Voice Mail is the second solo album by the English rock musician John Wetton. Initially released on 17 June 1994 in Japan only, it was re-released internationally as Battle Lines with the same musical content but different artwork. John Wetton was an English singer, bassist, and songwriter. He rose to fame with bands Mogul Thrash, Family, King Crimson, Roxy Music and Uriah Heep. Following his period in Uriah Heep, Wetton formed U.K., and later — after a brief stint in Wishbone Ash — he was the frontman and principal songwriter of the supergroup Asia, which proved to be his biggest commercial success.
The songwriting core of '80s supergroup Asia was vocalist/bassist John Wetton and keyboardist Geoffrey Downes. Guitarist Steve Howe and drummer Carl Palmer contributed to the awesome whole, but virtually every song on 1982's number-one behemoth Asia and 1983's Alpha were officially credited to Wetton and Downes. After the original lineup splintered following those two albums, Downes continued to lead various incarnations of the group with occasional, gradually dwindling involvement from the others. Wetton and Downes resumed writing together from time to time, and finally pooled their talents to record 2005's Icon, which is what they also named this duo project itself.
iCon Zero is a revised presentation of the Wetton/Downes album and is a precursor to their iCon series of albums. It is essentially a collection of tracks mostly recorded in the late 1980s through the time of their brief reformation in 1990…
Icon 3 is a studio album, recorded by Asia band members John Wetton & Geoffrey Downes in 2009, and released the same year. It is their third and final studio release under the Icon offshoot. Andreas Vollenweider and Anne-Marie Helder guest on several songs.
EMERSON LAKE & PALMER (ELP) reformed for the first time since 1998 to headline the High Voltage Festival on Sunday July 25th 2010. 2010 marked the 40th anniversary of the creation of Emerson Lake and Palmer, the band that was formed from King Crimson, The Nice and Atomic Rooster. They became the first true prog-rock Super Group and defined an era…
After the end of Yes, Downes and Horn resumed working on a second Buggles album, Adventures in Modern Recording, released in 1981. The same year, Downes founded Asia with fellow former Yes member Steve Howe, former King Crimson member John Wetton, and former Emerson, Lake & Palmer drummer Carl Palmer. The weak commercial performance of Adventures in Modern Recording, associated with Downes being busy with Asia and Horn wanting to be focusing on being a record producer, led to the disbanding of The Buggles. Yes subsequently reformed in 1983, without them, but with Horn producing.
Solo album of instrumental covers by the former member of The Buggles, Asia & Yes. Geoffrey "Geoff" Downes is an English rock songwriter, record producer, keyboardist, icon. Downes created The Buggles with Trevor Horn in 1977. After three years of songwriting and recording process, their first album, The Age of Plastic, was released in 1980. Now recognized as a highly influent album and a landmark of the electropop era, it also spawned the single "Video Killed the Radio Star", that was No. 1 on the singles charts of sixteen countries. The same year, both Horn and Downes joined Yes and recorded the album Drama as a part of the band. The following year however, Yes disbanded.
Gary Chandler (guitar and vocals) and Stephen Christey (drums and percussion) founded English neo-progressive rockers Jadis in the late 80's and quickly scored some prestigious opening slots, including a coveted stint supporting progressive rock giants Marillion on their 1988 tour. The following year found them headlining London's legendary Marquee Club and recording their first demos with the help of Marillion guitarist Steve Rothery, but repeated line-up changes would force them to wait two more years before beginning work on their debut album, More than Meets the Eye.