BBC ROCK GOES TO COLLEGE: LIVE 1979

I found this DVD through browsing over amazon. I was really surprised when I knew about this DVD which I thought it would be impossible to see. I was really happy with this release an I right away clicked to have my order placed. It arrived to me at relatively quick shipping time of just two weeks, altogeteher with Symphony X "Paradise Lost" cd. Once I received it I then spun this DVD because I was so curious to see how this legendary and best line-up would perform their classics on stage. My expectation was that this would be a film of The Bruford Tape which was released in 1979. But it's not. This is the original line up of Bruford - Stewart - Holdsworth - Berlin plus Annette Peacock. It's basically the line-up of Bruford's first album "Feels Good To Me".

The gig was delivered in front of college students - as the name implies - and it was performed excellently with high confident level. Even when the opening track "Sample And Hold" was performed, it reminded me to the Bruford Tapes live record where the guitar player was The "unknown" John Clark. The music was delivered excellently with no flaw at all. I like the way Bill plays his drum in a relax way even though his drumming was very dynamic. It then continues with another uptempo music with jazz rock style "Beelzebub". The band plays it excellently, flawlessly. When I listened to the studio album "Feels Good To Me" and also "One of A Kind" I was imagining how the members of the band would play it live and now I watched them play it beautifully. Wow! It's really entertaining. All members of the band do not seem to perform actively in terms of stage act but they deliver the music flawlessly. It's awesome. To tell you the truth I was so amazed the members do not seem to play their instrument so complicated but the music they deliver is excellent and complex. This is unbelieveable!

The "Sahara of Snow" is presented under part 1 and 2 as per studio version. Right before "Back To The Beginning" was played, Bill Bruford did some conversation with the audience and introduced Annette Peacock to come on stage. She is a truly a jazz-rock vocalist with cold expression. His voice is as excellent as studio album where she delivers a lot of accentuation to her vocal line. Her conribution continues to "Goodbye To The Past". The final track demonstrates Jeff Berlin's slapping techniques for his bass. It's cool.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

This is incredible. I had the good fortune of seeing Bruford, unfortunately post Holdsworth, at the now defunct Atlanta Agora. I did get to catch Holdsworth touring for his I.O.U. album, but that's another story. My first pass through this concert really gave me the goosebumps.

It is unfortunate that this DVD is only 41 minutes, but the set list is excellent. Four tracks from Bruford's best album, One of a Kind. Annette Peacock even shows up for a couple of songs. I always thought that she didn't fit in well with this kind of music, but it's nice to see her all the same. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think there's any live video out there of Alan Holdsworth, so seeing him in action is a special treat. One of the things I remember most from seeing Bruford was that at times Jeff Berlin's picking fingers were a blur and seeing him again live, I know I wasn't imagining it. Dave Stewart, or as I like to call him, The Dave Stewart, not that Eurythmics guy, is also a lot of fun to see in action. I noticed he had a music stand with no sheet music, but a synthesizer diagram, interesting. And then of course there's Bill. Those of you who may dislike his electronic drum work, I'm not one, will be happy to him playing strictly acoustic. What can I say? He's really one of best drummers around. The audio quality is excellent and sometimes the camera man crop off Holdsworth's left hand when I'd like to see it, but other than that, this is really nice for a concert captured in 1979.

Hey, if everyone rushes and gets a copy of this maybe we can get the first Bruford band TV appearance released.

This DVD is only 41 minutes long and starts bang in the middle of 'Sample and Hold', but it is well worth buying for several reasons:

1. BB's FEELS GOOD TO ME and ONE OF A KIND are two of the most fascinating prog-fusion albums, but few people can have seen a live performance by the band that recorded them. Believe me: these musicians do not let you down.

2. I never had a clue what Annette Peacock looked like while singing! On her album sleeves she gives a rather severe impression, but here she seems a cute and utterly charming (if somewhat eccentric) twenty-year old, even though she must have been in her late thirties at the time! When she starts singing 'Adios a la Pasada' in parlando style, you fear she will never reach the high notes at the end of the song, but she manages them effortlessly - a gorgeous theatrical coup!

3. Allan Holdsworth's extended guitar solo on 'Back to the Beginning' has long been a favourite of mine. Holdsworth is notorious for never playing 'the same way once' (he's possessed by the true jazz-man's spirit!) and sure enough, here he comes up with something radically different from the studio version. (The same goes, of course, for all other solos he gets to play during this show.) It takes some getting used to, but it really is riveting stuff.

4. Jeff Berlin on bass is as exciting as Holdsworth (perhaps even more so), and he has far better stage presence. I also found it fascinating to see how the great Dave Stewart realised the band's complex keyboard arrangements in a live situation. A shame Stewart didn't grab the opportunity to execute solos of his own. I can't wait for a National Health DVD. As for Bill B.: he's invariably a pleasure to watch, and it's fun to compare his playing with the things he would go on to do with Earthworks. (Bill's Summerfold label has released two Earthworks VIDEO ANTHOLOGIES, the second of which is particularly fascinating, since it features both the late 1980s and the mid-1990s incarnations of a brilliant band. These ANTHOLOGIES are available tbrough Bill's website.)

Filmed (or videotaped?) in March 1979 for a BBC TV Programme, this is a very good concert video from Bruford`s band, still with Allan Holdsworth on guitar (who left the band some months later), and with the same core of musicians from the first and second albums by Bruford ("Feels Good To Me" and "One of a Kind"). The four musicians (Bill Bruford, Allan Holdsworth, Jeff Berlin and Dave Stewart) can be seen showing their virtuosity in this concert video, playing songs from both albums. It is very clear that the video was taken from a TV broadcast because the first song ("Sample and Hold") was not included in its entirety and the video starts with the credits appearing at the screen while the band plays the first song. Some of the songs are not played in the same way as they were originally recorded for the albums, sometimes showing some improvisation, sometimes being played faster and heavier. The only thing that I don`t like very much is the presence of Annette Peacock on vocals on the same songs that she recorded with the band for their first album. Well, the explanation I give about her is that I don`t like very much this kind of "avant-garde" artists, but Bill Bruford obviously liked her voice. At least, in their first album Peacock sang better, but in this concert video she didn`t sing very well for my taste. Anyway, the other musicians really played very well. So, forget about Peacock`s presence and you will enjoy a very good concert video.