REVIEWS
Bruce's CD project has taken four years to put together, and, whilst it is not srictly blues, there are a lot of blues influences here. London- based Bruce plays piano and sax and covers the vocals. Given the gestation period, a number of musicians [17 to be exact] have been used in various combinations. There are thirteen tracks with just the last one being a cover. A variety of styles are touched on from both inside and outside the blues.
There is a nice jaunty start with "Don't bury your stuff", with New Orleans boogie piano and sax from Bruce - nice, liked this one. "Landlord" is a countryish song with some bluesy harp. The next song, "Ensimismado", is more of a mood piece with Indian touches, tabla and flute, and reminded me of Quintessence or Traffic - I liked the ambience. Then it is back to rocking r&b with "What am I to do?", with another good sax break." If you only knew?" has a slow intro, then a tempo change - do I detect a touch of the Bonzo Urban Spaceman? I liked the blues boogie "It must be the blues" - good harp and sax, and wry lyrics. Next is a Bobby Bland/Ray Charles style blues ballad complete with swirling Hammond, sax and a good guitar solo - another goodie. Then we go back up in tempo with a Chuch Berry style rocker, "Old Road". A gentle ballad, "Going Now", with piano and violin, again changes the pace and leads to the closer - a cover of the John Mayall song "So Hard to Share" from his Turning Point era.
Bruce turns in reasonable vocals and some good piano and sax work. It is a well-crafted album with sympathetic support from the various backing musicians, and not as disjointed as one might expect for a CD four years in the making. It is not strictly a blues album but there is plenty of good music here to interest you.
Jim Greaves,'blues in britain' volume 1, issue 39
Bruce John's GEMS goes direct to the pain we spend a lot of time trying to cover up: the hurt of love, splitting up and, related to it, the misery of homelessness, the injustice of rich versus poor. The lyrics almost form a story, a journey up a visionary mountain and down again - "I fell from the fire into the ice" - ending in a sort of understanding and finding of self. The songs tell a bleak truth, but anyone who has experienced anything like it will feel that they are not alone.
In contrast to what the words say, the accompanying instrumental music, composed by Bruce John, is rich and even beautiful: blues with harmonica [Phil Pawsey in 'It must be the blues"] Jazz, a string trio, a flute melody [played by Clive Bell in 'Ensimismado'] and guitar solos by Davide Sanna, Phil Carter and Malcolm Smith [Until I met you]. The playing by these musicians, including Bruce John's own keyboard and, above all, his expressive sax, say what the words of the songs leave out
Hi
Bruce,
I just phoned to say how beautiful I found your CD. It's marvellous; I
just absolutely loved the songs. I love your saxophone, too, it reminds
me of
New Orleans r&b - I really like that sound, and there are some great
guitarists.
But
I loved the songs, I think they're beautiful.
'Ensimismado', I thought that was marvellous; they're all really lovely
terrific songs; marvellous variety,
beautifully written, and the melodies are absolutely lovely. I'm totally
enjoying it; I
finished playing it through once
then
I played it through
immediately again, which is a very good sign.
There's so much to enjoy in it. Thank you very much for it. It's really great.
