TIME AND TIDE

Some really irking moments on this one and they offset the good but rare moments. The cover is not a Dean cover but makes allusion to the same character. The better stuff is on side 2 around the end of the album, if memory serves me correctly.

"Time And Tide" was the 4th album from GREENSLADE which took a turn more towards a pop-prog album with shorter tracks a slightly more accessible sound. Having said that though this is still a very solid album with some great songwriting and wonderful performances. Line up is still pretty much the same with David Greenslade (keys), Dave Lawson (keys, vocals), Tony Reeves (bass) and Andrew McCulloch (drums). The instrumental sections and songs are killer with heavy keyboard Symphonia throughout. Atmospherically this is a much lighter album than some of the earlier releases and carries an original charm about it.

This album was released when I was in love with STYX "Man of Miracles" album. The two are different but to me they both came to my ears roughly on the same period. The first track "Animal Farm" is very energetic with dazzling percussion/drumming. It then flows nicely to the next track "Newsworth" with great piano. One thing noticeable about this album is the vocalist singing style; it reminds me the singning style of Sensational Alex Harvey Band. It's a good album with excellent musicianship. Rating 3/5.

Though this album carries some catchy tunes, it doesn't contain the pleasant feeling I experienced in the earlier albums of these talented musicians. The songs seem quite scattered and lack interesting qualities. Album covers have beautiful details, and Mr. Woodroffe has collaborated with Dave on epic "Pentateuch Cosmology" album and sci-fi / fantasy art book, a real treasure. All the good potential caused some expectations, which were not met for me. Somehow the music lacks similar sensations of flow, and criteria of symphonic rock instrumentation decisions, which have to match the tastes. I try to be open but somehow never managed to warm up for this.

This Greenslade's album is excellent, quite progressive and a bit keyboards oriented. The tracks are very varied. The 2 keyboardists use most of the imaginable vintage keyboards: rhythmic piano, clavinet, harpsichord, floating mellotron, rhythmic organ, Fender Rhodes and moog, among others. Some songs slightly have the Who's style, especially "Animal farm" and "Newsworth", and the lead singer has a bit the Roger Daltrey's voice. On the more progressive tracks, the keyboards sound a bit like Rick Wakeman's work of the 70's. On "Time", the male choir and harpsichord combination reminds me the Rick Wakeman's "Myths & legends of King Arthur..." album. "Tide" has a classic progressive floating mellotron a la Rick Wakeman again. The nervous "Catalan" has again the Rick Wakeman's style with excellent melodic keyboards solos and floating mellotron. "The Flattery Stakes" has a rhythmic organ, a hard rock guitar solo and a keyboards solo; the intensely floating keyboards parts sound a bit like Taï Phong's "Field of Gold". "Waltz for a Fallen Idol" has a conventional mellow Fender Rhodes arrangement and floating keyboards in the background. The catchy "The ass's Ears" has fast drums, punchy bass, and rhythmic & solo organ parts; the very sustained guitar solo is very anthemic. "Doldrums" is a weird combination of lead vocals, Fender Rhodes and male choirs a la Rick Wakeman's "Myth & legends of King Arthur...", paradoxically reminding the Camel's "The snow goose" album. The last track is a demonstration of rhythmic clavinet and weird moog solos technique a la Rick Wakeman again!

Rating: 4.5 stars

AS i said on the album from '74, this band means a lot to me. So those 4 albums from the beggining is for me a true classics. This one maybe has some influnces from pop but is very ok for me. The opening track is a instrumental one , and a damn good one. I really like this band, the band belongs to the masters of '70 in prog music. 4 stars for this one.

