Bruford, Bill: Making A Song And Dance - A Complete-Career Collection (6CD)

Ask most serious prog fans for a list of their favourite drummers and the name Bill Bruford is sure to come up pretty quickly. An integral member of the fledgling Yes and a pivotal figure in the evolution of King Crimson, that this drummer extraordinaire can also add a brief tenure with Genesis, time with UK, Brand X and Anderson Bruford Wakeman And Howe to his resume, puts this rightly lauded drummer in a genuinely unique position of having performed with three of prog’s most celebrated acts - and more.

Incredibly, across this six disc set, those adventures into progressive rock and beyond only cover one third of what’s been presented, with Bruford quite cleverly taking a mainly chronological look through three distinct areas of his considerable body of work - The Collaborator, The Composing Band Leader and The Special Guest & Improvisor. Now, in this age where 30+ CD sets are no longer a rarity, it’s clear that this collection is very far from being exhaustive, and rarities are not really to be found. However, considering that most of the music on discs one, two, five and six probably doesn’t fall under Bruford’s stewardship, that he’s managed to amass three Yes tracks, fifteen from King Crimson and one apiece from UK, ABW&H and Piano Circus feat. Bill Bruford & Colin Riley is impressive in itself - and also enough to tell a large part of that story. With the Crimson work being a clever mix of studio and live, the hugely different aspects of that outfit are also explored, and given how their music evolved on stage, it really was vital that it was an ideology represented here. Admittedly, it would have been quite something to also have maybe had a live Genesis cut in here somewhere, but I’m guessing that would have been a challenge in terms of ownership, while keen Yes fans will maybe wonder why the first two albums don’t receive any recognition at all.

Arguably, however, while those first two discs contain most of Bruford’s best known output in terms of the acts they represent, it’s what comes after that’s maybe most interesting in terms of having a fresh light shone upon it. Bruford in the interesting and thoughtful essay contained in the hardback book (for those who remember them, it’s like a ‘Ladybird Book’), which also features some fantastic visuals, is keen not to squeeze the music included into genre pigeon-holes, but if the first section contains the ‘prog’, then the next two house the ‘jazz’. Taking in 23 tracks from the Bruford band, Bill Bruford’s Earthworks, Bruford Towner Gomez, Bruford Levin and Earthworks Underground, while a huge host of styles and approaches are explored, in the main, these come in a jazz setting. Incredibly they also span (at my reckoning) the time from 1978 to 1997 as everything from serious musical workouts, reinterpretations of “Downtown� (Tony Hatch) to Spanish flavoured offerings and much, much more in-between spill forth. In truth, actually delving into the musical diversity here would end up with a review longer than the running time of the two discs involved! But take it from me that the musicality, virtuosity and entertainment is of the highest standard.

Those too are aspects that can, unsurprisingly, also be attributed to The Special Guest & Improvisor discs, Bruford stepping into a whole host of settings where he could explore drumming, percussion and music in general. And that is something he is keen to stress in the book - yes, fame may have come his way, but that was never a driving factor in what band, project or session he joined, with the musical opportunity of expanding and exploration always the more important motivation in where Bruford went next. Here the diversity of what’s on offer expands further and I have to say that if you weren’t aware of the work this drummer did with the likes of Roy Harper, Al Di Meola, David Torn (the three tracks from which, “Voodoo Chile�, “Previous Man�, “Three Minutes Of Pure Entertainment�, are boxset highlights as far as I’m concerned) and Patrick Moraz, then these inclusions will be an absolute joy. Add in a the wonderful “Lucky Seven� and “Silently Falling� that Bruford did with Chris Squire, two tracks with Kazumi Watanabe and much more and really the delights just keep on making you smile in wonderment.

Coming in a smart box with the aforementioned book and a fold out poster, Making A Song And Dance - A Complete-Career Collection may not be quite the type of gargantuan, rarity laden set that we’re becoming accustomed to these days, but in terms of telling the musical story of one of the main players in prog, jazz, fusion (and more) for many a decade, it’s difficult to find fault.

