COLD CUTS

Thanks to my buddy Gildas, I am finally able to enjoy this album that was one of the Isles' rarest, but has become rather common (all things considered) in the new millennium. Greenwood was an ex-Crazy World, and will also be the bassist on the great and sole album of Khan in the same year of release of his only solo album. This album came after Space Shanty, but sonically speaking, Cold Cuts is more related to the Crazy World than Khan, although it almost stands halfway between the two. Hillage leaving Khan for GonG, Steward heading for Hatfield, this left Greenwood (and drummer Peachy) to record his only solo effort, but he wrote the tracks with keyboardman Dick Heningway. Graced with an absolutely disgusting artwork, which only Krautrockers could surpass in terms of bad taste, this album is a very joyful explosion of Hammond-driven hard rock, with touches of brass jazz-rock, and a whole ton of wavy gravy psychedelic.

Starting off with the absolutely delightful and pastoral (at least at first) Sea Of Holy Pleasure (divided into three segments), where Heninghem's organ parts are definitely reminiscent of Crane, Stewart and even Emerson, and Bunk Gardner's (ex-Zappa and just having done some of the most incredible wind instrument playing on Tim Buckley's Starsailor) interventions on various brass instruments add incredible depth to an enormously progressive track. Throughout the album, you'll get bits of pure soulful brass- rock, some early influences of Egg, Arzachel, Khan (obviously), a touch of reedy blues-rock, and some more alert Oblivion Express and Affinity. Although the organ dominates, there is a good balance between brasses, flutes, guitars, piano and the odd string section and

Greenwood's voice is particularly well suited to this kind of music, which also uses the help of an inventive string section in Tudor- era music and an orgasmic flute of Hope/Ambitions. The succession of short organ-driven tracks is particularly enjoyable, because each develops its own ambiances: hear the flute making love to the organ in Corruption or Images or the superb backing vocals upping the ante over an Auger-like Hammond part in Big Machine. The aptly-titled Melancholy track even give the guitars a chance to dominate the underlying organ. The album closes on another superb track, Realisation And Death with plenty of dramatics and excellent interplay.

Over the last two decades many forgotten albums have been unearthed and called gems, but not many carry the same amounts of carats as this one. Actually this album is just as good as its closest two cousins (Crazy World of and Space Shanty), but it might lack a bit the historical importance of these two and therefore might not be so essential.

Aaaah, Greenwood, Greenwood, Greenwood........this album has long been a sought after relic for Prog-Heads and 70's music lovers of fine taste - it is worth an absolute fortune in its original press, but has since been re-issued on both CD and vinyl in recent years. That said, the Akarma vinyl pressing actually cuts the last track of side 1 by about one and a half minutes for some reason (??). Still, a very nice record. Being part of the phenomenal psychedelic ensemble 'Crazy World of Arthur Brown' as Bass- Player (I've always known the bassist of the Crazy World as going by the name of Sean Nicholas....) I speculate whether he joined Canterbury band KHAN *before* cutting this album, the production just isn't as 'lively' as Space Shanty.... Anyways, Nicholas recorded this one and only solo album full of highly inspired and quality tunes. As P.A.'s Guru reviewer Hugues points out, the sound is closer with the Crazy World than to Khan, but sometimes falls in between. Recruiting a great selection of musicians, the album opens with the magnificent, extended track 'A Sea Of Holy Pleasure - Parts 1-3', a beautifully composed and arranged piece show-casing the talents of the group - Dick Henningham on some heavy Hammond Organ (very Vincent Crane-like), luscious Flutes from Bunk Gardener, Nick's busy and effective Bass-lines and gorgeous vocals - sometimes he really lets loose), and a great Drummer in Eric Peachy (also of Steve Hillage's KHAN - Space Shanty being one of, if not THE best album this Prog-lover has the honour of owning and listening to). The overall sound is augmented by fine String and Brass arrangements, giving the music a more diverse flavour. Elsewhere the album offers some Bluesy moments (Big Machine, Melancholy), definate psychedelic passages (Hopes/Ambitions, in particular), some accessible and extremely catchy songs (if they were 'covered' these days, they could well be hits - Lead Me On, Close The Doors and Promised Land), and deep and introspective pieces in Corruption (with lyrics Ozzy Osbourne would be proud of), Mirror Images and Realisation/Death. In all cases, the sound is shared freely and evenly between all the performers (the Organ playing couldn't be better), and I can give my 100 % recommendation by saying this album is a solid 4 stars. Treasure the moments.

