Listened to Humans on the way to work this morning. Been a long time. What a wonderful mixture of Jesus-hippie mystical optimism and fiercely anti-establishment partisan warriorship. Ironic and a bit cynical from time to time but never bitter. Achingly sincere, always. The Great Pumpkin will forever land in his pumpkin patch. Superb guitar player as well. Got tearful thinking of old times and friends long gone. Music will do that to me…
Anyway, what’s your favorite Bruce? For me, it’s Further Adventures Of. But here’s the first track from Humans, which I love.
And here's Feast of Fools from Further... Shredding electric gitbox in this one.
And a gorgeous instrumental from Further that highlights his striking acoustic technique. Love the bass guitar in this one as well.
Adored him in high school/college in the late 70s/early 80s. I must have seen him live 6 or 7 times.
One thing that always struck me is how he appeared to be terribly ambivalent about Tokyo. Anytime I saw him do it, he increased the tempo to the point of ridiculous, as if he just wanted to get it over with. One time, he didn’t do it the whole concert. And toward the end, people started calling out for it. Concert ended - he came out and did an encore that wasn’t Tokyo despite, again, calls for it. I always wondered what was up with that.
ETA: sorry - you asked for favourites: 1) How I Spent my Fall Vacation; 2) Coldest Night of the Year; 3) Lovers in Dangerous Times
ooo, mixolydian. I have All the Diamonds on his live record Circles in the Stream. Haven’t heard the acoustic yet. So beautiful! His 70s work means the most to me for sure.
Thanks for the Christmas tip, Skammer. Will check it out (although I generally loathe Christmas music).
Music bringing back memories is right.
The live version of “Rumours of Glory” is my favourite.
Brings back memories of a rainy road trip with some good friends long ago …
Funny how Humans is the album being referenced most often here. It seems a transitional album to me, one where Bruce is moving from folk, jazz/folk, rolk/folk, to a different, more produced, 80s kind of a sound, with some reggae and other sounds thrown in. Cool violin on some of the numbers as well.
ch51, got a link for that? Would love to hear it.
Mixolydian, that is as well on Circles. Have you heard that record? Your taste and Bruce’s seem to snap.
D18, I only saw him once, about 20 years ago. Wonderful show highlighted by a long Feast of Fools where he took an epic electric solo. Good stuff.
Bruce is very well regarded in guitar circles - a complex fingerstyle he delivers easily. Also for his relationship with Canadian tippy-top-tier luthier Linda Manzer. Manzer is the builder of choice for Pat Metheny and built the infamous multineck Pikasso guitar Metheny plays at times. She has innovated with guitar design and is known for the Manzer Wedge, shaping the cross-section of the guitar a bit narrower on the side that tucks under your arm. Her guitars start at around $25,000.
Bruce has several Manzers but the blue one featured in that video is one of the most well known. Sounds wonderful.
It’s from an early '80s concert called “Rumours of Glory”. It’s on the '87 compilation “Waiting for a Miracle”. It seems to be on YouTube but “blocked in my country” (Canada). Try from your end perhaps. Worth the effort IMHO.
Wordman, that was interesting! I remember his (ahem) D18, Larivee, and Wren days! I started to lose interest when he pulled out the Flying V. It just looked so odd.