DAVE GREENSLADE

The music is as weird as the title and the cover art!

This strangely titled album is the absolute low point of Dave Greenslade's long musical career. Anyone expecting an album similar to his first solo album, Cactus Choir, or to the Greenslade (the band) albums is in for quite a surprise. The nature of this music is radically different from those earlier efforts. The keyboards used here do not have any Greenslade's previous signature sounds; here we have only synthesisers! Well, there are actually drums and percussion on some of the tracks, some of which are played by the great Phil Collins. But without the warmer tones of guitars, bass, vocals or any "natural" instrument, this music comes across as cold and barren, much like the scene depicted on the cover. And after listening to the whole album in one session - it runs for almost 80 minutes! - you might very well feel a bit like the being on that picture.

In many ways, The Pentateuch of the Cosmogony can be thought of as the "dark side" of Rick Wakeman's Rhapsodies album and sometimes it reminds of some of Vangelis lesser works. The synthesiser sounds chosen do not always fit the melodies and some times they sound very immature. There are some pleasant parts too, but they do not make up for the many bad parts. The album is almost entirely instrumental but there are some vocals, mostly done with the help of that awful thing the Vocoder!

Further, there are many passages that come across as totally directionless. You often wonder what the overall musical idea was, if there was any! Most probably this is the result of Dave's playing around with his new synthesisers rather than actually composing music.

I can recommend this album only to Dave Greenslade's most devoted fans and followers (and even for them it is likely to be just a curiosity and collector's item rather than an enjoyable listen).

I have never been an overwhelming fan of "Greenslade". Being the band or the man during his solo career. What I do feel though is a profound respect for his work throughout so many years. But I always have felt that the band /the man was short of ideas in terms of song writing.

This album is no other for sure. Some decent (but repetitive) tones during "Chasing The World" might well be the best stuff available on this album. Although the start of "Slipstream" was promising; its development is just good as any supermarket or elevator music. Press next.

This album Is not a good one. Some moments from past ages ("Flying V") are there to remind us that the man was quite a great keyboards player. He should have been a brilliant asset if he would have been only part of a band; but not the "leader". As such he was just average IMHHO.

Some Supertrampish mood (thanks to the good sax but also keys work during "Miles Away" are welcome, although not very personal. But at this time, anything favourable is welcome.

I am really scratching my head to find a good reason to avoid the one star rating for this work, but to tell the truth; I can't see one. Even if some Andalusian mood can be felt while "Crane Dance" is performed, it is soon all ruined with orchestrations. To try and find one single good song on this album is quite a difficult task, I'm afraid. I have tried, but failed. The jazzy "Piano Flamingo" is of course no exception.

The hotel piano bar oriented "South Revisited" only shows that Dave is a gifted keyboards player, but lacks so much in the song writting.

This album is best avoided. And even if I could express my respect for the work of this man, this effort is quite difficult to swallow and in my musical scale, it is only worth one star.

It is quite difficult to review an album from this great keyboard player: IMHHO, none of his work could have been related with a great album (being as a solo artist or with his good "Greenslade" work).

This work is no other. Some good keys items, for sure. I have already told that the man was gifted (who can tell the contrary) but passion is truly alien from most of his music ("Shades Of Ankh - Morpork").

Still, there are magical moments as the awesome "Wyrd Sisters" which is just a superb electronic musical partition. But very few of these items are available on this album. As if the man decided to get rid of most of his fans (since his latest efforts were quite simple).

Still, this album holds much more interesting and complex movements than any of his prior efforts. Of course, when the poor vocals enter the scene ("Wizzard"), there is only one feeling that prevails: kick them out of course (or just press next).

When one listens to the jewel "Dryads", there is only one question available: why the hell didn't this great musician produce such a fantastic number earlier on! To be honest: it is a truly moving track (little short to be honest) which deserves a separate spot for sure. THE highlight.

I can't really tell that this album is some sort of genuine prog effort. This and was quite a hype in the middle seventies, but couldn't hold on high their flag (which was a dreadful task to be honest).

To be faithful, there are little passion to be felt from this musical album. Little fantasy, little grandiose parts as we ought to expect. Just a collection of fine pieces of music. As such, I will be a delicate fan and bloody hell describe " Holly Wood Dreams" as indescribable and gorgeous song by all means.

Three stars. Thanks to some great passages.

The stage has been set brilliantly by Easy Livin who depicted the story quite good (as Joolz did as well). In terms of music, there are some good moments on this concept album, but out of seventy eight (!) minutes of music, these are just too short unfortunately.

My remarks regarding his first solo work are still valid: great musical skills but limited song writer. Even if the scenario was written by an external source for this project. I always have had some difficulties to link an all instrumental concept album with its storyboard and this one is no other.

