Jack Bruce - Silver Rails

Silver Rails [2014] is the first album Jack Bruce released under his own name since More Jack Than God [2003].   Not that he was slacking between the two releases.  Shortly after the release of More Jack Than God, he got very sick with liver cancer, had a liver transplant and nearly died.  After his body nearly rejected his new liver, he stabilized and was well enough to take part in a brief reunion with Cream in 2005.  He and Robin Trower put out Seven Moons in 2008.  In 2012 he teamed up with John Medeski, Cindy Blackman Santana, and Vernon Reid to form Spectrum Road, a tribute band to Tony Williams’ Lifetime.  They released their eponymous album in 2012.  When he wasn’t busy with those projects he was gigging with his Big Blues Band all over Europe.  

Jack Bruce’s recording career hasn’t been very prolific.  He decided to make this album because he realized he wasn’t getting any younger.  He wanted to have an album with diverse music like he was listening to, and I think in that regard he succeeded.  He used his first solo album Songs for a Tailor as his template.  The comparison between that album and this one is appropriate.  He went to Abbey Road, and with a little help from his friends, we have Silver Rails.  The most inspired choice of collaborators on this album is the aforementioned John Medeski.  His Hammond organ and occasional Mellotron pop up on half this album to great effect.  There are rockers, and there are piano ballads in equal number.  And there are horns, something you don’t hear very much on a Jack Bruce release.  

The songs:

Candlelight – [Phil Manzanera – guitar; John Medeski: Hammond organ] At first listen I thought this sounded more like Jack’s remake of West, Bruce and Laing’s Out Into the Fields.  But instead of the Afro-Cuban feel of Out Into the Fields, the addition of a beefy horn section puts this one in Calypso territory.  Phil Manzanera plays a scorching guitar solo that I didn’t know he had in him.  This is an excellent opener for Silver Rails.  

Reach for the Night – [John Medeski: Hammond organ; Malcolm Bruce: guitar] – One of the best piano ballads Jack Bruce has ever written.  I like to hear this one after Fields of Forever, not before.  

Fields of Forever – Imagine Doin’ That Scrapyard Thing [Cream – Goodbye] with a horn section and you have Fields of Forever.  This is a good thing.  This is as up-tempo as Jack Bruce gets on Silver Rails.  This is my favorite from this album.  

Hidden Cities – [Uli Jon Roth: guitar, Cindy Blackman Santana: drums, Aruba Red, Kyla Bruce: vocals] – I expected some guitar pyrotechnics from Uli Jon Roth but didn’t hear any.  I tried to like this one, I really did.  This is the album’s “skip” track.  

Don’t Look Now – [Tony Remy: guitar; Malcolm Bruce: guitar; John Medeski: Hammond organ, mellotron] Look!  Another piano ballad!  This is a good one.  

Rusty Lady – [Robin Trower – guitar; Malcolm Bruce: guitar] Jack Bruce didn’t like Maggie Thatcher, the Scot socialist that he was.  And here he sings his “good riddance” to the Iron Lady.  It’s a cousin to Politician [Cream – Wheels of Fire].  Robin Trower is excellent as always.  Pete Brown has a great line - "when she stepped from her oxhide car, it was Winston in drag without the cigar."  

Industrial Child – This one is another piano ballad, with a faint acoustic guitar played by Tony Remy.  The best adjective to describe this one is haunting.  Better than Don’t Look Now, but not as good as Reach for the Night.  A keeper.  

Drone – Stukas!  Distorted bass and drums only.  His bass hasn’t sounded this distorted since he recorded Apostrophe(‘) with Frank Zappa.  Although there are references to bumble bees, this is a commentary on today’s terror weapon from above, with samples of a terror weapon of yesteryear to drive the point home.  I like it!  

Keep It Down – [Bernie Marsden – guitar] This song was first done on 1974’s Out of the Storm, his first LP after West, Bruce & Laing imploded.  Steve Hunter [he of Alice Cooper fame] played on the original, which would not have been out of place in either Cream or WB&L.  It had that power trio vibe.  This update version has Bernie Marsden instead of Steve Hunter, and John Medeski on Hammond organ.  Jack Bruce was a heroin addict when he wrote this, and he has said this is his Needle and the Damage Done.  This version isn’t as hard-hitting as the one from 1974, but it’s still pretty good.  

No Surrender – [Bernie Marsden – guitar; Cindy Blackman Santana: drums] This song was first done on 1989’s A Question of Time.  Despite Bernie Marsden’s presence on guitar, there’s little difference between this and the original.  Though this is a good song, it’s not essential either.  

Jack Bruce had plans to follow-up Silver Rails.  He bought a house in Mallorca, put in a small studio so he could write songs, and planned to go back to Abbey Road.  But his liver failed him and he died on October 25^th, 2014, seven months after Silver Rails’ release.  This wasn’t meant to be a final album like The Wind was for Warren Zevon, but there it is.  Fortunately for us, it’s one of the better albums in Jack Bruce’s canon.