Buggles and the The Age of Plastic
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Bands, Artists and Genres Appreciation
Forum Description: Discuss specific prog bands and their members or a specific sub-genre
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=122387
Printed Date: March 08 2025 at 16:57
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Topic: Buggles and the The Age of Plastic
Posted By: Ghost Whistler
Subject: Buggles and the The Age of Plastic
Date Posted: March 01 2020 at 09:39
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Are they/Is this prog? After all, and before Trev went on to produce the worst music ever made (with obvious exceptions), the Buggles did join Yes and hugely influenced the sound. Drama is a great album. Fly From Here is pretty decent (the main suite at least, which they wrote) even after Trev disrespected Benoit David by erasing him from history (not relevant, but I wanted to say it because it was such a crappy thing to do). The Age of Plastic is the first Buggles record and while it might not be Apocalypse in 9/8 or Tales from Topographic Shoe Shops, it's quirky in its own poppy way and quite fun. But is it prog?
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Replies:
Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: March 01 2020 at 10:53
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I love the Buggles. Their album is a new wave classic for sure but not even remotely prog. If only we had a prog by association category but then we'd be as big as rate your music -------------  https://rateyourmusic.com/~siLLy_puPPy |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: March 01 2020 at 11:43
| How the heck did Trevor Horn erase Benoit David from history? |
Posted By: lazland
Date Posted: March 01 2020 at 13:15
I think he is referring to the last iteration of Fly From Here not featuring said Benoit. ------------- Enhance your life. Get down to www.lazland.org Now also broadcasting on www.progzilla.com Every Saturday, 4.00 p.m. UK time! |
AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: March 01 2020 at 13:18
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Geez-us H. Cripes, no. ------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: Ghost Whistler
Date Posted: March 01 2020 at 13:39
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Trevor took Fly From Here and re recorded all the vocals himself. It's called Fly Frome Here Return Trip. It's a good performance but I prefer the original and think it shows massive disrespect to the original, perfectly good, performance
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Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: March 01 2020 at 13:41
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^ This re-recording nonsense makes no sense to me, but I gave up on Yes years ago. ------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: Ghost Whistler
Date Posted: March 01 2020 at 13:54
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Makes no sense to me either. It's just the ego of a world famous producer IMO. That said, he does (more or less) a good job. It's a decent enough album - far better than Heaven and Earth. I prefer it to Magnification. Anyway Buggles be good. Not sure I'd call them New Wave though
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Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: March 01 2020 at 13:58
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^ New Wave or 80s synth pop. Both fit. ------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: BrufordFreak
Date Posted: March 01 2020 at 18:43
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As proggy as The Flaming Lips or The Cure or doves or dare I say it, Kate Bush! ------------- Drew Fisher https://progisaliveandwell.blogspot.com/ |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: March 02 2020 at 22:39
From the beginning I was not up to the Idea of the Return Trip thing... I saw no point for it, and I loved Benoit's vocals on the original release, so I was never going to give it a fair chance... however, how I wish Horn would do the same thing with Heaven and Earth (which of course he doesn't have any reason to do so, since he has no relation to the writing of that album)... both the mix and the vocals could be very much improved by him. |
Posted By: cstack3
Date Posted: March 03 2020 at 00:25
Yeah, that was a really crappy thing to do. ------------- I am not a Robot, I'm a FREE MAN!! |
Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: March 03 2020 at 01:26
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It's not prog rock by any stretch, but it's a very good electro pop album. I really liked the Buggles back in the day. I think I was 10 when this album came out and I had the singles, Plastic Age and Video Killed the Radio Star. I had no idea who Yes were at the time. I only bought the Age of Plastic album years later, and it still gets the ocassional spin, for reasons of nostalgia more than anything else I guess. When I did eventually buy the Drama album in about 1984, I remember my friend and I listening for the first time and laughing how the singer looked and sounded like "that guy from the Buggles!"  I had heard 90125, and realised that it was a different singer, then I learned that the 90125 producer was the singer on Drama and 50% of the Buggles (and of course how Downes was also a Buggle!) It all fell into place. The Buggles were great fun, and very original sounding at the time. Looking back, I'm not really surprised how they caught the ear of Chris Squire. They had a fantastic ear for melody and combined the use of synth and guitar in a way Gary NUman did in the early years, but with a slightly more 'rock' edge. Plastic Age remains one of my favourite pop tunes of all time. ------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: April 04 2020 at 06:52
| I love both their albums - Plastic Age moreso. Kind of Proggy/synth-pop. Trevor plays some awesome bass on the debut. I recall him (Horn) saying it took 27 musicians to replicate the studio song of Video Killed the Radio Star in a live environment. Go Downes !! |
Posted By: Lewian
Date Posted: April 04 2020 at 07:02
That's well said, but the "is it prog" question doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It has some charm and a few highlights, after hearing "Plastic Age" I bought it and wouldn't mind listening to it again, but it's nowhere near my favourites from that time, and I think there's quite a bit of filler on it. And if it's prog it means that the "prog" term doesn't mean anything (which of course is a legitimate point of view in its own right).
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Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: April 04 2020 at 07:13
| You could place Vermillion Sands on any Prog ‘compilation’ and it would certainly get the tick of approval. Electro-Pop is the order of the day, though much more advanced than most. |