Bruford – Feels Good to Me
(EG/Polydor -1978)
Personnel:
Bill Bruford – drums, percussion
Allan Holdsworth – electric guitar
Dave Stewart – keyboards
Jeff Berlin – bass
Kenny Wheeler – flugelhorn
Annette Peacock – lead vocals
Art is often pigeonholed into categories that may enable basic understanding, but limit imagination and creativity. As musical language grows and becomes more emotionally nuanced, the use of yet more labels is an unfortunate consequence – it’s hard to keep up with all of the new terms used to describe a band, an album or a genre.
So it’s a refreshing change of pace to encounter music that embraces different worlds and refuses to be reduced to categories. The music on Bill Bruford’s Feels Good to Me combines different music genres to produce a unique sounding result. How did this genre crossing album come to be?
To 70s progressive rock fans, Bill Bruford needs no introduction. Bruford was one of the founding members of Yes, where he developed his intricate style of drumming. He left Yes in 1972 to join King Crimson, where he stayed until Robert Fripp disbanded Crimson (for the first time) in 1974. Bruford then became something of a journeyman drummer, playing with various bands which culminated in touring with Genesis for their 1976 tour.
Given Bruford’s resumé up to this point, you might not expect his first solo record to move away from rock, but Bruford went on to prove that his evolution was not a “one off” – he went on to make jazz influenced solo projects and uncategorizable music with his next group, Earthworks. Feels Good to Me sits at a hard-to-describe crossroads between prog rock and improvised jazz – the music is unusual, surprising and worth revisiting.
Bruford composed the material for this record together with multi keyboard player Dave Stewart in the first half of 1977. The tunes feature complex arrangements with intricate keyboard parts, memorable melodies and eschew sprawling prog rock-style runtimes. But the real magic is the unique blend of musicians. In addition to Stewart, Bruford hired American bassist Jeff Berlin, who does not sound like a rock bass player. (Check out his playing on “Beelzebub”, the second track posted here). Berlin plays notes that fall aggressively ahead of the beat, dominating the head of the song. Elsewhere his playing is virtuosic, drawing from funk, rhythm and blues, and Jaco Pastorious-style licks.
Even more unusual for a “rock album” is the inclusion of great trumpet player Kenny Wheeler (featured on flugelhorn here). Wheeler had at this point established himself as a leader on his classic album Gnu High (1976), so to see him here as a sideman is very unusual. Wheeler’s solo and accompaniment on “Seems Like a Lifetime Ago” and lead playing on “Either End of August” are gorgeous. Employing Wheeler here reminds me of another great album recorded in 1977, Steely Dan’s Aja, and it’s memorable use of jazz musicians including Wayne Shorter. Something must have been in the air!
And then there’s Allan Holdsworth. Holdsworth’s guitar playing was already legendary after his stint playing with drummer Tony Williams, where the world was introduced to his influential style of hyper fast “hammered” notes (later adopted by Eddie Van Halen). But that flashy technique is only part of Holdsworth’s playing – he also emphasizes melody energized by his terrific sound, and paces his solos to an emotional climax by using the tremolo bar to “bend” the timbre of his notes.
Bruford spoke extensively in interviews about the importance of Holdsworth’s playing to this project. After this album, Bruford recruited Holdswoth to join him in the prog “supergroup” U.K. The experience Holdsworth had with that group tells us a lot about what kind of player he is – Holdsworth (and Bruford) left after recording only one album because of musical differences with the rest of the band after Holdsworth’s bandmates told him to stop improvising different solos on each song. Being “in the moment” is clearly central to Holdsworth’s concept, which you can hear in this music.
On “Beelzebub,” Holdsworth plays a perfect rock guitar solo – he starts with soaring long notes, builds to a climax with terrific use of the tremolo bar, and ends with rapid “hammered” 64th notes. Elsewhere, Holdsworth plays a long adventurous solo on “Back to the Beginning”, and again shows the passion he can inject into his playing with his short but memorable solo at the close of “Either End of August.” All fantastic stuff! This record captures Allan Holdsworth in transition between his rock background and the more open improvisation of his subsequent work. Holdsworth’s solos here are succinct and exciting.
The most unusual choice that Bruford made is having Annette Peacock sing vocals at four tracks on this record (three of those posted above). Peacock’s background and contributions to music deserve their own post (deserve an entire book really!). She is one of the innovators of the Moog synthesizer (given the instrument by Bob Moog himself), she composed an entire catalog of jazz tunes (now standards), and has released decades worth of genre bending albums, some enjoying renewed interest such as 1970’s I’m the One and others waiting for rediscovery.
Unsurprisingly, Peacock’s singing here upends expectations. After the grinding rock riff that starts “Back to the Beginning”, you’d expect vocals that employ volume and vibrato typical of rock singers. Peacock’s speech like delivery, and clean vibrato, smartly placed high in the mix, are surprising and oddly perfect. On “Seems Like a Lifetime Ago”, Peacock effortlessly switches gears into jazz balladry. Peacock’s inclusion here is divisive of course, and many rock purists prefer Bruford’s 1979 One of a Kind, which has no vocals at all. To me, the inclusion of a Peacock elevates this record into something more interesting and fresh sounding, worth revisiting all these years later.
These choices all reflect the openness of Bruford taste and an interest in avoiding the staleness of composing and playing that falls in the rules of musical genre. Bruford’s title seems well chosen – not only is ‘feel’ the key attribute of a drummer’s playing, but he also creates fresh sounding music by bringing together different musicians based on this intuition. The result “Feels Good to Me” as well!
I hope you enjoy these genre-crossing tracks. If you like what you’ve heard here you can listen to the rest of this album on Spotify and Apple Music. Bill Bruford is retired from playing, but he maintains a terrific website that you should check out if you want to explore more of his music.
Enjoy!
