The Buggles, 25 Oct 2011

The British Music Experience is a museum of popular music in Britain, housed in the cavernous O2 Dome. They host various special events and, at fairly short notice, this, the latest Buggles show was announced. I say “the latest Buggles show” as if they happen all the time. This is only the second time the band has played a full set. Apart from promo appearances back in the day, usually mimed, the band’s only played live 3 times before this!

The BME’s performance zone is fairly small and wasn’t full. I’d estimate less than 200 in the audience. The band performed to more last year paying very high price tickets raising money for charity. Tickets tonight were cheap, so my guess is that the audience size reflects the minimal advertising and short time between announcement and performance. Not that I believe this show was about making money. Since late 2006, Horn has been doing occasional live shows, initially as The Producers with Lol Crème (guitar and vocals), Steve Lipson (guitar), Chris Braide (vocals and keyboards) and Ash Soan (drums). As he said tonight, he gets bored being in the studio all the time and likes to get on stage occasionally.

The evening began with an initial Q&A sessions with Horn and Downes. The BME curator hosted and asked the initial questions, before throwing it open to the audience. Horn and Downes described how they met: Downes auditioned to be the keyboardist for Tina Charles, for whom Horn was musical director. Horn picked Downes because he liked his shoes apparently! The pair described how they bonded as two Northerners in London.

Discussion moved on to The Buggles. Horn said he has always regretted the name and that they should have called themselves something like Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (cue audience laughter). Horn talked about the vision for the band, not one he seriously thought would ever happen, of a giant computer in a basement creating music and how The Buggles would be one of the bands the machine would produce. He described how he and Bruce Woolley were inspired by Kratfwerk, and how “Video Killed the Radio Star” was specifically inspired by a JG Ballard short story. An audience question made the comparison with Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz, who present themselves as a fictional cartoon band, and Horn said the original intention for The Buggles had been similar (to the point where Island’s Chris Blackwell was surprised to find them prepping for a TV show).

The pair talked about making the first album and wanting everything to sound automated, although a drum machine was the only actual computerisation available. Given the recording equipment of the time, they needed multiple takes of “Video Killed the Radio Star” to get it just right, as if played by machines. Horn described sessions with him, Downes and Paul Robinson (drums) in the recording studio and Hans Zimmer behind the recording desk. [Edit: Zimmer was in the audience.] After the success of “Video…”, they faced the need to rapidly record a whole album, in between ongoing promo work for the first single. While the host was effusive in praise for The Age of Plastic, Horn was more humble, saying he felt the album had three good singles. Asked how difficult it was to follow up such a big debut hit, Horn said that it was basically impossible: no album could live up to “Video…”. Horn also talked about the plan for a new vocabulary of pop lyrics, avoiding all love songs, but that he was, in retrospect, uncertain that those ideas stretched to two albums. He also said that Downes had been the main composer and himself, the main lyricist in the band.

Other stories followed. Horn described their surprise at the success of “Video Killed the Radio Star” and how, at short notice, they found themselves miming to the track in France. Horn had never had to do that before, but he said it was fairly difficult to make mistakes while miming!

Why didn’t they tour, the host asked. Because by then they had joined Yes. Horn, warmly, described joining Yes as “absurd”. He described the fear in having “to be Jon Anderson” live and how nothing in his production career since has been as scary. Asked about the second album and Downes’ early departure, Downes explained that he got the offer to join Asia.

An audience member said he had given up hoping for a third Buggles album, which received a smiling but emphatic “Good” from Horn, but he asked about Fly from Here. Downes told the familiar story of how the initial plan had only been for Horn to do one song, “We Can Fly from Here”, for which Horn then wanted Downes, but then Horn was “railroaded” (Downes’ word) into doing the album. Horn, blushing, seemed almost embarrassed at the turn of events. He talked about how the band in 1980 had had their eccentricities and issues, but that this time they were “just so nice” that he ended up doing all of the album. There wasn’t any explanation as to why Horn was given such creative input though.

