"Adventures in Modern Recording" is the second studio album by the English new wave group the Buggles, released in November 1981 by Carrere Records. While the Buggles originally started as a duo of Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes, the album ended up as mostly Horn's solo effort, as Downes left the band to join the rock band Asia on the very day that recording was scheduled to begin. The album features nine tracks, including "I Am a Camera," a version of a song from the 1980 Yes album Drama, originally titled "Into the Lens." A stylistically varied progressive electronic album, Adventures in Modern Recording showcases Horn's development as a producer and was seen as a precursor to the techniques he would later perfect in his career. The album was one of the first to use the Fairlight CMI, a groundbreaking digital sampling synthesizer.
Upon its release, Adventures in Modern Recording received mixed reviews from critics and performed poorly commercially in the UK, failing to chart on the UK Albums Chart. However, it found more success in other markets, including North America and mainland Europe, reaching number 161 on the US Billboard 200. Later reviews have praised the album for its ahead-of-its-time sound and its influence on the music produced in the years that followed.
Five singles were released from the album: "I Am a Camera," the title track, "On TV," "Lenny," and "Beatnik." Of these, "I Am a Camera" and "On TV" were minor hits in the UK and the Netherlands, with "Lenny" reaching the top 20 in the Netherlands. "Beatnik" did not chart, but it remains one of the album's standout tracks. The tracks "We Can Fly from Here" and "Riding a Tide" were later re-recorded by Yes for their 2011 album Fly from Here, with Horn producing and Downes contributing keyboards.
The background to the album's production was marked by a significant change in the Buggles' lineup. On the day studio sessions for Adventures in Modern Recording were to begin, Geoff Downes left the band to join Asia, leading to Horn continuing the project largely on his own. Despite Downes' departure, he remained involved in the writing and production of several tracks, including "Vermillion Sands," "I Am a Camera," and "Lenny," where he also programmed the drums. Other contributors included engineers Julian Mendelsohn and Gary Langan, keyboardist Anne Dudley (who would later join the Art of Noise), percussionist Luis Jardim, and Yes bassist Chris Squire, who contributed "sound effects" to the title track.
Musically, Adventures in Modern Recording is a diverse album, blending electronic, progressive, and pop influences. The track "Vermillion Sands" stands out for its eclectic mix of genres, shifting from upbeat jazz to dramatic electronic segments. The title track combines electronic and acoustic instruments to create a dreamy yet "hyper-alert" atmosphere. The album is marked by Horn's use of cutting-edge technology and his growing mastery of production techniques, foreshadowing his later work with artists such as Grace Jones, Art of Noise, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
For the album's promotion, Carrere Records initially planned to release just three singles: "I Am a Camera" with "Fade Away" as its B-side in October 1981, the title track with "Blue Nylon" in January 1982, and "On TV" with a longer version of "Blue Nylon" later that year. Due to the album's success in Europe, however, "Lenny" and "Beatnik" were also released as singles in 1982. Some of the singles received exclusive releases on flexidisc, including "On TV" and "Fade Away," which were distributed through Trouser Press magazine, while the title track appeared on the seventh issue of SFX Cassette Magazine, where it earned positive reviews from critic Richard Skinner, who praised Horn's vocal performance and compared it to the harmonies of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
