From: Mark Fonda
We've talked about whether Asia really qualifies for true Prog Rock status... not that it
really matters for inclusion here, because it's fair game. UK is also in the same vein of
Supergroups consisting of former members of 1st generation prog bands, except they didn't
last as long. UK Band Members:
John Wetton (bass & vocals)
Bill Bruford (drums) - left after 1st album - replaced by Terry Bozzio
Allan Holdsworth (guitars) - left after 1st album
Eddie Jobson (violin & keyboards)
They released their self-titled debut album in 1978 followed by Danger Money in 1979. They
had a tour following each of their albums then they broke up. Night After Night, a live
compilation, was released afterwards in 1979. I think the first album is quite good. After
the breakup, they all went on to other groups as follows (as best I could determine):
John Wetton - King Crimson > Roxy Music > UK > Asia
Bill Bruford - Yes > King Crimson > Bruford > UK > Bruford
Allan Holdsworth - Soft Machine > Gong > Bruford > UK >
Bruford
Eddie Jobson - Curved Air > King Crimson > Roxy Music > UK
> Jethro Tull
Terry Bozzio - Frank Zappa > UK > Missing Persons > Jeff Beck
Any opinions on UK vs. Asia and if they fit into the REAL Prog Rock category? Or are they
more 'Arena Rock' like Kansas, Styx, etc.? All this jostling around was also a clear
indication of the turmoil and flux in Prog Rock at the time. Although I read that they
supposedly broke up due to creative differences mainly over Holdsworth's undisciplined
musical nature.
From: Elias Granillo, Jr.
...didn't last as long, but many times better. "In The Dead of Night" is one of
prog's best recordings. U.K. do sort of sound like a transition between King Crimson &
Asia, but with fusion tendencies (first album only), but they weren't AOR. Everyone needs
to realize Asia was a project that started out "just for fun." Asia sounded
poppy because John Wetton, Geoff Downes, Steve Howe and Carl Palmer were just having some
fun. Holdsworth's "undisciplined" musical nature.??? Good lord, who wrote THAT?
Allan is a reknowned jazz guitarist who performed hammer-ons (and lotsa other neat tricks)
way before those were popularized by Eddie Van Halen (Rik Emmet of Triumph even did 'em
before Eddie). Allan also played in Tony Williams' LifeTime (with Alan Pasqua). The only
reason Allan may have left (of U.K. may have split) is most likely Jobson's volatile,
snotty attitude: he's rock's most egotistical violinist/keyboardist. John Wetton even
invited him to play on Battle Lines, but Jobson said he would only record with John again
if they re-formed U.K., obviously so he could share the spotlight. Now it's Jobson who's
holding the U.K. release up. Everyone else's tracks are recorded, mixed, and done with.
From: Mark Fonda <>
"Allan won't commit himself to playing specific parts. He's more into freeform. He
just likes to improvise everything he does all the time." Eddie Jobson, quoted
by Milano: "one of the silly things that UK wanted me to do... [was] to play the same
solos. I said 'sorry, no can do.' Once a solo is done try something else. In fact I really
get worried if one of my live solos sound like the ones on the records." Allan
Holdsworth, 'Guitar Player' 1980 from 'Rocking the Classics' by Edward Macan
> Now it's Jobson who's holding the U.K. release up. Everyone else's tracks are
recorded, mixed, and done with.
You mean a new release is due out?! Mark
From: Jeff Marx <>
"Legacy" from UK: To be released sometime before the new millenium. Or...if
Eddie and John have another falling out... I stopped holding my breath a few months ago.
From: "upnsm0ke" <>
From the 'In The Dead Of Night':
Due to the direction the 'Legacy' album has taken during its development, Eddie and
John have jointly and amicably decided that John will no longer participate as the singer
on the project. As a result of that decision, the album will not be released under the
name 'UK'. At the present time, John will still appear on the album on acoustic guitar and
bass. Eddie is starting the process of finding the appropriate singer to replace John, and
he plans on completing the album as the process permits. Though the loss of John's vocal
performances will be a disappointment to many, the overall character and content of the
album will remain substantially the same. The album will be known simply as
"Legacy" - The Album - featuring Eddie Jobson, Bill Bruford, Francis Dunnery,
Steve Hackett, Tony Levin, John Wetton, The Bulgarian Women's Choir, The City of Prague
Philharmonic Strings, (and other musicians to be announced).
From: "Grant Penton"
<>
>Due to the direction the 'Legacy' album has taken during its development, Eddie
and John have jointly and amicably decided that John will no longer participate as the
singer on the project.
