Bruford - Gradually Going Tornado

[progman1975]

Does Berlins Vocals ruin this? When I first bought this after being blown away by "One of a Kind", I was thoroughly disappointed with Berlins vocals.
Fats forward years later and I think his vocals have somewhat of a charm. Maybe it helps that the tunes are top notch....

[Dedatolo]

Loved the vocals since day one, different than the norm but nice, I was intrigued.

[Wounded Land]

I love this album. I understand why people would be put off by Berlin's vocals, but they don't bother me. The melodies are great, which is ultimately what matters for me.

Incidentally, this is some of the best bass playing that I have in my collection.

NP: Beethoven Missa solemnis

[Zeuhlmate]

Berlins vocals doesnt bother me at all and his bassplaying is top notch!
The compositions and arrangements are less interesting than those on the two previous albums, and even though John Clarke is not bad, I miss Holdsworth and definetely som more fireworks from Bruford and Stewart.
I was dissapointed when I got it (many years ago), but the two previous albums are also very hard to live up to.

[arturs]

Love this record. In fact i play it more often than Feels Good or One of a Kind. I agree with Wounded Land: the songs are good, so who cares that tehy don't exactly have the best vocalist?

And Land's End is a stone classic. The best National Health track ever! ;-)

[Sputnik]

This was actually the first Bruford solo album I got, so I didn't have any expectations regarding the vocals (presence or quality) going in. I always found the vocals to be a little "off," but over time I've gotten used to them and they don't bother me anymore, tough I still think they're a little "off" at times.

The rest of the album I enjoy, though probably not as much as the first two Bruford albums. I didn't know National Health when I first got the Gradually Going Tornado so I was surprised to hear the music recycled. I prefer the NH version now.

Bill

[Phlakaton]

Nah. Like was mentioned - his bass playing is so good it doesnt matter anyway.

[calyx]

And Land's End is a stone classic. The best National Health track ever! ;-)

Have to disagree here. I don't think it measures up to anything on the 1st two NH albums. It has its moments (the bass solo when the tempo gets faster is one), but I think the textures on the main theme (fat Prophet chords + Northettes) verges dangerously on the pompous. I don't think the "Bryden 2-Step" is very tasteful either, although it's always nice to hear that riff.

My general issue with this album, apart from Berlin's vocals (which the majority seems to dislike - although as I've learned with PE, there is ALWAYS someone who will like what everybody else thinks sucks), is Dave Stewart's keyboard sounds. I liked the use of Rhodes and Minimoog on "One Of The Kind" alongside the occasional Prophet 5, but here the Prophet is everywhere along with that electric grand piano which I don't really like either. "Root of QED" is enjoyable largely because it brings back the Rhodes, and even a little fuzz organ, although it's not in itself a remarkable piece of writing imho.

My favourite track on the album remains "Palewell Park" - just bass and piano, wonderful theme and sensitive playing with natural sounds, a breath of fresh air inbetween those attacks of pseudo-modern (at the time) sounds...

[Dean Watson]

The masterpiece "Palewell Park" - awesome muscianship, awesome writing. A great album IMHO. Loved the Bruford Tapes as well.

[Sean]

It's not as good as the first two but has it's moments. Berlin's singing is obviously Jack Bruce inspired.

[No Pride]

Like others here, I don't really mind Berlin's vocals, but I like Bruford best without vocals, one of several reasons why OoaK is my favorite of the three studio albums. Another reason for that is that it had the best production, instrument sounds and mix. I particularly liked Berlin's tone and level on OoaK; it's a little too up front and not as "round" on GGT. Most importantly OoaK had the best collection of tunes. That said, there's great stuff on all of the albums and they remain one of my favorite bands ever.

Palewell Park IS a beautiful tune and very nicely performed! Other highlights (for me) are Gothic 17 and Q.E.D.

Yes, slightly disappointing follow-up to OoaK, but only because that one is such a masterpiece. Even so, GGT is a fairly treasured album in my collection.

[Progatron]

Count me in the "Berlin's vocals don't ruin it, but they don't help it either" group. I like the album, thought the band was just outstanding, but prefer the first two albums (and The Bruford Tapes).

[nosebone]

Yes, slightly disappointing follow-up to OoaK, but only because that one is such a masterpiece. Even so, GGT is a fairly treasured album in my collection.

Hard to top OoaK, plus I missed Holdsy.

Sounds like they gave the reighns to Berlin who wanted to sing and mix the bass up too loud.

There last gasp imo...

[progman1975]

Hard to top OoaK, plus I missed Holdsy.

Sounds like they gave the reighns to Berlin who wanted to sing and mix the bass up too loud.

There last gasp imo...

Maybe because Discipline was released a year later....

[No Pride]

Hard to top OoaK, plus I missed Holdsy.

When I saw them live, I didn't know AH had left. Of course I was initially quite disappointed, but "the unknown" John Clark did an admirable enough job filling those giant shoes and it was still a great concert! Seems he went back to obscurity after that band folded. Does anybody know anything about what he's done since?