This really is a special album, but I must admit though that it is surprising how much more it sounds like Proto-Prog or Heavy-Prog(as Tom Ozric told me it would) than it does Canterbury. Greenwood was involved in two significant releases that year(1972), besides this his solo album, he was also the bass player for KHAN's "Space Shanty" album that I love so much. For "Cold Cuts" he enlisted a string quartet,fellow KHAN member and drummer Eric Peachey, and ex MOTHERS OF INVENTION woodwind player Bunk Gardiner. On keyboards we have Dick Heninghem, who would also share in composing all of the songs along with Greenwood.

"A Sea Of Holy Pleasure Parts I, II, III" is my favourite track on here. It opens with water sounds as piano and flute take over. More water running can be heard before powerful organ runs takes over and a full sound 1 1/2 minutes in. The tempo picks up. Great sound. Some nice bass 3 minutes in but the organ play is killer. A calm after 5 minutes as the flute leads the way and vocals arrive for the first time after 5 1/2 minutes. "Hope / Ambitions" opens with strings as a catchy beat comes in. This is great ! Vocals arrive as flute and drums stand out. Organ after 2 1/2 minutes. "Corruption" opens with piano but is quickly replaced by organ, drums and bass. Vocals and strings follow. This is a mid-paced tune with the strings coming and going. "Lead Me On" is a fairly straight forward track with prominant vocals.

"Big Machine" has a nice rhythm to it. It actually reminds me of THE DOORS a little. Probably the organ play. Guitar comes in at 2 minutes to end it. "Close The Doors" is a piano / drum / vocal led tune. The vocals are quite passionate on this one. The guitar that comes in late is a highlight as well as the organ. "Melancholy" is led by the piano, drums and vocals, but it's the emotional guitar playing that comes and goes that stirs me. "Images" opens with drums, vocals and organ. Flute 2 minutes in. "Promised Land" features some dramatic vocals at times. "Realisation And Death" features reserved vocals with organ, bass and drums. Strings after 2 minutes. Emotional vocals 4 minutes in as he cries out "Bring out your dead !" Some fantastic organ follows.

So a hidden gem from 1972 that I really liked from the first time I heard it. Like I said, I really believe this is a special record although the album cover is a little weird with the cold cuts shaped like a person piled on a chair(haha).

The Canterbury label fooled me a bit here and I went ahead and bought this album.

I did not know there was a place called Canterbury in the south-states of USA. Because that's where the sound comes from. This is more Georgia than Kent. The vocals is most definate in the blues land. The brass and the keyboards somewhere in the soul scene and the guitars somewhere around the hard rock scene. The songs are a cross of hard rock, heavy-prog, blues, the 1960s rock'n'roll and soul. But from the shadows of the Canterbury Cathedral, it ain't.

After surviving the initial shock (fingers crossed), I find the songs reasonable good. The opening track A Sea Of Holy Pleasure and the two closing tracks Promised Land and Realisation And Death are good. The rest of the songs are OK. All songs are varied and have structures that fits into the progressive rock category. They would also interest fans of the first two WHITESNAKE albums. My ProgArchive profile would tell you that I am a symphonic prog fan. Heavy prog is not my field of pleasure. So I am only giving this album a low score. But as always; check out this album on your own.