Everyone left the stage and there was a short break before the show proper. Horn introduced the show saying they were in an “apt setting” for these songs, “a museum”. Horn and Downes were front centre and front stage right respectively, wearing traditional silver jackets. Downes had a pair of stacked keyboards and a couple of laptops. Behind Horn was Paul Robinson on drums, then the back row continued to stage left with Lol Crème (guitars), Steve Lipson (guitar) and a second keyboardist in Julian Hinton. They opened with “I am a Camera”, although this was only for a few lines before going into an instrumental version of “Two Tribes”. Next was “Video Killed the Radio Star”, from which the band were joined by three young women (Kirsten, Holly and Kate) who provided backing vocals, dancing and an explosion of glamour next to the old men!

The rest of the set was “Living in the Plastic Age”, “Slave to the Rhythm”, “Elstree”, “Rubber Bullets”, “Space Oddity”, “Johnny on the Monorail”, “Check It Out”. As with last year’s Buggles show, Alison Moyet guested for “Slave to the Rhythm”. She looked great and provided the right Grace Jones-esque growl to the vocals, although she did seem to miss a verse, much to her embarrassment, although Horn was relaxed about it. Crème took lead vocals on “Rubber Bullets”, having said he can’t sing high enough to do “Donna” any more! Unfortunately he was mixed a bit too low.

“Check It Out” was the lead single from the debut album by Trinidadian hip hop artist Nicki Minaj. The song, done with will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, samples extensively from “Video Killed the Radio Star”. So, at the 2010 charity show, the Buggles thought they would return the favour and cover it themselves. This was, of course, a preposterous idea – a bunch of white men in their 50s and 60s covering a sexy young rap song – and they knew it. The performance (available on YouTube) was rough, but the audience got the joke. Yet tonight the performance was much smoother. Kirsten, Holly and Kate took Nicki Minaj’s lead vocal, with Horn doing will.i.am’s part. It’s a preposterous idea, and yet they pulled it off. My partner said that they didn’t get Minaj’s timing quite right, but that’s a quibble. Because “Video…” acts as a core of “Check It Out” and with the three girls covering Minaj, the performance actually works as a piece of music, not simply as a joke, although when Horn takes will.i.am’s rap, it is an act replete with post-modern irony.

Overall, with Chris Braide’s departure, there seems to have been an elision of The Producers and The Buggles. The set was mostly a cut-down version of last year’s show, but also fairly close to the early Producers sets. However, the band seemed more confident and slicker than those previous shows. That isn’t a criticism of the prior Producers line-up: the line-up and set tonight were clearly built on the foundation of those Producers shows.

Horn still has a somewhat nervous stage presence, avoiding eye contact with the audience, often even closing his eyes while singing, but he appears to have become more comfortable taking the lead role. While Braide was the main vocalist in The Producers, Horn was singing at the front here for everything except “Slave to the Rhythm” and “Rubber Bullets”. And he was singing great. The brief “I am a Camera” opening and “Space Oddity” were particularly strong. His bass playing was distinctive too, particularly on “Two Tribes”.

The band as a whole played great, bar minor fluffs from Crème and Moyet. The new boys to the line-up, Downes and Robinson, fit right in. Downes owns the Buggles pieces in a way that Braide didn’t and contributed fine on the non-Buggles material. Robinson was a precise and powerful drummer, and I preferred his work to Ash Soan’s. Lipson clearly enjoys “Two Tribes”.

The addition of the three glamorous backing singers worked really well. They were suitably rehearsed, provided useful backing vocals on The Buggles material and key parts on “Check It Out” and “Rubber Bullets”. They also gave the band a visual focus that gave this show a sheen absent from the low key, few-blokes-having-some-fun of The Producers early on. In fact, I felt rather sorry for Downes, so often the melodic core of the music, but the largely male audience were largely fixated on the gyrating hips stage left than Downes’ playing stage right!

The compere after the show said the band “will be back on the road next year”, although Horn in the Q&A had commented on his live work these days being about “twice a year”, so I expect any further Buggles/Producers dates will continue at that rate.

