Buggles
Adventures In Modern Recording

« Run
One last train for the inner city

Here in the sun
There on the sand
Falling like angels
You hold out your hand »

In 1979, the Buggles, a project born from the minds of Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes, released the electrifying hit Video Killed The Radio Star… a track that, in addition to selling very well, marked the birth of the musical '80s. The following year, they were called to replace Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman, respectively the singer and keyboardist, of one of the greatest progressive bands of all time: YES… the album that resulted was the excellent "Drama".
With the experience gained, the two decided to revive the Buggles brand for a new LP, "Adventures In Modern Recording" (1981).
Even on a first listen, you can notice a different approach compared to the debut "Living In The Age Of Plastic": the easy and playful atmospheres are tempered in a deliberately aseptic and glacial substrate. This stylistic stratagem manages to make even simple pop songs very evocative, like those we can find on this record.

From the opening, entrusted to the title track Adventures In Modern Recording, we can observe that Horn prefers to use the same à-la Anderson vocal tone used in "Drama"… and this is decidedly a positive fact. Back to the song: after a stadium ovation, the assertive drum machines start a lively and pleasant rhythm. The second track is Beatnik, which comes off rather repetitive… and it's a shame because, with the background rhythm used, much more could have been done.

After this slightly subdued start, the Downes/Horn duo fully recovers with the splendid Vermilion Sands.
The cold and hypnotic melodies can do nothing but envelop us and please our eardrums: imagine being stretched on a beach made of pure silicon… you are getting a "moon tan" and decide to take a swim… but the ocean doesn't exist because all this synthetic and digital landscape floats in the absolute void.
I understand this is quite a bizarre image, but it is exactly what this track evokes… a track that can boast two solos by Downes: the first, just 15-20 seconds, is a pleasant cabaret-style interlude. The second (and concluding) seems like a technological conversion of one of those pieces danced by the great Fred Astaire.

The subsequent I Am A Camera and On TV were the singles released and, at the time, became minor hits: it's absolutely pointless to compare their success to that of Video Killed The Radio Star. The former is simply a rearrangement of YES's Into The Lens. On TV, on the other hand, is a silly (but very cute) pure synth-pop composition.
We return to high compositional levels with Inner City… again, an image forms in my mind: a road so long that its edges meet at the horizon, with endless buildings on either side… the darkness is only chased away by the diffuse and chilling light of neon. This reveals the cold and sleek tones of the environment.
The subsequent Lenny is also excellent. The regular and festive rhythm, the great choruses, and a Horn in perfect shape give us a great track… a fun and happy party on the Vermilion Sands beaches.
The state of grace continues with Rainbow Warrior, delicate yet powerful at the same time: probably, along with Inner City and the often mentioned Vermilion Sands, it's the best track of the entire album.
The album closes with Adventures In Modern Recording [Reprise], which, as the title suggests, reprises the opening theme. It's a somewhat insignificant instrumental that adds nothing and serves practically just as filler.

After all the words spent, we can understand that we are in the presence of a great album… . Top-notch Synth-Pop produced by a band that, unjustly, will always be remembered for one single and solitary song: the notorious Video Killed The Radio Star.
After "Adventures…", the Buggles would definitively disband: Horn would become a successful producer, while Downes would form the band ASIA.

« Dancing in silence the orchestra late
In the Essoldo or down by the lake
I don't care

Take me to Vermilion Sands
Hold me in familiar hands
Take me to Vermilion Sands »