Glencoe -

Glencoe was an English rustic-rock band behind the 1972/73 Epic albums Glencoe and The Spirit of Glencoe. They featured ex-Skip Bifferty/ARC guitarist John Turnbull, former Greatest Show on Earth bassist Norman Watt-Roy, and Forever More alumnus Stuart Francis. Turnbull and Watt-Roy cut a 1976 album in Loving Awareness and joined Ian Dury’s Blockheads.

Members: Stuart Francis (drums, vocals), Mick Travis [Mick Strode] (lead guitar, vocals, 1971-72), Onnie McIntyre (guitar, 1971-72), Alan Gorrie (bass, vocals, 1971-72), Graham Maitland (keyboards, vocals, 1972-74), Norman Watt-Roy (bass, vocals, 1972-74), John Turnbull (guitar, vocals, 1972-74)

Background

Glencoe emerged from the breakup of Forever More, a Scottish rock band with drummer Stuart Francis. They took their name from a valley in the West Scottish Highlands.

Glencoe

Glencoe released their self-titled debut album in October 1972 on Epic.

The album builds song-based structures from piano-led textures and tightly arranged electric interplay. John Turnbull offsets clipped rhythm lines and lyrical leads against Graham Maitland’s sustained organ voicings and syncopated electric piano. Norman Watt-Roy anchors the harmonic shifts with responsive counterpoint and co-writes the closer with associate Mickey Gallagher.

Glencoe moves between reflective keyboard ballads and uptempo electric passages. “Airport” opens with sharpened urgency and expands into a harmonized jam where organ and guitar trade prominence. “Look Me in the Eye” rides a steady piano pulse under fuzz-toned guitar and subtle harmonic shifts. “Lifeline” stays subdued, focused on layered keys and wordless vocal textures. “Telephonia” pivots to a quicker pace with darting guitar over syncopated electric piano. “It’s” and “Book Me for the Flight” ease back into slower instrumental flow, where long organ tones and electric piano fills stretch the form. “Hay Fever” tightens the phrasing and quickens the pulse with brisk alternation between keyboard runs and guitar lines. The ensemble maintains density with texture and rhythmic rotation.

A1. “Airport” (5:00) – Maitland, Reed
A2. “Look Me in the Eye” (4:10) – Maitland, Reed
A3. “Lifeline” (5:45) – Maitland, Reed
A4. “Telephonia” (5:00) – Turnbull

B1. “It’s” (5:45) – Turnbull
B2. “Book Me for the Flight” (5:20) – Maitland
B3. “Hay Fever” (4:30) – Turnbull
B4. “Questions” (3:16) – Maitland
B5. “Sinking Down a Well” (4:54) – Turnbull, Gallagher

Glencoe recorded the album in June–July 1972 with Keith Harwood at Olympic Sound Studios and Morgan Studios. They self-produced the material under the direction of Don Shain for the Great Western Gramophone label. Hipgnosis designed the sleeve, which shows an oval-framed portrait of the hirsute quartet superimposed on a wheat field, backed with inverse imagery.

Epic lifted “Look Me In the Eye” in late September (b/w “Telephonia”), followed in January 1973 with “Airport” (b/w “It’s”).

The Spirit of Glencoe

Glencoe released their second album, The Spirit of Glencoe, in August 1973 on Epic.

The album expands their vocal-led blend of soul-influenced rock with an emphasis on electric–keyboard interplay and ambient transitions. Guitarist John Turnbull alternates compact lead passages and clipped fills against the layered keyboard textures of Graham Maitland, who frames each piece with electric piano voicings and string-synth undercurrents.

Ben Sidran adds acoustic piano to “Nothing (Is Between Us),” which also features Osibisa percussionist Kofi Aiyou. Gerald Johnson of the Steve Miller Band plays bass on “Song No. 22 (Om),” underscoring its ambient character with sustained low-end phrasing.

A1. “Friends of Mine” (3:39) – Maitland
A2. “Roll On Bliss” (3:23) – Turnbull
A3. “Strange Circumstance” (3:30) – Maitland
A4. “Nothing (Is Between Us)” (3:43) – Maitland
A5. “Is It You?” (4:11) – Maitland

B1. “Born in the City” (5:24) – Maitland
B2. “Arctic Madness” (1:09) – Maitland
B3. “To Divine Mother” (3:25) – Turnbull
B4. “Song No. 22 (Om)” (4:00) – Maitland
B5. “Two on an Island (In Search of a New World)” (4:32) – Maitland

Glencoe recorded and remixed The Spirit of Glencoe at CBS Studios in London with producer Ben Sidran and engineer Mike Ross. Ian Green arranged the string parts, and Walter Samuel assisted as tape operator. Richard Gerninaro handled the gatefold sleeve artwork and illustrations, issued by CBS under its Epic imprint.

Epic lifted “Friends of Mine” as a late July single (b/w “To Divine Mother”), followed in October with “Roll of Bliss” (b/w “Nothing (Is Between Us)”).

Discography: