Songs For A Tailor

Prior to the breakup of Cream, bassist and vocalist Jack Bruce recorded an album with guitarist John McLaughlin and Colosseum members Jon Hiseman and Dick Heckstall-Smith. Not surprisingly, it was primarily instrumental jazz and wouldn’t see release for a couple of years. Bruce had started out in 1963 with Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, before joining the Graham Bond Organisation, with brief stints in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and Manfred Mann. By the time Songs For A Tailor was recorded, both Cream and all of that was behind him. Teaming up once again with lyricist Pete Brown and producer Felix Pappalardi, the album offers some of his best songwriting, including the somber yet soulful “Theme From an Imaginary Western” and the well-covered “Rope Ladder to the Moon.” Hiseman and Heckstall-Smith again guest, along with guitarist Chris Spedding, Henry Lowther and Art Themen. Two tracks, “Weird of Hermiston” and “The Clearout” were earmarked for Cream but didn’t make the cut. Here, they’re perfectly set, rounding out an album that’s well suited for the time, a storming rock album with the jazz and classical influences Bruce is so well known for. Unsurprisingly, the album was a giant success, reaching No. 6 in the UK, while almost breaking the Top 50 in the US. Bruce belatedly put together a band with guitarist Larry Coryell and drummer Mitch Mitchell to tour the US in 1970, but later joined McLaughlin in The Tony Williams Lifetime for a spell. However, after a third solo album, the again excellent Harmony Row in 1971, he put his solo career on hold to join Mountain guitarist Leslie West and drummer Corky Laing in the eponymously named power trio. Bruce would enjoy a long yet (unfortunately) only moderately successful career.