The Official John Wetton Website Guestbook

Thirty Years (ago) - the debut album by U.K.

Ghostmojo — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:56:18 GMT

U.K. - U.K.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d162/Ghostmojo/UK-UK.jpg

It just occurred reading through the meagre sleeve notes to this CD issue, that this year is actually thirty years since the first U.K. album was released. Highly appropriate considering one of the best tracks is named thus.

Perhaps fellow U.K. fans with some time to kill could cast their minds back to those halcyon days, when this unique amalgam appeared - forming something of a bridge (at least to these ears) between the left-field proggy approach of King Crimson and the later grander orchestral AOR of ASIA.

Whether you choose to listen in the dead of night or by the light of day preferably with headphones on (to greater appreciate the mental medication this stuff with bring); bask in a band which sadly is nevermore likely to strut the stage.

Whether you are freshly returning from alaska (like Sir Bozworthy) or merely settling down after the trudge home from work - join me in this appreciation and perhaps somebody can help me figure out how to slip presto vivace and reprise into this little ramble? Oh there you go ... I did it!!!

All views, reminiscences and reflections will be gratefully appreciated.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d162/Ghostmojo/uklogo.gif

For me the opening track (which I heard when I turned on the radio) really knocked my socks off. I was hooked from there on in and have followed John's career ever since (back-tracking to take in Crimson and some Heep) then through that first wonderful solo album; the flirtation with Wishbone and then the mighty ASIA and all that followed.

For me it all began with this magnificent and quite unique album back in 1978. To me it still sounds as fresh as it did back then. One question though Johan - why was the band called U.K.? Was this geographic approach the beginning of a movement from a small off shore island to a continental drift?

Sadly, I don't think U.K.'s legacy has been well served, however. It would have been great to have had a remastered and revisited reissue this anniversary year (with extra tracks - if there are any etc.) but the original albums are hard enough to come by on CD. There was another version of In The Dead Of Night recorded at the time of "Danger Money" which was used as a B-side to the Rendez-vous 6:02 and Nothing To Lose singles but none of this is available. Shame. It was also disappointing nothing came of the plans for a U.K. reunion album in 1998. Ah well.

There's still the chance that some bright spark at Virgin (EG) or elsewhere might gather everything together and make a nice little box-set out of it! I hear that Mark Powell (prog master involved in back catalogue reissues by Caravan, Camel, Nektar etc.) is involved in remastering all the original U.K. albums - so we'll just have to watch that space.

Fingers crossed ...

Merry Christmas or Bah Humbug?

mikestaggs — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:02:11 GMT

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1997694.ece

Any word on the Beatles tribute?

emwhy — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:14:52 GMT

I think Johan had said maybe around XMAS time...well it's getting close....

Hello I am ready for new info

asiafanforever — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:47:30 GMT

I haven't been on for several months now. Please fill me in on new info. Please.

Dy guitar tabs

Puzzlegirl — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 17:56:06 GMT

Hi Everybody, can anyone help? My daughter (age 11) loves Dy and listens to it incessantly because she wants to play it on her guitar, which is fine, perfect (good taste and all that)! However she gets so far and it all goes wrong and she gets frustrated and it's ruining one of my favourite tunes of all time.. . Could any of you clever people out there put me (and her) out of our misery and tell us where she can find the tabs so she can play it properly? Many Thanks.

hey Oinle John (from Becky)

matman — Thur, 27 Nov 2008 16:23:14 GMT

I hope to see you at a School of Rock concert this year with my family. i miss you and think of you all the time.

My soccer team (the Strikers) lost in the championship game in my division, but Sammy's team (the eagles) won their championship. Her team went undefeated.

I'd love to talk so call if you get a chance.

Ok.. this is going to take a lot of explaining...

HoweRailBill — Thur, 27 Nov 2008 12:34:34 GMT

For those of you who don't know me, please bare with me...

