Bruford - Progressive Rock Music Forum

All of the albums from the group Bruford are very rock orientated. I'd recommend starting with One Of A Kind.

Earthworks is basically the opposite. Certainly the second phase (After the first three albums) is all and only jazz. The first period has it's moments where I suppose you can say it's rock influenced but...

I'd say the debut is the most rockish, but Earthworks is essentially a jazz group.

Dig me...But don't...Bury me
I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive
Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect.

^Wrong! Wetton had a vision for UK, and it turned out "BB" had Holdsworth weren't part of it. His objection to the latter's playing caused the departure of both.

"It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno

Gradually Going Tornado is the ‘rockiest’ I think.
And strange that regarding One Of Kind, it credits Jeff Berlin with ‘The bass and the vocals’ - apart from some Northettes la-la’s on opener Hells Bells, and Bruford’s ‘speech’ in Fainting In Coils, there’s not a word from JB.

I agree that the excellent, vocal-heavy Gradually Going Tornado is the rockiest Bruford album, by far. One of a Kind is a stellar album, but it is much more fusion oriented and basically instrumental.
Add in live recordings The Bruford Tapes and Rock Goes to College next (both big on One of a Kind material), then finish with the initial solo outing, the less fully realized, but still worthy Feels Good to Me.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

Peter wrote:

Add in live recordings The Bruford Tapes and Rock Goes to College next (both big on One of a Kind material)

Two great rarities, especially Bruford Tapes with the amazing 'Unknown' John Clark ~

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- John F. Kennedy

Peter wrote:

I just listened to GGT: man, Joe Frazier is a kick-ass cut! What a punchy workout for bass and guitar! I love that album, just as I did when it was released.
Then I listened to One of a Kind: killer fusion album! A classic!

Correct all the way

hieronymous wrote:

I knew Jeff Berlin's cover of Joe Frazier first, on one of his solo albums from the '80s (the one with Buddy Miles singing on a track) - I think I might have to dig in to the Bruford stuff next (been listening to a lot of Brand X to prep for the show I saw)

Lucky you! Brand X (either incarnation) are great!
I had a Brand X and Bruford mix tape "back in the day." A fan of either should enjoy the other. Collins and Bruford = 2 of the best drummers in rock or fusion, and Percy Jones and Jeff Berlin are two absolutely top-notch bassists. (Everyone else ever invoked in either band was great, too.)

Yes, check out those 2 Bruford albums. Not as wild/weird as Brand X, but they have real power and polish--just great music!

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

Second place would have to go to Fainting in Coils: great Bruford drumming with that trademark snare sound!

Of course, the track starts with the reading of a brief excerpt from Alice in Wonderland. I (like BB, presumably) accord great love and respect to Alice in Wonderland writer Lewis Carrol for being the original master of logical nonsense and clever wordplay! For those of you who never worked it out, when the Mock Turtle tells Alice: "The drawling master was an old conger eel.... He taught us drawling, stretching, and fainting in coils." Drawling = DRAWING, stretching = SKETCHING, and fainting in coils = PAINTING IN OILS. The Wonderland versions are all perfect subjects for an eel to teach, presumably. Ha! 😄

If you've never read Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, DO! (Read it again if you've read it before!) Delightful stuff! A good edition is "The Annotated Alice" by Martin Gardner. You get the text, the awesome original Tenniel illustrations, and Gardner's expert analysis of all of Carrol's genius hidden math puzzles and wacky wordplay. (I studied that edition in university.)

Edited by Peter - December 18 2017 at 15:09

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.