Night #2 at MSG- wouldn't trade that experience for anything.
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Jack Bruce
- Thread starter Flyboyandy
- Start date
+1x2. And he blew a mean harp too:
There's not a whole lot about it apart from personal communications relayed by Jeff Berlin, but according to the latter Jack Bruce was an important influence on Jaco Pastorius, who once bought Cream's then freshly-released Wheels of Fire as a birthday present for his brother, only to immediately confiscate it for his own listening pleasure.
Some of my favourite Bruce compositions:
EDIT: Roger Waters was already cited upthread as being a Jack Bruce fan (the more experimental side of Cream was a non-obvious influence on early Pink Floyd,
When I started paying attention to Jack's songwriting style I noted similarities with his way of throwing little stumbling stones into otherwise fairly straight pop numbers, and Sting's. Now, guess one of Sumner's desert island records? Songs for a Tailor. And guess when Gordon first became aware of Bruce? As a teenager, seeing him perform with the Graham Bond ORGANisation in Newcastle, before Cream was formed.
* Brainfart. The first part (Floyd members mentioning Cream's jammy approach as influential) I had right, but the lyrical part was the other way around: I read a Pete Brown quote stating he caught the fledgeling Floyd at the UFO Club in London back in the day, was impressed by Syd's wordcraft and took due note for his own work.
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Jack was quite a chacter with a really Jaco style presence. ... He had a sound in his head, he was after, and, I think, he stayed true to it till the end. ... I've never seen of Jack playing a Fender bass, which is a little odd. ... He liked that over-driven mud-bucket sound. He wanted his bass to take up a lot of space on stage and on record.
I really like Jack on this song from the reunion show. Born Under a Bad Sign.
"That's the real stuff"
I was at that night too. To me Jack seemed stronger than 5 months earlier on the reunion DVD.
I've always been partial to his overdriven sound on Live Cream Volume II. Wore out a couple of copies as a kid.
Edit: Still makes meafter all these years!
Volume II was good but OMG jack and Ginger on Volume I. Off the hook!!!
....well, now you know what others think! i'd listen to his notes/lines and forget the tone thing...tones can be 'adjusted'. note choices and good basslines separate the real from the wannabe.
Glad someone posted Lou Reed's Berlin. IMO this is a great, though very dark album. I was a big Lou Reed fan. Some very tasteful and wonderful bass from jack on this record.
A great quote recently from Jeff Berlin: “Jack Bruce was one of the greatest musicians ever. He was an influence on everybody. He was the first virtuoso the electric bass ever had. The studio albums were really good, but Wheels Of Fire and Sweet Wine on Live Creamwere unbelievable. For all the angst between him and Ginger Baker, they were made for each other in that band. I can remember every note of those records as I’m talking to you. Jack had jazz roots, and the nature of jazz is to be creative – and Jack brought that into rock. He was spellbinding. Pick any song from that live record. It was beautiful and just as influential as Jaco to any of us. It changed me: I’m the bass player I am now because of Jack.”
Then he would be the same as a million other bassists.
I was there, too. Just seeing "CREAM" on the marquee as I walked up to the Garden was enough to make me think, "OK... my life is complete!"
By the way, "Stormy Monday" from that night was up on Youtube, the last time I checked.
Also, I liked the way Ginger followed up "Pressed Rat and Warthog" by hawking Cream souvenirs. ("Pressed Rat and Warthog have closed down their shop... but you can buy Cream hats and t-shirts in the lobby...") Good ol' Ginger!
One other thing about seeing Cream at the Garden:
There was a couple sitting behind me, and the guy was obviously there ONLY for "White Room" and "Sunshine of Your Love." And a few songs before "Toad", I heard the girlfriend say, "Oh gawd, there isn't going to be a drum solo, is there?!"
There was a couple sitting behind me, and the guy was obviously there ONLY for "White Room" and "Sunshine of Your Love." And a few songs before "Toad", I heard the girlfriend say, "Oh gawd, there isn't going to be a drum solo, is there?!"
One other thing about seeing Cream at the Garden:
There was a couple sitting behind me, and the guy was obviously there ONLY for "White Room" and "Sunshine of Your Love." And a few songs before "Toad", I heard the girlfriend say, "Oh gawd, there isn't going to be a drum solo, is there?!"
It happens, when you go see precisely the individual who imported the whole concept in pop music!
“Let It Rain”? Huh? That was a Clapton solo track, recorded in 1970 after the collapse of Blind Faith and Clapton’s involvement with Delaney and Bonnie, featuring Carl Radle on bass. These sessions led to the formation of Derek and the Dominoes.
