UK - Waiting For You (1979)

In 1972, John Wetton (formerly of Family) and Bill Bruford (formerly of Yes) both joined King Crimson, recording three albums before guitarist Robert Fripp disbanded the group at the end of 1974. Wetton then spent a brief time with Roxy Music, who also included Eddie Jobson, before joining Uriah Heep for two albums. In July 1976, after leaving Uriah Heep, Wetton reconnected with Bruford, recording demos originally proposed for a Wetton solo album, but by September they'd formed a band with keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who had previously worked with Bruford in Yes. The project was stopped after rehearsals by Wakeman's label, and so Bruford and Wetton next approached Robert Fripp to reform King Crimson, but when Fripp eventually declined, Bruford and Wetton decided that each would choose a musician in order to form a new band. Wetton brought in Eddie Jobson, who since leaving Roxy Music in 1976 had joined Frank Zappa's band, thus "stealing" him from Zappa, while Bruford recruited Allan Holdsworth, formerly of Soft Machine, Nucleus, Gong, Tempest and The Tony Williams Lifetime, who had played on Bruford's debut solo album, 'Feels Good To Me', in 1978. The band's formation coincided with the introduction of the Yamaha CS-80 synthesizer, and this instrument became an integral part of their developing sound. Naming themselves UK, they released their self-titled debut album in 1978, and followed it with a supporting tour and two lengthy American tours, but when they were finished Wetton and Jobson decided to fire Holdsworth over musical differences and, since Bruford had indicated to Wetton that he would favour Holdsworth’s more improvisational approach in the event of a disagreement on the direction of the band, he was also fired and another former bandmate of Jobson's, Terry Bozzio, was brought in to replace him. 

UK attempted unsuccessfully to find another guitarist, notably auditioning a then-unknown Steve Vai, before resolving to continue as a trio, and as such they recorded the studio album 'Danger Money', released in March 1979. The album spawned a minor hit single, 'Nothing To Lose', which reached number 67 on the UK charts, and a live album, 'Night After Night', was recorded in Japan that spring and released in September 1979. Following a final European tour in December 1979, and in spite of plans to record a new studio album in the USA in March 1980, UK disbanded as Jobson and Wetton had different ideas on how the band should develop. Jobson wanted UK to go on with more long instrumental pieces, while Wetton thought that performing shorter, more commercial songs was a better idea, with one particularly pop-oriented song, 'When Will You Realize', contributing to the band dissolving. Jobson worked with Jethro Tull on their 1980 album 'A', while Wetton, following the recording of his solo album 'Caught In The Crossfire' in 1980, started Asia with Steve Howe, Carl Palmer and Geoffrey Downes, and Bozzio formed Missing Persons with his then-wife Dale Bozzio. When Bruford left the band, they kept a couple of his songs which they sometimes played live, and Jobson had also written a couple of instrumentals, and so they already had enough material for the fourth album that they were planning to record in the USA. As they never got round to that, I've taken all the tracks that we have from them post the 'Danger Money' album, and put together a third "studio" album from the group. 

Track listing

01 Forever Until Sunday
02 As Long As You Want Me Here
03 Waiting For You
04 Night After Night
05 Nostalgia
06 When Will You Realise
07 The Sahara Of Snow

Phil Manzanera - ...and on guitar (1992)

IT'S BACK!

Phillip Geoffrey Targett-Adams, a.k.a. Phil Manzanera, was born on 31 January 1951 in London to a Colombian mother (nee Manzanera) and an English father, who worked for BOAC. He spent most of his childhood in different parts of the Americas, including Hawaii, Venezuela, Colombia, and Cuba, and it was in Havana that the six-year old Manzanera encountered his first guitar, a Spanish guitar owned by his mother. His earliest musical accomplishments were Cuban folk songs inspired by the Cuban Revolution, but by the age of eight he started experimenting with the sounds of the electric guitar, and during his teenage years he was absorbing the twin influences of 1960's rock and roll and Latin American rhythms. In his late teens he formed a series of school bands with his friends Bill MacCormick, later a member of Matching Mole and Random Hold, MacCormick's brother Ian (better known as music writer Ian MacDonald) and drummer Charles Hayward, later of This Heat and Camberwell Now. The final incarnation of one of Manzanera's College bands was a psychedelic outfit dubbed Pooh & The Ostrich Feathers, who later evolved into the progressive rock quartet Quiet Sun, with the addition of keyboard player Dave Jarrett. They wrote a number of original songs and instrumental pieces, none of which were recorded until years later, and the band broke up when McCormick joined Matching Mole. 