The listener also needs to share some weak tracks, totally uninspired like "Three Brides". Sometimes, this album flirts with ambient music as well, and I have to say that these are probably what suits me best ("Nursery Hymn"). Some folkish atmosphere (accordingly) for "The Minstrel" isn't too bad either. Some sort of "Oldfield" derivative.

The attempt on "vocals" during the weird "Barcarole" clearly indicates that the choice for an (almost) all instrumental effort was indeed a good choice. This reggae oriented masquerade is probably the worst moment available. Press next. As soon as you can (same sort of feeling prevails for "Vivat Regina").

This is not a good album, I'm afraid. I respect the man as a musician, but he couldn't really thrilled me during his career (being with his band or as a solo artist). This effort is waaaaay too long to be interesting.

I'm lacking fine melodies, lyrical beauty, and inspired solo. Nothing as such unfortunately: just a succession of average tracks (at best, like "Mischief"). My fave is the TD oriented (no wonder) "The Tiger & The Dove" which is a clear mark in their musical territory. I'd like to have more of this excellent music here. But it's the closing number?When you reach this one, there is only one feel: damned! I've made it!

Two stars for the skills of the man.

I have never been a devoted "Greenslade" fan.

Their music was far from being original and none of their albums scored better than three stars IMHHO. Still, I was curious to figure out how this good musician would start his "solo" career.

To tell the truth, the result is quite average. In terms of prog, there are hardly great moments to retain. Some confidential bluesy stuff like "Time Takes My Time" is the best you can grab from this album. Nothing too fancy: just a good song with bluesy roots.

One of the best track is by all means the instrumental "Forever and Ever". At least it features some great and passionate keyboards play (which we all would have expected from the first second of this album).

Fortunately, this album ends up on a better way than it all started. I wouldn't tell you that all of a sudden we are faced with a masterpiece, but at least the great keys being played during the title track are sufficient to raise the interest of this album.

Basically, nothing really changed in comparison with his band's work. This first "solo" album is decent, even enjoyable at times. But don't expect too much from this "Cactus Choir" because you might be disappointed.

As far as I am concerned, three stars are the maximum rate I can provide. And I'm generous to be honest. A track as " Country Dance" would preferably be skipped from this work.

The long closing number ("Finale") is by far the most interesting one. In terms of prog, one gets a great keys feel (which was expected from the opening). It sufficiently shows how good a keyboardist Dave IS. Too bad that his writing abilities were not on on par with his great talents as a keyboards player.

A good album. Three stars.

We all should start thinking of going south! Dave Greenslade is a strange fella' , somehow always one ingredient away from prog immortality. With his namesake band, his overall brilliance was diminished by poor sound production and some tough vocals from second keysman Dave Lawson, a definite candidate for high honors in the toughest prog vocalist polls. But this is a solo disc and it has some rather bizarre aspects to it that may preclude it being a necessary addition to a prog collection. Dave states rather hopefully tongue in cheek (not really, the man is dead serious) "An album initially inspired by the evocative sight of migrating birds. I always experience a mysterious thrill when observing these determined creatures on their way to who knows where". Nice, and oh so English! Now, do you do that sipping tea, munching on crumpets, colonial hat firmly screwed on and using fine Zeiss-Jena binoculars, comfortably numbed in your manicured garden? Well a few decades earlier, Dave orchestrated the music for the colossal "Pentateuch", a much grander and worthier cause than bird watching for sure but he botched that with a rather weak soundtrack, full of inappropriate noodlings. The music here is prog ultra-lite, not a speck of cereal in this dog, ideal for background music in a fine elegant restaurant tired of peddling the usual Torme/Sinatra/ Bennett/Dion sludge lounge music. The sound is respectfully tepid, very synthetic and almost sterile, swerving into new age territory in a rather comfortable manner. The title track is sweet, tranquil and totally chloroformed, programmed percussion adds a whimsical innocence that breeds slumber. Music to fall sleep on, very impressive melody though. "Chasing the Wind" has a brief glimpse of hope, dashed by the marshmallow keyboard patches that sadly emulate the Kenny G. sound we all love to hate. Snoozerama! Greenslade's sanitary piano would make the minimalist Eno cringe with rightly upturned nose! "Slipstream" offers a slight mystery at the outset but it nose dives languorously into a very "kitsch" synthesizer solo, heavy on the trumpet patch that plainly sucks instead of blowing. This is followed by a jazzy piano romp that has the virtue of being at least technically proficient and even "daring" in expressive terms. But it's sooooo soporific, so lacking some spine (some might even say balls). Oh well! "Flying V" is forlornly not about the celebrated guitar but rather about avian formations as they streak across the horizon. Here, Dave the bird watcher cages his delirious organ and actually lets it chirp for a while but its missing feeling, guts, passion and sweat. All the while the programmed percussion shuffles along like some hungry pigeon in search of a spineless ledge to drop his load. "Miles Away" sounds like terrible pap, more of that Kenny G style and hence lifeless, really "miles away" from a progressive album, in fact it would probably win the most regressive album category. "Crane Dance" starts somewhat inspiringly, a weaving tropical pattern divulging some Middle Eastern inspirations but like a deserting Foreign Legionnaire, it gets quickly lost in the desert. "Night Flight" is 6 and a half minutes of meditative slumber, instantly incapacitating any prog listener into fifty smiling winks, no danger of an imminent Iron Maiden 3 guitar barrage here! Sorry but I need to migrate away from this before we get to the end. At least with a talented bassist and monster drummer , there was some fire! 2 very tired and lame ducks.

