOT into jazz, this should come as a compliment. Or maybe just the conclusion that this work is rather weak indeed. The only good song is "On Suite": some sort of ELP derivative (but with weak vocals).

Pop (at best) and dull: these are unfortunately the words that best describe this album. I could only recommend to stay off from this. IMHHO, their best album was their debut one released in '73. If ever you are willing to get the essence of this band, just grab that one.

This "Large Afternoon" only deserves one star. Nothing brilliant, nothing prog, nothing, nothing, nothing...

It may be the best part of thirty years since the release of their superb first two albums, but Dave Greenslade and Tony Reeves are back, with 'new boys' Chris Cozens and John Young .There have been few four-pieces that could boast two keyboard players, and Greenslade have been away far too long. I defy any lover of keyboard rock a la ELP not to fall in love with the opening instrumental "Cakewalk" as it drives along very nicely. John provides all of the vocals (four of the nine have lyrics), but his voice isn't strong enough for this role, although for a lot of the time he just manages to get away with it. For me it is on the more expansive instrumental numbers that the guys show what we have been missing for all these years. This is an album that I would recommend to any keyboard loving proggers out there.

Originally appeared in Feedback #61, Feb 01

Hallelujah Anyway

Large Afternoon is the latest Greenslade album to date and likely to be their last album ever. It was released in the year 2000, 25 years after the group's previous album Time And Tide. It thus constituted a comeback of sorts (though Dave Greenslade did release some albums under his own name in the interim). Large Afternoon often gets harsh criticism, but to my ears it is an album that is worthy of the band and that fits in among (particularly the later of) the 70's albums. It is very true that not every track here is of the desired quality, but I think it must be admitted that this was true also of previous albums.

In general, I appreciate the instrumental side of this album a lot more than the vocal side. Roughly, every second track is an instrumental, starting with the opener Cakewalk, which is one of the strongest tracks here together with On Suite, which features vocals. The weakest track is Hallelujah Anyway which overstays its welcome, dragging along for more minutes than anyone could reasonably have wanted!

Certainly not among the band's best moments, and by no means essential. Yet, Large Afternoon is still a decent album and a worthy addition to a collection that already holds Greenslade's 70's albums.

Those who like the band in the seventies would definitely regret with this reunion studio album in 2000. In 2000, Greenslade and Reeves, after considering a full-blown reunion of the original line-up, teamed up with vocalist/keyboardist John Young, and recorded a new Greenslade studio album: Large Afternoon. But unfortunately this album lacks its fundamentals in composing good music where the melody must be crafted carefully and then all the instruments must then be combined together to build good arrangement of the music. The gentlemen here were not sure about what kind of music identity they wanted to pursue. You would not find any unique music like Time and Tide or Bedside Manners are Extra that were excellent during their seventies golden period. This new album is really boring and it's not worth listening at all. It comprises only keyboard work and vocal that do not flow with good melody nor good composition. It's not recommended at all to anyone to own this piece of album. This might be worth for hard core fans who want to complete their collection.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

I should warn everybody that the only reason I got this CD is because a friend at Prog Brazil raved about it. I was thinking to myself that maybe, after 25 years since their last album, this band could come up with something really interesting. Well, only half of the original band is here: Dave Greenslade himself on keyboards,of course, and Tony Reeves on bass, plus newcomers John Young (former Asia member) taking up the place of Dave Lawson on vocals and keyboards, and Chris Cozens substituting Andrew McCulloch on drums. But upon listening to Large Afternoon all you get is the same as before: the musicians are excellent, but songwriting is simply dull.

Worse still is the fact that what was the best feature on all early Greenslades albums (i.e. the vast array of very organic keyboards like Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes electric piano and mini moog) was replaced by very cheese synthesizers. It sounds more like an 80´s recording than a new millennium CD, with such mediocre timbres. The production does not help things much either. As usual with Greenslade the songs themselves are not really bad: they have some nice melodies here and there, but nothing that really stands. Several tracks, like the opener Cakewalk do have an interesting beginning and a kind of build up that unfortunately goes nowhere. Anthem is the best track on the whole album: it does have the closest of a memorable melody line and an accordion-like solo that is quite moving, but really that can not sustain a whole album.

Conclusion: it is no wonder why Greenslade never really made it. They had the techinique but not the songwriting skills necessary to make them stand out. It certainly did not change my opinion about this band. I wonder what my friend saw about Large Afternoon. I can only recommend this one for hardcore fans and collectors. And this is certainly NOT the album for the newbie.

Rating: 2 stars.