(idea) by Great Neb Sun Mar 25 2001 at 9:52:54
Also known as Apollo four forty and @440. Producing mostly breakbeat and techno music they have also attempted to fuse this with rock. This is done most successfully in their second album, Electro Glide in Blue. Their latest offering, Getting' high on your own supply, tends more towards rock than before and I think it loses some of the classic beats which define @440.

The band was formed in 1990 by Trevor Gray, his brother Howard and Noko in Liverpool. In 1993 they signed their record label, Stealth Sonic Recordings to Epic and from then on they shot upwards.

The original three have been joined at points by:

  • DJ Harry K
  • Bass - Rej Ap Gywnedd, currently Kenny Cougar
  • Drums - Cliff Hewitt & Kodish (simultaneously)
  • Vocals - Gaye Bykers of Mary Mary
To date they have had 9 UK Top 40 Hits.

The band website is www.apollo440.com which is a decent website with a nice looking but not too big navigation system. There is also a site hosted at Epic at http://www.epiccenter.com/EpicCenter/custom/916/indexa.html, however this site is fully flashed and takes ages to load but it does seem to updated more regularly.

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Discography

Millennium Fever

  1. Rumble / Spirit Of America 9.07
  2. Liquid Cool (Theme For Cryonic Suspension) 12.11
  3. Film Me & Finish Me Off 4.45
  4. I Need Something Stronger 7.34
  5. Pain Is A Close Up 9.58
  6. Omega Point 7.35
  7. (Don't Fear) The Reaper 5.27
  8. Astral America 4.33
  9. Millennium Fever 5.47
  10. Stealth Requiem 5.35

This album, their first, contains some really long tracks, like Liquid Cool. They tend to build up very slowly with the beats and musical lines layering up. As far as these tracks go they are generally best listening to when chilling out or having a proper listen to the music, not just an idle song every now and then.

The shorter tracks, like Film me & Finish me off, can be really catchy and have some decent lyrics melded in on top of the fantastic beats. The @440 mix of Don't Fear the Reaper is pretty strong. To wrap the album up there is an offering from @440's alternate incarnation, the Stealth Sonic Orchestra in the form of Stealth Requiem. All in all this an excellent blending of up tempo electronic techno rock and downbeat dance.

Electro Glide in Blue

  1. Stealth Overture 1.00
  2. Ain't Talkin' 'bout Dub 4.31
  3. Altamont Super Highway Revisited 6.31
  4. Electro Glide In Blue 8.36
  5. Vanishing Point 7.27
  6. Tears Of The Gods 6.17
  7. Carrera Rapida (Theme from Rapid Racer) 6.46
  8. Krupa (LP Version) 6.15
  9. White Man's Throat 4.53
  10. Pain In Any Language 8.38
  11. Stealth Mass In F#minor 6.35
  12. [ Raw Power 3.50

In EGIB @440 manage to truly find the perfect balance between their techno, electronic side and their rock elements. This is perhaps best embodied by their hit Ain't Talkin' 'bout Dub. This track combines a great guitar riff with a really upbeat pacey techno beat. I have frequently been seen to wander along a street listening to my minidisc becoming more and more tense waiting for the beat to kick in then suddenly jumping up in the air and generally going crazy.

Yet again though @440 hit us with some really chillin' tracks like Electro Glide in Blue which has some great haunting synth and harks back to the slow layering of Millennium Fever. We are graced with more tracks from the Stealth Sonic Orchestra with the intro, Stealth Overture, not an overture in the true classical but merely a short spooky intro. Their later full length offering, Stealth Mass in F#minor, is in my opinion a representation of what is great about @440; their ability to create tracks like Stealth Mass in F#minor and Ain't Talkin' 'bout Dub and put them on the same LP.

Getting' High on your own Supply

  1. Are We A Rock Band Or What? 1.19
  2. Stop The Rock 3.32
  3. Crazee Horse 3.46
  4. Cold Rock The Mic 4.19
  5. Lost In Space 3.25
  6. For Forty Days 5.32
  7. Heart Go Boom 5.01
  8. The Machine In The Ghost 6.43
  9. Blackbeat 3.23
  10. Stadium Parking Lot 3.50
  11. Yo! Future 4.08
  12. High On Your Own Supply 5.18
  13. The Perfect Crime 6.01

This was the first LP that @440 released since I've been a fan, the other two were before my time. I had great hopes that it would emulate the versatility and style of their previous offerings but I was disappointed. The first track may appear to be similar in style to previous Stealth Sonic offerings but lacks something of the classical theme. The fact that there is no directly titled Stealth track on this album is a representation of their movement away from electronic music to the rock genre.

Lost in Space lends some hope and brings back memories of Ain't Talkin' 'bout Dub. However the other tracks seem to be poor monotonous attempts to cash in this formula. Even the semi-decent versions on this theme, Stop the Rock and Cold Rock the Mic, have nothing of the beats that @440 used to thrive upon.

There is little of the long well planed tracks which characterise both Millennium Fever and EGIB. Their closest attempt at this theme seems to be The Machine in The Ghost but this lacks layering and they don't seem to have their heart in it.

All in all this album seems to be a wishy washy, vague unfocussed wave in the direction of rock. Some tracks stand out giving hope to the dedicated few, such as Lost in Space, For Forty Days, Heart go Boom and the excellent Getting High on Your Own Supply, but the rest is formulaic pish posh. I used to believe that the time would come for @440 and they would only have to stick it out, alas they appear to have given up just too soon and what could have been a truly great breakthrough album has turned out to be a great disappointment.

Notable single releases include:

Apollo 440 have also produced numerous remixes mostly using their alternative name the Stealth Sonic Orchestra.

I like it! 2 C!s

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