2 stars

The Apprentice of Hell-fire Gets His Fingers Burnt

I think it must have been the Arthur Brown connection that piqued my interest for this album. Being a very sad old mammal who scours the internet, garage sales and council refuse dumps for anything remotely connected with Mr Brown, I was commensurately 'well chuffed' to finally lay my trembling paws on this obscure 1972 oddity. Ain't it funny that the adrenaline rush you get when coaxing the holy grail out of hiding never matches that of supping from the beaker? Regardless, there are treasures to behold on this fine disc together with a few of those stubborn 'hard to shift' stains left by substances unknown but unmistakeably the handiwork of Brownian Motion. I mean check out the cover and tell me a sedentary homunculus made out of rashers of rotting bacon is the fruit of a well adjusted loop?. Greenwood bailed from the 'Crazy World of Arthur Brown' just before Arthur steered his vehicle into a head on collision with his own coming in the opposite direction. Or if you prefer, their erstwhile drummer Carl Palmer's version: after touring on the back of the success of the global smash Fire, the band were stuck in New York unable to gig as Arthur's sabbatical into 'Black Mysticism' prevented him from performing. I also read somewhere that another band-member was incarcerated in a psychiatric institution? (The God Of Hell-fire must have been a taxing paymaster)

Greenwood's career after his short stint in the excellent Canterbury steeped Khan and subsequent solo début appears to have stalled. This is a great pity as the promise shown on Cold Cuts would indicate he could have had a very large future in bluesy heavy/psyche/acid prog (Kinda just trips off the tongue don't it?) However I have long suspected that many of the lyrics on this album indicate our Nicholas was one of those sensitive and selfless souls not remotely equipped to deal with the 'pushy quicksand' that is the music industry circa 1972. There is a jaded disillusion never far below the surface of this music and wedded to an unflinching honesty for the cant and hypocrisy of a counter-culture he portrays as being increasingly pursued under the counter, Mr G may have decided that his integrity would be a trailer for a movie that's shorter than the trailer.

The opening triumvirate instrumental A Sea of Holy Pleasure, could double as a roll call of Greenwood's recent past and acknowledged influences. The spectre of the 'Crazy World' haunts this particular medium and similar examples of such a style can be sourced from the writing and arrangements of the late Vincent Crane. A very robust and malleable critter that undergoes many transformations and reaches several peaks before the end. I love Heningham's melancholic piano arpeggios on the intro which imply rather than state the impending harmonies directly. There is a soulful and accessible mood at play here which prevents the instrumentation, as accomplished as it is, from ever dashing with indecent haste into Fancy Dan's Smarty Pants Over Clever Clogs apparel. Those of you who likes yer Hammond chops 'well fired' are in for a treat here as the organ timbres served up are finger lickin' crunchy.

The chamber strings that introduce Hope/Ambitions make for an unlikely setting upon which to mount Greenwood's plaintive bluesy holler but this combination works incredibly well. A robust song featuring some neurotically restive flute from Bunk Gardner (the source of whose disquiet may have been forged as a Zappa reedsman?) Even at this stage in the proceedings, the tentative outline of the album's thematic compass is revealed in a lyric about a naive young man with nascent dreams of a successful music career with his best gal by his side.

Corruption - Very familiar territory for Arthur Brown fans being a slow lurching organ drenched waltz and although the Greenwood tonsils are not in the same league as his mentor Brown, the passion for having an individual find his own unique path through life and the sincerity it is couched in make them practically indistinguishable:

Foolish romantic sons are never successful Don't take a chance when you know that my way you'll be safe

Lead Me On - Like so much on Cold Cuts, this carries more than a distant echo of what Norman Haines band Locomotive was hatching circa the We Are Everything You See album with both the candid song-writing style and blues inflected delivery well to the fore. Credible jazzy brass arrangements are a lot harder to accomplish than they make it sound here (as even someone as distinguished as George Martin's efforts come across like Herb Alpert sounding the retreat)

