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Bill Bruford Making A Song And Dance: A Complete-Career Collection

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What does it sound like?:

Bill Bruford is the Zelig of interesting non-4:4 music, and he (mostly) moves on, suggesting he is genuinely “progressive”, rather than “just playing nostalgia for the old folks” (see what I did there?). “Making A Song and Dance: A Complete Career Collection” is a 6-CD retrospective of Bill Bruford’s work as collaborator, leader, guest, and improvisor of his and other people’s music. CD1 comprises his work with “Yes” and the “Larks Tongue’s” era of “King Crimson”, with all the best bits of both, perhaps because the focus is on the ,music and the arrangements. “Starless” remains a stately gem, and “Larks Tongues in Aspic (part 2)” (on CD 2, with all of the 80s “Talking Crimson/ King Heads” content) defines intellectual-instrumental heavy metal. How I’d like to hear Metallica cover something from LTIA or “Red”. UK is represented with “Nevermore”, which is a bit ho-hum compared to if they’d included the “In the Dead of Night” Suite with the tour-de-force of percussive syncopation, “Presto Vivace”. Maybe there wasn’t space, or licencing was a concern.

CD2’s “Talking Crimson” compilation sees the emergence of what I consider Bruford’s Achilles heel: electronic drums. Yes, I know they are just another instrument, and I have not got a problem with electric guitars or “Moog sympathisers”, but, er, they just sound dated and rinky-tink. On Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe’s “Brother of Mine”, taken with Anderson’s fey warbles and Wakeman’s equally awful 80s keyboard tones, one just wants to say “no”. And I like “Yes”. But the “King Heads” material from the 80s was rather more enjoyable than I thought it would be, and you can hear the emergence of African rhythms and styles in Bruford’s playing. Some would be on my idea of a dance floor.

CD 3 takes on Bill’s “Bruford” and “Earthworks” years. For fusion fans, these are monster acts (rather than “monstrous” – see ABWH). “Bruford” included in their line-up Alan Holdsworth, Jeff Berlin, and Dave Stewart (the proper one from “National Health” and “Hatfield and the North”), and is a fantastic example of the constituent players making phenomenal music. “Earthworks” was similarly stellar, with Ian Bellamy and, in Django Bates, The closest Britain came to a composer with the musical spirit of Frank. These are deeply sumpathitic fellow musicians and they create something wonderful.
Earthworks went from electronic fusion (somewhat more angular than “Bruford” which still channeled a bit of “Return to Forever”) to acoustic, and this enables you to hear Bruford’s increasingly subtle playing.

CD4 has more Earthworks – Bill is deservedly proud of his work here – and it is corking modern jazz, with Bill showing how well he can play in his band. His music is maturing and interestingly complex. The “Earthworks Underground Orchestra”‘s version of “Footloose and Fancy Free” is a rich and swinging composition which I would listen to over “Close to the Edge”, any day. CD5 is “mixed”, as Bill accompanies pals on solo work; prog drumming was to the fore on Steve Howe’s instrumental “The Inner Battle” but you can hear, despite some lively turns, this was on the “Union” years. As a “bit” in a longer composition, it would have worked better. Bill can hold back when he needs to, but even eh can’t save Roy Harper’s poor-mans Peter Hammill/ Lou Reed “Hallucinating Light”. The track with America-based fusionistas Al di Meola, Jan Hammer, Tony Levin, and Phil Collins – has tasteful pitter-pattering let down by … guess: ‘orrible electronic drums. His work with Japanese fusion artists is also represented, Japan having a great variety of people making jazz-rock fusion – watch out for dodgy keyboard tones. Bill can even play reasonably trad rock in the version of “Voodoo Chile” with David Torn, if he has to (though it is a bit of a waste of talent probably done when he has needed the work).

The final CD, CD6, is Bruford the Improvisor. This is another disc that will warrant repeated replaying, like discs 3 and 4 (I assume many intersted parties will alrady have the Yes and King Crimson albums). His solo, mostly acoustic improvised music is here exemplified with Patrick Moraz on piano, more with David Torn, and with Dutch keyboard player, Michiel Borstlap. I must admit to not being so familiar with this work, and what a treat it was to discover it. It’s again complex, reflective, sometimes with fancy twists and turns, but largely restrained and melancholy. Again, the playing, vision, and seriousness (with a side order of wry wit) make this good modern instrumental music, veering on the art-jazz side.

What does it all *mean*?

Bruford COULD have included work with Gong, National Health, and live performances with “Genesis” (friends who went to these concerts came back raving about Bruford’s drumming with them). He doesn’t; like Prince, he has “so many hits, he doesn’t know what to do with them”. About the only British progressive act he hasn’t touched on have been ELP and “Beggar’s Opera”. But his love is of jazz, and the knottier, the better, and I’m glad it is. He retired from live performance several decades ago, and is now an academic in music with a PhD, and it’s definitely well deserved. The hefty booklet that comes with the CDs has a lot on his biography and philosophies of music, and musos will love it. I like his observation that “to enable a revolution in music, “We could start by banning the words ‘jazz’ and ‘rock’, which cause a whole lot of trouble”. To be fair, if you have problems with music in those styles, you will be likely to sidestep this retrospective, but in doing so, you’d be denying yourself a lot of fun.

Goes well with…

Tea, hot-cross bun, anti-biotics (unfortunately).

Release Date:

29th April, 2022

Might suit people who like…

Progressive rock, jazz rock, art rock, jazz, art.

3

Comments

  1. Boogah: “”.. , in Django Bates, The closest Britain came to a composer with the musical spirit of Frank Zappa”.

    That edit function is strongly needed.

  3. I am a casual admirer of Bruford and think as a complete set this would be too much for me but your comment about the proper Dave Stewart from Hatfield and the North made me laugh.

  4. Thanks for this – like many here I’ve probably got dozens of albums with Bill banging the hitty things. I get the impression I should follow up on the ‘Earthworks’ stuff – it’s not material I’ve previously explored. I’ve always enjoyed Bruford’s deft and athletic playing with KC and the Yes gang, though from time to time he can get a bit too ‘look at me, aren’t I clever’ for my liking.

  8. What shite – Roy Harper poormans (sic) Peter Hammill/ Lou Reed!!!
    The overwrought Hammill and the overly self regarding, massively overrated Reed would have done well to write anything half as good as Hallucinating Light.

  11. I just got Larks’ Tongues In Aspic for the first time just this week as a birthday present. (Yes I know, another hole in my musical knowledge – I am slowly filling these in). I put it on my Amazon wishlist as I was looking for more good 5.1 remixed albums and I was intrigued by the fact the Bruford left Yes after Close To The Edge to do this (must have taken some strength of will to walk away from a band at the absolute height of their powers like that).

    Anyway, Larks’ Tongues is…. interesting? Baffling? I wasn’t sure what to expect. It’s definitely a bit fractured and berserk. “Catchy” is not a word I would use. But it might grow on me. I need to find a way into it and get my head round it. The 5.1 remix is terrific however, I must say. It sounds fabulous.

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