2nd Vision was a British jazz-rock band notable for including guitarist John Etheridge and violinist Ric Sanders, both former members of Soft Machine.
The roots of 2nd Vision were sown in 1977 when Sanders invited keyboard player Dave Bristow and drummer Mickey Barker, both of whom he'd already played with in his Birmingham days, to form an improvising unit named Surrounding Silence, which debuted at the Riverside Jazz Festival in August 1977.
After Etheridge and ex-Gryphon bassist Jonathan Davie joined them, the band, renamed 20/20 Vision, played a well-received gig at the Alexandra Palace in May 1979.
The band were offered a management deal by Jo Lustig, who had already represented the likes of Richard Thompson, Pentangle and the Chieftains, and signed with Chrysalis, recording their debut LP in the autumn of 1979, with John Cameron producing.
The album was launched with a four-night residency at London's Riverside Studios in Hammersmith on 7–10 May 1980, with a different guest (Richard Thompson, Gordon Giltrap, Jethro Tull's David Palmer, June Tabor) joining the band each night.