Following the release of the band’s sole self-titled debut album on the Warner Bros label in February of 1973 with critical acclaim and solid sales to continue with their next adventure, Greenslade marched forth to the beat of their own drum. The band had been on the road for a good while and audiences liked what they were doing. With the case of the band’s debut album, the compositions were never performed live.
So, what they decided to do with their next follow-up which was titled Bedside Manners are Extra which was released in November the same year, they wanted to play it live, prior to being recorded. According to the 2018 liner notes that was issued by the Cherry Red label Esoteric Recordings, keyboardist Dave Greenslade describes to the late Malcolm Dome on what made them to pursue that idea.
“What we did, as before, was to rehearse the songs a lot in an old church hall at the bottom of Stanmore Hill in Middlesex – I lived at the top of the hill at the time – so this made sure we had everything worked out before going into the studio. This was a financially sensible way of doing things. I know some bands in those days actually went into the studio without anything written, and did it all while they were in that environment”.
So, it was a smart idea for the quartet to go into the church to rehearse the material before going back into the same location at Morgan Studios in North West, London to have their compositions recorded in all of its glory. For a title like Bedside Manners are Extra, it showed Greenslade’s sense of humor.
For Lawson, who was inspired by the comedy radio shows such as The Goon Show and Hancock’s Half Hour, it gave he and Greenslade all of the ammunition that was needed. And they recorded the album in about nine days from July 23rd to the 31st because they had to do everything in one take.
They were at the studio from 2:00 in the afternoon until midnight. It does feel like a live album when you listen to Bedside, but the way that Greenslade, Lawson, Tony Reeves, and Andy McCulloch have done is to create a mystical, majestic, and symphonic adventure that’s stuck inside your brain for a very long time.
The moment the opening title-track begins with a sombering walk across the park between Reeves’ bass line, Greenslade’s jazzy piano texture, and harmonising vocals which has this Beach Boys orientation, Lawson is saying farewell to his childhood years and focusing on moving forward into the future.
There are some tugs to the McDonald & Giles album that comes to mind with its lyrical structure before the rain-dropping mellotron comes down with Lawson pleads to his loved-one to write him more often before it goes into a 10cc orientation with its pop-flavoured arrangement while setting up the preparation for battle on ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’.
This is prog-rock at its finest. You feel the cold, the bruised look on the warrior’s faces, the damage that has been done to them, and then heading back into this galloping arrangement with McCulloch’s drum patterns and the two-keyboardist walking into this Uriah Heep territory, followed by its nod to not just ELP, but Le Orme that comes to mind.
The power between the four musicians, is simply amazing. You can tell how much they have this brotherhood between each other, knowing that they have each other’s back when it comes to orchestrations and epic wonders that is beyond the horizon.
‘Time to Dream’ sounds like a brutal, funky-work out with its action-packed sequences straight out of either a Bruce Lee film, or out of the Blaxploitation-era in the 1970s with Pam Grier and Richard Roundtree starring together in a combination between Foxy Brown and Shaft fighting crime together and doing justice on their own term instead of the corruption that they see in front of their very eyes. Reeves makes his bass climb towards the top of the building in a nano second with Lawson and Greenslade, following him in pursuit, depending what the weather is.
I couldn’t tell who did what on the keyboard solo, maybe its Greenslade. But you can tell how much the jazz influences spark his fingers like electricity coming out of his hands during his Colosseum years before the wah-wah-like synths go into a crying momentum with the Mellotron setting up the fight that’s happening on the silver screen.
‘Drum Folk’ is where Andy McCulloch takes center stage during his composition. It starts off with a dooming militant march, resembling ‘Abaddon’s Bolero’ from ELP’s Trilogy album, with a swirling effect of the mellotron, setting up the light-speed momentum that is heading across the milky way.
Andy is on fire during his drum work. He plays in the styles of Buddy Rich and Bill Bruford with the band doing this fanfare arrangement to make sure he’s got all of the ammunition he needs before going into this insane improvisation.
Between his time with the Lizard-era of King Crimson and the short-lived progressive rock trio Fields, McCullouch doesn’t pull any punches. He hits those beats very hard by going all over the drumkit as if he’s sweating bullets like a madman. Not like Keith Moon, but coming to a complete halt as we head into the Mellotron forest to witness the magic that’s about to unfold in front of our very eyes.
‘Sunkissed You’re Not’ has that Traffic-sque lyrical structure in which the band pay homage to Steve Winwood’s vocal structure during the sessions for The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys and John Barleycorn Must Die. I mean I can imagine the band were admirers of Traffic when they were putting in the finishing touches on this soulful / jazz-like approach with mid-fast swing that comes out of the blue.
Closing up shop is ‘Chalk Hill’. It begins with a sort of bluesy-intro that Reeves channels on his bass to give Lawson and Greenslade the okay to get their jet engines ready and fly off into the night. The mellotron and synthesizers are the ones that go into a soaring wonder with its flight of fancy.
Then, they head back into the road with its down-home shuffle that’ll make you get off your couch and dance to the groove. It such a great way to end the album on a high note, knowing that Greenslade have accomplished their mission.
