The band made their live debut at Frankfurt's Zoom Club in November 1972. Longtime musical associates, with a common background in jazz, Greenslade and Reeves had been original members of Colosseum. The two decided they wanted to form a band with two keyboardists. At the time, Reeves was A&R director for the independent progressive label Greenwich Gramophone Co., and he invited Dave Lawson of Samurai, a commercially struggling act with the label, to become part of the group.[1] Lawson was previously a member of The Alan Bown Set and Web, whilst drummer Andrew McCulloch was briefly a member of King Crimson and Fields.[2]
Greenslade's third album, Spyglass Guest was their most commercially successful, reaching number 34 in the UK Albums Chart. Reeves left shortly after the album was finished so that he could focus on his career as a producer,[5] and was replaced on the U.S. tour and subsequent fourth album Time And Tide by Martin Briley, who also contributed guitar and backing vocals. Briley came to the group under the recommendation of Lawson, who had met him while doing session work.[5]
Greenslade announced their disbandment in early 1976 due to management problems.[2] The band felt their management company, Gaff Management, were not a good fit for them and wanted to sign with another big management company who had expressed interest in them, so they asked to be released from their contract. According to Dave Greenslade, "they told me they'd let us go if we paid them an absolute fortune. I didn't have that kind of money available, and therefore had no chance of getting away from them. This really soured our relationship to such an extent that, in the end, I split up the band to get away from them."[6] Dave Greenslade went on to record his debut solo album, Cactus Choir, in late 1976 and then in early 1977 put together a new band line-up with ex-Manfred Mann's Earth Band frontman Mick Rogers. Initially the rhythm section consisted of Dave Markee and Simon Phillips, who had played on the album, but they were replaced by Tony Reeves (who had in the meantime joined Curved Air) and Jon Hiseman (then concurrently leading his own Colosseum II) for the 1977 dates.[2]
In 2000, Greenslade and Reeves, after considering a full-blown reunion of the original line-up, teamed up with vocalist/keyboardist John Young, and recorded a new Greenslade studio album: Large Afternoon. Drummer John Trotter joined in time for a subsequent tour, during which the live album Greenslade 2001 – Live: The Full Edition was recorded. The album was released in 2002. John Trotter left the group the following year to move to Australia, and was to be replaced by James Gambold, but nothing further happened.
After Greenslade's original breakup, Dave Lawson went on to be a much-in-demand session musician, as well as playing with Roy Harper and later Stackridge. Thereafter he composed for film and television, including soundtracks for advertisements for British Gas and others. Martin Briley had a moderately successful solo career before finding work as a songwriter for popular artists such as Celine Dion and NSYNC. Andrew McCulloch left the music industry, obtained a Masters Certificate and pursued a career in sailing.
