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