Song:In The Dead Of Night
Album:U.K.
U.K. was a progressive rock "supergroup" that for the most part was a spinoff of King Crimson. They only recorded two albums and then the individual members went on to other things. The man behind U.K. was lead singer and bassist John Wetton. I first heard of him when he led the group Family. But in 1972 he joined King Crimson. When Robert Fripp decided to disband King Crimson, Wetton started work on a solo album with King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford. This led to a band with former Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman. But A&M Records refused to allow Wakeman out of his solo contract. Bruford claims that was an excuse for Wakeman to back out. So instead Wetton and Bruford each chose a guy they wanted in this band. Wetton chose Eddie Jobson who he knew from Roxy Music. Bruford chose former Soft Machine guitarist Allan Holdsworth who played on Bruford's album Feels Good To Me. They called themselves U.K. and they released the 1978 album U.K. on EG Records which was also King Crimson's label. The album was very successful and critically acclaimed. In The Dead Of Night is a suite of three songs that takes up most of side one of the album. They went on tour and Holdsworth was fired and Bruford was replaced by Frank Zappa drummer Terry Bozzio. As a trio, U.K. released the 1979 album Danger Money. The album did fine though it wasn't considered to be as good as the first album. And then they split up because Wetton and Jobson had different ideas about how the band should proceed. It looks like Wetton wanted to go in a more commercial direction. After the split, Wetton released a solo album and then he formed Asia with Steve Howe of Yes. Jobson went solo and got into film and TV work. An attempted U.K. reunion turned into a 1998 Jobson solo album. U.K. did reunite in 2011. It was Jobson and Wetton with Alex Machacek on guitar and Marco Minnemann on drums. They didn't record new music but they did release live CDs and DVDs. U.K. has done occasional shows. It doesn't look like any future activities are planned. Wetton still tours with a version of Asia. That first U.K. album is worth checking out. Here's U.K. performing In The Dead Of Night 1978.
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