John Young - 1999 - Life Underground [The Demos]

(44:18; Heritage)

There was a discussion taking place on ProgArchives recently as to whether John should be included on the site (the inclusion of artists have to be passed by committee, believe it or not), but someone said it was difficult to find any of his albums to be able to make a decision, so I said I would drop John a line and see if I could get a couple as we know each other. The first time I saw John play was back in 1991 when he was part of The Law who played at Milton Keynes Bowl supporting Bryan Adams and ZZ Top, but he was a collaborator with John Wetton for years, played with Greenslade, has been a session keyboard player for many top acts, and of course he is now well-known for the wonderful Lifesigns. But what about his purely solo material?

This album is from 2000, and I surmise it contains the demos for a planned album, but looking at his discography that does not appear to have ever been released, so it could possibly contain demos he had recorded for other purposes such as for other singers to listen to, later deciding to release the collection himself. I am really glad he did, as this takes us back to the Seventies and the likes of Chris De Burgh, although there are also elements of early Phil Collins’ solo as well. I believe this is just John, mainly accompanying himself on various keyboards (often with the piano as the lead instrument), with his soft vocals taking is on a journey. Before playing I glanced down the list of songs, didn’t see any which stood out, so it was quite a shock when “Last One Home” started, as this is a song I know very well indeed, although not with this title. John co-wrote six songs with John Wetton for his 1998 album ‘Arkangel’, and what we have here is the title cut, but far less bombastic and with a pure beauty throughout. I have just played the original studio version I know so well, and while I still love it there is a haunting beauty here which makes it even more poignant and wonderful. 

This then caused me to have a closer look at the tracks, and it was only then that I realised that opener “All Grown Up” also features on ‘Arkangel’, and the underlying rather strange repeated synth is identical, so much so I do wonder if it is the same or was re-recorded. Again playing them back-to-back I think this time around I prefer Wetton’s version, but only just, and that was recorded with the aim of being part of a commercially released album, but this is just a demo. It also includes the original version of “Ivory Tower”, which was revisited by Lifesigns more than 20 years later when it featured on ‘Altitude’.

Overall, this is a really enjoyable album, crossover progressive rock crossed with commercial elements and a naïve innocent charm which makes this a delight from beginning to end. It is available from the Lifesigns website, along with plenty of other solo and band material and is well worth seeking out. 

Kev Rowland, October 2025

Links:
https://lifesignsmusic.co.uk