Big Machine - Transparently caustic metaphor for a music industry which may even have stolen a march on Floyd's Welcome to the Machine ? Either way, Greenwood laments the 'singing sausages' that started life as an untamed and free beast of the field. Perhaps the flimsiest offering to the 'beast' so far as it never develops much further than late 60's pastiche but does by way of mitigation, sound uncannily like Ray Davies of the Kinks on the tag line to the verses.(That's a damn fine thing in my book)

Close the Doors - This on its own is worth the admission price alone. Although Greenwood would be the first to admit he is not a songwriter on a sustained par with Ray Davies, Pete Townshend, Gary Brooker or Norman Haines, he has in this number anything as good as that realised by his aforementioned peers and one of my favourite songs of all time.

I would gladly release all my lofty ambitions For the chance to be with someone Just close the doors and I'm not free She's clouded my brain so I can't see Melting before a vision of tenderness With the presence on earth of such faceless beauty

As a succinct expression of the unlimited power we divest in the beloved on account of our overriding need to love and be loved, I can't think of better in the entire realm of popular music. Nuff said.

Melancholy - Borderline filler from the 'Melisma Posing as Memorable Tune School of Song Craft' (Principal: G Hughes Esq)

Images - Another rather nondescript and uninspired 3 minutes and yes, things are starting to drag hereabouts. An initially interesting angular melody but like a suntanned goth, quickly pales as it vainly rummages for a suitable holiday destination.

Promised Land - Oh ye of little faith (i.e. principally your reviewer) but this is a beautiful and stirring pleasurecade from a bullet-proof limo that consigns the previous two tracks as tiny distant specks on the event horizon. It should also be self-evident that our protagonist has entered the spiritual realm in his quest to give a sense and a purpose for his existence.

Realisation and Death - Via this chirpy little lament we have of course come 'dead stop' to the final cycle of any man's life and the preceding conceptual thread should now be cast into stark relief. More beautiful string writing and the sumptuous organ carries an apt liturgical feel reinforced by a hushed urgency from Greenwood's vocal. It could be deemed a bit prone to some panto funereal gravitas but 'all over bar the shouting', a very strong closing statement for the album. Speaking of shouting, such is my (uncharacteristic) ambivalence here that I still cannot decide if the yelled Bring Out Your Dead to the fade is comic, chilling, clumsy or moving (Maybe an amalgam of all four)

Throughout Cold Cuts Nicholas Greenwood communicates very directly and often movingly so, what it's like to be a moral creature in a world where such concerns are considered either a weakness or a hindrance, and that's considerably more than any bloated banquet that prog ever served up.

So wherever you ended up after this Nicholas, be it delivering mail for the post office in remotest rural Wales or opening up your own Balaclava repair shop, I just want you to know that if you're reading this, you managed to touch this rodent's world however tenuously and briefly on this album recorded all those years ago and for that I thank you.

A forgotten, and ultimately flawed, gem this is. This used to be very rare, but isn't anymore, of course.

Bassist Nicholas Greenwood (a.k.a. Sean Nicholas) had been a member of The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown and would soon become part of the short-lived band Khan, but in the time between both stints, he would record his first and only solo record, entitled Cold Cuts.

Cold Cuts is, most of the time, a blues album, but also is a collection of sometimes surprisingly not-very-orthodox compositions, all featuring very prominent and inventive Hammond organ playing by Dick Heninghem (also a future member of Khan).

Regarding Nick Greenwood himself, he and his intonations sometimes remind me of Ozzy Osbourne, but with a lot more feeling, colour, and a wider range, with the more dramatic passages also sounding a bit like Arthur Brown. The bass is buried in the mix, but if you ever heard Space Shanty, you know how it is: fat but sensitive.

The music is very ecletic, even if the blues is the main style, including nice touches of classical music, jazz and psychedelia, making up for a certain diversity in atmosphere and different moods.

