I just finished reading Bill Bruford’s autobiography. Bruford was the drummer for Prog Rock bands Yes and King Crimson before turning to Jazz which seems to be the ultimate goal of all drummers. His book is different from the many rock musician biographies I’ve read over the years in that he married young and stayed married, didn’t develop a drug and/ or alcohol problem, didn’t come to resent or out and out hate his bandmates or the music industry and left a hugely successful band for a series of obscure acts yet still had a forty year career as a working musician. If it wasn’t for his early stint in Yes which was pretty much his first band and with whom he made four albums, his story would seem like any small time touring cover band member’s story. Personally, I find it hard to follow the career of someone who changes his bands as often as he changes his shirt and changes the bands’ members as often as his socks. I’m not that much into drummers to jump from Prog Rock to electric Jazz to acoustic Jazz where every tour and CD features a new lineup of musicians just because I like the drummer. He really asks a lot of his fans.
An interesting aspect of his story is how he uses Internet marketing to bypass the record labels which is the new Music Business Model. It basically consists of discovering who your potential audience is, what they’re searching for on the Internet, building keywords based on their searches into your website to have the search engines direct them to your site, offer something in exchange for their email addresses and then once you have their contact info sell directly to them. It seems to work for Bill Bruford. If you'd like to see an example of this system try http://unsigned-records.com/RRrehab/squeeze1/index.html
An interesting aspect of his story is how he uses Internet marketing to bypass the record labels which is the new Music Business Model. It basically consists of discovering who your potential audience is, what they’re searching for on the Internet, building keywords based on their searches into your website to have the search engines direct them to your site, offer something in exchange for their email addresses and then once you have their contact info sell directly to them. It seems to work for Bill Bruford. If you'd like to see an example of this system try http://unsigned-records.com/RRrehab/squeeze1/index.html
I enjoyed Bruford in King Crimson back in the 70s. One of the most bizarre band pairings I ever saw was when King Crimson opened for the Eagles at the Berkeley Community Theater in 1973. I was a solid Eagles fan and was also then becoming a fan of British Progressive Bands. As odd as the pairing was, the audience liked them both. One would have thought that the die-hard country rock fans of the Eagles would be put off by the dark, oddly-timed, and complicated rhythms of Crimson. This was also the first time that I'd had back to back dates with two different girls. I liked the girl who I took to the concert more than the one I went out with the night before, but I my concert guest declined subsequent invitations. I always blamed it on Bill
ReplyDeleteIt was Paul Keller who came down to visit from the Bay Area and brought with him an early Genesis album that first turned me on to Prog Rock.
ReplyDeleteTo Paul,
ReplyDeleteI saw the Eagles early in their career opening for Yes at the Long Beach Arena. Sounds like the Eagles had a marketing strategy to expose themselves (er.....musically speaking, that is) specifically to the Prog Rock audience. Did that help them get to their huge success? Dunno.
To Neal,
I think Bruford's ability to drag an audience with him from group to group thoughout his career is due to the originality of his playing in Yes. With Bruford, you came for the chops, but you stayed for the originality.
To me, there were several deeply compelling elements to Yes.......none moreso than what Bruford was coming up with in the albums "Fragile" and "Close to the Edge". It was totally original and fresh. A huge part of their sound.
It broke my heart when he was replaced by Alan White. In my opinion, Yes recordings never again rose to the same artistic level as those albums with Bruford. The difference in their first album with White (Tales From A Topographic Ocean) was striking. A precipitous fall in my book. I think they clawed back a little with Relayer......and I lost interest after that.
However, I eventually bought the Bruford King Crimson albums and concert tickets out of my continuing interest in his music. There was a momentum created for me from what he did in Yes. Like wanting to see the sequel of a movie I particularly dug in hopes that the magic would happen again.
To contrast, many (including me) revere Jim Keltner's drumming, but don't make a point of buying CD's he's playing on just because it's him. With Bruford, there's more fascination to see if he'll blow our minds again.
J.S.