Powerhouse sod (Jack Bruce) (LP 969 - 970)

Jack Bruce  Spirit: Live At The BBC 1971 - 1978 (CD, Polydor Records, 2008) ****  

Jack Bruce  Live On The Old Grey Whistle Test (CD, Strange Fruit, 1998) *** 

Genre: Blues rock

Places I remember: EMI (Vienna); HMV (East Croyden)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: A Letter Of Thanks (Graham Bond on keyboards on the Spirit version but it's not available on Spotify)

Gear costume: Powerhouse Sod  

Active compensatory factors: There is a bit of crossover on these live session CDs. The first eight songs on Live on The OGWT from 1975 are replicated on Spirit disc 2, but it then adds a further eight songs that aren't on Spirit.

Spirit is a triple CD package and is the one to get if you want a more comprehensive wrap up of Jack's BBC dates in the seventies.

The sound on disc one (from 1971) takes a bit to adapt to - it's a bit lop-sided with the guitar by Chris Spedding heavily on one channel, but Jack is superb throughout - all impassioned lead vocals and his usual sublime bass lines. Once they've taken a couple of songs to warm up the band clicks into a mighty unit.

Disc two is that OGWT set from 1975. Mick Taylor is the featured guitarist this time out, with Carla Bley contributing as well, on keyboards. The sound is a lot calmer and less jazz fusion than the 1971 one - maybe the presence of Carla Bley and her mellotron? Whatever the case there's definitely more space around the instruments in this set.

What I love about Jack is that he was forever questing for different sounds, so the music is never formulaic or easy.

Disc three covers a 1978 concert with Simon Phillips and Tony Hymas as the rhythm section and Hughie Burns on guitar. It concentrates on tracks from Jack's How's Tricks? album. Times is particularly effective in this live version. 

Making up the numbers over the three CDs are songs from a trio - John Surman  on sax, Jon Hiseman on drums. It's a great vehicle for more musical experimentations.

Where do they all belong? And that is it for the Jack Bruce collection to this point! More Clapton is next up in this genre.