BRUFORD – ONE OF A KIND (1979/ 2024) (Winterfold Records/ Cherry Red) (LP)

Following the Jazz Rock Fusion powerhouse “Feels Good to Me”, the group name BRUFORD was adopted for “One of a Kind”. The line-up is the same crack outfit: ALLAN HOLDSWORTH on guitar; DAVE STEWART on keyboards and JEFF BERLIN on bass, but there is no vocalist this time to replicate the laryngeal wonders produced by ANNETTE PEACOCK on “Feels Good to Me”.

Nevertheless, “One of A Kind” turned out to be an essential for fans of Bill Bruford and Jazz Rock Fusion. The two-part ‘The Sahara of Snow’ and the number ‘Forever Until Sunday’ had already been performed live by UK, EDDIE JOBSON adding his distinctive violin to this version. The pulse-raising ‘Hell’s Bells’ is a co-write with Alan Gowen of NATIONAL HEALTH, and features an extraordinary Holdsworth guitar solo; ‘Fainting in Coils’ is a superb Alice in Wonderland inspired piece with Bruford speaking the part of the Mock Turtle in an otherwise all-instrumental album.