I'm revisiting this after a gap of a few years. I bought it mainly because of the brilliant instrumental "Catalan" which I remember from my days of listening to Nicky Horne on Capital Radio. Much of the music here is of the rocky, keyboard based vein, similar to Manfred Mann's Earth Band and features the dual keyboards of Daves Greenslade and Lawson.. "Animal Farm" kicks off the album in a fairly rocky way, "Time" is a short interlude featuring a Welsh male voice choir, quickly followed by the instrumental "Tide" with liberal use of Mellotron from Dave Greenslade. The afore-mentioned "Catalan" bursts in with handclaps and staccato snare drum and is the best song on the album for me. The album ends with "Gangsters" which older British members may remember from BBC1 in 1975.

The only thing that mars the album slightly for me is the vocal style of singer Dave Lawson, which is probably an acquired taste. I must admit I had ignored this album because I found the vocals grating but now I feel it's time I re-evaluated it. The instrumental work is excellent, recommended for fans of keyboards, so I can safely give it 3 stars, although it may have been 4 with a different singer.

Time to quit

The cracks were definitely appearing by the time of this Greenslade's fourth album in 1975. The band split up after this release, and although the name has been resurrected from time to time with varying line ups, this was their final studio album.

The clues that things are not quite right are clear enough to see. The tracks are all brief, the album having a woefully short running time of just 32 minutes. There's no Roger Dean sleeve either, although Patrrick Woodroffe, who Dave Greenslade would go on to work with in a solo capacity, does contribute a striking image for the front cover. Shame about the mugshots on the rear though!

The album opens with a couple of upbeat pop based songs, neither of which makes an impression. The rather nondescript vocals, and lack of a decent tune render these songs anonymous.

Things veer towards the bizarre with a quick romp of vocalising by the Treverva Male Choir on the brief "Time", followed by a moody mellotron passage for "Tide". Only the closing instrumental "Catalan" on side one offers anything approaching the sort of thing we have come to expect from Greenslade. This diverse instrumental may have Spanish hand claps, but it is a least adventurous and interesting.

Unfortunately, the second side of the LP takes a decided turn for the worse, with five mediocre short tracks. "The flattery stakes" must rank as the worst track Grenslade have put their name to, being a poorly performed pub rock number which sounds like a very rough demo. Only the closing "Gangsters" offers anything approaching the standard which might be expected of the band, so it is significant that this brief instrumental was written as a theme tune to a BBC programme.

Both the brevity of the tracks, and the lacklustre performances of these songs indicate that the tank was empty, and thankfully the band had the good sense to call it a day. In all, a very disappointing affair, largely devoid of inspiration or indeed effort.

Time and Tide is never going to win any awards as a prog classic but it is diverting in patches and the band, on this album, is fully deserving of it's second tier categorisation in the UK league of 'prog importance'. Still, it's the second side here that's most fun with a quintet of pleasant songs, the best of which is Doldrums. The first side is somewhat weaker with two non-descript vocal tracks to open and then two pedestrian instrumentals to follow. The Mellotron and Rhodes-based Tide is the better of the two (Time's choir and harpsichord arrangement smacks of pointless hubris). These are followed by another instrumental, Catalan, which has enough variation and energy to keep you motivated to listen through and flip the record. Not bad, not great, it's an agreeable enough way to pass half an hour, which deoes smack of damnation via faint praise. Greenslade were never top echelon and on this were beginning to slip down another rung.

Greenslade is on the same level with the "ick!" factor as Gentle Giant upon first hearing them. These guys are an acquired taste - especially the voice of Dave Lawson(he's not a David Surkamp from Pavlov's Dog; but he might be a cross between Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple/Trapeze, Al Stewart & Lol Creme). I'm really surprised "Time And Tide" has received such a low rating here as this album sums up everything about Greenslade. Certainly a "love them" or "hate them" band...no grey colours here. :-)

"The Ass's Ears" is a great track that could've been a hit if it were released under a more commercial name like Uriah Heep. Not that it sounds like Uriah Heep, but it has that aura about it. "Time/Tide" is a wonderful instrumental in the Yes-like/ELP tradition. The highlight here is the closer "Doldrums/Gangsters". A reflective tune with a great Dave Lawson vocal, a gothic sounding backing vocal (mellotron? not sure) and some tasty electric piano from Dave Greenslade...concluding with an instrumental. This is my favourite Greenslade album, along with "Bedside Manners Are Extra". "Time And Tide" is Greenslade's best produced album and least dated sounding. Recommended.