Track Listing
THE COLLABORATOR
CD1
1. Yes  - I’ve Seen All Good People  2. Yes  - Heart of the Sunrise  3. Yes  - And You & I  4. King Crimson - Great Deceiver 5. King Crimson - Fracture 6. King Crimson - One More Red Nightmare   7. King Crimson - Starless 8. UK - Nevermore


CD2
1. King Crimson - Frame by Frame   2. King Crimson - Neal And Jack And Me  3. King Crimson - Heartbeat 4. King Crimson - Waiting Man 5. Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe - Brother of Mine  6. King Crimson - Sex Eat Sleep Drink Dream 7. King Crimson - Larks Tongues in Aspick Pt 2 8. King Crimson - 3 of a Perfect Pair 9. King Crimson - Man With An Open Heart 10. King Crimson - Elephant Talk 11. King Crimson - Indiscipline 12. King Crimson - Big Funk   13. Piano Circus feat. Bill Bruford & Colin Riley - The Still Small Voice

THE COMPOSING LEADER  

CD3
1. Bruford - Seems Like a Lifetime Ago: Pt 1 2. Bruford - Seems Like a Lifetime Ago: Pt 2 3. Bruford - One of a Kind: Pt 1 4. Bruford - One of a Kind: Pt 2 5. Bruford - Palewell Park 6. Bruford - Joe Frazier 7. Bill Bruford’s Earthworks - It Needn’t End in Tears 8. Bill Bruford’s Earthworks - My Heart Declares a Holiday 9. Bill Bruford’s Earthworks - Downtown 10. Bill Bruford’s Earthworks - Pilgrims’ Way 11. Bill Bruford’s Earthworks - Temple of the Winds 12. Bill Bruford’s Earthworks - Candles Still Flicker in Romania’s Dark 13. Bill Bruford’s Earthworks - Nerve  14. Bruford, Towner, Gomez - Thistledown

CD4
1. Bill Bruford’s Earthworks - Beelzebub 2. Bruford-Levin - Original Sin 3. Bill Bruford’s Earthworks - Revel Without a Pause 4. Bill Bruford’s Earthworks - Triplicity 5. Bill Bruford’s Earthworks - The Sound of Surprise 6. Earthworks Underground Orchestra  - Speaking in Wooden Tongues 7. Bill Bruford’s Earthworks - Modern Folk 8. Bill Bruford’s Earthworks - White Knuckle Wedding 9. Earthworks Underground Orchestra  - Footloose and Fancy Free

SPECIAL GUEST & IMPROVISER
CD5
1. Roy Harper - Grown Ups Are Just Silly Children 2. Roy Harper - Hallucinating Light 3. Chris Squire - Lucky Seven (single edit) 4. Chris Squire - Silently Falling 5. Al Di Meola - Calliope 6. David Torn - Voodoo Chile 7. Kazumi Watanabe - Andre 8. Kazumi Watanabe - Small Wonder 9. Steve Howe - The Inner Battle 10. Buddy Rich Big Band - Lingo 11. Pete Lockett’s Network of Sparks feat Bill Bruford - Prism 12. Colin Riley feat Bill Bruford - Achilles Feel

CD6
1. Moraz-Bruford - Galatea 2. Moraz-Bruford  - Symmetry 3. Piano Circus feat. Bill Bruford & Colin Riley - Stalling Between Two Fools 4. King Crimson - No Warning 5. Moraz-Bruford - Flags 6. Moraz-Bruford -Split Seconds 7. David Torn - Previous Man 8. David Torn - Three Minutes of Pure Entertainment 9. Bruford-Borstlap - 16 Kingdoms of The 5 Barbarians 10. Bruford-Borstlap - Stand on Zanzibar 11. Earthworks - With Friends Like These… 12. Bruford-Borstlap - Low Tide, Camber Sands 13. Bruford-Borstlap - Kinship

Added: April 21st 2022
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Bill Bruford online
Hits: 666
Language: english

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