Album review : AFTER THE FIRE – Bright Lights 1974-1982

Cherry Red [Release date 20.06.25]

Bright Lights indeed. After The Fire were (and still are) a British band who formed in 1972, who went on to release five albums between 1978 – 1982.

CD1: Signs Of Change (1978)
CD2: Early Demos (1979)
CD3: Laser Love (1979)
CD4: 80-f (1981)
CD5: Batteries Not Included (1982)
CD6: AT2F

Very much in command of their own ability to refresh the musical page, the band were constantly bringing in new ideas which were ultimately tied together to create something different.

They evolved from Progrock to New Wave to AOR in the space of 5 years.

The 1978 debut, Signs Of Change was bracketed with Genesis and ELP in the music media. The mostly long form tracks, like ‘Dance Of The Marionette’ and ‘Pilgrim’ demonstrated their Prog credentials (as well as affirming their Christian beliefs).

It met with limited success, but the band didn’t stand still long enough to truly create a permanent niche in the genre.

Only a year later, the follow up, Laser Love, swiftly climbed on board the fast accelerating New Wave bandwagon.

The debut had attracted industry attention. This time, pre-eminent producer/ arrangers, Rhett Davies, Muff Winwood, Rupert Hine and John Leckie all got involved. As a result, it hit the UK album charts a glancing blow.

By the third album, 80-f, the band had settled into an Andy Piercy, John Russell, Pete King and Pete Banks line up. After the inevitable personnel shuffles, they had achieved some hard earned stability.

Only standing still long enough to attract attention, they followed up with Batteries Not Included.
But the public don’t like moving targets, and so BNI made little critical or commercial headway.

AT2F, the sixth CD, was assembled entirely of previously unreleased tracks, aimed at the US market, where again the band had some limited success (their single ‘Der Kommisar’ became a Billboard Top Ten hit), but not enough to hold the band together.
In itself it adds to the proliferation of bonus/ demo/ unreleased material spread across this anthology.

The boxset is topped off with interviews with Banks, Piercy and Russell, plus numerous previously unseen photos from the band’s archive. Good VFM all round. ***1/2

Review by Brian McGowan

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