Search - Jack Bruce :: Out of the Storm

A masterpiece - one of his very best efforts

Studebacher Hoch | Portland, OR | 06/30/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While many Jack Bruce fans wax ecstatic over Harmony Row and Songs for a Tailor, this release is every bit as good, if not better than those two brilliant albums. In my mind it completes an early period trilogy of his work. The stuff he did after this album was good but never quite sounded the same as these three albums. I like the fact that he introduces some lead guitar work here - finally - after eschewing it on the first two albums. Steve Hunter is in great form and songs such as Time Slip are really spectacular. As in Harmony Row, he has an uncanny ability on this set to create beautiful, haunted worlds, with the assitance of Pete Brown's magnificent lyrics. And the cut, Into The Storm, has a great autobiographical quality - it could be the opening from a Broadway show - and I mean that as a compliment. There is not a single weak track on the album and his continued vocal mastery and bass playing agility is very much in evidence. Pieces of Mind is a great example of everything Jack is great at. Evocative, complex, searing, burbling, soaring music. A note on the remastered version: it sounds very good - clean and well balanced and actually kind of "modern". The extra tracks are frankly irrelevant and not the reason you should buy this. The packaging and liner notes, however, are a big plus, as well."

As good as it gets

Michael Krikorian | Pleasanton,California | 05/05/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jack Bruce is truly the most underrated and under appreciated superstar in the history of rock and roll. I discovered this album when I was in high school and wore out the eight track tape playing it over and over. Hot on the heels of his work with West, Bruce and Laing, this solo effort showed the true spirit of Jack Bruce. Fusing rock and jazz like no other, songs like Timeslip and Keep on Wondering are forever timeless. There isn't a weak song on the album and yet there aren't many who have even given it a chance. People think Jack Bruce's only contributions to music came as part of Cream. Well, if you listen to this album I think you'll surely discover he was more of an influence on Cream than anyone ever gave him credit for being."

Not quite Harmony Row, but pretty fine

G. Wallace | Hilliard, OH USA | 05/05/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I still don't quite "get" the opening song, which is complicated and instrumentally too busy. But the other seven songs were up to Jack's standard. More personal lyrics, too, about time, separation, and the perils of showbiz life. And Jack Bruce was still at his singing peak on this release. The Andy Johns production hasn't dated all that well. This was the record that convinced Mick Taylor to quit the Rolling Stones for a job in Jack's band. Sadly they didn't keep up for long. Still making up my mind about the sound versus the no longer available 1988 transfer (does it really matter?). Of the bonus tracks, only one seemed really interesting: Keep on Wondering, which made me think of Stevie Wonder, who was influencing a lot of musicians in 1974. Ironically I hear Wonder even though Jack dropped his harmonica solo for some nice guitar from session mate Steve Hunter (who Jack must have met while making Lou Reed's Berlin)."