Songs for a Tailor
Encyclopedia
Songs for a Tailor is the 1969 solo studio album debut of musician, composer and singer Jack Bruce
, who was already famous at the time of its release for his work with the supergroup Cream
. Originally released on the Polydor
label in Europe and on Atco Records
in the U.S., Songs for a Tailor was the second solo album that Bruce recorded, though he did not release the first, Things We Like, for another year.
The album, which was titled in tribute to Cream's recently deceased clothing designer, displayed more of the musician's diverse influences than his compositions for Cream, though it did not chart as highly as his work with that band. Nevertheless, it was successful, reaching #6 on the UK Albums Chart
and #55 on the Billboard
"Pop Albums
" chart.
While it has not been universally critically well-received, with a negative review by Rolling Stone on its first release, it is generally acclaimed and is considered among Bruce's best albums. The literary lyrics by poet
and songwriter
Pete Brown
have been particularly divisive, with one critic singling them out for praise while others have been more generally critical. Songs on the album include "Never Tell Your Mother She's Out of Tune", and "Theme for an Imaginary Western
", which was covered famously by Leslie West
's Mountain
, and is featured in 2006's 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them.
, his first solo recording, was released a year later.
The album was titled in tribute to Jeannie Franklyn ("Genie the Tailor"), a clothing designer who designed wardrobes for Cream and was also the girlfriend of Fairport Convention
guitarist Richard Thompson (and, according to Bruce's 2010 biography Composing Himself, an ex-lover of Bruce's). In 1969, Franklyn wrote Bruce a letter requesting that he "[s]ing some high notes for me," a letter that reached him on May 14, 1969, the day she was killed in a motor vehicle accident in Fairport Convention's touring van. Franklyn died—and Bruce received the letter from her—on his 26th birthday.
A blues
and jazz
musician by background who had studied Bach
and Scottish folk music
as a child, Bruce produced a debut effort that was musically diverse. Songs for a Tailor was described in Music Week
on its 2003 reissue as "an impressive effort defying musical categorisation". Two of the songs—"Weird of Hermiston" and "The Clearout"—had originally been penned for possible inclusion on the 1967 Cream album Disraeli Gears
. However, the album was not simply a continuation of Bruce's material for Cream, but displayed more of the musician's diversity.
as a "seminal" work. However, reviews were not universally positive, with critical opinion particularly divided on the album's lyrics, penned by long-term Bruce collaborator Pete Brown.
Ed Leimbacher, reviewing the album in 1969 for Rolling Stone
, called Songs for a Tailor a "disappointment", panning it overall as "a patchwork affair lacking in any unifying thread, a baggy misfit made up of a shopworn miscellany of jazz riffs, rock underpinnings, chamber music strings, boringly baroque lyrics and a Bruce bass that [leaves]...everything distinctly bottom heavy." However, later writings in the same magazine characterized it very differently. In 1971, Loyd Grossman
termed it "[a] stunning recording with more than an ample amount of beautiful songs and excellent singing and playing". In 1975, he opined that "Bruce's first album, Songs for a Tailor, was so outstanding that his other albums almost always suffer by comparison." In 1989, Rolling Stone writer David Fricke
, though noting that Bruce could "flirt with self-indulgence in the pursuit of the unconventional", described the artist's solo output as "highly underrated". In its review, Allmusic summarizes the album as "picture perfect in construction, performance, and presentation."
" and "Sunshine of Your Love
". The lyrics he wrote for Songs for a Tailor are typically poetic and heavily inspired by literary themes, with the Shakespeareean "He the Richmond" and the horror-infused "Weird of Hermiston".
The first Rolling Stone review judged the lyrics as unsuccessful, dismissing them as "silly" and primarily burdened by an overabundance of literary references. 2006's 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them also disparaged the lyricist, stating that his "pretentious lyrics fail to connect", an inaccessibility that the book suggests combined with the lack of "instrumental fireworks" to prevent the album from reaching better commercial success. "The musicianship," that work says, particularly referencing "Bruce's soulful vocals", "remains timeless." But in later review of Bruce's work, Fricke regarded the songwriting more highly, questioning whether "anybody, beside Bruce and Brown, write songs like that anymore" and suggesting the cd version of the Bruce compilation Willpower specifically so that the lyrics could be read.