During the making of his first solo album 'Diamond Head' in 1975, Manzanera briefly revived the group in order to record a full album of their original music, with 'Mainstream' being released later that year. Manzanera was determined to join a professional band, and in October 1971 he was one of about twenty players who auditioned as lead guitarist for the recently formed art rock band Roxy Music. He displayed a wide-ranging interest in music, influenced by his childhood sojourns in Latin America, and in 1972 he was invited to join Roxy Music, alongside Bryan Ferry, Brian Eno, Paul Thompson, Andy Mackay, and Graham Simpson. Roxy Music's rise was meteoric, with the band being hailed as a major stylistic influence of the early 1970's, and during the next 12 years they released a series of internationally best-selling albums. In parallel with Roxy Music, Manzanera has always pursued solo projects, both recording his own albums and producing for others, with his first major credit as producer being for the New Zealand group Split Enz in 1976, with their second LP 'Second Thoughts'. He also played guitar on three tracks on the first Brian Eno album 'Here Come the Warm Jets', as well as working with many of the luminaries of modern music, such as Steve Winwood, David Gilmour, John Cale, Godley & Creme, Nico and John Wetton, and he co-wrote songs with some of them, including Pink Floyd's single 'One Slip' from their 1987 'A Momentary Lapse Of Reason' album. 

In 1976 he assembled a band christened 801, and their 1976 London show was recorded for a live album, featuring contributions from Manzanera on guitar, Eno on vocals, synth and treatments, Quiet Sun bassist Bill MacCormick, Curved Air keyboardist Francis Monkman, 19-year-old drumming prodigy Simon Phillips, and slide guitarist Lloyd Watson, who had previously performed as a solo support act for Roxy Music. The success of the live album led to the creation of a more permanent incarnation of 801, without Lloyd Watson, while Manzanera's old schoolmate Simon Ainley took over from Eno as lead vocalist, but after recording the follow-up album 'Listen Now' and a short UK tour, they disbanded. In 1982 Ian Little, better known for his production of Duran Duran's third album '7 & The Ragged Tiger', started putting together his own album, and co-opted his old gaffer at Manzanera's Gallery Studio so contribute guitar to the tracks. From the mid-80's Manzanera added his guitar expertise to a number of albums by French artists, including Alain Bashung, Éric Charden and Carla Bissi, recording as Alice, and was also asked to gift a solo piece to the 'Guitar Speak' series of compilation albums, so enjoy this collection of some of his best collaborations with some well-known and some not so well-known artists from the first 20 years of his career. 

Track listing

01 You Won't See Me (from 'These Foolish Things' by Bryan Ferry 1973)
02 Cindy Tells Me (from 'Here Come The Warm Jets' by Eno 1974)
03 Momamma Scuba (from 'Fear' by John Cale 1974)
04 The End (from 'The End...' by Nico 1974)
05 The Inexorable Sequence (from 'Resolving Contradictions' by Andy Mackay 1978)
06 Clues (from 'Freeze Frame' by Godley & Creme 1979)
07 Caught In The Crossfire (from 'Caught In The Crossfire' by John Wetton 1980)
08 Extra-Ordinary (from 'Neuromantic' by Yukihiro Takahashi 1981)
09 Balance (from 'Gates' by New Asia 1982)
10 Breath Of Life (from 'Explorers' by The Explorers 1985)
11 Citta Chiusa (from 'Park Hotel' by Alice 1986)
12 Sphinx (from 'Guitar Speak' by Various Artists 1988)
13 Legere Eclaircie (from 'Novice' by Alain Bashung 1989)
14 Spellbound (from 'Abracadabra' by ABC 1991)
15 L'Amour Sourdine (from 'Je rocke ma vie' by Éric Charden 1992)

For MAC users

Press command+shift+period (to show hidden files) and a grayed out folder '...and on guitar" will appear and the mp3s will be inside. Either drag those to another folder OR rename the folder without any periods at the beginning. Press command+shift+period to once again hide the hidden files.

