Track Listing

1. Beelzebub [Instrumental]
2. Back to the Beginning
3. Seems Like a Lifetime Ago, Pt. 1
4. Seems Like a Lifetime Ago, Pt. 2
5. Sample and Hold [Instrumental]
6. Feels Good to Me [Instrumental]
7. Either End of August [Instrumental]
8. If You Can't Stand the Heat... [Instrumental]
9. Springtine in Siberia [Instrumental]
10. Adios a la Pasada [Goodbye to the Past]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62672 in Music
• Released on: 1990-08-30
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Album Description
Vinyl LP pressing of this 1978 album from the drumming legend and his band. Considered a solo album, it predated the official start of the band Bruford although it features musical performances from many of the musicians who would go on to work with Bill full-time in that group. The album features a number of key tracks including the instrumental tracks 'Beelzebub' and 'Sample And Hold'. Vocalist Annette Peacock contributes vocals to four tracks and a co-writing credit on the track 'Adios a la Pasada (Goodbye To The Past)'. Elsewhere the album features performances from keyboardist Dave Stewart, bassist Jeff Berlin, guitarists Allan Holdsworth and John Goodsall (Brand X) and flugelhorn player Kenny Wheeler. Bruford. 2009.

Customer Reviews

What a complex thing it is to live
Formerly only available on Japanese import, here at last we have a modestly priced CD of Bruford's solo debut. Not quite a masterpiece, the album shows Bruford finding his feet as a fusion composer.

It's a strangely organised work, too. All the catchy stuff was placed on what was side two of the LP, and the more introvert jazz-rock noodling. The opening track 'Beelzebub' has a terrible intro, but it is redeemed by Holdsworth's fantastic soloing.

This was British jazz-rock at its best. The US had supergroups like Return to Forever, Weather Report and the Eleventh House. The Brits had more modest affairs, such as Nucleus, Isotope, Brand X, and Neil Ardley. They were never going to get colossal financial reward. The sleevenotes by Melody Maker's columnist Richard Williams show that this was more of an intellectual than a commercial venture. Bruford showed that there was rather more to his ambition than money when he left Yes at the peak of their popularity. (Incidentally, the Melody Maker newspaper finally closed last week, and the Times said the paper never recovered from going down the intellectual path in the late 70s and missing the punk revolution.)

This is a great album. If you like this, you'll love its successor, 'One of a Kind' and also Gong's 'Shamal'. The female vocals work surprisingly well -- at times it's vaguely reminiscent of Henry Cow's 'In Praise of Learning'. I have no idea why they weren't used on the follow-up.

Holdsworth's guitar is, as usual, outstanding. (It's also very good on UK's 'UK' album.) The interplay with Dave Stewart's keyboards melds well. Sometimes there's a lot of attack to each note, and it sounds like Akkerman. Then suddenly he takes all the attack off the front of the notes and we're into Terje Rypdal territory.

This was the album that got me into related groups like National Health, Matching Mole and Hatfield and the North. There haven't been many albums which have had quite such a long term impact on my record collection.

First Solo Effort is First Rate
I purchased this recording as an LP upon its release in early 1978. For admirers of Bill's work since the first Yes album, his latest project, either as part of a group or as leader, meant another occasion to enjoy the latest creations of an artist who has remained true to a musical ethic of unabashed curiosity and courage. "Feels Good to Me", though his initial step into the dual roles of composer and ensemble leader, is neither tentative nor disappointing. To quote Richard Williams from the original liner notes: "...its combination of sureness and audacity evince durable achievement, and hold out provocative promise." He got it right.

Some of Bruford's best melodies are enhanced by great solos, complex meters, and Bill's crisp vibraphone overdubs. What a supporting cast: Holdsworth, Berlin, Stewart, Kenny Wheeler on flugelhorn, with a sprinkling of Annette Peacock's breathy vocals lending a late 70's touch of London-underground, avant-garde credibility to the undertaking.

Twenty-seven years after its initial release, and taken in context with Bruford's entire body of work to date, "Feels Good to Me" marks a transition from the occasionally grim experiments of King Crimson to a similarly bold, but melodic, jazz-fusion briskness. It's a "must-have" recording which documents the stage in Bruford's career when his signature syncopated, percussive approach and gift for distinctive melody reconcile, complementing an already highly-developed and ambitious musical creativity. This work, now reissued and remixed on CD and featuring additional material, not only documents the energy and excitement of this early chapter in Bruford's continuing maturation as a musician and composer, it illustrates how the current advanced state of those talents should not be a surprise to anyone.

Silver Anniversary
It's 25 years since this album was released and it stands the test of time remarkably well. This is also the first album that got me into Allan Holdsworth's playing - an interesting thing really as Allan apparently doesn't consider his playing from this period to be his best. In fact I seem to remember seeing the band play a couple of tracks on the Old Grey Whistle Test, after which I was hooked. Rather well recorded too - notably Robin Lumley (Brand X's keyboard player) shared the production credit with BB too - quite an intensity of talent in the project.

Speaking of talent and keyboard players I couldn't pass by without correcting David Hugaert's glaring error concerning Dave Stewart. Sorry David but the Dave Stewart on this recording is in no way connected with David A. Stewart of Eurythmics fame (the former is a musician for starters) but is in fact a time-served player from England's Canterbury scene of 70s and early 80s, featuring in such seminal outfits as National Health, Gong and Hatfield and the North. He's done some great work and remains one of my favourite keyboard players. It makes me shudder to think of comparing him with the other oaf......

Rant over - this is a great album with some wonderful energy and playing and showcases BB's perhaps unexpected (back then anyway) writing talents rather well. It's a great mix of sounds and, if you can soak up Annette Peacock's rather crystal-rubbing wowsiness without suffering too much psychodamage it's a real treat to dig out and blast again and again. Highly recommended.

Earl Rhone Strutt