Guy LeBlanc's Subversia comes to mind. It's not identical, but comes pretty close. I love it, personally.Originally Posted by Steve983
Also, Kenso's Yume No Oka is one I'd rank right up there alongside One of a Kind.
You might already be familiar with those though.
One's that come close to me that are similar in approach/sound/style..,
Brand X - Masques
Dixie Dregs - What If
Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior
Happy the Man - s/t
Jean Luc Ponty - Enigmatic Ocean
and the two National Health albums
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
I always thought The Fents' "First Offense" was in the Bruford-vein.
A more recent album that comes to mind is "Timequake" by Ronny Heimdal: https://ronnyheimdal.bandcamp.com/album/timequake
^ Thanks for the recommendations. I actually only have one of those albums which is Dixie Dregs What If, I'll look the others up.
In the book "UK 1977 - 2015" Kevin Quinn writes: "Without composing or performance credit (at Jobson's request to "avoid confusion"), "Sahara Of Snow" and the violin piece "Forever Until Sunday" were recorded on the Bruford Album (...)"
This was slightly different repeated in the book that came with the UK box-set.
Sid Smith writes about the violin-part in the book that came with the Bruford box-set:
"While showcasing the surging, anthemic aspects of the band's musical personality on pieces such as the title track and "The Sahara Of Snow", a composition initially performed during Bill's stint with U.K., Bruford's melodic writing on "Forever Until Sunday" captures something both elegiac and romantic in his make-up. The piece contains a beautiful violin solo from Eddie Jobson after Holdsworth, who had augmented his guitar work with violin while a member of Soft Machine and elsewhere, declined. (...)
Way, way better than FGTM IMHT (In My Humble Taste), I love every nano seconds of it, I think I've listened to it thousands of times. On of my top 10 list for sure, no my top 5.
that's a fine list right there but there's so many more excellent albums in the style of Jazz Rock Prog that are absolutely essential. The only caveat being the ratio of Jazz to Rock. For instance, an album like Tony Williams' Lifetime - Believe it would fit in line with OOAK but a masterpiece like Herbie Hancock - Sextant might be considered "too Jazz-y" if the listener heavily favors the Symph Rock style of Prog over the Jazz Rock style of Prog. I personally like both styles equally so I can appreciate Sextant and also the electric Miles albums even though they have more Jazz than Rock compared to OOAK.
Another strong album with great Guitar and Drums (as in OOAK) is Gamalon's debut
Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?
Feels Good always my fav of Bruford's catalog.. One of a Kind is a very close second for sure..
One of Kind was in my Top 5 for many, many years. I always brought it along when demoing stereo equipment. It still holds up magnificently but probably has fallen out of the Top 5 as my tastes have changed over the years. My favourite part is still the interplay between Holdsworth and Stewart at the end of One of A Kind Part 2
Think of a book as a vase, and a movie as the stained-glass window that the filmmaker has made out of the pieces after he’s smashed it with a hammer.
-- Russell Banks (paraphrased)
Those first couple of tracks.
Hell's Bells
One Of A Kind, Pts. I & II
A clinic in tempo and the fun with math aspect of percussion.
This, without considering the remaining tracks, or the other players.
In 1980 I was making my first cruise for the USN and nearly died 4, 5, 6 times. We the crew called the ship the USS Catastrophe.
Somehow I managed to bring this recording along with me on cassette.
Played the living crap out of it. Probably helped save my life, amongst others.
This and StratOMatic baseball!
Perhaps finding the happy medium is harder than we know.
Love it; prefer it to Feels Good - though both albums are superior to UK, IMO.
I always felt Moetar are the modern day version of Bruford -the bass player in particular sounds like he's listened to them a lot. There are vocals throughout, so be warned if you hated those on Feels Good to Me, but for those who loved them, do try the track 'Morning Person' in particular. I can't find it as a standalone track, so slide through the album to the 20.28 mark.