Steve Hackett - ...and on guitar (2020)

Stephen Richard Hackett was born on 12 February 1950 in Pimlico, London, just one day before his future Genesis band-mate Peter Gabriel. He grew up having access to various musical instruments, such as the harmonica and recorder, but he didn't develop an interest in the guitar until the age of 12 when he started playing single notes. By 14, he was learning chords and experimenting with chord progressions, although he never received any formal training. His first professional playing experience came as a member of Canterbury Glass, where he played on 'Prologue' on their album 'Sacred Scenes And Characters', which was recorded in 1968 but didn't receive a release until 2007. He also played with Heel Pier and Sarabande, and all three bands performed rock with progressive elements. He joined Quiet World in 1970, which featured his brother John on flute, and he used his time with the group to gain experience in a recording studio, playing on their only studio album 'The Road'. In December 1970 Hackett placed an advertisement in Melody Maker in his search for a new band, and he received a response from the lead singer of Genesis, Peter Gabriel, as the band had just lost founding guitarist Anthony Phillips and so were seeking a new, permanent replacement. Hackett got the job, and played his first gig with them on 24 January 1971, and it wasn't long before the band were recording their new album 'Nursery Cryme', which was Hackett's first taste of recording with Genesis. He helped shape the group's sound by strongly encouraging them to incorporate a Mellotron into the songs, and his guitar work is prominently featured through solos on 'The Musical Box', 'The Return Of The Giant Hogweed', and 'The Fountain Of Salmacis'. For the next four years Hackett was an integral part of Genesis, but by 1975 he wanted to show what he could do on his own, and recorded his first solo album 'Voyage Of The Acolyte', before resuming work with Genesis and recording his final albums with them, 1976's 'A Trick Of The Tail' and 'Wind And Wuthering'. He had grown increasingly constricted by his lack of freedom and level of input and was insistent that more of his material be included on the albums, but was rebuffed, and so he left the group. His solo career proper commenced with 1978's 'Please Don't Touch!', and he's released over two dozen albums since then. With such a workload, as well as being part of bands Box Of Frogs and GTR, his guest appearances on other artist's records have been quite sparse, perhaps one every couple of years, but when they happened they gave the track that extra bit of magic, and so it's certainly worth seeking them out and collecting the best of them for this double disc set.

Track listing

Disc One
01 Prologue (from 'Sacred Scenes And Characters' by Canterbury Glass 1968)
02 Knights (Reprise) (from 'Two Sides Of Peter Banks' by Peter Banks 1973)
03 The Wind In The Willows (from 'Wind In The Willows' by Eddie Hardin & Zak Starkey 1985)
04 Voo De Coracao (from 'Voo De Coracao' by Ritchie 1983)
05 A Life In Movies (from 'Guitar Speak III' 1991) 
06 Face In The Mirror (from 'Gallery Of Dreams' by Gandalf 1993)
07 All Grown Up (from 'Arkangel' by John Wetton 1998)
08 Singing Deep Mountain (from 'Emergent' by Gordian Knot 2002)
09 Remainder The Black Dog (from 'Grace For Drowning' by Steven Wilson 2011)

Disc Two
01 12 (from '?' by Neal Morse 2006)  
02 Living From The Inside Out (from 'Sitting On The Top Of Time' by Jim McCarty 2009)
03 Moon Song (from 'Dirty & Beautiful Vol. 1' by Gary Husband 2010)   
04 The Parting (from 'The Theory Of Everything' by Ayreon 2013)
05 Old Man Of The Sea (from 'The Ghosts Of Propyat' by Steve Rothery 2014)
06 Man And The Machine (from 'Citizen' by Billy Sherwood 2015) 
07 Covid Nights (from 'Isolation' by The Backstage 2020)
08 What Have You Done (from 'The Bride Said No' by Nad Sylvan 2017)  

Thanks to Stenn for helping put this one together.