Jack Bruce

Stav desky: NM
- jako nová, téměř nehraná

Stav obalu: M-
- bezchybný, nový nebo jako nový

Pozn.: znaménko + nebo - upřesňuje stav desky, obalu

A1  Never Tell Your Mother She's Out Of Tune  3:39
A2  Theme For An Imaginary Western  3:27
A3  Tickets To Water Falls  2:59
A4  Weird Of Hermiston  2:20
A5  Rope Ladder To The Moon  2:51
B1  The Ministry Of Bag  2:47
B2  He The Richmond  3:34
B3  Boston Ball Game, 1967  1:44
B4  To Isengard  5:28
B5  The Clearout  2:36

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    Cello [Cellos] – Jack Bruce (tracks: A5)
    Composed By [Music Composed By], Arranged By – Jack Bruce
    Drums – John Marshall (tracks: A5, B2), Jon Hiseman (tracks: A1 to A4, B1, B3 to B5)
     Guitar – Chris Spedding (tracks: A2 to A4, B1, B4, B5), Felix Pappalardi (tracks: B4), Jack Bruce (tracks: A5, B2, B4), L'Angelo Misterioso (tracks: A1)
    Mastered By – Rob Grenell
    Organ – Jack Bruce (tracks: A2 to A4, B5)
    Other [Got Together By] – Ralph
    Percussion – Felix Pappalardi (tracks: B2)
    Photography By [Cover Photograph By] – Roger Phillips
    Piano – Jack Bruce (tracks: A1 to B1, B3, B5)
    Producer – Felix Pappalardi
    Soprano Saxophone [Soprano Saxes] – Art Themen (tracks: A1), Dick Heckstall-Smith (tracks: A1)
    Tenor Saxophone [Tenor Saxes] – Art Themen (tracks: A1, B1, B3), Dick Heckstall-Smith (tracks: A1, B1, B3)
    Trombone – John Mumford (tracks: B3)
    Trumpet – Harry Beckett (tracks: A1, B1, B3), Henry Lather (tracks: A1, B1, B3)
    Vocals – Felix Pappalardi (tracks: A5, B4)
    Vocals, Bass – Jack Bruce
    Words By – Pete Brown
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Includes lyric insert

Joe Hiseman & Dick Heckstall-Smith, members of Colosseum, appear by kind permission of Dunhill Records.
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Jack Bruce's first solo album. I don't know if it's his best, it's the only one I own from him. But it's great. "To Isengard" is wonderful, "Theme From An Imaginary Western" (who was planned to be performed by Cream but was rejected in 1967 ; Mountain played it at Woostock), "Weird Of Hemiston" (also was planned to be performed, but rejected, by Cream) are killer songs.
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I bought this on vinyl in 1969 and completely wore it out. Having managed for a short while without, it is now the only album I have repurchased so far. It is the combination of the jazz influenced playing (Bruce is effectively a lead bass player) and the imagery of the Pete Brown lyrics that places this album high in my list of favourites.
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The Scottish bass player started his solo career with a record which stands proudly amidst the other British routing albums from the late sixties. When you hear it today not knowing anything about the prominent role Jack Bruce has been playing in the history of the electric bass, you wouldn't believe it's the record of a bass player. This is due to his being a multi-instrumentalist on this album.
What you have here is a progressive Rock/Pop record full of diverse influences - Rock, Blues, Jazz, Rhythm & Blues, Folk. Each track is a fully realized little story, both musically and lyrically. A lot of credit goes to the impressive cast of musicians - a who's who of the British music scene  in those years. Songs for a Tailor is not only a bold and important document of the towering development of British Pop music, it's also quite simply an enjoyable listening experience.
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What a compelling record this is.  It's hard to figure out why, though. Felix Pappalardi's production is very muddy.  Pete Brown's lyrics are enigmatic throughout.  Unlike a Cream record of the period, it is more of a keyboard album than  a guitar one. Case in point: George Harrison's guest spot is on rhythm rather than lead guitar.  The strictly guitar songs, "He The Richmond" and "To Isengard" are mostly acoustic.  The latter song, incidentally, starts off sounding like something from Paul Weller's Wild WoodWild Wood and finishes off like an out-take from Ginger Baker's Going Back HomeGoing Back Home. 

