With a live version of
"Crossroads"
going Top 30 for
Cream
,
Songs for a Tailor
was released in 1969, showing many more sides of
Jack Bruce
.
George Harrison
(again using his
L'Angelo Misterioso
moniker) appears on the first track,
"Never Tell Your Mother She's Out of Tune,"
though his guitar is not as prominent as the performance on
"Badge."
The song is bass heavy with
Colosseum
members
Dick Heckstall-Smith
and
Jon Hiseman
providing a different flavor to what
Bruce
fans had become accustomed to.
Hiseman
drums on eight of the ten compositions, including
"Theme From an Imaginary Western,"
the second track, and
's greatest hit that never charted. With "just"
Chris Spedding
on guitar and
on drums,
paints a masterpiece performing the bass, piano, organ, and vocals. The song is so significant it was covered by
Mountain
, and a
spin-off,
Greenslade
. One has to keep in mind that the influential
Blind Faith
album was being recorded this same year (and according to the late
Jimmy Miller
, producer of that disc,
filled in for
Rick Grech
on some of the
material).
's omnipresence on the charts and in the studio gives the diversity on
that much more intrigue.
"Tickets to Water Falls"
"Weird of Hermiston"
feature the
/
Spedding
trio, and though the wild abandon of
Ginger Baker
is replaced by
's
jazz
undercurrents, these are still basically two- to three-and-a-half-minute songs, not as extended as the material on
's work on his
John McLaughlin
Heckstall-Smith
disc
Things We Like
recorded a year before this, but released two years after
in 1971. The history is important because this album is one of the most unique fusions of
with
pop
and contains less emphasis on the
blues
, a genre so essential to
's career. Indeed,
"Theme From an Imaginary Western"
is total
. It is to
what
"Midnight Rider"
is to
Greg Allman
, a real defining moment.
"Rope Ladder to the Moon"
has that refreshing sparkle found on
"Weird of Hermiston,"
but
has only
John Marshall
on drums and producer
Felix Pappalardi
adding some vocals while he provides cellos, vocals, guitar, piano, and bass. Side two goes back to the thick progressive sound of the first track on side one, and has a lot in common with another important album from this year,
Janis Joplin
I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!
were two of the most familiar superstar voices on radio performing hard
blues-pop
Joplin
added horns to augment her expression the same time
was mixing saxes and trumpets to three tracks of this
exploration.
"He the Richmond"
deviates from that, throwing a curve with
on acoustic guitar,
Pappalardi
on percussion, and
Marshall
slipping in again on drums. But the short one minute and 44 second
"Boston Ball Game, 1967"
proves the point about the
fusion succinctly and is a nice little burst of creativity.
"To Isengard"
has
, and
on acoustic guitars, a dreamy
folk
tune until
's drums kick in on some
freeform
journey,
's guitar sounding more like the group
Roxy Music
, which he would eventually join as a sideman, over the total
of the bass and drums.
"The Clearout"
end the album with
progressive pop
slightly different from the other recordings here. As with 1971's
Harmony Row
Peter Brown
composed all the lyrics on
writing the music. A lyric sheet is enclosed and displays the serious nature of this project. It is picture perfect in construction, performance, and presentation. ~ Joe Viglione