2nd Vision -

2nd Vision were an English jazz-rock band that released the album First Steps on Chrysalis in 1980. The band was a supergroup comprised of members from an array of acts (Soft Machine, Gryphon, Darryl Way’s Wolf).

Members: Ric Sanders (electric violin), Dave Bristow (keyboards), John Etheridge (guitar), Mickey Barker (drums, percussion, 1977-80), Jonathan Davie (bass, 1979-80), Fred Thelonious Baker (bass, 1981), Nick Twyman (drums, 1981)

2nd Vision evolved through an association between keyboardist Dave Bristow (Poliphony), bassist Jonathan Davie (Gryphon, The Banned), and violinist Ric Saunders (Soft Machine, Albion Band, Gordon Giltrap). The three had recently worked together on the June Tabor/Martin Simpson album A Cut Above (1978). Saunders called in guitarist John Etheridge (Icarus, Wolf, Global Village Trucking Co.); the two played together in Soft Machine circa 1977. Drummer Mickey Barker completed the lineup.

2nd Vision’s singular album, First Steps (1980), was released on Chrysalis in the U.K., Benelux, and Germany. It features three interludes and six medium-length originals, including “Dancing Circle” and “August 4” (both by Sanders) and three Bristow compositions: “Star Dance,” “Coanda,” and “Ice Bells”. The album was produced by Bruton library artist John Cameron and engineered by Doug Bennett (Armageddon, Moonrider, Racing Cars, Hawkwind, Man, Dr. Feelgood, The Stranglers, The Buzzcocks).

After the project wrapped, Bristow (with Barker) fronted his own namesake trio for one album and (along with Davie and Sanders) backed several folk artists on the Waterfront label. He later joined the Mike Gibbs Orchestra. Ethridge cut discs with Dick Heckstall-Smith and Andy Summers before going solo later in his career. Barker joined Magnum in 1985 and remained until they folded a decade later.

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