Is this another coup by the primadonna Jobson? As long as he doesn't decide to sing
himself. Reviewing the concert reviews of 20 years back, the press gave Wetton some hard
slogging about his voice- okay for Crimson, it was downright dreadful for UK, but then
'pretty good' for Asia. His worst? Take a listen to 'Same Time Next Week' from Manzanera's
Diamond Head- the female chorus compounds the pain. His best? I'd say 'Starless (and
BIIIIBLE.... BLAAAAAACK!)'. I just hope it ever does see the light of day, in the end of
night or whenever, just no more delays like a lawsuit from a disgruntled old progger...
From: Gary Davis <>
(back to top)
>Several online vendors have a new U.K. release scheduled for next week.
"Concert Classics" featuring Bruford/Holdsworth/Jobson/Wetton, recorded in 1978.
Yes, I have a soundbite up for this at <>.
It's really a neat album. The best thing about it is that there are three
performances - Carrying No Cross, Ceasar's Palace Blues, The Only Thing She Needs - that
are here for the first time with Bruford and Holdsworth. UK fans will recall that
these songs first made it onto record on the Danger Money album after Bruford and
Holdworth had split. So that makes these significantly different performances! Oddly
enough, the label releasing these sort of screwed up on the track listing and The Only
Thing She Needs is not listed. But having heard the album (several times now), I can
tell you it's definitely there.
From: "Grant Penton" <>
Yeah, they really show off Holdsworth's virtuosity- I was fortunate to tape the show off
FM 20 years ago before 'Danger Money' came out, and really got into the new live tunes- so
my reaction to the studio versions was that there was really something missing despite the
great production. Fast Eddie plays a mean violin, but it's really no replacement for
Allan's melodies. Their peak was on that middle dual solo in '30 Years', and nothing on
their subsequent LPs comes close to matching that.
From: "Dave Lane" <>
The new UK live CD is out. This is not the long-promised "Legacy" CD, it's
a concert from July 11th, 1978 recorded at the Paradise Theater in Boston. This is
the classic Bruford/Holdsworth/Jobson/Wetton version of the band. This has very good sound
quality. See Steven Sullivan's excellent review of it in rec.music.progressive. The
CD actually has one more track than is listed on the cover. "The Only Thing She
Needs" is included on the CD, but not listed. Sadly, "Forever Until
Sunday" was not included on the CD even though they played it that night.
From: "Dave Lane"
The new U.K. CD "Concert Classics Vol. 4" is from a concert in Boston on July
11, 1978. That concert was played live over the radio, and I taped it. The new release
does not include the whole show; they played the tune "Forever Until Sunday"
between "Carrying No Cross" and "Thirty Years". "Forever Until
Sunday" made its first recorded appearance on the Bruford album "One Of A
Kind", which was recorded after Holdsworth and Bruford left U.K.. You can hear
an MP3 of U.K.'s version from my web page: http://members.tripod.com/~Chickyraptor
Carsten Busch wrote:
<>>
Yes, very true....unfortunately. Good thing you got it when you did, as you (& I) now
own a true collectors item. Here's Gary Davis' explanation of the circumstances in The
Artist Shop newsletter:
<<From: artshop@artist-shop.com (Gary Davis) Date: Tue, May 25, 1999,
7:56pm (CDT+1)
Hello Friends! I'm going to start this newsletter with a bit of bad news so as to get it
out of the way and get on to all the good news. It was just the last newsletter that I'd
told you all of the recently released UK/Concert Classics featuring a live performance of
the original quartet lineup with John Wetton, Eddie Jobson, Bill Bruford and Allan
Holdsworth. Unfortunately the bad news is that this release has been deleted! I've seen
much speculation in the various newsgroups and mailing lists as to how this happened, much
of it pointing fingers at members of the group and accusing them of having it pulled
because they didn't like the recording. I personally spoke to the folks at Renaissance
Records to find out what happened. According to them, they were asked by Eddie Jobson to
cease production of the CD, not because of his opinion of the recording (whatever that
might be), but because of a dispute between the band and their former label, EG, as to who
precisely owns the rights to the performance. Renaissance had licensed the recording from
EG thinking they owned the rights to it. But according to Jobson, it's the band that owns
the rights to that performance, which is why he had them cease production. Renaissance
seemed to think that under the circumstances, Jobson was rather gentlemanly about the
whole thing. Personally I'm not aware of the precise situation between UK and EG, but I
suspect many of you are aware of the very bad blood between EG and Robert Fripp as he has
documented his tribulations with them in excrutiating detail!....>> Hmm......I
predict alot of CDR activity real soon.