Note: One thing that I've always liked about Greenslade is that they have a great knack at "rockin' out" without screaming guitars. That in itself makes them special, IMHO.

Time and Tide was Greenslade's last release as a band during their 70's triumph. As good as the album is, it's quite short, clocking in at a mere 32.24 and features 10 (!) tracks, some of which took on a Pop glaze. The gorgeous cover-art by Patrick Woodroffe wasn't enough to make this album a masterpiece, and niether was the gatefold photograph of the band's stage set-up, complete with a clear perspex (?) Drumkit and a keyboard rig on each side, which perhaps suggests an un-necessary flamboyance, but this is often the case with Prog, and most of us wouldn't have it any other way. With the eye-catching excesses aside, the compositions are mostly fine, the playing extravagantly laden with stunning keyboarding, and a solid rhythm section, this time with newbie Martin Briley taking over the recently departed Reeves on Bass and Guitar duties, and Andrew McCulloch is, as always, a great Drummer. The songs are composed by the 2 Daves - Greenslade and Lawson, either by themselves, or together. Four of the songs here are dynamic instrumentals, 'Time' (1.16) being an arrangement for Harpsichord and Male Voice Choir - this one's a bit pompous. 'Tide' (2.51) follows on a low note Fender Rhodes rhythm, with multi-tracked Mellotrons creating a lush and majestic atmosphere. 'Catalan' (5.03) cuts in like a sledge- hammer, and kills the rather nebulous mood the previous tune created - it's rather chaotic arrangement of sudden loud blasts, and brooding moments interrupting the flow somewhat, but when the song gets going, Lawson turns in a fine, searing ARP synth solo and the band is firing on all cylinders. The last instrumental track is the last on the LP, 'Gangsters' (2.27) and is a beauty. 'Doldrums' (3.42) is a jazzy piece (always reminds me of Soft Machine, circa 'Softs') and is just Lawson alone at the keyboards and the microphone. The remaining songs of the album are the Prog/complex Pop ones, but still offer up some great moments. 'The Ass's Ears' (3.21) in particular highlights McCulloch's playing. The weakest point of the album would have to be 'The Flattery Stakes' (3.57) with some cheezy female backing vox and rather simple melodies and structure.. Overall, the album falls in somewhere between 3.5 - 3.8 so I'll go with a 4 (talk about splitting hairs...)

Doldrums

Generally considered to be Greenslade's weakest album (at least of the first four, before the long break until the comeback in the year 2000). It opens with Animal Farm, obviously after the famous novel by George Orwell, which is one of its weakest tracks. Newsworth is somewhat better, but still not too impressive. The bass lines are the best aspect of the song. Time, Tide, and Catalan are three instrumentals that form a little suite. Time is a medieval-flavoured a cappella number with wordless male vocals (or rather not strictly a cappella since some faint harpsichord sounds can also be heard). Tide is an ambient piece foreshadowing Dave Greenslade's solo career. And finally Catalan is a more upbeat number in the style we are used to from Greenslade's earlier efforts. This is clearly also one of the highlights of this album (though the version featured on the more recent live album The Full Edition is in my view better than this original studio version). Again, the bass guitar stands out.

The Flattery Stakes is like the opening two songs another Pop Prog number not unlike the style of Kayak. Waltz For A Fallen Angel is not a Waltz actually, but rather a bluesy number. This in not much to my liking, but it leads straight into The Ass's Ears which is somewhat better. The latter actually sounds very much like Rush to me with shrill vocals and heavy, intricate bass lines, and strong drumming. Though, of course, with more keyboards than Rush ever had.