[calyx]

When I saw them live, I didn't know AH had left. Of course I was initially quite disappointed, but "the unknown" John Clark did an admirable enough job filling those giant shoes and it was still a great concert! Seems he went back to obscurity after that band folded. Does anybody know anything about what he's done since?

Joined Cliff Richard's band as musical director in 1981 and never left. I'm NOT joking !

[No Pride]

Joined Cliff Richard's band as musical director in 1981 and never left. I'm NOT joking !

Well, thanks, Calyx... I think.

Being a musician myself, nothing like that surprises me anymore. Artistic endeavors rarely pay the bills and many, many great players take menial jobs. You gotta do what you gotta do...

[calyx]

John Clark [in correspondence from February 2005] : "At the time I'd had no real experience in a jazzy/rock band - I had been playing pop/dance music gigs up to this point... I'd never worked in that kind of musical situation before, never toured before - never even been in an aeroplane before ! I'd only decided to try to become a musician quite late - I'd been to art college till I was about 22 [1973]. I didn't do a gig until I was about 24.
Back in the Seventies every musician read the Melody Maker, and when I joined Bruford it was reported that Allan Holdsworth had been replaced by "the unknown John Clark" - as no-one had heard of me. So I had a t-shirt printed up with 'The Unknown John Clark' on it. I think Bill thought this quite amusing, so he used it on the album credits. To this day, when I tell people my name they still occasionally ask me if I'm 'The Unknown John Clark' !
Very soon after Bruford I fell into some good gigs which payed quite well - also at the same time I got married, so making some money had become useful. I never felt I wanted to pursue a 'guitar star' type career. [Since Bruford] my main gig has been playing for Cliff Richard - I've been with him since 1981."

[Fracktured]

One would wonder why if he had no experience with jazzy/rock and never toured, Bruford took him on to follow a guy like Holdsworth. Like others I thought he did a great job filling those shoes, so I guess Bruford must have seen that in him. Love this album, but like everyone else not as good as one of a kind

[Dave (in MA)]

I'd always heard that Clark was a "student" of Holdsworth's, and Wikipedia claims likewise, but you'd think that Aymeric's interview would have mentioned such a thing if it were true. Besides, Holdsworth is so critical of himself; can you imagine him trying to teach someone else?

[calyx]

Here's what John had to say about his connection with Allan Holdsworth... The Wikipedia/etc. story seems to be something of an exaggeration -

"I saw Allan play quite a few times and got to know him a little. One time he asked me to send him a recording of my own playing, which I did, and quite soon after that, to my amazement, he called me and asked if I would like to replace him in Bruford, as he wanted to quit. I was delighted to be offered the gig. I knew I probably couldn't 'fill Allan Holdsworth's shoes'... but I knew nobody else could either !"

Not sure how much we should read into "know him a little" - does that include actual lessons from Allan ? I'm sure he would have mentioned that, which he didn't. I suppose there was a misunderstanding there - Allan did bring him into the band as his replacement (exactly as he'd done with John Etheridge in Soft Machine), and since he was able to replicate Allan's playing I guess it was easy to assume, even for his fellow bandmembers, that Allan had taught him his tricks. But it seems Clark drew inspiration and stylistic traits from Holdsworth through listening to him and seeing him play, rather than getting formal "lessons" from him.

John said the guitarist who showed him the path, before Holdsworth, was actually Ollie Halsall. "He was the first player I'd seen using the hammering pulling on/pulling off technique, which was sometimes called the 'legato' style. A year or two after I'd seen Ollie, I heard Allan, who had taken the 'legato' style a bit further on... At the time it was possible to see players like Ollie and Allan in small clubs and pubs in London, and I'm sure I learned a lot this way".

(To give credit where it is due, this interview [by mail] isn't actually by me, it's by another French guy who has been working on an Allan Holdsworth bio for about as long as I've been working on my Canterbury book ! Haven't been in touch with him for several years, but last I heard he's still hoping to finish it)

[jkelman]

My review of this record plus The Bruford Tapes:http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=19308

[calyx]

My review of this record plus The Bruford Tapes:http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=19308

John, sorry to point that out, but John Clark's surname is misspelt throughout as "Clarke".

Also, to be precise :

It's likely, however, that Bruford first encountered Berlin on Story of I, by another ex-Yes alumnus, Swiss keyboardist Patrick Moraz".

Close, but not quite. It was indeed Moraz who recommended Berlin to Bruford, but at that point sessions for "The Story of i" had barely begun, so I'm not sure Bruford heard any of that music (and Berlin's performances) before he contacted Berlin and they recorded a demo together in NYC (April 1975). Bruford had met Moraz during sessions for Chris Squire's "Fish Out Of Water" the month before - their performances were recorded separately but there was at least one occasion when they were together at Chris's home studio. This early meeting sowed the seeds for the later Moraz-Bruford collaboration (1983-85).

[nosebone]

Wow, thanks for all that Brit-prog trivia.

[rickawakeman]

Have a soft spot for this flawed album as we saw the tour at the long-defunct Showplace in Dover NJ. Great show, got to chat a bit with Dave Stewart, long a keyboard hero of mine.
On a related note, I've been digging the hell out of Berlin's Crossroads disc, which features a Frazier 2! Great album I just got turned onto.