's Music from Big Pink
, derived from the combination of "Bruce's overdubbed piano and organ parts" and "the country
-tinged lope of the rhythm section
".1001 Songs profiles the number, describing it as an "elegant, masterfully-constructed piece of jazz-rock", though it suggests that Brown's lyrics for the song are "opaque at best". Leimbacher, though generally dismissive of the lyrics, found an exception for this song and "To Isengard", while The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music finds the song "evocative", indicating that the album contains "[s]ome of" Bruce's "finest lyrics". The song was famously covered
by Mountain
, whose bassist-singer Felix Pappalardi
had previously worked with Bruce as Cream's record producer, and also produced and appeared on Tailor. (One of Mountain's earliest performances of "Theme," at the August 1969 Woodstock Festival
, predated the song's release on Songs for a Tailor by several weeks.) Colosseum
(whose drummer Jon Hiseman
played on Tailors rendition of the song), and the progressive rock group Greenslade
also recorded cover versions.
"Weird of Hermiston" and "The Clearout" were candidates for inclusion on Cream's 1967 landmark album Disraeli Gears
, but deemed too uncommercial by Cream's then-U.S. label Atlantic
/Atco Records
for release on that record. Bruce's dissatisfaction at this is noted in the liner notes for Cream's box set Those Were the Days
: "I played them for Ahmet (Atlantic executive Ahmet Ertegun
), Tommy (producer/engineer Tom Dowd
), and whoever else was around ... they thought it was rubbish, just psychedelic
hogwash." Demo versions of the two songs, recorded by Cream in early 1967, are included on Those Were the Days.
In 1989 Fricke described "Never Tell Your Mother She's Out of Tune" as a "wacky, brassy" "enigmatic Bruce-Brown [delight]".
Bruce has continued to refine and re-record the tracks from Songs for a Tailor throughout his career, both in live and studio albums. Only "To Isengard" has not been revisited.
, music by Jack Bruce
.
Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
, who was already famous at the time of its release for his work with the supergroup Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
. Originally released on the Polydor
Polydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
label in Europe and on Atco Records
Atco Records
ATCO Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, currently operating through WMG's Rhino Entertainment.-Beginnings:Atco Records was founded in 1955 as a division of Atlantic Records. It was devised as an outlet for productions by one of Atlantic's founders, Herb Abramson, who...
in the U.S., Songs for a Tailor was the second solo album that Bruce recorded, though he did not release the first, Things We Like, for another year.
The album, which was titled in tribute to Cream's recently deceased clothing designer, displayed more of the musician's diverse influences than his compositions for Cream, though it did not chart as highly as his work with that band. Nevertheless, it was successful, reaching #6 on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
and #55 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
"Pop Albums
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
" chart.
While it has not been universally critically well-received, with a negative review by Rolling Stone on its first release, it is generally acclaimed and is considered among Bruce's best albums. The literary lyrics by poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
Pete Brown
Pete Brown
Peter Ronald Brown is an English performance poet and lyricist.Best known for his collaborations with Jack Bruce, Brown also worked with The Battered Ornaments, formed his own group Pete Brown & Piblokto!, and worked with Graham Bond and Phil Ryan. Brown also writes film scores and formed a film...
have been particularly divisive, with one critic singling them out for praise while others have been more generally critical. Songs on the album include "Never Tell Your Mother She's Out of Tune", and "Theme for an Imaginary Western
Theme for an Imaginary Western
"Theme for an Imaginary Western" is a song written by Jack Bruce and Pete Brown. The song is sometimes referred to as "Theme from an Imaginary Western." It has been performed by many artists, including Jack Bruce, Mountain, Leslie West, Colosseum, Greenslade and DC3.The song originally appeared on...
