U.K.-U.K. (1978)

This short-lived supergroup was one of the last of the golden age of progressive rock in the 1970s, born from the dissolution of an original idea by John Wetton, Bill Bruford, and Rick Wakeman. However, Wakeman ultimately left the project, and his replacement was former Roxy Music keyboardist and violinist Eddie Jobson, with former Soft Machine and Gong guitarist Allan Holdsworth completing the lineup. With the definitive band in place, they entered the studio and recorded their self-titled debut album, "U.K." (1978), released on the E.G. label. This first album showcased a group of highly skilled musicians who fully lived up to the expectations of the time, displaying superb precision, great compositional inspiration, and an exceptionally high level of technical prowess. Tracks like the sweeping and Crimson-esque “In the Dead of Night”, the grandiose “Presto Vivace and Reprise”, the atmospheric “Thirty Years”, the brilliant progressive hard rock “Alaska” and the progressive jazz “Mental Medication”, made up a work that would go down in history as one of the most important of the progressive style of the late 70s.