Review Summary: Another great work of this amazing prog supergroup.
“Danger Money” is the second studio album of U.K. that was released in 1979. The line up on the album is Eddie Jobson, John Wetton and Terry Bozzio.
U.K. was one of the most prominent prog rock bands of the late 70’s and one of the first of a concept that would be called a “super-group”. This second effort of the band was released in the following year of the release of their eponymous debut work. As I mentioned above, “Danger Money” features John Wetton, Eddie Jobson and Terry Bozzio. Of the original line up of U.K. only Wetton and Jobson remained, having Allan Holdsworth and Bill Bruford, departed.
Following two lengthy American live tours, Wetton and Jobson decided to fire Holdsworth due to some over musical differences. Bruford chose to depart as well. Bruford soon formed the jazz rock fusion group, Bruford, and invited Holdsworth to join him. After the departure of Bruford and Holdsworth, the remaining band’s members decided not to bring another guitarist for the group. Instead, they became a trio with the presence of the new drummer Terry Bozzio.
U.K. had changed. With Bruford and Holdsworth, half of the original cast was missing. Maybe those weren’t essential to the song writing, but they were as important to the sound as the rest. Due to the absence of Holdsworth and Bruford, U.K. no longer had a jazzy component, but with the addition of Bozzio, another clearly rock oriented component was added to the music of U.K. However, with the departure of Holdsworth and Bruford, Jobson and Wetton’s hunger for progressive rock credits was still going strong. With Bozzio they experimented something new, even that some of the pieces were still designed for the four-piece formation and had already been tried and tested in live material, “The Only Thing She Needs”, “Caesar’s Palace Blues” and “Carrying No Cross”, which were released on their live album “Concert Classics Vol. 4”. In general, all songs got straighter to the point, more powerful, with a pressure that the four-piece cast might not have been able to build up at all. Jobson was now the sole soloist and his violin and keyboards were now unrivaled in the foreground, but he was virtuosic and musical enough not to let this album degenerate into boredom.
“Danger Money” has six tracks. All songs were written by Jobson and Wetton. The album opens with the title track. It begins with a massive bombastic sound. Jobson’s keyboards are the main instruments on this piece, constructing the main body of the song. It shows this album has more straightforward melodies, many instrumental passages and quirky structure changes. “Rendezvous 6:02” points further more into a pop direction, resting gently on Jobson’s acoustic sounding electric piano, playing in a jazzy vein during the instrumental section and competing against increasingly beautiful cascades of the synthesizers. This is a lovely song that reminds me of the good old days of King Crimson’s ballads. “The Only Thing She Needs” represents Bozzio’s showcase with a solo near the beginning of the song. The song is also dominated by Jobson. He is truly a versatile and virtuoso musician. The piano sounds great and the song culminates into a great violin solo with a great bass line and a dynamic drumming. “Caesar’s Palace Blues” opens with Jobson’s demoniac electric violin alternately sounding like a heavy metal guitarist. This is a strong rock song dominated by Jobson’s violin work. It’s the jazziest song on the album with Wetton’s great vocal work. “Nothing To Lose” was the track that I heard first on the radio. We can say this song pointed the way to a more digestible form of progressive rock that Wetton provided for his next progressive band, Asia. This is the weakest and the only weak track on the album. “Carrying No Cross” is the epic track that you must find on any good prog work. It has a temperament that flows like a symphonic piece with great vocals and frenzy of almost everything on Jobson’s instruments. It was clearly constructed as a stage crowd pleaser. It reminds me of Keith Emerson and the good old times of E.L.P. If you want to know why Jobson is considered a wizard keyboardist, you must hear this song. He is an amazing keyboardist.
Conclusion: “Danger Money” is a landmark in prog rock music. It marked the end of the classic prog rock era. After that point, it seemed the major participants in the decade of prog rock golden era, or disbanded or moved on to more commercial realms. Yes reformed with Trevor Rabin with simpler, shorter and radio friendly songs. Genesis continued their transformation to a pop rock band. Asia was formed with Wetton and Yes’ guitarist Steve Howe around the same time and same style. So, “Danger Money” is a great album and a very special album in the prog rock music of the 70’s. This is almost a perfect album where “Only Thing To Lose” disappoints. It’s the only obstacle that prevents me from giving a higher rating to it. Sadly, this was the last studio album of this great prog rock act. But, this virtuoso handful of musicians, left beyond two scintillating and genuine prog studio releases. It was a shame that U.K. was over.
Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)
