Short Reviews [Jack Bruce - 1971 - "Harmony Row"]

Here we have a 2 CD, 2 Blu-ray, release of Jack Bruce's third solo album, originally released in 1971 which was apparently Bruce's favourite of his albums, and having now heard this for the first time I can certainly see why as this is a delight. I only have the audio of the two CDs (one is the original 1971 album mix (newly remastered from the original master tapes), and the other is a new stereo mix by Stephen W Tayler from the original 16-track master tapes). The two Blu-Ray discs contain a 5.1 Surround Sound mix (again by Stephen W Tayler), and the fourth is a live 1971 performance by Jack and a band featuring Graham Bond (organ, vocals), Chris Spedding & John Marshall for the Granada TV show Out Front plus a documentary on Jack made for the German TV series Swing In, first broadcast in 1972. It also features an illustrated book with a new essay by Sid Smith. There are also eight unreleased/demos. Apparently, it was recorded live, with drums (John Marshall), guitar (Chris Spedding) and vocals all being laid down together, with Bruce then going back and adding additional instruments later. I must confess to never being a big Cream fan, and consequently this is the first time I have come across this album and the first time I played this I had a huge smile on my face as while it is very much a record of its time it is an absolute delight from beginning to end. Bruce was attempting to move far away from the styles he had made famous in Cream, something he started with the previous 'Songs For A Tailor' (although there was 'Things We Like' released between the two, it was actually recorded earlier when Bruce was still in Cream and only released in 1970). Here he was experimenting with songs which drew stylistically on jazz, folk, classical, rock and Eastern musical influences, and one could easily imagine 'Folk Song' being released by Cat Stevens back then and being a hit single. It is strange to realise that at the time this album was not a huge chart success, and it would be three years before he released another solo record, instead concentrating on a new band, West, Bruce & Laing. It is a real shame, as this is a superb release, and one which any lover of Seventies rock would do well to discover and should have been more widely recognised at the time. It is broad, it is diverse and is one I have thoroughly enjoyed hearing