Is 'Roundabout' teased in this video from about 0:09-0:13 or am I just completely batshit crazy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcsaVZ66-Ts

The Great Deceivers-King Crimson Tribute-December 20

Dennis — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:30:27 GMT

The Great Deceivers (www.myspace.com/tgdkingcrimson) is a King Crimson tribute band based in Glendale, CA. We played out first show in West LA back in August. It seemed to go over well. Here's a review: http://www.allaccessmagazine.com/vol6/issue14/the_great_deceivers.html

Our focus is the King Crimson of 1972-1975 during the Wetton years. Besides 21st Century Schizoid Man we are only performing songs from John's time with this great band. Our first show set list was:

The Talking Drum
Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Part II)
Red
21st Century Schizoid Man
Starless

All the members are in several other bands so we don't perform that often with this project. However, we will be playing our second show on Saturday, December 20, at Spaceland (www.myspace.com/spaceland) in Silver Lake near Hollywood/LA. In addition to the songs we performed during our first show we will be adding a few others. One song is rumored to contain one of the only lyrics written by Fripp, another song about a painting, another song that looks back at the life of a rock and roll musician and yet another instrumental that is said to be one of the most difficult pieces of music written by Fripp.

Please stop by our MySpace page and become a "Friend." Hope to see some Wetton GBrs at the show.

Dennis
www.myspace.com/dmanster
dmanster@hotmail.com

And just where has Boz been lately?

emwhy — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:17:48 GMT

Hopefully not buried in the Jersey swamps

1977 Fripp-Wetton-Collins Exposure sessions

squonkduke — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:24:23 GMT

John, recently on Robert Fripp's DGM Live site have appeared some very interesting recordings for free download.
Among them, there are a few 1977 proofs of the Exposure power trio John Wetton, Phil Collins and Robert Fripp.

Can you please tell us some inside informations on those sessions, since the material available from DGM Live is great and the combination of your good self together with Phil Collins and Robert Fripp is totally unique, and very strong, to my ears at least.

Cheers, Alessandro

Thankful Things

rtc125 — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:34:08 GMT

It's Thanksgiving time -- for us Yanks, anyway -- a time I take more and more seriously as the years pass. Between worship at church and breaking bread with my wife, children and granddaughter, I'll have the privilege of helping deliver more than 2,000 meals to the disadvantaged on Thanksgiving Day, sharing a bit of this 'extraordinary life' with them.

Sharing is the point I wanted to highlight. I'm taking time to reflect upon the year and the blessings that others have shared with me. Among them is the music that Johan has graced us with, be it through his solo efforts or in collaboration with Horace, Asia, iCon, KC, etc. Many thanks, John, not only for your gift to us but for your faithfulness to the gift you've been given.

Likewise, I'm grateful for the many friends I've made through the GB. And we're all deeply thankful for Kim's continued dedication in maintaining this web site, even in the face of the occasional squabble.

You're all first class. May God bless each of you richly this Thanksgiving, and in the season to come.

New tour stage material

Ghostmojo — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:02:53 GMT

Johan - when ASIA hit the road again is there any chance you might be presenting some other songs from your pre-ASIA days as part of the set?

If I had a wish-list it would include the following:

In The Dead Of Night (hearing this on the radio back in 1977/8 turned me into a UK fan in milliseconds)
Night After Night
Caesar's Palace Blues
Caught In The Crossfire
Cold Is The Night (I adore this very moving ballad and its rolling bassline)
That's That

I mean any of them would do - you don't have to do all of them just for me - unless you want to

In any event I look forward to the gigs...

Cheers

H

Asia Euro Tour Dates

KDancha — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:56:31 GMT

To all....Asia has just confirmed six shows in Germany this spring. They are:

March 26th--Roth/Kulturfabrik
March 27th--Stuttgart/Filharmonie
March 29th--Cologne/E-Werk
March 30th--Augsburg/Spectrum
March 31st--Munich/Tonhalle
April 2nd--Bremen/Pier 2

More European dates will follow.

GB Survey

KDancha — Thur, 20 Nov 2008 23:00:31 GMT

To all....over the next few days, I'll be e-mailing random GBers to get some feedback on the website. I'm curious to know how often you visit (daily? weekly?), what type of info you look for, if you visit the websites of other musicians, etc. There is NO obligation for anyone to participate, but I would appreciate your time in filling out the survey and returning it to me.
Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.

CD Industry

Andrew — Thur, 20 Nov 2008 16:19:30 GMT

Johan, lots of us GBers have chewed on the state of record stores, CDs, and the internet in these threads. From your side of the equation, how do you see the business model for the delivery of recorded product developing?

Cheers.