Voiceprint Music - Release

Release

£9.99

In stock

Catalogue number

BBWF009CD

Release date

12/03/2007

Format

Label

Winterfold

Bill Bruford

Rock Goes To College

Disc 1

1. Sample and Hold 2. Beelzebub 3. The Sahara of Snow (part one) 4. The Sahara of Snow (part two) 5. Forever Until Sunday 6. Back to the Beginning 7. Adios a la Pasada (Goodbye to the Past) 8. 5G

Bill Bruford was a member of Yes through the years 1968-1972 and whilst with the band recorded five albums each of which was more successful than the previous album. When Bill left Yes in 1972 following the release of the Close To The Edge album many people commented that he was mad!

Joining King Crimson however was possibly the best musical move that Bill could have made and whilst a member of King Crimson Bill recorded three studio albums and one live album which was released just after King Crimson’s enigmatic leader Robert Fripp decided to split the band and move onto other projects. For the next two years Bill played countless sessions and also was briefly a member of the bands National Health, Gong and more famously Genesis where he played alongside Phil Collins who had just stepped up to the microphone following the departure of Peter Gabriel. Bill was the drummer in the live Genesis situation and was with the band for the majority of 1976 while the band toured their album A Trick Of The Tail.

Following his departure from Genesis Bill recorded the album Feels Good To Me, which was released in 1978 this album featured contributions from guitarist Allan Holdsworth, bassist Jeff Berlin, Keyboard player Dave Stewart and vocals from Annette Peacock. Following the release of this album Bill Bruford and Allan Holdsworth joined with Eddie Jobson and his former King Crimson bassist John Wetton to form art rockers UK.

UK managed one studio album and a fair amount of live activity before the band split in two with Jobson and Wetton remaining with UK and Holdsworth and Bruford returning to Bruford alongside Jeff Berlin and Dave Stewart to record the album One Of A Kind which picked up where Feels Good To Me Left off. By the time of the bands next album The Bruford Tapes, which was an official bootleg of sorts, sourced from an American radio broadcast of the band in concert Allan Holdsworth had left the band for a solo career to be replaced by guitarist John Clark. It was this line up of Bruford that went on to record the final studio album Gradually Going Tornado.

This concert performance was recorded as part of a live television programme aired in March 1979 and is thought to be Bruford’s debut gig following eighteen months with UK. Bruford were filmed as part of the BBC TV series Rock Goes To College at Oxford Polytechnic and features the line up of Bill Bruford (Drums) Jeff Berlin (Bass) Dave Stewart (Keyboards) and Annette Peacock (Vocals) playing material from the albums Feels Good To Me and One Of A Kind.

The DVD of this concert was eagerly snapped up by the Bill Bruford fan base going on to become one of the fastest selling DVDs through Voiceprint in 2006 and this CD is being rerleased due to requests from fans for the release in this format.

Reviews

A lot of people felt bad when Bill Bruford and Allan Holdsworth decided to departure from the highly succesful supergroup UK. They were mainly the people who had been responsible for the fusion and jazz rock elements on their debut album. Those elements were gone when Jobson,and Bozzio released the second UK album “Danger Money”. Bruford and Holdsworth took the mentioned sound with them when they released the album “One Of A Kind”. They continued were they left off when they recorded the “Feels Good To Me” album, made before they joined UK. A lot of people who loved UK’s debut album but hated their second release became major Bruford fans. They certainly loved the bands next releases. “The Bruford Tapes” and “Gradually Going Tornado” again featured the special snare drum sound made by Mr. Bruford. Unfortunately Holdsworth had already left the band and was replaced by John Clark. But for those who enjoyed Allan’s fine innovative guitar sounds I have great news. A live recording with Mr. Holdsworth in the bands line-up is now available on CD and DVD. Almost 42 minutes of a live show done at Oxford Polytechnic was released with the title “Rock Goes To Collage”. The live recordings were recorded March 7th in 1979. This live show was also filmed by the BBC and could be seen on National TV in England the same year in the program which had the title “Rock Goes To College”. Unfortunately could I not get hold of a DVD copy which features this TV performance. But instead did I manage to hear the same songs as they were released on a compact disc a couple of months later.The sound is not as good as we used to have nowadays. But this doesn’t make this release less interesting. A collection of songs taken from “One Of A Kind” and “Feels good to me” are performed by a band which also includes bassist Jeff Berlin and keyboardist Dave Stewart. The first one plays a strong solo on “5G”. This solo makes it very clear why Bill Bruford brought this fine American musician to Europe. He’s certainly one of a kind. Fine performers were surely the people who played some outstanding solo’s on the electric guitars and synthesizers. My complements go to Allan and Dave. Only the female vocals done by Annette Peacock on the tracks “Back to beginning” and “Adios a la Pasada (goodbye to past)” were not really my cup of tea. But it did certainly not chance my verdict. “Rock Goes To College” is a fine release which can be loved by everybody who loves bands such as Brand X or . Jazz rock and fusion of a very high level without any doubt! **** Wetton Weather Report (Henri Strik)