", which was covered famously by Leslie West
Leslie West
Leslie West is an American rock guitarist, singer and songwriter.-Biography:Originally named Leslie Weinstein, West was born in New York City, grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey, and in East Meadow, Forest Hills and Lawrence. After his parents divorced, he changed his surname to West...
's Mountain
Mountain (band)
Mountain is an American hard rock band that formed in Long Island, New York in 1969. Originally comprising vocalist and guitarist Leslie West, bassist Felix Pappalardi and drummer N. D. Smart, the band broke up in 1972 before reuniting in 1974 and remaining active until today...
, and is featured in 2006's 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them.
Background
After performing with various blues bands in his youth, Bruce rose to prominence in the rock world as a member of influential rock band Cream. After the group disbanded in 1969, Bruce began releasing solo material. Songs for a Tailor, released in September 1969, was Bruce's debut solo release, but chronologically his second solo album; Things We LikeThings We Like
Things We Like is a jazz album by bassist Jack Bruce.The album was Bruce's second solo album to reach the marketplace; it was released in the U.K. in late 1970, and in the United States in early 1971...
, his first solo recording, was released a year later.
The album was titled in tribute to Jeannie Franklyn ("Genie the Tailor"), a clothing designer who designed wardrobes for Cream and was also the girlfriend of Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
guitarist Richard Thompson (and, according to Bruce's 2010 biography Composing Himself, an ex-lover of Bruce's). In 1969, Franklyn wrote Bruce a letter requesting that he "[s]ing some high notes for me," a letter that reached him on May 14, 1969, the day she was killed in a motor vehicle accident in Fairport Convention's touring van. Franklyn died—and Bruce received the letter from her—on his 26th birthday.
A blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musician by background who had studied Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
and Scottish folk music
Music of Scotland
Scotland is internationally known for its traditional music, which has remained vibrant throughout the 20th century, when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music...
as a child, Bruce produced a debut effort that was musically diverse. Songs for a Tailor was described in Music Week
Music Week
Music Week is a trade paper for the UK record industry.Founded in 1959 as Record Retailer, it was relaunched on 18 March 1972 as Music Week . On 17 January 1981 the title was again changed, owing to the increasing importance of sell-through videos, to Music & Video Week...
on its 2003 reissue as "an impressive effort defying musical categorisation". Two of the songs—"Weird of Hermiston" and "The Clearout"—had originally been penned for possible inclusion on the 1967 Cream album Disraeli Gears
Disraeli Gears
Disraeli Gears is the second album by British supergroup Cream. It was released in November 1967 and went on to reach #5 on the UK Albums Chart. It was also their American breakthrough, becoming a massive seller there in 1968, reaching #4 on the American charts...
. However, the album was not simply a continuation of Bruce's material for Cream, but displayed more of the musician's diversity.
Reception
The album was generally successful, reaching #6 on the UK Albums Chart and #55 on the Billboard "Pop Albums" chart. It did not reach the sales levels of Bruce's work with Cream, the later albums of which consistently broke the top 10 of the Billboard "Pop Albums" charts before their dissolution, but, as of 2002, it was the most successful album of his solo career. Largely acclaimed, particularly in England, the album proved influential, described in 2001 by BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
as a "seminal" work. However, reviews were not universally positive, with critical opinion particularly divided on the album's lyrics, penned by long-term Bruce collaborator Pete Brown.
