Bill Bruford – Banging On

17th March 2022 Music News

Over the past 50 years Bill Bruford has been one of the most original and innovative drummers across multiple genres. Making A Song and Dance: A Complete Career Collection is a 6CD Boxset that charts some of the many highlights of Bruford’s incredible career and is released on 29th April through BMG.

From early steps with progressive legends YES and a quarter of a century in King Crimson, to ground-breaking jazz fusion leading his own Bruford and Earthworks projects, Bill Bruford has always wanted to explore his chosen discipline to the full – and then push the boundaries further. This desire to challenge convention has created some breath-taking moments and made Bruford the drummer-of-choice for collaborations with leading musicians around the world.

“My interest was with the broader discourse on drums and drumming, rather than any notions of success or fame,” says Bruford. “The latter I could do little about but, in the 1960s, the former was wide open and meaningful contribution seemed everywhere possible. The context in which the first track in the set was conceived bears almost no relationship to the context in which the last was, four decades later.”

Pre-order here: https://billbruford.lnk.to/MASDPR

“There was a big premium put on the notion of difference. I wanted to sound different to contemporaries like Carl Palmer (ELP), Brian ‘Blinky’ Davison (Nice) or John Bonham (Led Zeppelin). I figured if I hadn’t heard it before, the other guys in the band probably hadn’t either. Thinking up interesting things to do on a drum kit was my reason to exist. I also thought that was what they were paying me to do. I didn’t care much what the critic, commentator or musicologist thought, and that was to remain my lodestone, my modus operandi for many years.”

For this anthology Bruford has selected tracks from across his whole career, comprising works from some 23 different artists and bands over a 40-year period. “I’ve deliberately avoided forcing them into industry categories such as ‘progressive rock’, ‘fusion’ or ‘jazz’,” Bruford adds, “on the grounds that most of the music I’ve been associated with fits very poorly into such straight-jackets – round holes and square pegs come to mind.”

The 6CD boxset Making A Song and Dance: A Complete Career Collection includes tracks from YES, King Crimson, Bruford, Bill Bruford’s Earthworks, his work with iconic global guitarists Al Di Meola, Steve Howe and Kazumi Watanabe and collaborations with keyboardists Patrick Moraz and Michiel Borstlap and many others. The package also includes a detailed biography, written by Bruford, featuring rare and unseen photos. The outer box artwork, gatefold CDs and booklet have been designed by Bruford’s long-time artist and graphic designer Dave McKean.

Making A Song and Dance: A Complete Career Collection

Track Listing:

THE COLLABORATOR disc One

Yes – I’ve Seen all Good People

Yes – Heart of the Sunrise

Yes – And You & I

King Crimson – The Great Deceiver

King Crimson – Fracture

King Crimson – One More Red Nightmare

King Crimson – Starless

U.K. – Nevermore

disc Two

King Crimson – Frame by Frame

King Crimson – Neal and Jack and Me

King Crimson – Heartbeat

King Crimson – Waiting Man

Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe – Brother of Mine (Radio Edit)

King Crimson – Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream

King Crimson – Larks’ Tongues in Aspic: Pt 2

King Crimson – Three of a Perfect Pair

King Crimson – Man with an Open Heart

King Crimson – Elephant Talk

King Crimson – Indiscipline

King Crimson – Big Funk

PianoCircus feat. Bill Bruford & Colin Riley – The Still Small Voice

THE COMPOSING LEADER

disc THREE

Bruford – Seems Like a Lifetime Ago: Pt 1

Bruford – Seems Like a Lifetime Ago: Pt 2

Bruford – One of a Kind: Pt 1

Bruford – One of a Kind: Pt 2

Bruford – Palewell Park

Bruford – Joe Frazier

Bill Bruford’s Earthworks – It Needn’t End in Tears

Bill Bruford’s Earthworks – My Heart Declares a Holiday

Bill Bruford’s Earthworks – Downtown

Bill Bruford’s Earthworks – Pilgrims’ Way

Bill Bruford’s Earthworks – Temple of the Winds

Bill Bruford’s Earthworks – Candles Still Flicker in Romania’s Dark

Bill Bruford’s Earthworks – Nerve

Bruford, Towner, Gomez – Thistledown

disc FOUR

Bill Bruford’s Earthworks – Beelzebub

Bruford-Levin – Original Sin

Bill Bruford’s Earthworks – Revel Without a Pause

Bill Bruford’s Earthworks – Triplicity

Bill Bruford’s Earthworks – The Sound of Surprise

Earthworks Underground Orchestra – Speaking in Wooden Tongues

Bill Bruford’s Earthworks – Modern Folk

Bill Bruford’s Earthworks – White Knuckle Wedding

Earthworks Underground Orchestra – Footloose and Fancy Free

Earthworks Underground Orchestra – Thud

THE SPECIAL GUEST

disc FIVE

Roy Harper – Grown Ups are Just Silly Children

Roy Harper – Hallucinating Light

Chris Squire – Lucky Seven (Single Edit)

Chris Squire – Silently Falling

Al Di Meola – Calliope

David Torn – Voodoo Chile

Kazumi Watanabe – Andre

Kazumi Watanabe – Small Wonder

Steve Howe – The Inner Battle

Buddy Rich Big Band – Lingo

Pete Lockett’s Network of Sparks feat. Bill Bruford – Prism

PianoCircus feat. Bill Bruford & Colin Riley – Achilles Feel

THE IMPROVISER

disc SIX

Moraz-Bruford – Galatea

Moraz-Bruford – Symmetry

PianoCircus feat. Bill Bruford & Colin Riley – Stalling Between Two Fools

King Crimson – No Warning

Moraz-Bruford – Flags

Moraz-Bruford -Split Seconds

David Torn – Previous Man

David Torn – Three Minutes of Pure Entertainment

Bruford-Borstlap – 16 Kingdoms of the 5 Barbarians

Bruford-Borstlap – Stand on Zanzibar

Earthworks – With Friends Like These…

Bruford-Borstlap – Low Tide, Camber Sands

Bruford-Borstlap – Kinship

Making A Song and Dance: A Complete Career Collection is released as 6CD Boxset on 29th April through BMG.

Bill Bruford – Banging On

Pre-order here: https://billbruford.lnk.to/MASDPR

Pre-order it here: https://billbruford.lnk.to/MASDPR

https://billbruford.com/

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