07 April 2026: Beckett s/t ; Ian Boddy "Drive

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Beckett were an English progressive rock band formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1970. The band released one self-titled album in April 1974 (produced by Roger Chapman, the former vocalist of Family) and disbanded shortly thereafter.^[1] Original singer Rob Turner was killed in a car crash and replaced by Terry Wilson-Slesser, who would later go on to perform with Back Street Crawler and then Geordie whose previous front man Brian Johnson left to join AC/DC in 1980. 

Review:

Beckett is simply one of the great lost Progressive Rock albums of the 1970s. These guys only did one album (Well officially that is. Beckett's Bassist Frankie Gibbon sent me an unreleased live album that's very very good.) but what an album it was. A Rainbow's Gold is simply one of the best songs on the 1970s overall. And Rolling Thunder is just amazing. It is a crying shame these guys never got the sales they deserved. But they did get a bit of recognition, due to Iron Maiden's excellent cover of A Rainbow's Gold as a B Side. Beckett's also notable for the fact that their Vocalist, the excellent Terry Wilson-Slesser later went on to sing for Paul Kossoff's Back Street Crawler. 

 

From Ian Boddy:

Released in 1991, this was my second CD release on the Surreal to Real label. By this time, I was working for Akai, selling and demonstrating their studio sampling gear. This gave me access to some very nice instruments, and the MPC-60, much loved by the dance fraternity, features heavily in this album’s ultra-tight rhythm grooves. The opening trilogy of tracks (Drive, Ice Horizon, & Alchemy) became a mainstay for my concerts around this time. Two of the pieces feature the electronic wind instrument playing of Julian Maynard-Smith, with whom I briefly formed a trio called Hi-Q (along with David Berkeley). As with other albums from this era, the music is very much focused on melodic, tightly arranged compositions.

There are three bonus tracks from around the same time period, with Disconnect Me being a fun piece with a sampled voice I’m sure some of you will recognise. Both Prodigal & Crimekiller are unreleased demos for a couple of computer games I worked on in the early 1990s.

credits

released March 6, 2026
FreeForm Radio thanks Ian Boddy for a promo copy of this release.
All tracks composed by Ian Boddy, except for Alchemy & Analogagogalog by Ian Boddy & Julian Maynard-Smith and Crucifixus by Antonio Lotti (1667 - 1740) arranged by Ian Boddy.
Produced by Ian Boddy.
Engineered by Skogg.
Programmed entirely onto Atari 1040/Steinberg Cubase at Something Else Studios (Jan - July 91).
Mixed to DAT at Projects UK (Newcastle) Aug. 91.
Digitally edited on Akai DD1000.
Cover by Gary Scott.

Remastered for this edition in February 2026 by Ian Boddy.

THE PLAYERS
Ian Boddy :- Akai S1000, S950 & MPC-60. Roland D550,
MK530 & SPD-8. Korg Wavestation & Yamaha TX416.
Julian Maynard-Smith :- Yamaha EX11 Wind Instrument playing
Akai S950 & Korg Wavestation.
David Berkeley - Korg WS-1 & M1 EXR Programming.

Tags

ambient em electronic electronic music electronica modular synth Sunderland