For a very limited audience

You really need to be a complete synthesizer devotee to commit hard-earned funds to this title. There just isn't a compelling reason to go near it otherwise. What you have here is 78 minutes of inoffensive and ineffective synthesizer rambling that neither impresses or inspires. The most creative way I could think of to describe this painful ordeal is that it sounds like the creation of a middle school music teacher who won a contest to write a backing track for a condominium promotional video. The video would show a couple having drinks watching the sunset on their porch and this is the background music. Sarcastic perhaps, but this album is really pretty weak and the prog audience deserves to be warned. To recap this album is an instrumental (almost entirely) conceptual album in which Greenslade plays every synthesizer in the book to create the imagery behind a convoluted Sci-Fi epic that is nearly enough to make even the most dedicated progger trade his collection for a Ramones t-shirt. Problem one is the cheesy sound of his synth choices which are often paired up with some almost disco-beat drumming. The songs themselves and the keyboard playing is rarely satisfying or compelling. Second, there is little apparent correlation between the cheesy synths and the elaborate story presented in the booklet. Since there are no vocals, the story must be told and communicated by the music and it fails in doing so. These keys impart no mood, warmth, or imagery that even get close to what I'd hope a prog musician might do trying to sell a grand story like this one. You would think that with all of the high-minded concepts and certain emotional dramas playing out in the story, you might hear some wide-ranging instrumental and vocal arrangements expressing these moments.but no, just another section of noodling synths and boring melodies. Last, the thing just drags on for 80 minutes with very little variation in the approach. Besides a few guest percussion or vocalization tidbits there is nothing but poorly executed composition and poor selection of instrumentation. I can't imagine what possessed Phil Collins to participate in this, there must be a personal friendship there. The one bright spot is the incredible art work presented in the generous booklet but I am rating the music here, not the artwork. I rarely give an album one star but I really can find no reason to give it anything higher. This was a complete waste of my time and money and fails even as "background" music. I do not recommend this album to anyone unless you are a huge keyboard enthusiast interested in all the various machinery being tapped here. Or unless you are a collector of cool album art. For anyone who ever thought Tales from Topographic Oceans was pretentious and uneventful...oh my God...you ain't heard nuthin' til you hear this.

This is a harsh review. Perhaps I've got it completely backwards and this strange work is a masterpiece for reasons over my head-I will always be one to admit that I could be wrong. If so, my apologies to Mr. Greenslade.

The band GREENSLADE ceased to exist by 1976, but main instigator and namesake Dave Greenslade put together another project and released 'Cactus Choir', his first 'solo' LP. Again, lovingly presented in a stupendous Roger Dean artwork (Titled 'The Jade Sea', from memory). To be honest, there's not much difference with the compositions here from his previous band, and his core 'backing' band consisted of Tony Reeves once again (on Bass Guitar, who had ventured into a line-up of CURVED AIR), the mightily impressive session-ace Simon Phillips on Drums/Percussion, and various guests helping out, most notably Bassist John G Perry (on the track 'Country Dance') and lead-vocals on 2 tracks by ex-RARE BIRD singer Steve Gould. The production is very warm and professional indeed. I'm puzzled as to why this is lumped in with the 'Crossover Prog' sub-genre ?? It fits in well with Symphonic Prog. Anyways, the album is made up of mostly instrumental material, with Gould singing beautifully in the catchy Prog-Pop song 'Gettysburg', and the middle section of the excellent title-song, and Greenslade himself handling the mic for the bluesy 'Time Takes my Time', which may have been a slight mistake, but the soprano backing vox of Lissa Gray raises the quality of the tune up a bit. As you would expect, Greenslade utilises no less than 10 Keyboards, and the prowess of the tight rhythm section calls for attention. Best tracks would have to be Cactus Choir (6.14) and Finale (8.36), but overall it is a highly recommended album. 4 stars.

I remember buying this when it came out, as I was very taken by the book itself. It was probably the oddest item I ever had in my LP collection, since there is much more of Patrick Woodroffe than Dave Greenslade in this.

