Scott's Spotlight #40- Big Big Train

August 18, 2025

Scott's Spotlight #40- Big Big Train

Originally posted to Facebook on August14, 2025.

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Welcome to Scott’s Spotlight (#scottsspotlight) issue #40. For more information about this series, please click here:

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This week I’ll need a “Big-Big” Spotlight, as I’ll be talking about the career of Big Big Train, which is long and complex with many twists and turns! I promise to try and stay “on track” as I write this!

The roots of Big Big Train go back more than a decade prior to their first official release. In 1981, in a suburb of Birmingham, England called Sutton Coldfield a new wave band under the name of Big Big Train was formed that included Nigel Spawton on drums. This band would have some moderate success and record a few songs. Nigel is the older brother of Gregory Spawton, who would form his own band called Equus, in which he played guitar. That band would last until 1984, after playing some occasional gigs, when Gregory left to attend university. Later, in 1987, he would move from the Birmingham area, in central England to Bournemouth on England’s southern coast. There he met bassist Andy Poole who had become songwriting partners with his childhood friend Ian Cooper, mainly working in a home studio. Poole and Cooper’s band, called Archshine, began playing gigs around Bournemouth around that time. When Spawton met Poole, the two discovered that they shared a love of classic 70s prog bands like Genesis and Van Der Graaf Generator, as well as the then relatively new neo-prog band, IQ. and in fact Poole had even previously worked as a roadie for IQ.

By the late 80s Spawton and Poole were writing together and recording demos. By 1990 they decided to form a band. For reasons unbeknownst to me, they took the name of Gregory Spawton’s older brother Nigel’s band, presumably defunct by then. [If anyone can shed some light on this, please let me know in the comments.] (Gregory) Spawton (guitar) and Poole (bass) were initially the only members, but by 1991, they had recruited Poole's old bandmate Ian Cooper on keys, drummer Steve Hughes, and vocalist Martin Read. By October of 1991, they were beginning to release demo tapes. A “demo album” called “From the River to the Sea” was released in May 1992 (Prog Archives lists this as their first album, but I do not have it in my library, and have never heard anything from it; it does not seem to be a part of the official BBT canon). A second BBT “demo album” “The Infant Hercules”, which includes a song called “Kingmaker” that was the first song played at the first BBT concert and one they would later revisit, was released in January of 1993. Six months later they would record the first proper full length album, and they would get signed to a prog-rock label founded by members of their influencing band IQ, called Giant Electric Pea records. The album was released in early 1994 and called “Goodbye to the Age of Steam”. The response was positive, and by 1995 the band had a Japanese distribution deal, and they recorded a bonus track for the Japanese version called “Two Poets Meet”. Some of the tracks I have enjoyed from this album include “Head Hit the Pillow”, “Edge of the Known World” and the 9+ minute “Blow the House Down”. It also includes a 10 minute cut called “Blue Silver Red. Spawton wrote or co-wrote every track (one with Poole, one with Cooper). BBT were on the prog radar.

Unfortunately, founding keyboardist Ian Cooper would be forced to leave for family reasons before they began work on the second BBT album. Initially, Spawton would cover the keys as well as guitar during the sessions, but as the sessions progressed, keys-man Tony Müller was hired to take over the position.The album was titled “English Boy Wonders” and released in 1997. Some favorite tracks of mine from this one are “Albion Perfide”, "The Shipping Forecast”, “Reaching for John Dowland” and “Boxgrove Man”. [Note the album was remastered and partially re-recorded in 2008 after going out of print on Giant Electric Pea. The re-release has a different running order from the original and some additional tracks, and was put out on BBT’s own label “English Electric Recordings”. This is the version I have.] This album seemed to find BBT in a “sophomore slump”, and didn’t do as well as the first one.

