Hard to imagine a market for this: a 16 disc UK box set…
For fans of third-division prog with 190 quid to spare…
Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Musings on the byways of popular culture
Musings on the byways of popular culture
Hard to imagine a market for this: a 16 disc UK box set…
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Silly money agreed, but I really like the first UK record, with Allan Holdsworth and Bill Bruford. The live one is great, too.
From what I’ve seen of clips of the reformed UK, Mr Wetton didn’t look that happy back at the mic. Stands rather peculiarly*, flicking at his bass with great disinterest.
* could be piles. . .
I couldn’t bear to watch that past about ten seconds. Can someone let me know how many of his seven keyboards Eddie Jobson actually played?
Their first album has its moments, Danger Money less so. I never explored any further, I did see them on their very first UK tour with Bruford and Holdsworth.
You’re sitting on the fence about this 16-discer, aren’t you?
Sorry Colin no. I wouldn’t cross the road to hear… oh I geddit. Now. Duh! me.
Gosh, I don’t expect people to be THAT easy to wind up, Blastmaster! 🙂
UK are doyens of the bargain bin all around the world, but I will confess to taking a brief interest in them, especially when Terry Bozio out of Zappa’s band was in the group
I have one of their singles – Nothing to Lose/In the Dead of Night. Can’t remember which is the A side. Quite fond of both tracks but not to the extent of feeling motivated to explore further.
Third division is a little harsh given the personnel, but I can see your point. I saw them a couple of times around 79/80. The first at Imperial College was incredible with Eddie Jobson thrashing his perspex electric violin being one the rock images I’d happily recall in my dotage. Unfortunately the second gig at The Venue, Victoria was dire and I switched off.
They reformed for a few gigs a couple of years ago and I confess I was tempted, but the tickets were stupidly expensive for a band that hadn’t made any ripples of activity for over thirty years. The content and cost of this box set is pointless and verging on exploitation. No thanks.
I thought about ‘second division’, Phil, but then I’d regard Atomic Rooster (whom I like very much) as second division – and yet they had hit singles. Regardless of the personnel in UK, they made no such impact on the wider public and nobody, as far as I know, has ever recalled them in a context other than as a footnote in some other story (eg ‘what John Wetton/whoever did in between Big Band X and Big Band Y)…
OK Colin, convinced. I’ll give you that one. All of which makes a ÂŁ190 box set even more incomprehensible. Perhaps their Japanese following is more affluent.
Third, fair assessment. On paper they were good but Bruford/Holdsworth/Bozzio/Jobson were just passing through. Wetton had been a perfectly adequate bassist in Family, then got promoted to singer in King Crimson, giving him delusions about being , you know, a singer. There’s the crux: if the word “lumpen” has ever meant anything, then surely as the ideal adjective to describe Wetton’s singing. Yes it has been bugging me for 40 years.