Its a bit quiet here today so how about...
Here's another early prog rocker from Ivory Tower.
Crystal Visions.
A bit of the history behind this band: Gordon Styles played guitar and sung this one, he was about 20. I recall it was a US Telecaster. Mike Bowes on keys, Moog, DX7 and Roland Juno, same age. Mike Tester played drums, Sonor Lite, he was the daddy at about 23 and I was only 21 and dragged into this band cos they needed a bass player and I had one a Westone Thunder 1. Influences were obviously Yes and Genesis etc. and these guys could play. Recorded at Steve Daggets place in Gosforth Newcastle. Its a long tune but hold on for the piano at the end :)

Recorded at Steve Daggets place in Gosforth Newcastle.
We did our two demo sessions there! Important studios :lol:
(a soundproofed double garage with a with a tiny mixer room and vocal booth.)
Still. The bloke was a good producer, wern't he in Lindisfarne once over?
I remember your Westone (same body as Dave's guitar ) Thinking back to this, you certainly picked bass playing
up quickly, if I remember rightly you wern't playing long before joining this band.
Very pro sounding band, shame about the muffled sound, though that's probably the 24 year old tape.
Sadly, I never got to see you play back then.

Thanks Pete. Important, now I remember. Times have'nt changed much as the last recordings I did were also in a converted garage, although the equipment took up less space. Steve Dagget is currently playing gigs around the north east. I believe he was in Lindisfarne. I remember well getting the gig with IT. Mike Bowes came round our house in his Ford Capri knocked on the door and stated rather than asked that "you play the bass don't you, come on you're joining our band". The easiest audition anyone could ever expect.
In the beginning I was told what to play and even the fingering (ooh Matron!) but I didn't mind it felt good to be in a band instead of the bedroom.
The band didn't last more than about 3 years cos of the usual reasons.

AH memories!!:) What's Mike Bowes doing these day?He was a very good keyboardist.I remember our first recordings Pete in sunny Gosforth.There wasn't enough room for all of us at once so we had to bugger off to the pub between takes.My first experiance at being in a studio.:lol:

Guys my dog won´t let me play any guitar this afternoon :(

Yeah the pub round the corner. Mike is down south somewhere and I think he is a geography teacher now. Very strange. Gordon concentrated on his family engineering business and even became NE businessman of the year at some time. Bill Norris disappeared in a cloud of green smoke and Mike Tester is still drumming here and there.

I love that dog. lets hear more of him:woot:

Fuck! I sware I wasn´t in this thread a moment ago! :tard: Twilight Zone! Sorry L.

Yeah the pub round the corner. Mike is down south somewhere and I think he is a geography teacher now. Very strange. Gordon concentrated on his family engineering business and even became NE businessman of the year at some time. Bill Norris disappeared in a cloud of green smoke and Mike Tester is still drumming here and there.

I very nearly ended up working for Gordon, around 10 years ago. "Styles Rapid Prototyping" on the Teesside Industrial Estate.

Didn't work out though... maybe just as well.

Remember Ivory Tower well. We (Arizona) "borrowed" Mike for a while too for some gigs and recordings ... good keyboard player, nice lad.

Great stuff mate, i can definately hear the Genesis influence, but its a great song in its own right, and played brilliantly by you all, really enjoyed it :)

Excellent stuff..I'd never heard of the band before..wish i had!..some great influences there...Genesis "Selling England by the pound" & "Once around the world" by mate frank's old band spring to mind..good stuff man!

Damm good stuff, sounded very early Genesis to me too. And somebody shut that bloody dog up :lol: