Song Of The Day No.40

Ministry Of Bag

by Jack Bruce (Songs For A Tailor, 1969)

Jack Bruce's curriculum vitae reads quite like no other; from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Blues Incorporated and the Graham Bond Organisation to John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, Manfred Mann, Cream, free jazz and Frank Zappa. Perhaps most famous for writing the bass riff that defines the Cream song 'Sunshine Of Your Love'. Songs For A Tailor, recorded after but released before the double-bass dominated jazz album Things We Like, sold well but had a mixed reception in the music press. The album, is now however, regarded as his best solo release.

All the lyrics on the album were written by long time collaborator Peter Brown and the music by Bruce himself. Ministry Of Bag is the most overtly blues song on an album that inventively mixes rock, jazz and blues over ten tracks. The brass section parps and the bass bounds high in the mix while unfussy licks roll of the guitar with ease. The drum kit is also prominent providing an upbeat jazz/rock/soul mixture that also nods towards funk. The lyrics make for a strange nonsense passage describing life in an office with various references to food, but the way they fit the song means you don't often realise the absurdity of the subject matter.

AR

Song Of The Day No.38

Coming Your Way

by Fleetwood Mac (Then Play On, 1969)

Fleetwood Mac are a two-headed beast in that they had two very successful periods playing two very different styles of music. Rumours is possibly the most famous Fleetwood Mac album, but this was released in 1977, ten years after the group started. The band got together through forming three-quarters of John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers. Mick Fleetwood on drums, Peter Green on guitar and John McVie on bass eventually left (McVie just after the other two) to start their new group. They were joined by Jeremy Spencer on slide for the first two albums but by Then Play On there would be another line-up change with Danny Kirwin joining at the age of just eighteen. This would be the only album to feature both Green and Kirwin and it makes for a progressive blues-rock great.

This album opener is tribal, quite literally. The bongos and booming drums that provide the syncopated rhythm underline this atmosphere but also the 'call and response' relation between the lyrics and the guitars playing simple yet mystical sounding licks helps to induce a feeling of indigenous goings-on. Although it's a Kirwin composed song you can feel a possible influence from Green's own 'Black Magic Woman'.

AR