Silent Running -

Silent Running were an Irish modern-rock band from Belfast that released the album Shades of Liberty with assorted singles on EMI/Parolphone in 1984/85, followed by two albums on Atlantic during the latter part of the decade.

Members: Peter Gamble (vocals), Tony Scott (guitar), Richard Collett (bass), Ian Gault (drums), Alex White (keyboards, 1984)

Silent Running debuted with the single “All the Kings Men” / “Until the Twelfth of Never Comes” on self-press Silent Records Ltd. in 1982. The b-side was recut as “When the 12th of Never Comes” and issued as their debut a-side on EMI, backed with “Go for the Heart.” Keyboards on this release are played by studio-hand Ian Curnow, who also served as a fourth-wheel for Talk Talk during this period. Silent Running supported John Foxx on his 1983 tour for The Golden Section.

In 1984, Silent Running released their debut album Shades of Liberty on Parlophone/EMI. The album features nine originals, including “That’s Life (In the Real World),” “One in a Million Day,” and the title-track. Stateside, it was titled Emotional Warfare with a shuffled track order on side two. It was produced by Peter Walsh (Heaven 17, Simple Minds, China Crisis, Peter Gabriel) and yielded four singles. Keyboards were handled by Alex White, who subsequently played on albums by Joan Armatrading, Sharon O’Neill, and The Mighty Lemon Drops.

Silent Running capped their Parlophone deal with the 1985 non-album single “No Faith Is Blind” / “Business as Usual,” produced by Jon Astley. Further recordings for a planned second album on the label remain unreleased.

In 1987, Silent Running resurfaced on Atlantic with the album Walk on Fire. It features eight originals, including “Till Tomorrow Comes,” “Heartbreak City,” and “Winds of War.” The album was mostly produced by veteran English/Canadian supervisor Terry Brown (Rush, Klaatu, Max Webster, BB Gabor). Keyboards here are split between Curnow and studio-vet Andy Richards (Michael Chapman, Demon, White Door, Gary Moore, Nik Kershaw). The band’s final release, Deep, appeared in 1989 on Atlantic.