Ed Leimbacher, reviewing the album in 1969 for Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, called Songs for a Tailor a "disappointment", panning it overall as "a patchwork affair lacking in any unifying thread, a baggy misfit made up of a shopworn miscellany of jazz riffs, rock underpinnings, chamber music strings, boringly baroque lyrics and a Bruce bass that [leaves]...everything distinctly bottom heavy." However, later writings in the same magazine characterized it very differently. In 1971, Loyd Grossman
Loyd Grossman
Loyd Daniel Gilman Grossman, OBE, FSA is an American-British television presenter, chef and musician who has mainly worked in the UK.- Early life, education and honours :...
termed it "[a] stunning recording with more than an ample amount of beautiful songs and excellent singing and playing". In 1975, he opined that "Bruce's first album, Songs for a Tailor, was so outstanding that his other albums almost always suffer by comparison." In 1989, Rolling Stone writer David Fricke
David Fricke
David Fricke is a senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine, where he writes predominantly on rock music. In the 1990s, he was managing editor before stepping down.-Background:David Fricke is a graduate of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania...
, though noting that Bruce could "flirt with self-indulgence in the pursuit of the unconventional", described the artist's solo output as "highly underrated". In its review, Allmusic summarizes the album as "picture perfect in construction, performance, and presentation."
Lyrics
Brown's lyrics have been particularly divisive. Brown, a successful poet in the early 1960s, had been collaborating with Bruce for some time, writing lyrics for such Cream hits as "White RoomWhite Room
"White Room" is a song by British "supergroup" Cream. The song was a psychedelic rock number written by bassist Jack Bruce and poet Pete Brown. It originally appeared on the US release of their double album, Wheels of Fire, by Atco Records in July 1968 and was released as a single in September 1968...
" and "Sunshine of Your Love
Sunshine of Your Love
"Sunshine of Your Love" is a 1967 song by the British supergroup Cream. The song was originally released on the album Disraeli Gears in November 1967, and was later released as a single in January 1968. It is Cream's only gold-selling single in the United States. It features a distinctive...
". The lyrics he wrote for Songs for a Tailor are typically poetic and heavily inspired by literary themes, with the Shakespeareean "He the Richmond" and the horror-infused "Weird of Hermiston".
The first Rolling Stone review judged the lyrics as unsuccessful, dismissing them as "silly" and primarily burdened by an overabundance of literary references. 2006's 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them also disparaged the lyricist, stating that his "pretentious lyrics fail to connect", an inaccessibility that the book suggests combined with the lack of "instrumental fireworks" to prevent the album from reaching better commercial success. "The musicianship," that work says, particularly referencing "Bruce's soulful vocals", "remains timeless." But in later review of Bruce's work, Fricke regarded the songwriting more highly, questioning whether "anybody, beside Bruce and Brown, write songs like that anymore" and suggesting the cd version of the Bruce compilation Willpower specifically so that the lyrics could be read.
Notable songs
"Theme for an Imaginary Western," which Allmusic describes as "Bruce's greatest hit that never charted," is perhaps the album's best-known song. According to Allmusic, "Theme" has a "fresh, rootsy sound" reminiscent of The BandThe Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
's Music from Big Pink
Music from Big Pink
Music from Big Pink is the 1968 debut album by rock band The Band. It features the well-known song, "The Weight". The music was composed partly in 'Big Pink', a house shared by Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and Garth Hudson in West Saugerties, in upstate New York...
, derived from the combination of "Bruce's overdubbed piano and organ parts" and "the country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
-tinged lope of the rhythm section
Rhythm section
A rhythm section is a collection of musicians who make up a section of instruments which provides the accompaniment section of the music, giving the music its rhythmic texture and pulse, also serving as a rhythmic reference for the rest of the band...
".1001 Songs profiles the number, describing it as an "elegant, masterfully-constructed piece of jazz-rock", though it suggests that Brown's lyrics for the song are "opaque at best". Leimbacher, though generally dismissive of the lyrics, found an exception for this song and "To Isengard", while The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music finds the song "evocative", indicating that the album contains "[s]ome of" Bruce's "finest lyrics". The song was famously covered
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
by Mountain
Mountain (band)
Mountain is an American hard rock band that formed in Long Island, New York in 1969. Originally comprising vocalist and guitarist Leslie West, bassist Felix Pappalardi and drummer N. D. Smart, the band broke up in 1972 before reuniting in 1974 and remaining active until today...
