Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: UK
Label: E.G. Records
Release: 1978
Length: 46:35
Rating: 5/5
UK were a progressive rock supergroup that formed in the late ’70s as one of the last attempts to revive the by-then seriously fading interest in prog rock and bring together some of the biggest names in the genre. Quite a few people see them as a kind of evolutionary link between King Crimson and Asia. However strange that sounds, especially if you compare the typical sonic traits of those two legendary bands, there’s plenty about this rather amusing metaphor that holds up. All you have to do is look at the names that made up this short-lived but undoubtedly cult band among fans of symphonic prog rock, one of the last that still kept the faith in the genre’s evolution at the time, and it all becomes clear.
The first seeds of UK were sown right after the (first) breakup of King Crimson, when bassist and singer John Wetton and drummer Bill Bruford, both among the most in-demand musicians of the day, suddenly found themselves without a band where they could actively contribute their own ideas and grow not just as players but as composers. While Wetton somehow landed on his feet and kept basking in the stage spotlight as the bassist of Uriah Heep and Roxy Music, Bruford, who had left the commercially more appealing Yes in 1972 to join King Crimson, had a much harder time getting over the collapse. Brief stints earning a living as a fill-in drummer for Gong and a touring drummer for Genesis didn’t satisfy him, and they didn’t suit his love for jazz fusion rock either.
After those short-lived experiences, the two decided to join forces again. The band’s original name was supposedly British Bulldog, but they went for a different name instead, and with it a different expression of British patriotism. At first they wanted Rick Wakeman on keyboards, but he had just decided to go back to Yes. In his place they brought in the versatile Eddie Jobson, who was not only an excellent keyboardist but also an outstanding electric violinist. Jobson, who first got himself noticed with the symphonic proggers Curved Air, was already an old acquaintance of theirs: they had first met when he, as a session musician, took care of the studio rearrangement of some parts on the King Crimson live album “USA”.
Later he and Wetton strengthened their ties in Roxy Music. But Eddie earned his greatest respect and musical standing as a former member of the lineup of the genius Frank Zappa. The last to join was jazz fusion rock guitar virtuoso Allan Holdsworth, a former Soft Machine member, after Eric Johnson had also been in the running for a while. Just running through those impressive names commanded respect from prog rock fans everywhere, and they could rightfully expect truly fantastic results. Unlike with Asia a few years later, they weren’t disappointed this time, more like enchanted.
The self-titled debut by UK was indeed brimming with exceptional compositional and technical perfectionism, combining most of the best elements of the members’ former bands, led by King Crimson and Yes. The overall picture of “UK” is marked by remarkable harmony within the virtuosity of the individual musicians, varied and multilayered symphonic and jazzy arrangements within the structure of each piece, jazz-style rhythmic branching, excellent vocal harmonies and the use of some unusual time signatures (for example the 7/4 riff on “In the Dead Of Night”, their best-known song, which plenty of music buffs also know from the cover by Swedish guitar megalomaniac Yngwie Malmsteen). There’s also plenty of room for the occasional sensuous electric violin solo and for the unconventional use of the Yamaha CS-80 synthesizer, with the help of which Jobson managed to capture an incredibly lively, full sound with great precision.
There isn’t a single weak track on the album. The standout is the already mentioned classic “In The Dead Of Night”, which, with its crossbreeding of jazzy rhythmic shifts, what was for the time almost revolutionary use of synthesizers and high melodicism, set some of the standards for prog rock in the following decade. And let’s not forget its contrasting counterpart “By The Light Of Day”, where the band shows itself to be a master of building contrasting, dramatically swelling atmospheres. The short instrumental “Presto Vivace And Reprise” is a true prog rock school lesson in miniature, where after a brief interval of Jobson’s keyboard acrobatics, the main motif and chorus of “In The Dead Of Night” return.
“Thirty Years”, laced with rich orchestral curtains, serves up Wetton’s trademark vocal melancholy, followed by a constant shifting of lush arrangements and rhythmic transitions, somewhere halfway between symphonic prog rock and jazz rock fusion. The excellent instrumental “Alaska” offers plenty of ominous synthesizer passages and breathtaking rhythmic mastery. It unexpectedly slides into the fascinating “Time To Kill”, whose melodic chorus already delivers some of the arena rock finesse that Wetton later polished to perfection with Asia. Still, it’s a highly experimental piece with numerous virtuoso instrumental expansions and solos on electric violin and guitar, which are pure heaven for any prog lover. The Wetton-Bruford pairing grinds away throughout with devastating power and the unique dynamics that already made them famous in King Crimson.
“Nevermore” has plenty of classical-style guitar moves, thoroughly distinctive Holdsworth solo spots, an abundance of classical, jazz and rock fusion elements and a heap of meditative moments, proving that they also had an exceptional sense for writing compositions whose romantic pathos leaves a strong impression on the listener for a long time. After what Holdsworth showed on this record, it’s hard to believe that their next (and last studio) album was made not only without him, but without any guitar at all. The melancholic “Mental Medication” is a very fine closer, serving up plenty of jazzy rhythmic twists, but above all a playground for Wetton’s vocal bravura and Jobson’s avant-garde keyboard flourishes, through which he proves he was indeed a very successful Zappa pupil.
Soon after its release, “UK” earned, entirely deservedly, the title of prog rock masterpiece, and it still enjoys that status today. Wetton and Bruford, still great musical innovators at the time, were hungry to play creative prog rock after the King Crimson breakup, and with UK, especially with this debut, they pulled off their intentions perfectly and delivered some of the best musical fantasies of their careers. It should also be said that “UK” was an extremely influential album from the moment it came out, one that shaped generations of prog rock musicians. Its successor “Danger Money” (1979) was another excellent record, but it somehow never quite reached the same depth, though it did already sketch out some of the sonic guidelines Asia would later build on. It will be interesting to see whether Jobson’s UKZ, a modern take on UK that features another former King Crimson bassist in Trey Gunn, will prove worthy of such a magnificent legacy.
Lineup
John Wetton – vocals, bass guitar
Allan Holdsworth – guitar
Eddie Jobson – electric violin, keyboards
Bill Bruford – drums and percussion
Production
UK
Tracklist
1. In the Dead of Night (5:36)
2. By the Light of Day (4:40)
3. Presto Vivace and Reprise (3:06)
4. Thirty Years (8:02)
5. Alaska (4:38)
6. Time to Kill (5:00)
7. Nevermore (8:09)
8. Mental Medication (7:24)