But tying the whole thing together are the songs, which take a lot of chances, and the sound of Jack Bruce's voice.  The voice draws you in and the arrangements hold your attention.
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Jack Bruce was not only 1/3 of the virtuoso line-up of Cream and its lead singer, but also the only multiinstrumentist, the group’s main and more gifted song writer and probably also the responsible for most of all the weird arrangements that made the band’s sound so innovative; his partnership with lyricist Pete Brown was kept intact for this album After the Cream’s demise, and above all because of the Blind Faith project which Jack felt as a “betrayal” , he was fully determined to stop postponing the long though about solo album; and although not the 1st he recorded this was the 1st he released;
There’s an underlying Cream feel on this album but it comes only from the songwriting because Jack did all he could to get a very different sound; with that purpose he enlisted the help of Chris Spedding and Jon Hiseman (guitar and drums) who are featured on most tracks; there’s also a horn section composed by Harry Becket and Henry Lowther on trumpets, and Dick Heckstall-Smith and Art Themen on tenor and soprano saxes (tracks 1, 6 and 8), and two tracks with John Marshall on drums and Felix Pappalardi on back vocals and percussion; As for Jack he divides his talents between his personality filled vocals and raucous, flashy and sturdy Gibson bass sound, plus pianos, organ, guitars and cellos;

The vibrant horn tracks 1 and 6 are based on a Blues structure, but have the due twist and great jazzy horns arrangements (George Harrison is the (discreet) rhythm guitarist on “Never Tell your Mother…”) and “Boston Ball…” is a short trombone (John Mumford) fuelled, psyched Jazz horns and double vocal lines odd and captivating track;
The original “Theme from an Imaginary Western”, Cream rejected and Mountain would later take to glory is also here, a poignant tune where Spedding understated playing reveals itself full with sensitiveness; no flashy solos from this guy but his tasteful licks, fills, arpeggios et al are a perfect counterpoint for Jack’s piano and bass lines and highly contribute to the songs magnificence (also true for “Tickets…” and “Weird of Hermiston”)
On what is probably his most famous song “Rope Ladder…” the ambience is built around a strummed acoustic and great cello lines with Jack playing everything except the drums, John Marshall takes care of; on “He the Richmond” Pappalardi adds a 2nd voice and a double acoustic guitar arrangement gives a swinging feel to the song ;
The longest track is “To Isengard” (otherwise all tracks are shorter than 3:30 minutes which leaves you with lust for more and the impression JB knew exactly what he wanted to “say”) which starts quietly with gentle acoustic guitars (Bruce, Pappalardi & Spedding) in a 6/8 slow feel, and mid way through goes into a rampageous, jagged, free tempo Rock craze with the electric guitar and the bass duelling over scattered drum rolls;

The bonus tracks on the 2003 reissue include two longer versions of “Ministry…” one with demo feel (their 1st run through the song…) with D. H-S experimenting with sax licks over JB pumping piano and vocal and Jon H. in a similar “let’s try it “ mood, while the other has the full horns band and an extra Spedding guitar track with different licks and embellishments, a remix of “Weird…” beefed with an extra track of Jack’s vocals and another of the psyched hard rocking “The Clearout” with E-piano and a couple of extra bars;
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It's certainly hard to categorize this music -- it's almost as if Jack Bruce created his own personal musical genre.  However... A2 sounds a bit like Procol Harum, A3 a bit like Traffic, and the start of B4 a bit like Neil Young.  (It should be noted, by the way, that the title notwithstanding, B4 seems to bear no discernible relationship to the Lord of the Rings.)  Also, A5 sounds like Cream's "As You Said".  Overall, I think early Traffic is perhaps the closest parallel to this.
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It would be a 6 star if it wasn't for the mediocre production, so it's only a 5 star.
Jokes apart, why does it rank so low for 1969?
By then Jack Bruce was a musician with a very high reputation and visibility. Moreover, despite its underlying complexity, this music flows beautifully. It cannot be blamed to be neither too proggy, nor unoriginal. It's just a perfect pop gem which for reasons that are obscure to me didn't get - and still is not getting - the visibility and appreciation it deserves. Like many others.
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Over the past three or four years I have tracked down lots of albums that I loved as a teenager. Unfortunately they don't always live up to your memories and sometimes you can't understand why you liked them in the first place.  Songs for a Tailor, though is every bit as good as I remember if not better.

On it, Jack Bruce proves that his artistic input into Cream was at least the equal of Clapton's.  The album is a collection of some of the most brilliant songs to come out of the late sixties, all impeccably played and produced.  It uses horns cello's and other instruments not always associated with psychedelia to wonderful effect, and Pete Brown's lyrics are quite surreal as evidenced by track titles like Tickets to Waterfalls, Weird of Hermiston, Rope Ladder to the Moon, Theme for an Imaginary Western etc.

On later albums Bruce explored various modern Jazz themes, but this one has the same psychedelic ethos as Disreali Gears, or Wheels of Fire in Studio, except that Bruce wasn't limited to a power trio line up for the sounds and arrangements he wanted.