The time period after “English Boy Wonders” was a low point for BBT. The label (Giant Electric Pea) lost interest and dropped BBT. The band fizzled out and didn’t work together as a unit for some time. Spawton and Poole, however, kept writing new material, mainly out of habit. Eventually they would call band members one at a time to help make demos of the new material. Drummer Steve Hughes was hired by long-established proggers The Enid. He was initially replaced in the line-up by Pete Hibbit, then by Phil Hogg. By 2002 they had an album ready called “Bard” which was released on a label called Treefrog Records. Shortly after the album’s initial release, The Enid went on hiatus and Steve Hughes returned to replace a departing Phil Hogg. Additionally, original keyboardist Ian Cooper returned to the fold, but Tony Müller also remained. Unfortunately, this album had been out of print for some time until a remixed version came out very recently in March of 2025. As such, I am not familiar with it at all. Reviews point out that Tony Müller shared lead vocals with Martin Read and had a very gruff voice. But BBT was now back to stay. Shortly after “Bard” was released, a companion EP called “Scop” (an Old English word for Bard) was also released. This EP consisted of demo versions of some of the songs on “Bard” , plus an additional track called “The Sundial”.

In 2004, a new BBT album called “Gathering Speed” emerged with Sean Filkins replacing Martin Read on vocals, and Tony Müller had also departed, with Cooper remaining as the keyboardist. Interestingly, this is the only BBT album on which there are no songs written solely by Spawton. Cooper is the only member without a writing credit. Many BBT fans see this album as a big step forward for the band, becoming more honed in their prog-rock approach. The album is conceptual, dedicated to those who lost their lives in the Battle of Britain in WWII. I have enjoyed the opener, “High Tide, Last Stand” and there are two songs of 9 minutes or longer: “Fighter Command” and “Powder Monkey”. This would be the final release for the band on Treefrog Records.

In 2007, this line up, minus Cooper on keys (which were played by Spawton), released a second album called “The Difference Machine”. This is the first BBT album on their own English Electric Recordings label. The album was primarily written by Spawton, with contributions from Poole and Filkins. The concept is that of a man who died as a result of an exploding star in a distant galaxy. There are many notable guests on this album including Nick D’Virgilio and Dave Meros of Spock’s Beard, and Pete Trewavas of Marillion/Transatlantic and others. The album has three 10 minute + pieces: “Perfect Cosmic Storm”, “Pick Up if You’re There”, and “Salt Water Falling on Uneven Ground”. They seem to be continuing their evolution as a band and getting stronger and stronger.

It was with the next album, though, that BBT really hit their stride. 2009’s “The Underfall Yard” is the first album to feature lead vocalist/multi-instrumentalist David Longdon, and Nick D’Virgilio (who guested on the previous album) taking the drum throne from Hughes. Longdon had auditioned to be the new Genesis vocalist, and was one of the two finalists, along with Ray Wilson, with Wilson ultimately getting the gig. After joining BBT, Longdon would become a major compositional contributor to BBT, along with Spawton. American Nick D’Virgilio, was already well known in modern prog circles as the drummer in Spock’s Beard who took over as lead vocalist after the departure of Neal Morse. But interestingly, he was also one of the drummers who played with Genesis during the time that Longdon auditioned, and played on the “Calling All Stations” album on which Ray Wilson sang. As for “The Underfall Yard” it seemed that BBT had joined the big (big) leagues of modern prog. There are two extended pieces: “Victorian Brickwork” (12:33) and the title track, which is their first full epic at 22:54. “Victorian Brickwork” and “Master James of St. George” are about Spawton’s recently deceased father. The title track is about the great Victorian Era engineers, particularly one named Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who built the actual Underfall Yard in Bristol (to maintain water and silt levels in the city’s harbor).

In 2010, BBT added former XTC guitarist Dave Gregory to the lineup, and released a significant EP in the catalog called “Far Skies Deep Time”. It is notable for including a cover of Anthony Phillips’ (original Genesis guitarist) song “Master of Time” (absent from some versions), a nearly 18 minute epic called “The Wide Open Sea” which has 8 titled sections, and on some versions a reworking of the early BBT track “Kingmaker” with this new line up.