And the pieces: "A Sea Of Holy Pleasure" is a multi-part mini-suite that sounds very delicate in the beginning, bombastic in the middle and jazzy in the end, but has some indentity to be actually very good, in spite of the relatively weak lyrics; "Hopes-Ambitions" is based on a play of dynamics, constantly changing backwards and forwards from mellow to hard, though never heavy; "Corruption" is where comparisions between Greenwood and Ozzy come to mind, sometimes I just think I'm listening to Black Sabbath, perhaps the lyrics and music have a lot to do with it; "Lead Me On" is built almost exclusively on a splendid hook but the trick is overdone; "Big Machine" resembles "Cerdes (Outside The Gates Of)" in almost every way, including similarly bombastic organ, sombre vocals and understated drumming, but the backing vocals set this apart from Procol Harum and closer to blues itself, and are definitely an acquired taste; "Close The Doors" has a brighter sound but the message is as clear and simplistic as the "A Sea Of Holy Pleasure"; "Melancholy" could have worked better with a different texture, here it just sounds a self-parody; "Images" stays static for most of it's duration, creating the impression that something big is about to happen but never really does; the drama that lies within the vocals and music of "Promised Land" is one of the only high points of "Cold Cuts" for me; "Realisation and Death", another high point, closes the record achieving what "Images" tried but failed, a piece so static that when the grand finale comes it's almost like the world is crumbling around the listener.

It's a good album, even if it gets very tiring after repeated listens. I would not recommend it for a prog fan since there are not many things I would consider particularly proggy, but may be very much a good buy for those who have a taste for the blues and John Lord-like Hammond Organ.

Nicholas Greenwood didn't do much music after this record, maybe because he got as drained by it as some people may be.

Nick Greenwood's main claim to fame is being part of the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, and fans of the Canterbury scene also know him as a member of Steve Hillage's short-lived group Khan, but his sole solo effort - Cold Cuts - hasn't remotely received the attention that either of the other two has enjoyed over the years. It's an interesting blend of the dramatic psychedelia of the Crazy World and the trippier brand of Canterbury that Khan specialised in, and whilst it isn't a classic on the level of the Crazy World's debut, or even the sole Khan album, for those who are into psychedelic/Canterbury obscurities it isn't a complete waste of time.

At the same time, Greenwood still seems to be finding his musical voice here and the album is a little hit-and-miss; it's a shame his solo career ended here, since it would have been interested to see what he came up with had he persisted and boiled down the influences here into a cohesive sound of his own.

A solo effort from a sidekick, who never got out of shadow.

Nick Greenwood was a bass player who played alongside Arthur Brown or Steve Hillage in Khan. He released only one solo album throughout his career - "Cold Cuts". He recruited his fellow Khan drummer Eric Peachey, Frank Zappa's saxophone player Bunk Gardner, Chris Pritchard from a folk group Silly Wizard, Bryn Howarth, a guitarist who would later be known for his religious projects and a few other musicians, who were only to be known through this project. The main wonder of this album is the incredible keyboardist Dick Henningham, who made his only appearance on this album.

Music of "Cold Cuts" does have strains of early Canterbury scene acts, however what comes to mind as soon as you put on the record is the influence of Colosseum. The opening track "A Sea Of Holy Pleasure", which I consider the best and most representative of the album, could very well be recorded by Colosseum. Following tunes are kept in a similar mood with soul-jazz elements being put on the first plan. Brass instruments appear here an there and even some strings (track "Hope Ambitions"). "Cold Cuts" doesn't quite have a feel of being a strict progressive rock record, but rather psychedelic rock with sparkling jazz and blues-rock passages. The musicianship throughout the whole work is amazing and Greenwood's voice is qutie unique with an interesting color, perfectly suited for the music.

It's a shame that Nick Greenwood's only solo effort has been lost in time. "Cold Cuts" has a very strong potential and it would be great to see a follow-up of this one. Albeit lacking in places, this is a very solid release made by phenomenal musicians, who have not had a lot of luck. Highly recommended!

Think not of Canterbury but of Crossover and straight up rock n roll if one track were to be done away with.