I’ve been spoilt. I’ve now seen The Buggles live three times, plus several Producers shows. I would love to see some more variation in the set and I missed having the new material we got in later Producers shows. But that’s a minor thing: the band played their 9-song set fantastically. Over the last 5 years, they’ve evolved into a tight live unit playing a set of classic songs.

Edit: Downes' tweeted this picture of the band. That's, left to right, Hinton, Lipson and Robinson on the back row, and then the men on the front row are Downes, Crème and Horn, with the girls and their perfect teeth in between.

Digital delights: Jon Anderson's "Open"; Tony Kaye's "End of Innocence"

Lots of excitement in online Yes fandom around yesterday's release of a 21 minute epic by Jon Anderson, "Open", available to buy on Amazon.com etc. I've not heard either yet, but, actually, I'm more excited by the new 46 minute epic "End of Innocence" by Tony Kaye that he's put up for free on YouTube:



Edit: I've had a first listen through of "End of Innocence". It's a largely instrumental work, with a short vocal part by Daniela Torchia (Tony's wife). It sounds as if it's all done by Kaye on synths, but he's often imitating an orchestra. Overall, I think it's a good piece of music and will, once again, demonstrate how underappreciated Kaye is by many fans!

It is an overtly political piece, supporting a model of US military intervention overseas as something that brings democracy and freedom to people around the world, and linking Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda. Personally, I would question aspects of that as a political position, but that doesn't stop me enjoying "End of Innocence" as a piece of music. It's less forthright in its politics than, say, Conspiracy's "The Unknown", another musical response to 9/11.

Edit 2: I've now also heard "Open". First impressions... Thumbs up from me. A step up from Survival & Other Stories or The Living Tree; this is Anderson's best work of the last few years. It's partly orchestral, the composition harks back to Anderson's late 1970s work like on Olias or Tormato. However, his vocals are still fragile. It's easy to recognise this as a post-2008 performance. The lyrics are less noteworthy, typical of his recent work.

The Big Poll: What was the best studio album of the last 12 months featuring multiple Yes men?

I wasn't certain whether to run this poll. This is a Yes fan site, so you would kinda expect a Yes album to easily defeat non-Yes albums. Why bother having the vote? But what exactly is and is not a Yes album remains contentious for some, with Fly from Here sporting only 60% (Howe/Squire/White) of what we call the classic line-up and The Living Tree, of course, featuring the other 40% (Anderson/Wakeman). So perhaps we should expect 60% of the vote for Fly from Here and 40% for The Living Tree?

But if I was going to have a poll of Fly from Here vs. The Living Tree, it seemed unfair to overlook other "spin-offs" involving multiple Yesmen, so, with a one year time frame, that adds CIRCA: (Kaye/Sherwood). And the final wildcard, released (most places) about the same time as Fly from Here and on the same label, is John Wetton's Raised in Captivity, which Wetton made in close collaboration with Sherwood and which features guest appearnaces from Kaye again and from Geoff Downes.

So, four albums, one labelled Yes, but three infused with the Yes spirit, and all four featuring multiple Yesmen: that seems like a fair poll on a Yes fan site. There seems no a priori reason why the album that says Yes on the cover would necessarily win against this competition.

The poll was clearly popular with a total of 170 187 votes. [Edit: The poll stayed up longer than intended, so I give the final results below.] And the result?

Yes: Fly from Here -- 163 (87%)
Anderson & Wakeman: The Living Tree -- 18 (10%)
CIRCA: And So On -- 4 (2%)
John Wetton: Raised in Captivity -- 2 (1%)

That appears like a comprehensive victory for Fly from Here. Some do prefer The Living Tree, but they're in a quite small minority. CIRCA: and Raised in Captivity avoid the embarrassment of getting zero votes, but this result doesn't suggest they've made much impact on Yes fans.

The Living Tree won the poll of best Yes-related album of the second half of 2010, and albums by Anderson and Wakeman have done well in those polls, so it's not that The Living Tree is unloved (or that Anderson/Wakeman fans have deserted the website), but Fly from Here does appear to have bested it.