, whose bassist-singer Felix Pappalardi
Felix Pappalardi
Felix A. Pappalardi Jr. was an American music producer, songwriter, vocalist, and bass guitarist.- Early life :Pappalardi was born in the Bronx, New York...
had previously worked with Bruce as Cream's record producer, and also produced and appeared on Tailor. (One of Mountain's earliest performances of "Theme," at the August 1969 Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
, predated the song's release on Songs for a Tailor by several weeks.) Colosseum
Colosseum (band)
Colosseum is a pioneering British progressive jazz-rock band, mixing progressive rock and jazz-based improvisation.-History 1968 - 1971:The band was formed in September 1968 by drummer Jon Hiseman, tenor sax player Dick Heckstall-Smith and bass player Tony Reeves, who had previously worked together...
(whose drummer Jon Hiseman
Jon Hiseman
Jon Hiseman is an English drummer, recording engineer, record producer and music publisher.-Career:...
played on Tailors rendition of the song), and the progressive rock group Greenslade
Greenslade
Greenslade is an English progressive rock band. It was originally formed in the autumn of 1972 with the following line-up:* Dave Greenslade - keyboards...
also recorded cover versions.
"Weird of Hermiston" and "The Clearout" were candidates for inclusion on Cream's 1967 landmark album Disraeli Gears
Disraeli Gears
Disraeli Gears is the second album by British supergroup Cream. It was released in November 1967 and went on to reach #5 on the UK Albums Chart. It was also their American breakthrough, becoming a massive seller there in 1968, reaching #4 on the American charts...
, but deemed too uncommercial by Cream's then-U.S. label Atlantic
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
/Atco Records
Atco Records
ATCO Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, currently operating through WMG's Rhino Entertainment.-Beginnings:Atco Records was founded in 1955 as a division of Atlantic Records. It was devised as an outlet for productions by one of Atlantic's founders, Herb Abramson, who...
for release on that record. Bruce's dissatisfaction at this is noted in the liner notes for Cream's box set Those Were the Days
Those Were the Days (Cream album)
Those Were the Days is a retrospective compilation of the music of Cream, released on September 23, 1997.It comprises four CDs and catalogues every track from their four studio albums, plus live material recorded in 1968....
: "I played them for Ahmet (Atlantic executive Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegün was a Turkish American musician and businessman, best known as the founder and president of Atlantic Records. He also wrote classic blues and pop songs and served as Chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and museum...
), Tommy (producer/engineer Tom Dowd
Tom Dowd
Tom Dowd was an American recording engineer and producer for Atlantic Records. He was credited with innovating the multi-track recording method. Dowd worked on a virtual "who's who" of recordings that encompassed blues, jazz, pop, rock and soul records.- Early years :Born in Manhattan, Dowd grew...
), and whoever else was around ... they thought it was rubbish, just psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
hogwash." Demo versions of the two songs, recorded by Cream in early 1967, are included on Those Were the Days.
In 1989 Fricke described "Never Tell Your Mother She's Out of Tune" as a "wacky, brassy" "enigmatic Bruce-Brown [delight]".
Bruce has continued to refine and re-record the tracks from Songs for a Tailor throughout his career, both in live and studio albums. Only "To Isengard" has not been revisited.
Track listing
All lyrics written by Peter BrownPete Brown
Peter Ronald Brown is an English performance poet and lyricist.Best known for his collaborations with Jack Bruce, Brown also worked with The Battered Ornaments, formed his own group Pete Brown & Piblokto!, and worked with Graham Bond and Phil Ryan. Brown also writes film scores and formed a film...
, music by Jack Bruce
Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
.
- "Never Tell Your Mother She's Out of Tune" – 3:41
- "Theme for an Imaginary WesternTheme for an Imaginary Western"Theme for an Imaginary Western" is a song written by Jack Bruce and Pete Brown. The song is sometimes referred to as "Theme from an Imaginary Western." It has been performed by many artists, including Jack Bruce, Mountain, Leslie West, Colosseum, Greenslade and DC3.The song originally appeared on...
