Buggles - Adventures in Modern Recording

  by Tommy Gunnarsson

published: 31 / 3 / 2010

---

One of the YouTube clips I have watched the most during the last year is one where a temporarily reunited The Buggles play 'Video Killed the Radio Star' live for the very first time, during the Prince’s Trust concert in 2004, which was dedicated to the work of Trevor Horn. It’s fascinating to see and hear how Horn, together with his original studio team, had managed to re-create the sound of the legendary debut single from 1980, which still sounds as amazing as it did back then. The album that followed the single, 'The Plastic Age', included seven more great songs, focusing on the themes of nostalgia and fear of modern technology, and I really don’t lie when I say that it’s one of my favourite albums ever. In 1981, the follow-up, 'Adventures in Modern Records', was released, after Horn and fellow Buggle Geoff Downes had been members of Yes for a year, recording the album 'Drama' with them, and also touring around the world. And I must say that it’s quite audible, when listening to the album. Where the debut album was more or less a synth pop album, the second (and last) album is a more varied bunch of songs. We do get some tracks in the good old Buggles style, like 'Vermillion Sands', 'On TV' (which is the most synth-poppy song on this record) and the single 'I Am a Camera', but we also get some songs that sounds like… well… Yes, which isn’t very good in my book. On this, the first real CD release for 'Adventures In Modern Recordings' (it was released on CD in Japan two times in the 80’s and 90’s), they have added a lot of bonus tracks (actually, there are more bonus tracks than regular tracks, as the original album only included nine songs), ranging from demos to remixes from old 12” singles, most of them recorded in late 1980/early 1981, which means that most of them still have the 'Age of Plastic' sound, but then again, songs are often unreleased for a reason. With that said, some of the demo recordings here are very good, and would have suited fine the first album, in my opinion. It’s good to finally see this album on CD, and the re-release is very well put together, with informative liner notes. But while 'The Age of Plastic' is a must in every music collection, “Adventures In Modern Recordings” is mostly for die-hard fans. And maybe the occasional Yes fan, if there still are any.

Track Listing:-

1 Adventures In Modern Recording
2 Beatnik
3 Vermilion Sands
4 I Am A Camera
5 On TV
6 Inner City
7 Lenny
8 Rainbow Warrior

Label Links:-

http://www.salvo-music.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/Salvo4Music

Post A Comment

---

Comment

Name

your name

Location

ie London, UK

Submit

Check box to submit

Adam Coxon
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson

Dixie Ernill
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart

Malcolm Carter
Marie Hazelwood
Mark Rowland
Nick Dent-Robinson
Nicky Crewe
Nige Nudds
Philamonjaro
Richard Lewis
Shirley Procter
Spencer Robertshaw
Steev Burgess
Steve Kinrade

Steve Miles
Tommy Gunnarsson
Zena Grieg