With The Living Tree In Concert Part One due next month and the Anderson/Wakeman/Rabin project still on the horizon, we'll see how they do against other big Yes-related projects (like Levin Torn White, Squackett, Rabin's Jackaranda, Howe's Time and a new Mystery album) in future polls.

Poll: Best Yes-related album of the first half of 2011

74 votes in total for our latest poll.

1. Jon Anderson: Survival & Other Stories - 46 (62%)
2. Asia: Live at the London Forum (w/ Howe, Downes) - 9 (12%)
3= Blackfield: Welcome to My DNA (w/ Horn) - 6 (8%)
3= Trevor Rabin: I am Number Four - 6 (8%)
5= Mars Hollow: World in Front of Me (w/ Sherwood) - 3 (4%)
5= any of various King Crimson archival releases (w/ Bruford) - 3 (4%)
7. Jonathan Elias: Prayer Cycle 2: Path to Zero (w/ Anderson) - 1 (1%)
8= David Mark Pearce: StrangeAng3ls (w/ O. Wakeman) - 0
8= dB-Infusion: Muso & Proud (w/ Banks) - 0
8= Ant-Bee: Electronic Church Muzik (w/ Banks) - 0

I nearly didn't include Survival & Other Stories in this poll as it first had a limited release last year (and, indeed, came second in the poll for the second half of 2010). This general release through Gonzo was trailed as having additional tracks and being remixed, but in the end, seems to have been identical to the prior version. Still, with nearly 2/3 of the total vote, it comprehensively trounced the alternatives.

A distant second place was another of Asia's beat-the-boot-like live releases. I was at the show in question, notable because the shows before and after had to be cancelled because Howe had a back problem, not that you can tell from the great performance.

I'd like to say that some of the lower scoring albums here are very good and well worth getting. I discussed Muso & Proud and Electronic Church Muzik in a recent blog post. Prayer Cycle 2: Path to Zero is another strong release from Jonathan Elias, which I think successfully charts a midway between the more accessible and political American River and the more ethereal first The Prayer Cycle album. The album I voted for, however, was Mars Hollow's The World in Front of Me, produced by Billy Sherwood, a great new prog album that recalls the likes of Yes and ELP, but very much has its own style too.

Current Yesmen all busy

It's now clear that Yes have discussed, at least in general terms, recording a follow-up album to Fly from Here, but it is also clear that any new album is unlikely before 2013. However, that doesn't mean they are resting on their laurels. Quite the contrary, all of the current band have significant projects in the pipeline.

We know the Chris Squire/Steve Hackett, or 'Squackett', album is in the can, although we await release details. Meanwhile, Squire guests on Hackett's next solo album, Beyond the Shrouded Horizon, due at the end of September. Squire is on three tracks of the regular CD, including a 12 minute piece, and two more tracks on a limited edition bonus CD.

Steve Howe has been trailing a major solo project for later this year, although he's been tight-lipped on details. One report has him signed to Warner Classics. With a major label involved, expect some significant promo in due course.

Most imminently, due next week (as I type), is the Levin - Torn - White instrumental album. Samples released so far are intriguing as to what this power trio can deliver.

Benoît David, meanwhile, is finishing up [beginning] recording on the next Mystery release. A release in early 2012 now looks most likely. Lead composer, Michel St-Père, has trailed a possible 19 minute epic on the album.

Geoff Downes does not appear to have a new release quite as soon as bandmates, but there are plans for the 30th anniversary of Asia's debut album next year, and he's also involved with Trevor Horn's The Producers project (possibly now re-titled Us).

So, that could be 7 major releases over the next 12 months, enough to keep us busy until Yes return to the studio.

2 new guest appearances by Peter Banks

We don't hear enough from Peter Banks. It's been a while since we've had a significant project from him. Plans for a tour with Ambrosia were, unfortunately, put on indefinite hold as Banks has some health problems. However, this year has seen two releases with guest appearances by Banks, so good vibes to Pete and let me tell you about Muso & Proud and Electronic Church Muzik.

The more recent was the dB-Infusion album, Muso & Proud. Banks provides a tasteful solo on one track, "Midnight Blues", although I think the track as a whole is surpassed by several others on this great fusion album. The band is headed by Daniel Berdichevsky and also features keyboardist Gonzalo Carrera, formerly of Karnataka. Also guesting on the album is Soft Machine's John Etheridge, of whom Banks himself is a huge fan. I saw both Banks and Etheridge guesting live with the band a few years ago, and Pete was full of praise for Etheridge's work. Further guests include Hugh McDowell, formerly of ELO and who's been working with Asia and iCon, and Steve Hackett's brother John on flute. (John appears on Steve's Beyond the Shrouded Horizon, due later this month and with Chris Squire guesting.) Muso & Proud can be ordered online here and can also heard there on streaming audio.

You may have seen a lot of Jon Anderson interviews recently. Well, that's because he's got a new promoter, Billy James, who's been doing a great job organising them. Billy's also now doing promo for CIRCA: and Jeff Berlin. You may remember the name in connection with Peter Banks because Billy co-wrote Pete's autobiography "Beyond & Before". Well, Billy also performs himself under the name Ant-Bee and, earlier in the year, released Electronic Church Muzik, with Banks appearing on two pieces. Billy kindly sent me a copy of the album and I can recommend it.

There are plenty of further guests on the album, including Daevid Allen and Jan Akkerman (formerly of Focus and appeared on The Two Sides of Peter Banks back in 1973), but most notable are the multiple former members of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, namely Napoleon Murphy Brock, Don Preston, Bunk & Buzz Gardner, James 'Motorhead' Sherwood and the late Jimmy Carl Black. Zappa is a good starting point for describing this album: Ant-Bee has a similar mix of avant-garde music and humour, but what makes him distinct is a collage approach with multiple short tracks glueing together the album and connecting together longer pieces (Banks used a not dissimilar approach on his Can I Play You Something? release). The many guests are often given free reign on these longer tracks, as is the case with "Endless Journey", a spacey piece of around 6 minutes by Banks recalling his 1990s solo work to an extent. His other appearance is "The Guff", a short piece also with Gong's Gilli Smyth.

Not connected, but another album I'd like to mention while I'm here is The Winter Tree, the debut album from this new band that emerged out of Magus. Andrew Laitres of the band sent me a copy of the album and it's a nice affair, comparable to Camel in style, perhaps.

Forthcoming projects with multiple Yesmen

It's now a month or two since the release of Fly from Here and the band are on a break from the supporting tour. The other project that's had everyone excited, the Anderson/Wakeman/Rabin collaboration, is still some way off. But don't imagine that we're in some kind of lull when it comes to Yes-related news as there's a whole bunch of projects featuring multiple people connected to the band.

Due in a few weeks is Levin - Torn - White, an instrumental power trio consisting of Alan White, Tony Levin and David Torn. Torn and Levin previously worked together with Bill Bruford, but this new combo has taken many people by surprise. A preview teaser video is on YouTube and worth checking out. More here.

And in October the Anderson Wakeman tour comes to North America with 14 dates in the north-east US and Quebec. I was pretty disappointed when they played the UK last year, so I hope this tour goes better. A live album from the UK tour is also expected soon, although we await a specific release date.

Billy Sherwood remains as busy ever. The latest CIRCA: album with Tony Kaye, And So On, is now available through the band's website. Sherwood is also involved with Sonic Elements, a progressive rock project connected to the music software company Sonic Reality. The project, led by Dave Kerzner, involves both covers and original material. There is a preview of a piece called "Trifecta" here, which features Sherwood (bass, guitars) and Kerzner (keys) playing to a drum track from one of Sonic Reality's libraries. But the drum track is Rush's Neil Peart playing "Tom Sawyer", so "Trifecta" is a new piece of music built around a familiar drum track. Kerzner has said the project will also include some Yes covers involving Sherwood and "several other ex-members of Yes", but who has not yet been announced.

Last, but not least, due at some point this year is William Shatner's Searching for Major Tom, featuring both Steve Howe and Patrick Moraz, albeit on different tracks. Details here.