If “The Underfall Yard” took BBT to the big leagues, the next 3 related releases (and a reworked compilation of the three) made them 21st century prog royalty. The first of the trio is titled “English Electric- Part 1” released in 2012, with the same line-up as “Far Skies Deep Time” albeit with a plethora of guest musicians, including Andy Tillison (The Tangent), Danny Manners, Martin Orford (IQ), and Simon Godfrey (Solo, Tinyfish, Shineback and more). Every track on this album is magnificent, with “Judas Unrepentant” in particular garnering a lot of notoriety. The album opener, “The First Rebreather” was compared by one reviewer as being comparable to Genesis’ “Dance on a Volcano" and “The Musical Box”. During this era, Spawton seems to have migrated to primarily being the bassist, as Gregory has become the primary guitarist, while Poole, meanwhile seems to be mostly acoustic guitars and backing vocals, although, there is a lot of multi-instrumentalism from all members. Furthermore, some sources list Danny Manners as a full member on keys and double bass, while other sources say he is a guest musician.

As you might expect, the next part of this trilogy of releases is 2013’s “The English Electric- Part 2”. The cast of players seems to be the same between the 2 volumes of the albums. This leads me to believe that they were all recorded in the same recording sessions. Again, all of the tracks are amazing! The nearly 16 minute long album opener, “East Coast Racer” is particularly notable, however.

Part 3 of the trilogy is the 2013 EP “Make Some Noise”. This contains 4 new songs: the title track, “Seen Better Days”, “Edgelands” and “The Lovers”, plus 4 tracks from “The English Electric” albums, although 2 of them are edited (called “Branch Line Editions”): “Keeper of Abbeys” and “Curator of Butterflies”).

Released simultaneously with “Make Some Noise” on September 23, 2013 is what many, including myself, consider BBTs “magnum opus”: “The English Electric: Full Power”. This mammoth compilation of over 135 total minutes, combines all of the songs from the 3 component releases, with a new running order that makes it flow beautifully from one track to the next. It is the only BBT album to make Prog Magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Prog Albums of All Time, which I worked my way through in 2023-24. Coming in at #38 on the list, I gave it 5 out of 5 stars in my review (linked below). It gets a 4.85 out of 5 on Prog Archives, which is their highest ranking and is higher than any of the 3 combined releases on their own. If you only add one BBT album to your collection (which…why only one?) make it this one.

Following the English Electric era, BBT would continue to expand the line-up. By the time of the next release, 2015’s brief EP “Wassail”, the band had expanded to 8 members by making Danny Manners official, and adding string player Rachel Hall, and additional guitarist/keyboardist Rikard Sjöblom of Swedish proggers Beardfish to the lineup. “Wassail” contains 3 new songs and a live version of “Master James of St. George” from “The Underfall Yard”. Interestingly, all of the tracks on the EP are of similar length, being between 6-7 minutes. In 2016, they released a “live without an audience” album called “From Stone and Steel”.

The next full length album for BBT is 2016’s “Folklore”, which also has the same 8-piece lineup. This is their 9th official studio album, if you’re keeping score. Several string and brass players also appear as guest musicians on the album. The album includes the title track from “Wassail”, along with 8 other new tracks. Two of the tracks exceed 10 minutes: “London Plane” (10:13) and “Brooklands” (12:44). This album was also quite well received by the prog community, even if not quite as much as the English Electric era (it’s hard to follow up a masterpiece). It gets just over 4 out of 5 stars on Prog Archives. A proper live album, recorded in 2015, prior to “Folklore” called “A Stone’s Throw from the Line” was released in December of 2016.

The same line-up would hold together for what they call a companion album to “Folklore”, 2017’s “Grimpsound”. The album began as an intended EP called “Skylon” so the band could complete songs that weren’t ready in time for “Folklore”. However, the sessions were so productive that they decided they had enough for a full-length album. Judy Dyble of Prog-Folk legends Fairport Convention would make a guest appearance on “The Ivy Gate” (Dyble and Longdon would release an album in 2020 called “Between a Breath and a Breath”; Dyble would pass away that same year.) The album has 3 tracks of 10 minutes or more: “Brave Captain” (12:37), “Experimental Gentlemen” (10:01), and “A Mead Hall in Winter” (15:20).This album is rated comparably to “Folklore” on Prog Archives at an even 4.0 stars out of 5.

