The Likes of Us Big Big Train

• 1Light Left in the Day06:10
• 2Oblivion05:27
• 3Beneath the Masts17:26
• 4Skates On04:28
• 5Miramare10:17
• 6Love Is the Light06:11
• 7Bookmarks06:23
• 8Last Eleven07:55
• 9Miramare (Single Edit)08:55
• Total Runtime01:13:12

Info for The Likes of Us

The award-winning progressive rock band BIG BIG TRAIN release their 15th studio album via InsideOut Music on March 1, 2024, marking the first full release with new frontman Alberto Bravin (ex-PFM). The anxiously-awaited unveiling of ‘The Likes Of Us’ follows BIG BIG TRAIN’s massively successful recent European tour, which saw them perform 17 concerts across nine countries, concluding with two triumphant appearances at London’s Cadogan Hall. The album is a stunning piece of work that retains all the elements that make the band so special, including absorbing and memorable arrangements and first-rate musicianship.

Definitions aside, BIG BIG TRAIN are a big fish in their chosen pond. Back in 2021, the group’s album ‘Common Ground’ returned prog rock to the UK national Top 40 chart. “First and foremost Big Big Train are a rock band, but we are absolutely a prog band, too,” bassist/co-founder Gregory Spawton declares. “We are very conscious of the traditions that we follow; we have never dissed them and we never will. The fact that we put classic-sounding prog back into the charts is absolutely fantastic.”

On the group’s recent tour, two selections from ‘The Likes Of Us’ – ‘Oblivion’ and ‘Love Is The Light’ – were introduced to an ecstatic audience response. During a tidal wave of rebirth and celebration, Bravin was accepted as one of the family. Indeed, the band’s ever-evolving chemistry has delivered mouth-watering results. “We’ve got a great mix of people that want to be here and go the extra mile to do something very special,” drummer Nick D’Virgilio comments. “There’s a big world of talented musicians out there, and luckily some of them want to hang out with us.”

Big Big Train

Big Big Train
was founded by songwriter Gregory Spawton in 1990 and went through several line-up changes during the course of five albums. In 2009, with the recruitment of a new lead vocalist, David Longdon, and drummer, Nick D’Virgilio, the band embarked on a fresh start. Since then, Big Big Train have earned significant critical acclaim in both the mainstream and music press, won numerous Progressive Music Awards, played sold out shows and seen their albums reach number 1 in the Official UK rock charts and break into the top 40 in the Official UK album charts.

After a lengthy period as a studio band, Big Big Train returned to live performances in 2015. Following successful mini-residencies in London in 2015 and 2017, the band headlined the Night Of The Prog festival in Germany in summer 2018. They toured the UK for the first time in 2019, culminating in a sold out show at London’s Hackney Empire, subsequently released as the critically acclaimed Blu-ray Empire. The band also released two studio albums in 2021 and 2022, Common Ground and Welcome To The Planet.

Tragedy struck Big Big Train in November 2021 with the death of David Longdon. After careful consideration, and with the full support of David’s partner, in spring 2022 the band decided to continue and brought Italian vocalist Alberto Bravin on board.

Big Big Train played their first live shows in almost three years in September 2022 in the UK and the Netherlands. Joining Spawton, longstanding American drummer Nick D’Virgilio (Genesis, Spock’s Beard, Tears For Fears), Swedish guitarist/keyboardist Rikard Sjöblom (Beardfish, Gungfly) and the Big Big Train brass ensemble, these shows marked the live debuts of Alberto Bravin (PFM), Norwegian keyboardist Oskar Holldorff (Dim Gray) and British violinist Clare Lindley (Stackridge) and guitarist Dave Foster (The Steve Rothery Band, Mr So & So).

For their shows in August & September 2023, Italian guitarist Maria Barbieri is deputising for Dave Foster, who has prior commitments with the Steve Rothery Band.

In August and September 2023 the band played 17 shows in nine countries over the course of 21 days, with Maria Barbieri deputising for Dave Foster. The band will release their first album featuring Alberto Bravin as lead vocalist on 1st March 2024. This will be the band’s recording debut for the InsideOut/Sony label. The album will be issued as a limited edition media book, featuring Dolby Atmos and 5.1 mixes by The Pineapple Thief’s Bruce Soord as well as the regular stereo mixes by Rob Aubrey and Alberto Bravin, as well as a standard CD and in four different vinyl formats (black, tangerine orange, olive green and sky blue), as a Bandcamp hi res download and via all major streaming platforms. The band has announced a number of live shows for 2024 including four shows in the United States, co-headlining Cruise To The Edge in March and Night Of The Prog in July and performing at Cropredy in August.

This album contains no booklet.