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Thread: Bill Bruford on Union, Crimson '92, Earthworks Mk. I and much more

  1. #26
    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    I could read/watch interviews with Bruford every day and never tire of the guy. Loved this one too.

    There's a terrific one with Jon Kirkman on Youtube where Bill talks mostly about the Bruford band and Earthworks. Terrific stuff!
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  2. #27
    Another great one, Anil - and, btw, great job on the liners for the new Sonar record - a copy arrived at my door yesterday from Stephan. Cracked it last night...and man, have they come a long way since the first one. I was unable to get time to review that one, but this one I'll be covering for sure.

    Anyway, since you were here and I was here I figured I'd mention it; for those who've not heard Sonar, their first album was on Nik Bartsch's Ronin Rhythm imprint, but the new one is coming on Cuneiform - great to see Steve and Joyce pick up this one! - and it's appropriate. While the group is clearly part of the Bartsch axis, it has its own thing going, which is as much about the interlocking guitars of '80s Crimson (they cite that group and LTIA-era Crim as seminal influences) as anything else...what's great about the group is it's two electric guitars, electric bass and drums but minimal effects (a little reverb and delay and that's it), and based on a specific guitar tuning that gives the group its harmonic distinction. None of the typical guitar posturing - no solos to speak of, in fact; this is rigorously defined music, not unlike Bartsch in that respect.

    Damn, there I go again. Didn't mean to derail the thread but am loving this record and wanted to give Anil props for some great liners....so back to you regularly scheduled programming

    Best!
    John

  3. #28
    Estimated Prophet notallwhowander's Avatar
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    I enjoyed the interview. Thanks for posting it.
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  4. #29
    Here's the 1998 question from the interview not currently on the site. I really should add it back.

    We spoke in 1992, right after Fripp announced that King Crimson was reforming without you. I asked for your thoughts on that at the time. Here's what you said: "The reason I'm not involved is because of course, I'm a little difficult for Robert. Robert is better with sweet, smiling Americans, who don't really know what he's talking about. Unfortunately, I know exactly what he's talking about, and I'm not invited." What exactly was the problem between you and Fripp and how was it resolved?

    [long pause] Nasty stuff. You caught me on a bad day! [laughs] I'm not sure I resolved the problem—Robert did. And there was a problem, yes. It was that I’m so associated with King Crimson and having another guy—I would pity him—go around the world playing my parts would be deeply unpleasant. The way Robert resolved it, and the way to accommodate Bill, is to have two drummers. The sextet started out as a quintet, and the question was "How can we accommodate Bill?" We have Mastelotto—the steady time keeper, and that's nice.

  5. #30
    You know what, I'm going to get this whole 1998 interview back up on the site. Stay tuned. :-)

    (and thanks John)

  6. #31
    Oh, also don't forget about the recent Bruford interview (including discussion of his retirement) from the Innerviews ebook, now a free download: http://www.innerviews.org/book.html

  7. #32
    Quote Originally Posted by Innerviews View Post
    [long pause] Nasty stuff. You caught me on a bad day! [laughs] I'm not sure I resolved the problem—Robert did. And there was a problem, yes. It was that I’m so associated with King Crimson and having another guy—I would pity him—go around the world playing my parts would be deeply unpleasant. The way Robert resolved it, and the way to accommodate Bill, is to have two drummers. The sextet started out as a quintet, and the question was "How can we accommodate Bill?" We have Mastelotto—the steady time keeper, and that's nice.
    OK, so what about Fripp's claim that the double trio thing popped into his head while he was driving past a church in Somerset, back in 92 or whenever it was?

  8. #33
    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    OK, so what about Fripp's claim that the double trio thing popped into his head while he was driving past a church in Somerset, back in 92 or whenever it was?
    No contradiction there, I believe - Bruford's interview was around the time the new line-up with Marotta was announced, so Spring 1992. Fripp's "double sextet" vision was supposedly later that year (mid-1992 I think). Bruford explains Fripp's decision in the pragmatic way HE saw it, which was not necessarily (and very probably not at all) Fripp's thinking. Of course you could accuse Fripp of disguising his pragmatic decisions under grand concepts and visions, but that would be very, very nasty and uncharitable of you.
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  9. #34
    Parrots Ripped My Flesh Dave (in MA)'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by calyx View Post
    Of course you could accuse Fripp of disguising his pragmatic decisions under grand concepts and visions, but that would be very, very nasty and uncharitable of you.
    Who would never suggest such a thing?

