http://from1fan2allothers.com

PRRP016- UK
ALASKA BY NIGHT
(Disc 1) June 27, 1978 (El Mocambo - Toronto, Ontario)
(Disc 2) August 8, 1978 (Penn's Landing - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

1-1 Alaska 2:10
1-2 Time To Kill 7:21
1-3 The Sahara of Snow 10:05
1-4 Carrying No Cross 9:58
1-5 The Only Thing She Needs 8:47
1-6 Thirty Years 8:56
1-7 In The Dead of Night 5:55
1-8 By The Light of Day 5:54
1-9 Presto Vivace and Reprise 4:03

2-1 Alaska 1:35
2-2 Time To Kill 7:25
2-3 The Only Thing She Needs 7:18
2-4 Carrying No Cross 9:53
2-5 Forever Till Sunday 6:03
2-6 Thirty Years 9:20
2-7 In The Dead of Night 8:47
2-8 The Sahara of Snow 9:31
2-9 Ceasar's Palace Blues 4:25

UK
John Wetton - Vocals & Bass Guitars
Eddie Jobson - Keyboards & Electric Violins
Bill Bruford - Drums & Percussion
Allan Holdsworth - Guitars


A Brief Encounter
The Year was 1978. The disco beat of the Bee Gees had invaded America, punk rock was
raging in Britain and Europe, and things were changing fast on the music scene. Progressive rock
bands that had dominated the seventies were now labeled DINOSAURS by the new generation of music
fans and quickly started to fade away. Big money was now ruling the music industry and
established giants such as Yes, Genesis and even Pink Floyd had to come up with hits just to
stay alive. Yet, in the midst of this great musical upheaval, a new band appeared, out of
nowhere it seemed, holding the progressive torch very high. This band�s name was UK and their
eponymous first album had just been released through EG records. New band, formidable music
style and a few familiar names. Who were these guys, and where did they come from?

Bill Bruford, by far the most well known name of the four, began his career with the
band Yes in the late sixties. In 1972 he left Yes to join King Crimson where he first meets and
works with John Wetton. After three very productive years in K.C. and Robert Fripp�s still
highly debated decision to fold the band, Bill lends a helping hand to his old Yes band-mate
Steve Howe with his solo album, then joined Genesis for the 1976 A Trick Of The Tail tour. In
1977, Bruford collaborates with Allan Holdsworth on his first solo album Feels Good To Me which
is released in August 1977, after U.K. had formed.

John Wetton, another quite familiar name, started out in a band called Family in
1971. After two albums with them he moved on to King Crimson. When K.C. disbanded in 1974,
John joined Roxy Music where he met Eddie Jobson for the second time, the latter having joined
K.C. briefly in 1975. Wetton also played briefly with Uriah Heep during that time. Then, after
helping his old Roxy Music band-mate Brian Ferry with his solo album In Your Mind in 1977, John
was ready to form U.K.

Allan Holdsworth was well known as a jazz-fusion guitarist. Before his work with U.K. he played with
Jean-Luc Ponty for the Enigmatic Oceans and Voyage albums. Prior to that, he had worked with Soft Machine
and Gong. His first experience with his future U.K. band-mates was playing guitar for Bill Bruford's first
solo album in 1977.

Eddie Jobson has played keyboard and violin for many progressive rock and jazz-fusion
groups. Prior to the formation of U.K. he was best known for his work with Roxy Music but also
worked with Curved Air, Andy Mackay, Brian Ferry, Roger Glover, Dana Gillespie and Mike Heron.
In 1975 he appeared on the King Crimson album USA where he added some overdubs. On this occasion,
he first met with Bill Bruford and John Wetton, whom he would join in UK nearly three years
later.

U.K.'s first album was recorded at Trident studios in London during December
1977 and January 1978. A quite extensive World tour followed. UK�s first performance was
April 29, 1978 at Southampton University. In the summer of 1978, the band toured Canada and the
US, including Toronto and Philadelphia. Both shows presented here as a special PrrP
package. At both concerts, many of the songs from their first album were performed as extended
length versions with long instrumental segments added to accentuate the grand musicianship. Odd
time signatures and stellar cohesiveness were the hallmarks of U.K.�s music and are clearly
present during these shows. It is too bad that this particular UK line-up stayed together for
only one year. Enjoy!

Notes from the Re-Master
Both shows are radio broadcasts and came from 1st generation sources. The fidelity was
very good for both with music signal up to 16,000 Hz for each. The Toronto show required Hiss
reduction throughout the whole show. A few notch filters were also needed to remove selected
noise. Crackle also occurred intermittently and needed filtering. Applause was a little too loud
in spots and was reduced in volume. At the end of a few songs the source faded to zero only to
fade in again with applause. Applause was mixed into these faded segments in order to provide a
smooth transition. Finally, Treble was reduced a bit to balance the tonality.

The Philadelphia show did not require Hiss reduction but had many clicks and pops that
required manual removal. Applause was smoothed and the whole show was normalised for volume.
Finally, the two shows were originally tracked differently, especially with respect to the two
songs Alaska and Time to Kill. Both were tracked to be consistent with commercially produced
U.K. recordings.

Images for all shows as well as full size images for this show.

Images for this show: