Mabel Greer's Toyshop
From Yes
Mabel Greer's Toyshop didn't release any discs during the six months or so they were in existence, but did include future members of Yes (guitarist Peter Banks bassist Chris Squire) and vocalist Jon Anderson in their lineup. Banks and Squire had been in the band The Syn, which made a couple of good psychedelic pop singles in 1967. At the end of that year, while still in The Syn, they began playing in Mabel Greer's Toyshop as well. The Syn folded for good a couple of months later, but Mabel Greer's Toyshop continued until mid-1968; changing their name to Yes in August 1968.
In their short lifetime, Mabel Greer's Toyshop did manage to record a session for the BBC radio program Top Gear hosted by John Peel. Three of these eventually showed up on a compilation of British psychedelic rarities, Dustbin Full of Rubbish. The fourth, along with three studio demos, surfaced on Peter Banks: Can I Play You Something?, which in large part collated odds and ends from his pre-Yes bands. For all that, Mabel Greer's Toyshop were a progressive British psychedelic band, capable of churning out fluttering distorted guitar lines on oddly structured songs with pretty harmonies. Only one song, Beyond and Before, made it to the first Yes album.
[edit] Band Members
- Peter Banks - Guitar
- Chris Squire - Bass
- Jon Anderson - Vocals
- Clive Bailey - Guitar, Vocals
- Bob Hagger - Drums
- Bill Bruford - Drums
