Bill Bruford

One Of A Kind

Winterfold’s re-releases of Bill Bruford’s albums continues with One of a Kind.

This album was originally recorded after his stint with UK and before King Crimson, mark … well, before the 80’s Crimso.

On the heels of Feels Good To Me, you certainly won’t get lost with this superb album. This was my favourite era of Bruford’s. The 70’s Crimso, then UK and these solo albums are the Bruford albums I prefer listening to. Not to say that the rest isn’t good, and some may argue that his later work was better from a musician’s standpoint, but I prefer the overall feel and sound of this period.

The album features a very interesting list of musicians, such as Dave Stewart on keyboards and UK acolyte Allan Holdsworth on guitars, as well a Jeff Berlin on bass, basically the same lineup as its predecessor.

You’ll find on it Hell’s Bells, probably one of his most famous pieces, as well as the bonus track Manacles. But also a lot of great and highly interesting material.

Even if you prefer the jazzier Earthworks period, there’s still something her for you. This is a nice combination of jazz and rock, one that Bruford excels at.

If you’ve been putting off getting those Bill Bruford albums, now’s the time to get them.

Feels Good To Me

Winterfold and Summerfold records are Bill Bruford’s two new labels. Bruford decided to re-release his old projects through his own labels. Winterfold concentrates on his heavier solo period, while Summerfold concentrates on his Earthworks period. The idea is to let people who don’t know one of the two periods get what they like and learn a bit about the other period by providing a sampler CD of the other period with each one. And the samplers aren’t cheap as they contain about an hour’s worth of full material. And all albums are packaged using the original artwork.

Now here’s a guy with an interesting career. Bruford started his career drumming for Yes. Then he left the band for King Crimson (with John Wetton). Following that came UK (again with Wetton). Bruford also was Genesis’ first live drummer when Collins switched to vocals. He rejoined Crimson in the 80s and in the 90s. Had solo albums and a duet with Patrick Moraz. He was in Anderson/Bruford/Wakeman/Howe (a reincarnation of Yes) and even rejoined Yes at one point.

Feels Good to Me was Bruford’s first solo album, recorded in between UK’s debut album and their first tour. This version contains an extra track, Joe Frazier.

The album features a very interesting list of musicians, such as Dave Stewart on keyboards and UK acolyte Allan Holdsworth on guitars.

If you’re wondering what it sounds like, you can imagine, as it was in the same period as the debut UK album and that it features Allan Holdsworth that it does sound a lot like UK. And it does. But there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s jazz-rock. Very well done by a band that absolutely knows where it’s going.

It’s nice to hear the remastered version of this album in its entirety. And the bonus CD is worth it too. It lasts 57 minutes. It’s not only music, mind you. There’s an interview with Bruford explaining the goings-on with these new labels and a lot of the mechanics behind his solo works.

Definitely a great album to get.