UK

UK has two albums. One is a masterpiece and one is garbage. This one is the masterpiece. I find this as an amazing and influential album for it's influence on eclectic and jazz/fusion. We of course have Wetton leading it on vocals, and who can forget Bruford on drums? UK was a great album for 1978.

The album starts with a 13 minute epic separated into three different songs. "In the Dead of Night." The first part is the same name, it starts with a progressing beat and starts adding on. This has some wonderful synths throughout and doesn't have too bad lyrics either. The melodies flow well together. There is also a jazzing gutair solo which is very nice.

The first part fades down and you hear the second one, which is probably my favorite of the first suite. The title is opposite of the first, being "By the Light Of Day" The most relaxed part. After Wetton songs for a little, we get some "Awws" with violin and drums. Then the drums and synths take over more. Around three minutes and 20 seconds really touches me.

After By the Light of Day, you get a short drum build up and a crazy synth solo. This is "Presto Vivance and Reprise" After a minute of insane keyboards, the beginning of the suite is reprised, but also having the lyrics bring us back to the second part. The reprise is quite simple and short, bringing the In the Dead of Night suite to a close.

The next song is called "Thirty Years." This starts with an ambient feel, however, I never really liked the intro of this song. It sort of drags on. The main problem is that John Wetton does a terrible job singing on the beginning and you can't really understand what he is saying. I guess the first part isn't too bad, but it's not the best. After a little bit past three minutes, the song kicks in. This has some nice synths and guitar. The lyrics from the beginning part are reprised but song with different melodies. Once again, you can't really understand much of what Wetton is saying, but I still like this one.

The B-Side opens slowly with a more ambient sound, but better than in thirty years. This instermental is called "Alaska." It has a sort of frightening melody that you might hear in a horror movie. Around the 2 and a half minute mark, it kicks in with synths. It remains dark and scary but more intense now. Towards the end, they have piano and sound a bit like ELP.

Alaska segues into the next song, "Time to Kill". It opens with an "Aww" and singing. Piano is played through this song. It has a good chorus which I always quite liked. However, I was never a fan of the jazzier part of this with the violin solo. It's long and sort of boring and takes away from the rest of the song.

The next song is a masterpiece. "Nevermore." You know it's good because it starts with an accoustic gutair solo. Drums than build up and you get some lyrics. Like Time to Kill, piano is played a lot in this song. But it's more noticeable in a good way. The jazzy section that starts around three minutes is amazing. It has both synths and guitar kind of switching off. Then the melodies come in and you hear the title of the song sung. The end of the song is also very interesting. It sounds a little ambient and sort of like By the Light of Day. Wetton then songs the final vocals of the song and it ends with guitar.

The last song is called "Mental Medication." The lyrics are interesting and the guitar sounds different. It gets good when the drums come in and I love the melodies. Some of the meldies change the whole mode of the song for a few seconds and then go right back to how they were before. We then get a synth solo along with some piano and guitar. This lasts a little while, but then, we get one more violin solo to end the album. It's a really good one. The conclusion of the song reprises some lyrics and sort fades out on the same meldies.

This album is essential. It deserves 5 stars. There isn't much more to be said about that.

SONG RANKING

1. In the Dead of Night/By the Light of Day/Presto Vivance and Reprise 2. Nevermore 3. Mental Medication 4. Thirty Years 5. Alaska/Time to Kill

Favorite quote from album: "Can I stand, a dark life here, for one day more?" -From "Time to Kill"