BEDSIDE MANNERS ARE EXTRA

Bedside Manners Are Extra is Greenslade at their peak. While the first album was still a search for direction, the second one is more individual and musically more solid and interesting. The Concept is still the same, there are those Lawson-love-songs whitch are unlike Greg Lake-ballads, aggressive and still warm and interesting. The Lyrics in these songs are also more bold than Greg Lakes. There is "Sunkissed You're not" and then the musically more vivid "Time To Dream". And then there are those fast wizard-like-keyboard-playing tracks, where the drums are mixed as loud as possible.The Album kicks off with a dreamy song by Greenslade/Lawson "Bedside Manners Are Extra". While listening to it I first got a feeling that this album is going to be a pop-oriented one, but when the keyboard-solos begin and the mellotron starts to boom , my expectations prove to be only a bit right. Ok, the first track is pop-oriented but still very prog. The second track "Pilgrims Progress" is one of Greenslade's best songs. A beatifully aggressive mellotron-instrumental with great drumming by McCulloch and cool synth-parts by Lawson. Then there is "Time To Dream" and "Drum Folk" which starts with a scary melody and continues through fast keyboard-playing into McCullochs a bit too long solo. After "Sunkissed You're Not" the album ends with "Chalkhill" which is one of the few tracks where bass player Tony Reeves is listed as a composer. This album truly is Greenslade's best effort. Sadly the next one "Spyglass Guest" proved to be a large disappointment.