UK

This is a very solid release from UK (especially as a debut) but it seems to be lacking something, some pizazz maybe. Maybe as a fan of the Bill Bruford/John Wetton era of King Crimson I was expecting too much or something similar at least. But this is a pleasant surprise if you were expecting something along the lines of King Crimson's Red and Starless and Bible Black. Two great musicians are added to this dynamic rhythm section, Allan Holdsworth on guitar and Eddie Jobson on keyboards and violin.

The music is a lot lighter than expected from a (super) group containing Bill Bruford and John Wetton. It is different to such albums that feature this great rhythm section such Red and Starless and Bible Black. It is mainly Eddie Jobson that does this with his synthesizer (Yamaha CS-80) and its bright tone that makes this album sound like it came from 1980's instead of 1978. This, musically, is a mix between Asia and King Crimson (lighter songs from Bruford/Wetton era). Bruford and Holdsworth both bring a jazzy feel to the album while Wetton and Jobson bring a pop/rock (Wetton) and prog (Jobson) feel. The first three songs are a three track suite that has great keyboards on the final track of the suite (Presto Vivace and Reprise) before going into a reprise of the first track. Thirty Years supplies listeners with Jobson's superb keyboards and Nevermore supplies listeners with Jobson's superb keyboards and has some great guitar work from Holdsworth. Wetton's vocals (like the music) seem to be a mix of King Crimson albums he is featured on as well as Asia albums he is featured on. This album does have some great drum playing from Bruford and bass playing from Wetton as they show us why they are such a superb duo. It is too bad that they both had different ideas of where to go musically and so Bruford is not on the next album.

Some highlights (for me) include Presto Vivace and Reprise, Thirty Years, and Nevermore. Unfortunately this album suffers from sounding a bit too similar at times and thus detracts from what would be a higher rating. This has an overall sound of ranging from poppish rock at times to a light taste of King Crimson heavy. A wonderful listen but not too enthralling as one would expect from a band with Bruford and Wetton in the line up. 3½ /5 from me.

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