Album number 11 would quickly follow later in 2017, titled “The Second Brightest Star”. The album is a mixture of new material and re-worked material from “Folklore” and “Grimpsound” The album would be the end of an era for BBT, as it is the final one with band co-founder Andy Poole. Once again, the 8-piece BBT line-up would be supplemented by several string and brass players. While the first 7 tracks are relatively short by prog standards (between 2:00 and 7:19), the album ends with a 3 song cycle called “Grimlore”, of which the first two parts are well over 10 minutes each: “Brooklands Sequence” (17:33) and “London Plane Sequence” (13:14). The final part of the cycle is the 3:02 “The Gentleman’s Reprise”. The album is rated slightly lower than its predecessors, garnering a 3.69 out of 5 on Prog Archives.

As mentioned, Andy Poole would leave BBT in January 2018, for unspecified reasons. Both Poole and the band released amicable statements at the time. I do not know, but it seems to me that Poole’s role in BBT seemed to steadily diminish after Longdon joined the band, so if I were to venture a guess, I would think that might be the reason, but I really don’t know, so don’t quote me on that! In the middle of 2018, a live album called “Merchants of Light”, recorded in 2017 was released, which I believe might be Poole’s final appearance on a BBT album. Following his departure, there was a bit of a revolving door of “touring” musicians. Robin Armstrong would come in early 2018 on keys and guitars, but would leave by the end of 2019. Long time guitarist David Gregory would leave in March 2020, as he did not want to do an international tour with BBT. Journeyman prog guitar master Randy McStine was slated to take his place on the upcoming tour, but COVID-19 had other plans, and the tour had to be cancelled. In late 2020 Carly Bryant (keys, guitar vocals) and Dave Foster (Guitar) joined the fold.

In the midst of all of these changes, the now 7-piece official BBT lineup (from the “Folklore” era minus Poole) managed to release studio album number 12: “Grand Tour” in 2019. Once again they are supplemented by several orchestral players. “Grand Tour” has 3 major epic pieces: “Roman Stone” (13:33), “Ariel” (14:28) and “Voyager” (14:20). It also seems to be well received with a score of nearly 4 out of 5 stars on Prog Archives. Additionally, it won the award for best album at the Progressive Music Awards. A live album called “Empire” recorded in November of 2019 was released in 2020.

The next studio album from BB, #13, was released in 2021, and called “Common Ground”. The line-up on it is Spawton, Longdon, D’Virgilio, Sjöblom, Bryant and Foster. Common ground features the 15+ minute epic “Atlantic Cable” , the 8+ minute, D’Virgilio penned, “All the Love We Can Give”, and two instrumentals: “Headwaters” (Spawton/Sjöblom) and “Apollo” (D’Virgilio). After this album was released on July 31, 2021, BBT returned to the studio not long afterward to record the next album.

That album, called “Welcome to the Planet” would be announced in October of 2021 and would add a 7th member to BBT, violinist Clare Lindley. Sadly, not long afterward tragedy struck BBT. At around 3 am on November 19, 2021, according to his partner Sarah Ewing, David Longdon rose from bed to investigate “strange noises” and a loud bang he’d heard downstairs in their home. When he didn’t return soon, Ewing found him at the foot of the steps. She called for emergency services and performed CPR, but nothing could help. Longdon was declared dead in the hospital the following day (Nov. 20) from "unsurvivable head injuries”; he was only 56 years old. His death shook the prog world, as Longdon’s voice and warm spirit were so well-loved. Shortly after Longdon’s passing, Spawton said the following:

“David made a huge impact on my life, both musically and personally. I loved him like a brother and already feel his loss very deeply. He was a true creative visionary with extraordinary depth of talent. But above all he was a first rate and very kind man. His family, friends, BBT bandmates and crew will miss him terribly.”

