Artist: Big Big Train
Am I familiar with this artist? Somewhat
Subgenre(s): Neo-prog, Crossover Prog (?)
Nationality English
Linked with: Marillion, Spock's Beard, IQ, Jadis
Lineup: (Current)
David Longdon – Lead Vocals, Flute, Electric Guitars, Mandolin, Celesta, Lute, Piano, Banjo, Synthesisers, Percussion
Greg Spawton – Bass Guitars
Nick D'Virgilio – Drums and Percussion, Backing Vocals
Dave Gregory – Guitars
Rikard Sjöblom – Keyboards, Electric Guitars, Backing Vocals
Danny Manners – Keyboards, Double Bass
Rachel Hall – Violin, Viola, Cello, Backing Vocals
Robin Armstrong – Guitars, Keyboards
(Past)
Ian Cooper – keyboards (1991-1995, 1999-2004)
Steve Hughes – drums (1991-1998, 2002-2009
Martin Read – lead vocals (1991-2003)
Andy Poole – bass guitar (1990–2018), keyboards (2004–2018), guitars (2012–2018)
Tony Müller – keyboards (1995-2003), vocals (1999-2003)
Pete Hibbit – drums (1998-1999)
Phil Hogg – drums (1999-2002)
Sean Filkins – lead vocals (2003-2009)
Active From: 1991
Active To: still active
Albums: 10 at time of writing, plus six compilation or live albums and 8 EPs
Comparable to: Early Genesis, Van der Graaf Generator, Marillion, Pendragon
Although Marillion are generally agreed to have been the natural successors to Genesis (at least, seventies Genesis), like their heroes they too changed with the departure of their frontman, and moved away from real prog rock and into a more mainstream rock arena. But if anyone can be said to be the real inheritors of Gabriel and Co's crown, then you could make a good case for Bournemouth's Big Big Train. Not only did they emulate the pastoral, gentle sounds of early Genesis albums, and still do, but they typify that quintessentially English feel that albums like
Trespass, Nursery Cryme and
Foxtrot, to say nothing of
Selling England by the Pound, brought to the genre in the early seventies.
Unlike either band, Big Big Train did not sign to a major label for their first release, putting out demos and recordings of their own before being snagged by Giant Electric Pea, though the band would create their own record label – Treefrog, later to be changed to Electric Recordings. Also unlike the other two bands mentioned, BBT have had in the double figures of members over the last two decades, and currently play as a octet, utilising such prog staples as violin, flute, mandolin, celesta and, um, lute.
The only members to remain current are the two founders, Greg Spawton and Andy Poole, although very recently (January was the announcement) the latter decided to leave the band. No reason given, but the split appeared to be amicable. Which leaves Spawton as the original Fat Controller, if you will, the co-founder and the only one to continue this particular train journey into 2019.
Although their first proper album would not see the light of day until the following year, Big Big Train released their first, self-financed demo album,
From the River to the Sea the previous year. Very impressive for a demo, it boasted twelve tracks and ran for just short of an hour. The only video I can find of it is the full album, so here it is. You can hear how raw the production is,but for a self-produced, recorded and financed album it's really not that bad.
Their second demo album – more an EP really – only contained seven tracks and was released a year before their debut album.
The Infant Hercules (couldn't really be anything other than a prog record with a title like that, eh?) showcased their new drummer, Steve Hughes, who would be a mainstay until 2009.
Signing to Giant Electric Pea in 1994, BBT unleashed their debut album on the world, where it took pretty much nobody by storm, though it did receive positive reviews among the prog rock community. The album featured guest appearances from members of Galahad, Jadis and IQ, which at least showed that established prog bands were interested in what BBT were doing.
Interestingly, though
Goodbye to the Age of Steam was completed in a mere six months, the next album would take three times that long. I guess that's a good thing, because these things shouldn't be rushed, and the time taken showed when
English Boy Wonders hit in 1997. A longer album, with a lot more thought put into it, it continued the Genesis influence but added others to allow a sort of soft rock sentiment to pervade their music.
This album would see the departure of drummer Steve Hughes, though he would return for the fourth album. Before that, Big Big Train ponied up the cash to build themselves a studio, a move that would repay them later, and began work on their third album. This took another five years, and resulted in the deceptively-simply-titled
Bard, which mixed very very short tracks of often less than a minute with two epics, one of which ran for fourteen minutes, the other for sixteen. Having been dropped by their label due (presumably) to poor sales of their first two albums, BBT set up their own and released this on the new Treefrog Records.
This would see the departure of original vocalist Martin Read, after a decade with the band, to be replaced by Sean Filkins on the next album, which would be a concept album of sorts. Based on the Battle of Britain,
Gathering Speed was out two short years later, and remains one of BBT's best-loved albums.
Their fifth album could perhaps be described as Big Big Marillion's Beard, as members of both Marillion and Spock's Beard played on it, one in particular, Nick D'Virgilio, saying on to play with the band for another albums. This was also the first time BBT would use brass and strings on their albums, culminating in a five-piece brass band and a permanent violin player joining their ranks.
Around this time the boys changed the name of their record label to English Electric, which would in fact end up being the title of two more albums, as well as a compilation. This would also be the last album with Sean Filkins as vocalist,and he would be be replaced by David Longdon, a Gabriel clone if ever there was one.
A strange little album,
The Underfall Yard consists of only six tracks, one of which runs for twelve and a half minutes, while the closer clocks up almost twenty-three. Not much chance of releasing singles from that then! Lucky they were by now on their own label, and so there was no such pressure on them.
With a three-year break in between, the period from 2012 up to this year became something of a flurry of activity for BBT, with no less than five albums released over five years.
English Electric Part I and
English Electric Part II followed each other within a year, released in 2012 and 2013 respectively and then came that three-year gap.
Oddly enough, at this point it seems both albums were jointly released on Big Big Train's own English Electric label and the original Giant Electric Pea. I assume some deal was made, but I'm not privy to the details. Three years further on and it seems the guys have embraced the vinyl resurgence, as
Folklore was released on, among others, CD, digital download and double-LP vinyl. Having had more than enough songs left over from this album, BBT had planned to release an extra EP, but this in fact grew into a full-fledged album,
Grimspound, which was released the following year. The album, their tenth, secured for them their very first ever placing in the charts, even if it was only number 45.
Not happy with releasing so much already, BBT reworked much of the material from the last two albums and it became, along with some new material, their, to date, latest recording,
The Second Brightest Star, released last year, 2017.
Final Conclusion: As I said at the opening of this piece, Big Big Train are worthy successor's to both Genesis and Marillion's throne, now that the former are to all intents and purposes no longer active and the latter have changed their sound away from true prog rock, and if you want to hear what Genesis might have been like had Gabriel stayed, or if Fish had not left Marillion, put on a BBT album. Any album; they're all good.
Result: 