The mellow Doldrums slows things down considerably and the male "chanting" vocals from Time return, this time as backing vocals. I find it pleasant. Gangsters, another instrumental in the typical Greenslade style, finishes the album off in a nice manner.

Overall, I think that this album is not much below the quality of Greenslade's previous three albums. However, the style has changed somewhat away from Symphonic Prog and towards Crossover Prog which probably alienated a few prospective fans.

I do not belong to the ones who rate an album thanks for its packaging. So, even if the cover of this work is rather original and inventive, I can't say the same about its content.

I have never been overwhelmed with the band, and this last effort sounds really as a pitiful goodbye. Almost, I would say since ''Greenslade'' will do a come back some twenty-five years later. But that's another story.

The music available on ''Time & Tide'' won't be remembered IMHHO. But little of this band will. They used to play a decent prog music with some very good dual keyboards at best. I can't say the same about this work. The first track which is worth a mention is the atmospheric ''Time''.

This album is an ultra short effort of about half an hour, and one can only be thankful that it is so short. There is really nothing fancy about this recording. I won't be as generous as some other reviewers who believe that this work is excellent. I just feel like it is rather poor.

If a band is not able to produce ONE great track out of only thirty two minutes of ''music'', I guess that they faced some MAJOR problems in their song writing. The cream being in the pudding since they will call it quit afterwards. Not a bad decision to be honest. When you have to bear a track like ''The Flattery Stakes'' you got it all: press next my prog friends. It is the only advice I can provide.

All tracks available are stupidly short except ''Catalan'' which can be considered as the least awful one available here. Vocals are globally one of the poorest you can ever have imagined. Have a listen to the dreadful ''Waltz For A Fallen Idol'' to figure out.

I am quite perplexed to read that this album should be considered as their best work. I just believe it is a bad album and the poorest ''Greenslade'' one released so far. One star, no more. Just forget this weak album. Boredom, boredom.

I had vaguely heard of Greenslade as a keyboard virtuoso in the 1970s and eventually found this album in a bargain basement bin, so figured why not? I didn't realize that this was the group's last album and that it probably wasn't a show of strength relative to their other work. But it's all I've got so here goes.

One of the striking features is that, for progressive rock, the tracks and the running length are very short. For the most part the music isn't very distinctive, sometimes sounding like just a regular bar band with a slumming good keyboard player. So it truly is David Greenslade who saves this from the tank, particularly with his work on the "Time/Tide/Catalan" trilogy that adds up to a nine minute suite if you will. Without the vocals and silly lyrics, he gets to shine, and he does it without much grandstanding unlike some I could name. In general, his playing also keeps the vocal tracks from being terrible, but that is hardly an endorsement for the album.

In retrospect, it's easy to see this album as an acknowledgement of the turning of the tide both for bands like Greenslade and keyboard oriented prog in general. I suppose it is worth a bargain basement price if you see it and are a collector, but no more.

I'm afraid the disappointment this album causes in everyone from longtime fans to newcomers is understandable. David Greenslade's gang of prog thugs do appear to have been on their last legs for this fourth one, and Time and Tide became their final offering of the era from which they'd sprung. On the other hand, I've heard some mighty bad progressive rock in my time and against the backdrop of that mediocrity - all the musical incompetence, tin ears, warbling coffee-can productions, incomprehensible "freeform explorations", newly-castrated singers, "lost gems" with every reason to stay lost, poaching so blatant it might as well be Genesis, and lyrics that would make Alfred E. Neuman hide from embarrassment - this ain't that bad a record.

