UK (disappointment thread)

[rumborak]

So, I got UK's two albums now, "U.K." and "Danger Money". I was solely basing it on "In the Dead of Night", which is just a kick-ass song.

Well, turns out whatever special cereal they were eating when writing In the Dead of Night, they didn't eat it for the rest. The other songs on the album are rather lame fusion weedley-weedley with 15 million forced chord transitions.

 

rumborak

[TheVoxyn]

Don't say anything bad about UK. Andy will come.

[millahh]

I'm really getting the feeling that John Wetton exhausted his awesomeness in King Crimson, and had nothing left in the tank after that...

[Nick]

Don't say anything bad about UK. Andy will come.

Don't worry, we're outside of P/R, it's safe.

[LudwigVan]

That lineup certainly held a lot of promise. I mean, how do you miss with Bill Bruford, Eddie Jobson, John Wetton and Alan Holdsworth?   Oh wait... then came Asia. 

[Sigz]

That lineup certainly held a lot of promise. I mean, how do you miss with Bill Bruford, Eddie Jobson, John Wetton and Alan Holdsworth?   Oh wait... then came Asia. 

Yep.

[Nick]

For what they are, Asia's first two albums are really good.

[AcidLameLTE]

Don't say anything bad about UK. Andy will come.

God dammit. Why couldn't Andy be from another country? It's embarrassing.

[ytserush]

Wow... sorry to hear that.

I love UK...especially the first album with Bruford and Holdsworth. 

I also dig the Night After Night and Danger Money as a trio with Bozzio, but I have to admit I don't listen to Danger Money as much as the other two.

For what they are, Asia's first two albums are really good.

As far as Asia goes. Those first three albums, the 1983 (with Greg Lake) and 1990 live albums I've listened to and loved far more than is probably healthy. 

I haven't seen Asia on their reunion tour because I didn't think it would be any good, but I picked up the live album and DVD later and was shocked by its awesomeness. I was even pleasantly surprised by The Phoenix.

[Orbert]

U.K.'s first album is still a favorite of mine, but I listened to it recently, and other than "In the Dead of Night" a lot of it does sound dated.  I remember when "Alaska" into "Time to Kill" was the coolest fucking thing I'd ever heard.  Of course, this was in 1980.  "Thirty Years" and "Nevermore" deserve a couple more listens.  I think they're both mini-epics.

The second album already showed where John Wetton was letting that commercial streak grow.  I like "Caesar's Palace Blues" and "Carrying No Cross" a lot, "Danger Money" isn't completely awful, and "Rendezvous 6:02" has that great hook, but the verses fail.  The rest of the album is pretty forgettable.

Overall, I can see how U.K.'s catalog (such as it is) is disappointing, but there's also some good stuff there.  Give 'em another spin or two and maybe you'll come round on some of them.

[ytserush]

U.K.'s first album is still a favorite of mine, but I listened to it recently, and other than "In the Dead of Night" a lot of it does sound dated.  I remember when "Alaska" into "Time to Kill" was the coolest fucking thing I'd ever heard.  Of course, this was in 1980.  "Thirty Years" and "Nevermore" deserve a couple more listens.  I think they're both mini-epics.

The second album already showed where John Wetton was letting that commercial streak grow.  I like "Caesar's Palace Blues" and "Carrying No Cross" a lot, "Danger Money" isn't completely awful, and "Rendezvous 6:02" has that great hook, but the verses fail.  The rest of the album is pretty forgettable.

Overall, I can see how U.K.'s catalog (such as it is) is disappointing, but there's also some good stuff there.  Give 'em another spin or two and maybe you'll come round on some of them.

That's definately a drawback. Much of it does sound dated and definately does not hold up well at all, but one attaction for me was that it was a bit like "commercial fusion."

[Kyo]

The second album already showed where John Wetton was letting that commercial streak grow.  I like "Caesar's Palace Blues" and "Carrying No Cross" a lot, "Danger Money" isn't completely awful, and "Rendezvous 6:02" has that great hook, but the verses fail.  The rest of the album is pretty forgettable.

Uh... if by "forgettable" you mean that you forgot to mention the
best song (The Only Thing She Needs), then I agree with you. 

[rogerdil]

I admit that I don't get as much of a thrill with U.K.'s debut as I used to.

[Orbert]

"The Only Thing She Needs" just has that generic pop sound to the verses that turns me off.  Wetton had such an incredible voice for all kinds of music, and his time with King Crimson gave him a chance to totally rock out, and also croon (sometimes within the same song, such as "Lament" or "Fallen Angel").  U.K. sometimes feels like it's trying to do a similar thing, but on "The Only Thing She Needs" it just comes across really commercial-sounding to me.  Just the verses, though.  The break is cool.

Some bands can mix the pop with the prog really well, but I don't think U.K. is one of them.  I love their prog side, but their pop just makes me want to gag.  By time Asia came around, I just wanted to strangle John Wetton.  That amazing voice singing commercial pop dreck, leading a band full of prog all-stars playing forgettable radio-friendly crap, was just a crime against humanity.

[LudwigVan]

Hey, it's the one-year anniversary of this thread...!  Bump!

Hah, just a coincidence.  Happens I've been listening to both these albums, and I must admit they're not that bad.  I enjoy Eddie Jobson's electric violin and his keyboard writing.   

But I agree with rumbo about the weedly fusion on the 2nd half of the first UK album, and that's why I think I prefer Danger Money.  It's got a more 'rock' feel overall, probably due to the presence of Terry Bozzio (who absolutely kills on this album).  Bruford and Holdsworth leaving after the 1st album quite changes the dynamic of the music, and I wouldn't be surprised that they took most of the fusion with them.   It's too bad that the Wetton/Jobson/Bozzio trio didn't get to do a 3rd album. 

[Orbert]

Well, they kinda did, with Night After Night.  It had two songs that weren't on the first two albums, plus some rearranged versions of old classics.  Overall though, Night After Night is what sealed their doom as far as I'm concerned.  Wetton's commercial side was in full force.  You can hear the beginnings of Asia even then.

[Gorille85]

Well, turns out whatever special cereal they were eating when writing In the Dead of Night, they didn't eat it for the rest.

Dude, that makes absolutely zero sense. Eating a special kind of cereal doesn't change your songwriting skills.

[LudwigVan]

Well, they kinda did, with Night After Night.  It had two songs that weren't on the first two albums, plus some rearranged versions of old classics.  Overall though, Night After Night is what sealed their doom as far as I'm concerned.  Wetton's commercial side was in full force.  You can hear the beginnings of Asia even then.

Hmmm.. well then that's too bad because Asia's not for me. 

It's interesting because UK is like some kind of middle-ground transitional band between King Crimson and Asia, and I actually like the sound they got on UK the best.   Not that Wetton came close to the emotional depths he achieved on KC songs like Book of Saturdays or Fallen Angels, but I just love that UK Jobson/Bozzio sound they got on Danger Money.

[Orbert]

I like the Danger Money sound as well.  There are a couple of Hammond solos on that album that remind me of Keith Emerson, which kinda makes sense as they were down to a three-piece a la ELP at that point.

Also, the violin on "Caesar's Palace Blues" is totally smokin'.  I wish Eddie had whipped out the violin more, but I figure it was more meant as the occassional spice and not meant to be a main staple the way his keyboards are.  If they had worked a violin solo into every song it would've been cheesy so maybe it's better this way.