Review: 801 – 801 Live (1976)

801 is a supergroup formed by guitarist Phil Manzarena, named after lyrics from Brian Eno’s song “The True Wheel” (“We are the 801. We are the central shaft”), which Manzarena and Eno co-wrote

Manzanera’s band Roxy Music took a break in 1976 while singer Bryan Ferry focused on his solo career. Manzanera also began work on his own solo album. However, production of the album, titled Listen Now, stalled badly, and Manzanera decided to put the project on hold and play a bunch of therapy gigs instead. Manzanera thus assembled a stellar band consisting mainly of the crew who had worked on Listen Now. The goal was mainly to have fun and play a bunch of gigs across Europe. Manzanera’s old Quiet Sun colleague Bill MacCormic had also played a key role in the Listen Now project and was the obvious choice for bassist. They also brought in virtuoso keyboardist Francis Monkman (Curved Air) and, on drums, studio ace Simon Phillips, who was just 19 years old. Surprisingly, Manzanera’s old Roxy Music buddy, the “non-musician” Brian Eno, also got excited about Manzanera’s band idea—even though he was transitioning to ambient music around that time—and agreed to join the band as a singer and synthesizer player. Eno also brought along slide guitarist Lloyd Watson.

”One of the great treats was trying to get Brian to play in odd time signature. ’It goes like this, Brian 1-2-3-4-5-6.’ He used to get quite ratty when we would count it for him, and say ’I can’t do it!’ But eventually he got it.” – Bill McCormic

801 practiced vigorously for three weeks in preparation for their upcoming concert run. Rehearsals went well, even though Eno and Watson had some trouble navigating through some of the more complex songs, such as Quiet Sun’s “East Of Eden,” which has a clever 13/8 time signature. Despite these challenges, the new band was in top form right from their first major gig (the band had played one small warm-up gig prior to this) at the Reading Festival, where they played between Van Der Graaf Generator and Camel. According to numerous contemporary reports, 801 was the band that received the most enthusiastic reception of the entire festival.

”The Musical highpoint of the weekend.” – John Peel

801 had not originally planned to record at all, but when their tour—which was mainly scheduled to take place in France—fell through after the French right-wing government temporarily banned all festivals due to the riots that had occurred, the band’s tour came to a complete halt. To make up for the situation, the record label Island and 801 decided to record a live album, which was done at Queen Elizabeth Hall on September 3, 1976. According to reports, the Queen Elizabeth Hall show—which turned out to be the band’s last—went even better than the one in Reading, so we’re lucky it was released for our enjoyment.

Despite their short time together, it’s clear that the band members’ chemistry was a perfect match, and the whole band is on fire throughout the album. Well, almost the whole band. Slide guitarist Watson is clearly overshadowed by the rest of the group, to the point where you might even wonder why he was there at all.

801_band

In addition to a few Quiet Sun songs, 801’s repertoire included solo tracks by Manzanera and Eno, as well as successful covers of The Kinks’ “You Really Got Me” and The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows,” which 801 renamed “T.N.K.” So roughly half of the material consists of very prog-like instrumentals, and the other half of Eno-esque art pop. Even Eno’s songs, however, have been arranged into versions that are significantly more upbeat and rock-oriented than the originals.

“T.N.K.” is one of the album’s highlights. It’s a truly brilliant, prog-rock-infused version of The Beatles’ hazy psychedelic classic, stretched out to six minutes. MacCormic’s incredibly nimble bass playing makes a particularly strong impression on the track. MacCormic plays magnificently throughout the album anyway, and fortunately his bass is also mixed quite prominently. To my taste, MacCormic is the biggest superstar of this supergroup. An absolutely phenomenal musician!

Enon’s composition “Sombre Reptiles” is also one of the album’s highlights. Originally heard on Another Green World, the track roars with manic energy in 801’s interpretation, and Manzanera’s guitar sound—at once creamy and buzzing like a wasp—guides the song magnificently, while MacCormick strikes back sharply with a hefty bass sound. Monkman adds a delightful touch in the middle with a crisp electric piano sound. I would have loved to hear this track last much longer than just three minutes.

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The album is crowned by truly excellent sound quality that’s roughly on par with studio recordings, yet still retains enough of that raw, live feel. 801 Live may well be the best-recorded live album from the 1970s that I’ve heard. 801 Live is also a pioneering work in terms of its recording in the sense that it was one of the first live albums where the sounds of all instruments (except the drums) were fed directly into the mobile studio’s mixing console without microphones. Sound engineer Rhett Davies did a brilliant job.

Unfortunately, the original 801 lineup did not continue after that, but Manzanera and MacCormic revived the name in 1977 when they returned to finish the shelved Listen Now album. The final album was created by a slightly modified 801 Live lineup and a large group of studio musicians. Listen Now is a pleasant art rock album, but a bit too polished and lackluster compared to the raw energy of 801 Live, and at times comes dangerously close to AOR vibes, bringing to mind some of The Alan Parsons Project’s albums from the late ’70s.

801 Live is an album by a band that was formed specifically for a tour and doesn’t have any original songs. So the starting point wasn’t exactly promising, but the end result is pure gold. 801 Live is one of the greatest live albums of all time and perhaps the shining moment of guitarist Phil Manzanera’s rich and varied career.

Best tracks: “T.N.K.”, “East Of Asteroid”, “Sombre Reptiles”, “Baby’s On Fire”

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Author: JANNE YLIRUUSI

Read also: Review: Quiet Sun – Mainstream (1975)

Tracks:

Side A

  1. ”Lagrima” (Phil Manzanera) – 2:34
  2. ”TNK (Tomorrow Never Knows)” (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 6:14
  3. ”East of Asteroid” (Manzanera, Bill MacCormick) – 4:58
  4. ”Rongwrong” (Charles Hayward) – 5:10
  5. ”Sombre Reptiles” (Brian Eno) – 3:14

Side B

  1. ”Baby’s on Fire” (Eno) – 5:02
  2. ”Diamond Head” (Manzanera) – 6:21
  3. ”Miss Shapiro” (Manzanera, Eno) – 4:20
  4. ”You Really Got Me” (Ray Davies) – 3:23
  5. ”Third Uncle” (Eno) – 5:14

801:

Phil Manzanera: guitar Lloyd Watson: slide guitar, vocals Francis Monkman: Fender Rhodes electric piano, clavinette Brian Eno: keyboards, vocals, synthesizers, guitar Bill MacCormick: bass, vocals Simon Phillips: drums, drum machine

Tuotanto: 801

Levy-yhtiö: Island

 

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