In addition to the symphonic sound that had always been at the center of this unit, there is a subtle but tangible flavor that reminds of the tragically hip art-glam of the Bowie/Lennon NYC set, as well as the insolence of Becker & Fagan, distant glimpses of the Stones and the occasional Brian Wilson appearance. 'Animal Farm' is a cool, drunken hardrock groove, Dave Lawson's freshly-found swagger and much improved vocal ability a pleasure, certainly compared to previous Greenslade records. I suppose 'Newsworth' could be described as a joke though with Lawson's vaguely political commentary it would appear to be a legitimate track. But it's followed by utterly useless 'Time' spotlighting a male choir and equally useless 'Tide', both mercifully brief. Finally we get 'Catalan' with David's electrapiano and Crumar Stringman doling out the arpeggios for a nice 5-minute progger. Ridiculous but not-so-bad 'Flattery Stakes' is a fun bumper of a tune, followed by the heavily sedated drool of 'Waltz for a Fallen Idol'. But it opens big into the wonderful 'The Ass's Ears'; an engaging construct of organ, synth, and Martin Briley's piercingly beautiful guitar lines as it segues with care into dreamy 'Doldrums' where the Steely Dan influence is most prominent, and the swing of Cool Jazz brought together with faux classical for closer 'Gangsters'.

I hesitantly give this one two stars, as 'collectors/fans only' probably suits it fine. But it's a little better than that, and for a few moments now&then, much better.

A friend who worked as DJ in a local radio station always got new releases and gently borrowed some to this young, penniless teenager (yes, me). In 1975 one of the LPs I got was Greenslades Time and Tide. And although I tried very hard to like it at the time I was 15, I remember I did not. 40 years after the fact I am now listening to this album again, in a vain attempt to change this view. There were the first line up changes, with the departure of original bassist Tony Reeves, replaced by the equally competent Martin Briley, who also plays some guitar solos. But the problem with this group remains the same as ever: excellent musicians and weak compositions, plus sometimes unimaginative arrangements, even if some bits are really tasteful.

It seems to me that Greenslade tried hard here to sound both more rocking and commercial. Maybe the fact that other double keyboards bands were gaining some degree of success that Greenslade was not, like Supertramp, served as an example to be followed, I don´t know. But I do get the feeling they were trying to sound like Supertramp in some ways (just listen to The Flattery Stakes). Of course it didn´t work. In fact, this CD seldom works. And it is no wonder this would be their last album until some 25 years later. To be fair, not everything here is a waste: The trio of instrumentals (Time, Tide and Catalan) are the best tracks and sounds good put together like a mini suite. Also there are some instrumental breaks where those beautiful combinations of vintage keyboards and excellent rhythm section bring the best of them. But Dave Lawson´s often histrionic vocals ruin it all (he seems to be imitating Geddy Lee from Rush, get the picture?).

Time and Tide is surely Greenslade least interesting album of the 70´s. And considering that they did not exactly took the world by storm in any way, take these words as a warning. If you´re into their first trio of LPs then you should check this out. If you don´t get those first before tackling this one. Because Time And Time is definitely for fans and collectors.

Rating::2 stars.

And now we have reached the ending for Greenslade as a band in the 70's. Ït was a very intense and exciting journey, providing the prog community with many a gem. Unfortunately we are not leaving Greenslade on a high, looking out over a flourishing civilization. We are, rather, leaving them in some sort of nadir. Wait, I don't mean that they didn't leave us trinkets of worth on "Time and tide", beacuse they did, but the pickninck basket is largely comprised of stale bread and too little sustenance.

There is an understandable and often wise notion to kick off an album with a song that truly packs a punch. I mean, you want to make a statement, no? Sad to say the statement delivered by Greenslade by way of "Animal farm" makes me wave my arms in the air leave us bot in total disagreement. This is simply a horn heavy rock'n'roll song of the kind that leaves my face looking odd from the displeasure I am experiencing. What happened, I wonder. "Newsworth" holds some worth but it's not a fantastic song. "Time" is a short piece, only 1 minute and 15 seconds, but is a small treat. A choir over a cembalo (is it?). Really nice and the next track "Tide" is also wonderful with it's high level of mellotron. And then we recognise Greenslade. They're back with a playful instrumental called "Catalan". This one is probably the best track on the album. Sorry to say the band makes a skip back to the beginning and decide to "rock out" on the pub rock groove of "The flattery stakes". Not very effective. I think "Waltz for a fallen idol" is an okay ballad, "The ass's ears" quite a powerful track partially reminding me of Quatermass and this one I like. "Doldrums" is an atmospheric ballad-y sort of song and works alright with me. The ending "Gangsters" is quite charming little piece with great keyboard sounds and quite a drive.

