Exposure

I think it was somewhere around 1984 when I listened to the radio on a frequent base. Every Thursday we had a two hour program running on the Dutch radiostation Hilversum 3 in which they played tracks from new albums. It was a great program called LP Show. A couple of years later they changed the name to the CD Show.

It was a well known program where they played every style of music, normally without talking through the intro and outtro of the music, and on several occations they broadcasted live shows. Through this show I discovered new music. Became interested in bands like Marillion, Pallas, IQ and Pendragon, and so into progressive rock, or the neo-prog as it was called, since all these bands were from the eighties.

It was also around this time that a small Dutch magazine called Sym-Info was starting, and this magazine brought more names to my attention. It was basicly an A5 magazine at the start filled with reviews, but later on with interviews. Since they knew the music they were promoting was hard to find, they gave addresses of the artists to order their music. On a later date, when changed to SI Magazine and working on a more professional base, they had their own ordering and distribution.

In 1985 a young musician called Steven Wilson, ex-member of Karma, decided to do something different releasing a compilation album on own control. He asked bands to contribute a song for this release, and recorded his contribution "From A Toyshops Window" under the name "No Man Is An Island Except For The Isle Of Man". Seven other bands, mainly from the UK but two from Spain, contributed a song to the compilation. All bands were starters or had just released a cassette album. It turned out to be a great idea and in the following years two more volumes saw the light. The albums came under my attention through the magazine and I ordered them directly from Steve Wilson.

Nowadays from all eight bands only Abel Ganz and No-Man are active. It was strange for Twice Bitten, since Rog Patterson and Greg Smith had gone their seperate ways by the time the album came out. Borag Thungg changed their name to Gogo Street but disappeared soon afterwards as well. Comedy Of Errors released their EP some time later, and recorded several tapes before disappearing in the early nineties. So did Coltsfoot. On the Spainish bands I don't have any information.

Exposure (1986)

Abel Ganz - The Unholy War
Coltsfoot - Autumn
Pharaon - Medianoche
Borag Thungg - Song Of The Vineyard
No Man Is An Island Except For The Isle Of Man - From A Toyshop Window
Twice Bitten - End Play
Comedy Of Errors - Time There Was
Aletsesoida - Living On Earth