I saw Moetar open for Allan in Whittier, CA. I was hoping they’d play a FGtM song & maybe get Allan to come out & play a solo or two. Sadly, it didn’t happen.
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As you might know the track Five G from One Of A Kind was covered by the Carl Hupp Project on their debut Hyper Statue.
Maybe because of Laura Martin's vocals Finneus Gauge is more in the vein of Feels Good To Me, but Scott McGill's guitar sure is Holdsworthian.
There are not many youtubes of this fine band, which also featured Chris Buzby. This one starts a bit mellow, the proggy parts come in later.
Another track from One Of A Kind that was covered is Hell's Bells. David Bagsby created a kind of meddley for the compilation-album To Canterbury And Beyond : A Tribute To The Canterbury Scene (Mellow Records, 1999) in which he played besides the title track pieces from National Health's Paracelsus and The Towplane And The Glider, Bruford's Sample And Hold and Beelzebub and Hatfield An The North's Your Majesty Is Like A Cream Donut.
I too prefer this to FGTM, maybe because I came upon it first. As the fusion nerd that I am, I have a 10-album jazz-rock/fusion desert island list. This one makes it. I could listen to "Fainting in Coils" all day long!
All excellent albums. I would add Brand X - "Unorthodox Behavior", RtF - "Where Have I known You Before?" and Arti+Mestieri - "Giro di Valzer per Domani".
What's your list?
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
You most likely have all of them. In no particular order:
1. Brand X - "Unorthodox Behavior"
2. Soft Machine - "Bundles"
3. Mahavishnu Orchestra - "The Inner Mounting Flame"
4. Bruford - "One of a Kind"
5. JL Ponty - "Enigmatic Ocean"
6. Return to Forever - "Where Have I known You Before"
7. Billy Cobham - "Spectrum"
8. Arti + Mestieri - "Giro di Valzer Per Domani"
9. KBB - "Lost and Found"
10. Allan Holdsworth - "Sixteen Men of Tain"
Nice list!
Here's my top 10 with guitar:
Bruford - One of a Kind
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Visions of the Emerald Beyond
Brand X - Masques
Dixie Dregs - What If
Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior
BIlly Cobham - Spectrum
Jean Luc Ponty - Enigmatic Ocean
Musica Urbana - s/t
John Abercrombie - Timeless
70s fusion is the best!
Last edited by nosebone; 03-22-2018 at 02:45 PM.
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
wow you guys... great lists! I dunno if I could actually narrow mine down to 10 but it might be interesting to try. Quite a few from your lists would be on mine as well I'm sure. Definitely the 2 RTFs
Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?
in alphabetical order, here's my top 12* Jazz Rock style Prog albums (*couldn't choose any to eliminate for 10)
Bruford, Bill One of a Kind
Clarke, Stanley Stanley Clarke
Davis, Miles Pangaea
Hancock, Herbie Sextant
KBB Four Corner's Sky
Lewis, Mingo Flight Never Ending
Mahavishnu Orchestra The Inner Mounting Flame
Mahavishnu Orchestra Birds of Fire
Ponty, Jean-Luc Enigmatic Ocean
Return to Forever Where Have I Known You Before
Return to Forever Romantic Warrior
Sancious, David Dance of the Age of Enlightenment
honorable mention to another 3 that are completely unique but incorporating a healthy amount of Prog Fusion
National Health Of Queues And Cures
Santana Lotus
Smith, Lonnie Liston / Cosmic Echoes Cosmic Funk
Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?
If the polls are still open, one vote for FGTM from me. More interesting and challenging to these ears.
One Of A Kind is very nice but, as others have pointed, a bit dated or a bit too restrained from the conventions of 70's fusion. Fainting in Coils is brillant though.
Hats off to Bill. A great musician.
If only Sancious would have the chance to release this the way he wants it. That Tachika-CD is nice, but...well, you know what I mean.
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