Track one opens nicely with piano then transitions to a non fuzz organ, organ solo. The final section is flute and some vocals that should please fans of Khan. It's a fine track, definitely the most memorable.

After this one gets rock music in the tradition of The Rolling Stones circa late sixties/seventies. There is some variety, piano ballads (Close The Doors) Realisation and Death builds up neatly for a good finish to the album. The lyrics are also pretty solid, very down to earth, no fantasy here.

Overall I think this is a fine album that would appeal to fans of Rock music more then one interested in the land between Jazz Fusion and Progressive Rock such as myself. Canterbury Sound Score 2/5

NICHOLAS GREENWOOD ( born Sean Nicholas Greenwood ) is a British musician who had his day in the late 1960s and early 1970s during the heyday of the early evolution of the English progressive rock scene. As Sean Nicholas he was the bassist for The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and appeared on that band's hit album of 1968 and stuck around until the next year when the band broke up but quickly moved on to join ranks with Steve Hillage and the crew in Khan in time to release that band's lauded prog classic "Space Shanty" in 1972 while the same year also contributed bass and vocals to the newly formed Jonesy which released its debut "No Alternative the same year.

The year 1972 was a busy one as GREENWOOD also found the time to recruit an interesting group of musicians and record his one and only album COLD CUTS which also came out in the year. Some of the recruits from GREENWOOD's past included members from Khan: drummer Eric Peachy and keyboardist DIck Henninghem as well as woodwind maestro Bunk Gardner who played with Frank Zappa and Tim Buckley. Henninghem also played with GREENWOOD along with Atomic Rooster founder Vincent Crane with Arthur Brown. All in all GREENWOOD had a very productive late 60s and early 70s but after this album he completely disappeared from the music scene altogether but as far as i know he is alive and well in his native UK.

COLD CUTS featured GREENWOOD on vocals and bass but also hosted eleven extra musicians who contributed two guitar parts, keyboards, woodwinds, violins, viola, cello, percussion and harmonic vocal additions. While many of these musicians had played together many times in the past, COLD CUTS sounded nothing like any of the bands that any of these guys had played in. While lumped into the British Canterbury Scene due to GREENWOOD's involvement in Khan, this album does not come off as an immediate candidate for that quirky subgenre that mostly focuses on off-kilter jazz-rock however many artists such as Steve Hillage himself, Khan and others somehow got lumped into the Canterbury crowd by mere association rather than musical stylistic approaches.

This is one of those albums that has a varied approach ranging from proto-prog bluesy rock to orchestrated prog with heavy emphasis on keyboards sounding something like a mix of Atomic Rooster, Hillage's first band Arzachel and well, the brass rock style of bands like Blood, Sweat and Tears. This is a Hammond organ dominated album mostly with strong rock guitar and bass led grooves along with heavy psych keyboard heft. A careful listen though will reveal moments of Canterbury stitched into the overall tapestry of the musical flow albeit subtle and fleeting but then again i would never associate Steve Hillage's "Fish Rising" or even Robert Wyatt's "Rock Bottom" as Canterbury jazz-rock either and yet they sit comfortable in that pigeon-holed subgenre.

For all the sophisticated arrangements and instrumentation this album has a lot of soul as there are lots of funky grooves and best of all GREENWOOD himself delivers excellent vocal performances with a wide range which is a surprise considering his career was as a bassist. His singing style is actually better than many supposedly "real" singers in various prog bands! While the album sounds a tad retro in some ways especially following in the footsteps of the cutting edge Khan project, COLD CUTS is chock filled with excellent musicianship with tight knit playing that delivers a beautiful mix of prog rock, blues and jazzy brass rock. Add to that the atmospheres are impeccable. They excel at creating a certain mood without ever sounding cheesy, forced or insincere. Perhaps not the top of the heap of what the Canterbury artists had to offer, COLD CUTS is a fascinating and unique contribution to the world of prog where several stylistic approaches intersect.