A brief chronology

This chronology is a summary of the more detailed chronology found at http://threadoflunacy.blogspot.com/p/all-our-yesterdays-annotated-chronology.html, and focuses on key points in his career. It is summarized by year. For the early years, dating is approximate.

1946: Allan is born in Bradford. He is raised by his maternal grandparents, Sam and Elsie. He takes an early interest in listening to music, enjoying Sam's collection of jazz and classical records.

1960: Allan leaves school and starts working various jobs.

1961: Allan starts to play on an acoustic guitar Sam gets for him. Sam is an accomplished piano player, and starts giving Allan music lessons.

1963: Allan gets his first electric guitar by attaching a pickup to an acoustic guitar. He starts playing in local bands, playing Top 40 material and some blues.

1968: Allan joins Igginbottom, a Bradford band playing original tunes.

1969: Igginbottom play Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London, and record an album for Deram. The album is not successful, and the band breaks up. Allan starts working professionally in the Glen South band, playing Yorkshire ballrooms. This allows him to practice during the day.

1972: Allan takes up an offer by Ray Warleigh to live with him in London. Allan starts playing with pianist Pat Smythe and drummer John Marshall. Allan records "Belladonna" with Ian Carr. He joins Jon Hiseman's Tempest, and they record their eponymous album, and tour Europe.

1973: Allan joins Soft Machine.

1974: Allan tours with Soft Machine, and records "Bundles".

1975: Allan leaves Soft Machine to join Tony Williams. He moves to New York, tours and records "Believe It".

1976: Allan records "Velvet Darkness" and "Million Dollar Legs". The Tony Williams band falls apart, Allan is broke and sells his Gibson SG to return to England. On his return, he joins Gong, records "Gazeuse" and tours.

1977: Allan records "Enigmatic Ocean" with Jean Luc Ponty, joins Bruford and records "Feels Good To Me". He also joins UK, and records and tours with the band.

1978: Allan leaves UK.

1979: Allan records "One Of A Kind" with Bruford. Meets Gary Husband at Ronnie Scotts.

1980: Allan and Gordon Beck record "The Things You See".

1981: Allan records "IOU" with Gary Husband and Paul Carmichael.

1982: Allan receives an offer for some gigs in California with IOU. This eventually leads to him relocating permanently with his family. The lineup changes to Jeff Berlin and Chad Wackerman. The IOU album is released independently. Allan signs a deal with Warner Brothers. Starts using a custom Charvel guitar.

1983: Allan records "Road Games".

1984: Jimmy Johnson replaces Jeff Berlin. IOU tour Japan, and the "Tokyo Dream" concert is recorded. Allan is dropped by WB, and uses demo tapes for WB and his severance pay to finish "Metal Fatigue".

1985: Releases "Metal Fatigue". Allan briefly endorses Ibanez, tries SynthAxe for the first time. Buys SynthAxe and writes music on it for next album.

1986: "Atavachron" is released. The album features the SynthAxe on many tracks. Allan starts using the SynthAxe for around half the tunes on gigs. Allan also picks up his first Steinberger.

1987: "Sand" is released. The album notably only features two regular guitar solos. The rest of the album is more or less SynthAxe only.

1989: "Secrets" is released. The album features guitar and SynthAxe in roughly equal parts. Allan also releases "With A Heart In My Song", a duo album with Gordon Beck that heavily features the SynthAxe.

1990: Allan releases the album "Truth In Shredding" with Frank Gambale under the name MVP. The repertoire is for the most part classic jazz and fusion tunes, played in a high octane style. Allan plays guitar and SynthAxe roughly equally throughout.

1991: Allan plays on albums by Level 42 and Chad Wackerman in the role of supporting band member on guitar.

1992: Allan releases his only instructional video on REH (reissued on Alfred), featuring a mix of studio performances with his band, and solo demonstrations of key concepts.

1993: Allan releases "Wardenclyffe Tower", once again featuring a blend of SynthAxe and guitar.

1994: Allan releases "Hard Hat Area", which features more guitar and less SynthAxe.

1996: Allan releases "None Too Soon", an album featuring jazz standards.

To be continued...