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Harmony Row is the third studio album by Scottish musician Jack Bruce, released in July 1971.
The album takes its title from a tenement street in Glasgow, near where Bruce grew up.Liner notes to the album's 2003 reissue, Polydor Records, catalog No. 065 605-2, page 10. The street, since demolished, was famous as the largest unbroken houserow in Europe, stretching for over a mile. The album's cover photo was taken near the Harmony Row tenement in Govan.
Although since cited by Bruce as his favourite solo album,Liner notes to the album's 2003 reissue, page 7. Harmony Row did not chart upon its release. The album would be his last solo effort for over three years, as Bruce would join the power trio West, Bruce and Laing (with whom he would record three albums) in early 1972. The song "The Consul at Sunset", which was inspired by the Malcolm Lowry novel Under the Volcano, was released as a single in 1971 (Polydor 2058–153, b/w "A Letter of Thanks").
Background and recording
The vocals, guitars, and drums for each track were all recorded together, "live" style. Event occurs at 2:01-3:46. The guitarist, Chris Spedding, later described the atmosphere of the sessions: "Drummer John Marshall said to me one day, in the beginning of our work day, 'I wonder what Jack's got for us today,' you know, some of it was quite challenging stuff. 'I hope we do it all right. I hope we don't make too many mistakes.' In a good way. You know, tension, and hoping that you get it all right. And of course, once we started playing, it was so intense, the concentration - I don't even know if I could do such a thing today. We were in our twenties then."
Reception
On its release, Tony Palmer wrote in the The Observer:
The musicality is polished and exact. The spontaneity of the performance suffers a little, but that is a small price to pay for the skill of the recording. The music flows precisely out of the nuances of the words; their meanings inexplicably linked with the kind of sound produced. It’s almost impossible to imagine the songs being performed in any other way by any other group of musicians.Tony Palmer, ‘Bruce comeback’, London Observer 1 August 1971 p. 24
Track listing
All lyrics composed by Pete Brown and music composed by Jack Bruce, unless otherwise noted.
2003 CD bonus tracks
Personnel
Track No. 15 recorded at Morgan Studios, London, 6 October 1969.
All other tracks recorded at Command Studios, London, mid- to late January 1971.
Notes
External links
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