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Jack Bruce has gone nuts!

#181
SGD Lutherie said:
Back in the 70's a good rock station like WNEW-FM would play any random track off an album. There were no playlists. It was at the whim of the DJ.
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+1, When I'm in "back in my day" mode and tell kids about how FM was in the beginning, WNEW & WPLJ are the stations I mention. Good times, good times;)
 
#182
KPAX said:
Since we're kinda on the subject of Zeppelin (for you that appreciate them), I've always wondered about Page and Jones' musical relationship in that band.
it was unique and unusual in that you had Page the leader, mastermind and big-time guitarist and this amazing, deep talent in Jones in an interesting, more supporting role. Both Page and Jones always struck me as very intelligent in their relationship. To have someone of Jones' calibre in a supporting role added a rare quality to Zeppelin. With Jones, in addition to his great bass playing, Zeppelin had this huge reserve of input and know-how to pull out every now and again that put them in a different class.
Interestingly, Jones wrote many of Zeppelin's heavier (and notey) riffs - including Black Dog, Out On The Tiles and I believe Heartbreaker.
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Yea that is quite interesting to consider the dynamics of the relationship.
 
#184
That's utter nonsense. Zeppelin did their first U.S. tours in a station wagon and a van, opened for acts like Iron Butterfly(!), played small clubs like the Whisky and Roxy and wrote/recorded their second album on the road. They toured constantly to make their name. Page had some very small notoriety from the very end of the Yardbirds but the rest were totally unknown in the U.S. - and the U.S. is where Zeppelin made it big. Page and Jones were known in London studio circles but that was nothing to the U.S. audience. Zeppelin built it from scratch and grew into the big hard rock audiences created by Cream and Hendrix. I guess Zeppelin's sin was observing and learning from others mistakes, not signing bad contracts, not having a crappy manager, not imploding and not ODing (at least not for a long time). Did you think Atlantic handed them their jet when they signed them? It's strange how some people despise winners.

I dunno, at least we're arguing cool bands like Cream and Zeppelin. There's a thread praising Maurice Gibb where I got ripped for saying Bee Gees blew and asking if it's a joke.

p-bass88 said:
as much as i like led zeppelin and cream, led zeppelin had all trhe advantages. they were a bunch of musicians who already had succsess and made albums and they obviously did good. cream worked hard playing in clubs to gain a rep and got famous together, like bands should.
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#185
Have to agree with KPAX on this one. Baker, Bruce and Clapton already were quite well known in London music circles at the time Cream was former (ergo the name 'Cream').

KPAX said:
That's a nonsense exaggeration. Zeppelin did their first U.S. tours in a station wagon and a van, opened for acts like Iron Butterfly and played small clubs like the Whisky and Roxy and wrote/recorded their second album on the road. They toured constantly to make their name. Page had some very small notoriety from the very end of the Yardbirds but the rest were totally unknown in the U.S. - and the U.S. is where Zeppelin made it big. Page and Jones were known in London studio circles but that was nothing to the U.S. audience.
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#186
i.
hate.
robert.
plant.
his voice is awful, his stage presence is just all kinds of creepy. and that one show zep played was indeed lame. lot of malarkey. i saw jack bruce play just this past summer at hippyfest and it was the highlight of the night, and there were some great bands.
 
#191
4-string said:
Jack Bruce is my new hero.

Finally, someone has the balls to tell the truth about Led Zeppelin. :hiding:
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Ouch!

My take is that Bruce is a MUCH better bassist, but Zep made better music, mostly on the backs of Robert Plant (in his prime) and the late, great John Bonham.

I recall that in 1979, JPJ won an award (grammy, billboard or something) for... KEYBOARDS.

That all said, I, like every other player in the '70s, learned his lines note for note. I just thought Jack Bruce was a better player (as was EC. Ginger Baker, however...)
 
#192
BigOldHarry said:
Ouch!

My take is that Bruce is a MUCH better bassist, but Zep made better music, mostly on the backs of Robert Plant (in his prime) and the late, great John Bonham.

I recall that in 1979, JPJ won an award (grammy, billboard or something) for... KEYBOARDS.

That all said, I, like every other player in the '70s, learned his lines note for note. I just thought Jack Bruce was a better player (as was EC. Ginger Baker, however...)
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On the back of who? :eyebrow:
 
#193
Ah, here we go again... the sinister thread of comparsion!!!
I heard some professionals got infected and spread the virus to this forum. Seems like Jack Bruce knows how to p*** off some people here. I read the first page of this thread and then immediately got to the "last" one. It is opinions you want to hear?
Okay, here's mine. I like some LZ songs, have a few albums of them. I think they're far from being a great live band, anybody remember their LIVE AID appearance? Poor Tony Thompson (Chic's drummer who played that on that LZ appearance), I really liked that guy, even though he seemed to have p***ed off even Phil Collins (2nd drummer). I don't have any Cream album, there are just a few songs I like from them. Otherwise I have lots of albums that feature Jack Bruce. To me these are just more or less talented people in the entertainment world, but all in all they're just people. So no "HAIL CEASAR" to anybody from me.
 
#195
bonzo4880 said:
i dont wanna get too deep in this argument since i love both bands a lot. but im sure we can agree on this: both bands kicked butt because of the RHYTHM SECTION.

page i think was a better composer than clapton. clapton has played the same derivatives of blues and pop/rock for a long time, but he has also had a career outside of cream, while page hasnt done much since zepp split. also, cream wasnt around long enough as a band to ever get stagnant. they would have all killed each other long before then.
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This is the truth. Bonham really made Led Zep work, and JPJ really fit well with him.

I'm a huge Zep fan, and a big Cream fan, esp Clapton, but I've never thought Page was very good. I liked his studio solos on the albums, but after seeing him live, it's celar that those must have been done take after take after take... He's so sloppy, and his ear is just not that good. His note choice often leaves me scratching my head. Clapton, on the other hand, may be a bit derivative, but he really makes his notes count.
 
#197
well i don't like cream or zepplin much, but i have adapted somewhat of an anti-clapton policy due to his ego that is way bigger than his talent. I think these bands were all decent back in the day and it just got to their heads. i saw a video of jack bruce playing a recent show and it made me realize that mr. bruce is no longer what he used to be(a decent bassist). I'm not saying i'm better(i realize i'm not and am able to admit that fact), but I am saying that he's obviously a little too full of himself.
As far as i'm concerned the only two "old" guys that can still rock out like they used to are mr. jack casady and mr. jorma kaukonen. if you go to their shows and close your eyes, it's just like live hot tuna from the 60s and 70s.
sorry about the rant, it's just my opinion.
 
#198
JPJ was a far better overall musician and arranger than Jack Bruce.

Zeppelin are exactly what people talk them up to be but only in the context of the experience of the entire album rather than individual songs as pieces.

It really boils down to what kind of experience you want...one that's 45 minutes or one that works as a standalone piece.
 
#199
To compare Zep and Cream is silly as the bands are so different, yet great at what they did.

To compare Bruce to Jones is silly as their styles were so different, yet their individual function served the band they were in perfectly

To say Clapton or Page was better is silly, because they both blew chunks compared to Jeff Beck.
 

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