Admittedly, I've heard very little else of Dave Greenslade's work - solo or group - so this is probably not a good reference point. However, it amazes me that anyone can use, and I quote: "ARP Explorer, ARP Omni, CAT synthesizer, organ, Crumar Stringman, clavinet, Kitten synthesizer, Korg vocoder, Mellotron, Minimoog, Polymoog, Prophet 5, Roland R5202, SDS Drum synthesizer, Sennheiser Vocoder, Tubular Bells, Vibraphone, Yamaha synthesizer, piano" and yet make it all sound like a couple of Yamaha CS80s.... especially as Rick Wakeman produced 'Six Wives' with far less!

Taken as a Woodroffe book, this is an enthralling piece of future fiction and fantasy mixed together. Taken as a collaboration between Woodroffe and Greenslade, the music adds a little as a 'concept inspired by', but the music really doesn't stand out by itself.

If you view this as the Woodroffe book, it rates a 4.5 if you view this from the music its really only a 2, and that's being generous. Sorry!

Dave Greenslade has done impressive music and basic keyboard fusion in the exceedingly special band Colosseum. Right after the band's weakness for constancy broke the ensemble in hiatus, Greenslade continued, like others, his musical dreams and, though a bit reluctant once the music heard, his good kind of a musical interpretation. Mainly the greatest solo feeling comes with the band "Greenslade", where the progressive stun is a bit above standard, the rock-fusion finds some space, plus the lush of creation is better heard than played. "Greenslade" didn't manage too long its presence on the stage and in the work spot. Immediately after the last album with the band, Dave Greenslade continues nonetheless his active wish, going solo (but usually inviting a lot of guests and planning albums of a collaborating effort) and playing a lot of keyboard prog.

Two albums get to be finished during the 70s last ticks of time and of progressive measures (...sort of). The first was a true mix of spirit, tunes and linguine expression, something unbearable for a reasonable artistic kind, yet not un-dedicated to some small burns of good eclectic notes and values. Cactus Choir was out of its expectation, but proved enough good glory of keyboard rock and fusion splash to be accepted; and, musically, interactive. Just to prolong a bit more this album's dedicate review, Greenslade releases a couple of more albums far into the 90s, all of them being a nightmarishly weak experience. Pentateuch Of The Cosmogony, the second of the solo project, is meant to have a different glow, just like the artist himself does the most amazing cornerstone of his entire previous style and acknowledgment. But the flames and flakes of this album, half conceptual half minimal as to seem entirely programmatic, mellows down when it comes to music, to a helpful imagination, to a spirit of unbroken virtuosity, or, my favorite worst detail, to a broad fascination of taste and "seriousnesses".

The work is based on fantasy/science-fiction/imaginative story, so deeply respected by Greenslade that its author, Patrick Woodroff, is credited along him (of course, except in the band's line-up). Dave Greenslade does the most phenomenal instrumental out of all his main albums, in a way you could even think, hear and taste the album like an electronic composition. Only to a difference that there is no general electronic focus Greenslade, but barely he is a keyboardist with its own expansive fascination; and the lead of keyboards and equipment lead to the entire energy and dissolution of the composition. His daughter joins at one point, playing the voice cosmic child within, I suppose, the story's forgotten lines. Special guests here are Phil Collins (and I gotta say, some small moments, where the drum pounds, do have the atmosphere of a Duke-like neo-sprinkled accent; but only for a moment), playing drums, and John Lingwood who's...well...playing drums also (only in other pieces). This album is very appreciated around, but stays highly doubts in front of true signs of dexterity, of great composition, of mirth imagination...or even of true concept.

The impact resonates loudly in all the 21 tiny frizzes that compose the album. The actual impulse of the instrumental work is a mix of plastic, artificial (intentionally or achieved without noticing) and ethereal constructions of sound, of electronic frequency, of deep colors and breath of humid nuances. The vision is more within a solid cubic fantasy, a surreal dynamic and contrast (at least that happens, throughout the album) and a similar humidity of cluster and really isolated music, nothing which to compose the greatest feeling ever; only, perhaps, to indulge the minimalism and the attraction of abstract expressions. Mainly, the electronic fever sounds much like, let's say, Tomita. The rest focuses on new-age, though in a lesser harsh way, in mellow prog (or retro, actually), in atmospheres and pops of sound, in a vision of immense quality, but lack-full splendor. I would mention, like always, that Greenslade plays his keyboards exactly the way Rick Wakeman plays, worse or worse, his solo albums and concepts, starting the late 70s. But Wakeman's, actually, less the artist to compare here.

This work is something of a good kind and even a dripping pleasure, but I'm just not the fan of it, plus feel the "retro-prog" is too much. Strictly (than expected) for fans.