    "When music appears
    that only King Crimson can play,
    King Crimson appears to play the music."

  10. #35
    Thanks for reminding me about my 1998 Bruford interview. I had *totally* forgot about it. I dug it up, remastered it and here it is:

    http://www.innerviews.org/inner/bruford2.html

    It's interesting that there are people that know the site's history better than I do!

  11. #36
    Member gearHed289's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    There's one story about how when they were recording Close To The Edge, Squire and Eddie Offord were having a conversation about what the bass should sound like, I guess about EQ or whatever. Bruford's sitting on the couch in the control room and falls asleep. By Bill's estimation, he woke up something like an hour later, and Chris and Eddie were still talking about bass EQ.
    Time well spent! There's a good article in the current Prog magazine about the making of CTTE.

  12. #37
    Quote Originally Posted by gearHed289 View Post
    Time well spent! There's a good article in the current Prog magazine about the making of CTTE.
    I dunno if I'd call it "time well spent", and I get the impression from Bruford telling the story that he definitely didn't think it was time well spent. I think Bill preferred actually playing music, rather than sitting around talking about it.

    If I was renting a recording studio by the hour, I don't know if I spend an hour sitting around talking to the engineer about EQ.

  13. #38
    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    I dunno if I'd call it "time well spent", and I get the impression from Bruford telling the story that he definitely didn't think it was time well spent. I think Bill preferred actually playing music, rather than sitting around talking about it.

    If I was renting a recording studio by the hour, I don't know if I spend an hour sitting around talking to the engineer about EQ.
    Yeah. Well actually, I can understand both perspectives.

    I enjoy actually playing music, but part of the experience when making music with a group can be the conversations that take place about the music, techniques to use, etc.

    That being said, it can be really boring for those who are not involved. I caught myself falling asleep during a discussion about vocal tracks while working on a song of ours in a studio, so I can empathize with Bill a little bit perhaps.

  14. #39
    Quote Originally Posted by aith01 View Post

    I enjoy actually playing music, but part of the experience when making music with a group can be the conversations that take place about the music, techniques to use, etc.
    Yeah, but is it really necessary to spend an hour discussing EQ with your producer, in the studio (which you're renting by the hour and will therefore have to pay for before you actually see any royalties)?

  15. #40
    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    Yeah, but is it really necessary to spend an hour discussing EQ with your producer, in the studio (which you're renting by the hour and will therefore have to pay for before you actually see any royalties)?
    That's why I engineer myself

  16. #41
    Member No Pride's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    Yeah, but is it really necessary to spend an hour discussing EQ with your producer, in the studio (which you're renting by the hour and will therefore have to pay for before you actually see any royalties)?
    Sometimes it is. I had my former band, Bad Dog U's CD mastered three times before I was satisfied enough with it to send it out into the world.

  17. #42
    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    Yeah, but is it really necessary to spend an hour discussing EQ with your producer, in the studio (which you're renting by the hour and will therefore have to pay for before you actually see any royalties)?
    That depends on whether you're paying by the hour or not. Not all studios/engineers charge by-the-hour only.

  18. #43
    Parrots Ripped My Flesh Dave (in MA)'s Avatar
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    Bumping an old thread just to ask here rather than create a new thread...

    Does anyone know why Bruford never put out any 80s Earthworks video footage? His Anthology releases cover the 00s and the 90s, and there's a standalone Footloose in NYC DVD, but despite there being some great 80s footage circulating around (see Youtube), nothing from the 80s appeared.

  19. #44
    Member gearHed289's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    I dunno if I'd call it "time well spent", and I get the impression from Bruford telling the story that he definitely didn't think it was time well spent. I think Bill preferred actually playing music, rather than sitting around talking about it.

    If I was renting a recording studio by the hour, I don't know if I spend an hour sitting around talking to the engineer about EQ.
    Well, since Dave went and dug up this zombie thread, I guess I should reply. If it was in fact bass EQ they were talking about, then yes, it WAS time well spent! Kidding of course, but seriously - this is Yes and Chris Squire we're talking about. I think they/he liked to spend money and there were probably countless conversations like this. And I can imagine Anderson spending an hour getting the lights dimmed just right and making sure the bales of hay were placed properly.

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