" – 3:30 - "Tickets to Water Falls" – 3:00
- "Weird of Hermiston" – 2:24
- "Rope Ladder to the Moon" – 2:54
- "The Ministry of Bag" – 2:49
- "He the Richmond" – 3:36
- "Boston Ball Game 1967" – 1:45
- "To Isengard" – 5:28
- "The Clearout" – 2:35
2003 Polydor/Universal CD bonus tracks
- "The Ministry of Bag" (demo version) – 3:47
- "Weird of Hermiston" (alternate mix) – 2:33
- "The Clearout" (alternate mix) – 3:02
- "The Ministry of Bag" (alternate mix) – 2:54
Performance
- Harry BeckettHarry BeckettHarold Winston "Harry" Beckett was a British trumpeter and flugelhorn player.-Biography:A resident in the UK since 1954, Harry Beckett had an international reputation. In 1961, he played with Charles Mingus in the film All Night Long. In the 1960s he worked and recorded within the band of bass...
– trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air... - Jack BruceJack BruceJohn Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
– organ, bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Dick Heckstall-SmithDick Heckstall-SmithDick Heckstall-Smith was an English jazz and blues saxophonist. He played with some of the most important English blues-rock and jazz fusion bands of the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...
– soprano saxophoneSoprano saxophoneThe soprano saxophone is a variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument, invented in 1840. The soprano is the third smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists of the soprillo, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass and tubax.A transposing instrument pitched in...
, tenor saxophoneTenor saxophoneThe tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble... - Jon HisemanJon HisemanJon Hiseman is an English drummer, recording engineer, record producer and music publisher.-Career:...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Henry LowtherHenry Lowther (musician)Henry Lowther is an English jazz trumpeter.Lowther's first experience was on cornet in a Salvation Army band. He studied violin briefly at the Royal Academy of Music but returned to trumpet by 1960 though he sometimes played violin professionally...
(incorrectly identified as "Henry Lather" on early editions of the album) – trumpet - John MarshallJohn Stanley MarshallJohn Stanley Marshall, better known as John Marshall, born 28 August 1941 in Isleworth, Middlesex, is an English drummer. He was a founding member of the jazz rock band Nucleus and has worked with various other jazz and rock bands and musicians, among them J.J...
– drums - George HarrisonGeorge HarrisonGeorge Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
- guitar on "Never Tell Your Mother She's Out Of Tune" (credited as L'Angelo Misterioso) - John Mumford – trombone
- Felix PappalardiFelix PappalardiFelix A. Pappalardi Jr. was an American music producer, songwriter, vocalist, and bass guitarist.- Early life :Pappalardi was born in the Bronx, New York...
– percussion, vocals, acoustic guitar - Chris SpeddingChris SpeddingChris Spedding is an English rock and roll and jazz guitarist, best known for his session work. Allmusic states - "Spedding is one of the UK's most versatile session guitarists, and has had a long career on two continents that saw him tackle nearly every style of rock and roll, as well as...
– electric guitar - Art ThemenArt ThemenArthur Edward George 'Art' Themen is a British jazz saxophonist .Themen was born on 26 November 1939 in Manchester. In 1958 he began his medical studies at the University of Cambridge, going on in 1961 to complete his studies at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, qualifying in 1964...
– soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
Production
- Jack Bruce – arrangerArrangementThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
- Andy JohnsAndy JohnsAndy Johns is an engineer and producer who worked on well-known rock albums such as Led Zeppelin's IV and The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street. His sound is exemplified by Free's album Highway, which he engineered and produced....
– engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including... - Felix Pappalardi – producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
- Roger Phillip – photography
- John ToblerJohn ToblerJohn Hugen Tobler is a British rock music journalist, writer, occasional broadcaster, and record company executive.With Pete Frame, he was one of the founders of ZigZag magazine in April 1969...
– liner notesLiner notesLiner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes.-Origin:...
External links
- Lyrics, at Jack Bruce's official site