GOING SOUTH

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.

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.

Miles away (from Prog)

Going South is a relaxing keyboard album that may perhaps be categorised as New-Age. There are many albums of its kind made by progressive Rock heroes like those albums Steve Howe did with Paul Sutin or many of the albums in Anthony Phillips's Private Parts & Pieces-series. However, there are also here some parts that are in a more jazzy vein, soft Jazz that is.

All the sounds are created by Dave himself on his keyboards and the programmed rhythms and he even produces and mixes the abum himself. Hence, this is a solo album in the true sense of the word and it has nothing whatsoever to do with Greenslade (the band).

It is a pleasant listen, very easy on the ear, and never offensive. However, it is also totally lacking in anything remotely progressive and as such is of very limited interest even to people on this site. I works well as background music, but I would recommend it only to fans and collectors of everything Greenslade.

This CD was originally released by Mystic in 1999 when it was credited to Dave Greenslade, not Greenslade the band (which is how it is stated on the Angel Air 2004 reissue). I think if anyone approached this thinking that they were going to discover some of the presence of that great outfit then they will be sadly disappointed. It was only when thinking about the title that it got me thinking and I looked through some old issues and lo and behold discovered that I reviewed this album in #56. I pretty much damned it then, and hearing it again years later hasn't done much to change my mind. This is an ambient New Age album from a keyboard player who has produced some stunning work in the past, both with Greenslade and with Colosseum, but this isn't it. Angel Air have some live Greenslade albums available and they are both much better than this which can only ever be viewed as background music.

Originally appeared in Feedback #80, Sept 2004