Things We Like - JACK BRUCE***

Over The Cliff/Statues/Sam Enchanted Dick/Born To Be Blue/HCKHH Blues/Ballad Things We Like

Things We Like by Jack Bruce is a jazz album recorded just before the blues-rock group Cream were disbanded. It features the guitar of the then little known John McLaughlin.

“Warning: this is a straight ahead jazz album, well done by some extremely talented people, but not the rock and blues we usually associate with Jack Bruce.”

“Completely different to his debut, Bruce keeps a couple of members of the early jazz rock group Colosseum and includes John McLaughlin to move in a free jazz direction.”

“This album came as something of a pleasant surprise for me. I knew that Bruce had done some recording with John McLaughlin but I didn't know that he had done an entire jazz album with him, let alone recorded it during the waning days of Cream. This album is by far my favourite Jack Bruce solo release.”

“This recording is just a joy to listen to - jazz performed at a master level with best track for me being the ballad Born To Be Blue. Fans of John McLaughlin will be pleased to hear some of his most understated and beautiful playing on this disc (his chords are so clean they sound like an electric piano), as well as, some outstanding drumming. As one would expect, Jack's double bass playing is near flawless, but the real star of this outing is the soulful horns.”

“Jack plays upright bass intelligently and tastefully. It doesn't really click until John McLaughlin's guitar arrives on the scene and then it becomes really good.” “It's a brilliant jazz album and can stand shoulder to shoulder with any of the greats. It's too bad he did not pursue at least one more album with this fabulous line-up. It's really amazing when you consider that he was still a member of Cream when this was recorded, and that John McLaughlin, who had played with Jack briefly in the Graham Bond Organization, had little name recognition at this point in his career.”