When the song is over and the album has ceased it's spinning and I'm sitting there, I wonder: What the hell did I just listen to? Well, I listened to an album of sometime reasonably good and accessible prog (albeit with a good dose of pop), a few really misplaced rock songs and a couple of really talented progressive songs. If I was to direct someone through the best pieces on the smorgasbord there aren't very many courses to recommend. "Time" and "Tide", obviously, and "Catalan" are well worth trying. Those are really nice pieces. There are a few other bits and pieces I find tantalizing but overall this is quite a bland, a bit tired and only partially inspired album. I find that quite sad considering that "Spyglass guest" that came before was such an inspired affair. I suppose every band and member there of have their limits. In 1973 they released two abnormally great albums, followed by a third equally brilliant record in 1974. If the well ran a bit dry after that or the bucket just seemed to be full of holes, draining the inspiration out, I can understand that. "Time and tide" isn't a complete loss, not a total disaster. When the critique has been aired what remains is a partially charming, sometime great and occasionally bland album with a stunning cover. "Time and tide" is not the place to start when discovering Greenslade, it's the place where you end up after devouring the brilliance of the first three albums. My rating lands on three stars but I would rather call it "okay" than "good".

This album is often linked with 'Bedside Manners Are Extra', which always seems strange to me as there was an album in between the two, 'Spyglass Guest', but given this again shows the man with many arms it is probably due to the artwork and not the music. 'Spyglass' was the last to feature the original line-up as bassist Tony Reeves left to pursue a career in production and was replaced by session guitarist Martin Briley. The new line-up didn't last long though, and 'Time and Tide' was to be the last album from Greenslade for more than twenty years. Dave formed a new version of the band at the turn of the century with Tony back on board, and keyboard player/vocalist John Young and drummer Chris Cozens. 'Time and Tide' has always felt to me to be of a band in flux, no longer really sure of direction, where they were going and what they wanted to achieve.

Greenslade (the man) was working more on his own, while some of the songs with vocals seem very at odds with what the band had been playing previously. "Waltz For A Fallen Idol" could have been produced for Rod Stewart, and it certainly doesn't seem like a Greenslade track at all. The backing vocals and falsetto just doesn't make sense at all, and the use of electric guitar also shows a band moving further away from their roots. Of all of the original Greenslade albums, this is the one I play least as while there are some delights to be heard, they are mixed with others which I can gladly skip.

This is the Esoteric reissue, which means there are some additional songs on the CD, one a single edit of "Catalan" while the other is a B-side. But we also have another disc, a Swedish Radio show which was recorded in March 1975, prior to the release of the album, and given this contains songs from other albums as well, this is the one I have been playing most. Opener "Pilgrim's Progress" is still a powerful, dramatic number and one can only wonder what would have come of the band if they had stayed together for another album. With an essay from Malcolm Dome inside, this is yet another powerful reissue from Esoteric, but it just doesn't have the punch and panache of 'Bedside Manners'.

This is a divisive Greenslade album in some respects, and your appreciation of it will likely hinge on how you feel about prog bands pivoting to a somewhat more accessible and poppier style. If you're a prog-for-prog's-sake type, this might sound like a bit of a sellout, but for my part i think Greenslade's more symphonic and fusion-steeped earlier sound was beginning to run its course by the time the band got to Spyless Guest, so this shift to shorter songs and a somewhat broader range was just the refreshing shift that was called for at the time. Really, my only disappointment here is that the band broke up after this, because it would have been interesting to see where they took this next.