Biography
Mabel Greer's Toyshop issued no recordings across their brief span, yet their lineup incorporated two musicians who would soon help form Yes: guitarist Peter Banks and bassist Chris Squire.
Banks and Squire had already worked together in Syn, the act that put out a pair of strong psychedelic pop singles throughout 1967.
Late that same year, while still active in Syn, they also began performing with Mabel Greer's Toyshop.
Syn dissolved permanently within a few months, but Mabel Greer's Toyshop carried on until the middle of 1968; immediately after that group split, Banks and Squire became founding members of Yes.
During their short run, Mabel Greer's Toyshop did complete a session for the BBC program Top Gear.
Three tracks from the broadcast later appeared on the British psychedelic rarities anthology Dustbin Full of Rubbish.
The fourth cut, together with three studio demos, turned up on Peter Banks' Can I Play You Something?, a release that largely gathered stray material from his pre-Yes projects.
Even so, Mabel Greer's Toyshop remained an ordinary but agreeable British psychedelic band, skilled at producing fluttering distorted guitar figures inside irregularly built songs that featured attractive harmonies.
None of the preserved numbers, however, rank as especially memorable, and all fall well below the strongest material Banks and Squire supplied for Syn's singles.
Banks and Squire had already worked together in Syn, the act that put out a pair of strong psychedelic pop singles throughout 1967.
Late that same year, while still active in Syn, they also began performing with Mabel Greer's Toyshop.
Syn dissolved permanently within a few months, but Mabel Greer's Toyshop carried on until the middle of 1968; immediately after that group split, Banks and Squire became founding members of Yes.
During their short run, Mabel Greer's Toyshop did complete a session for the BBC program Top Gear.
Three tracks from the broadcast later appeared on the British psychedelic rarities anthology Dustbin Full of Rubbish.
The fourth cut, together with three studio demos, turned up on Peter Banks' Can I Play You Something?, a release that largely gathered stray material from his pre-Yes projects.
Even so, Mabel Greer's Toyshop remained an ordinary but agreeable British psychedelic band, skilled at producing fluttering distorted guitar figures inside irregularly built songs that featured attractive harmonies.
None of the preserved numbers, however, rank as especially memorable, and all fall well below the strongest material Banks and Squire supplied for Syn's singles.