Other notable proggers also paid tribute to Longdon including Steve Hackett, Neal Morse, and Geoff Downes. Peter Jones of Tiger Moth Tales, with whom Longdon had collaborated, wrote a tribute song to Longdon called “We’ll Remember” included on Tiger Moth Tales’ 2023 album “The Turning of the World”.

BBT decided to carry on following Longdon’s passing. “Welcome to the Planet” was released on January 28, 2022. While no individual tracks were longer than 7:12, the album is made of two song cycles. Part 1 is tracks 1-5 and Part 2 is tracks 5-9. As with most of the post “English Electric” BBT releases, it gets a rating of around 4 out of 5 stars on Prog Archives. I have particularly enjoyed “Lanterna” and “Bats in the Belfrey”

Following the album’s release, BBT manager Nick Shilton released the following statement:

“As the promotional campaign for the Welcome To The Planet album approaches an end, we feel that the time is right to address the question of the future of Big Big Train following David Longdon’s death.

“Several years ago David expressed the clear wish that if ever he were not around, he would want Big Big Train to continue. Of course none of us foresaw the tragic situation that happened in November last year.

“After careful consideration, and with the active encouragement of David’s partner Sarah, we have decided to honour David’s wishes.

“Big Big Train will therefore seek to continue as a band and will perform live and release new music in due course. More specific details of the band’s line-up and planned activities will follow in further announcements, including an opportunity for fans to celebrate David’s life and musical legacy.”

In April of 2022, it was announced that former Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM- Italian Prog legends) singer Alberto Bravin would be BBTs new singer. Later in January of 2023, BBT announced that Carly Bryant was leaving BBT and being replaced by Oskar Holldorf from the band Dim Gray on keys and backing vocals.

In June of 2023, BBT released the album "Ingenious Devices”. According to the release information on Prog Archives:

Songs 1, 3 & 4 are completely re-arranged with a 17-piece string section: "East Coast Racer" is a completely new studio version recorded by the line-up of the band as it was in 2019. "Brooklands" features newly recorded drums, bass and bass pedals, while Voyager includes additional guitar and violin. All three songs have been re-mixed for this release.

Ingenious Devices also includes a previously unreleased orchestral piece called "The Book of Ingenious Devices", which links "East Coast Racer" and "Brooklands".

Finally, Ingenious Devices features a live performance of "Atlantic Cable", recorded at Friars, Aylesbury in September 2022.

As such, tracks 1, 3, and 4 are (as of the time of this writing) the final recordings of David Longdon with BBT that have been released by the band, although completed following his death. Track 5 has the first released recording with Alberto Bravin on the mic. I believe it serves as a farewell to Longdon and an introduction of Bravin to the BBT fandom.

The first proper studio album with the new line-up including Bravin and Holldorf was March 2024's “The Likes of Us”. Bravin contributed to the composition of 5 of the 8 tracks with Spawton, and some contributions from D’Virgilio and a rare outside writer in Danielle Dibaggio on “Love is the Light”. There is also a song called “Oblivion” composed by D’Virgilio and Dave Foster. The album contains two 10+ minute epics: “Beneath the Masts” (17:26) and ‘Miramare” (10:17). Later in June of 2024, it was announced that Foster was leaving BBT due to “scheduling issues”.

The future looks bright for BBT, as they recently announced an upcoming live album to be released on September 19, 2025 called “Are We Nearly There Yet”. The website shows a scheduled live date on March 1, 2026 in Southampton, UK, which is likely a warm -up show for their appearance at the annual “Cruise to the Edge” floating prog festival to be held March 4-9, 2026.

If you have never taken a ride on the Big Big Train, you are missing some wonderfully deep and rich prog rock! As always I’ll post selections from each of the main sequence albums and EPs in the Links for Listening, below, as well as my review of “English Electric–Full Power”.

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Prog On!

Scott

LINKS FOR LISTENING (and further reading):

My review of “English Electric: Full Power”

https://scottssongbysongandspotlights.blogspot.com/2025/05/prog-magazine-top-100-prog-albums-of_21.html

From “Goodbye to the Age of Steam”

“Head Hit the Pillow”

https://youtu.be/FzXF2B0XdyE

“Blow the House Down”