1983 i was there

So was Jack Bruce, making his extremely obscure album Automatic. Jack was going through something of a fallow period commercially I suppose, as this record was only issued in Germany, not that I am saying that's a bad thing in itself, if I was releasing a record, I'd like it to happen in Germany probably more than anywhere other than Korea, or Australia. I have listened to two tracks so far and let me tell you it's much better than Jet Set Jewel, the album that was supposedly too magnificent to be released after the dismal performance of the How's Tricks album. GREAT cover too. The song 'The Swarm' - a pretty full on bit of grim electro blues - is definitely going to be part of DJ Getshaneoffthedancefloor's plan of attack at Olivia's 30th. Oh, I see the song 'Encore' is a song off Jet Set Jewel too, but with more electronic booming drums on it, it actually sounds quite good now, a bit Kate Bushy. Now I have turned it over and am playing side one. I guess when it comes down to it, it's one of those records that would have sounded incomprehensively dated five years ago, but now sounds unbelievably contemporary, because it is all drum machines, synths and vocoders.

Jack is one of those people who presumably made all the money he ever needed to make in the late 1960s with various hits Cream had which get played on the radio, or covered, or whatever, all the time, so the fact that he replaced John Entwhistle in Todd Rundgren's Beatles tribute band (I am so glad I know nothing more of that than that it exists, even that knowledge is a little much) was presumably not out of financial necessity but because who wouldn't want to play in a band with Todd Rundgren, even if it was something that weird. I mean, I read on Wikipedia that Jack once owned an island off the coast of Scotland... how does one own an island? I'll have to look into that. Not for myself, but out of interest.

Funnily, the second track on side two sounds like Todd Rundgren, crossed a little with, um, Billy Joel or someone. And there is a cool solo on a keyboard version of something that's probably supposed to sound like a real instrument but sounds so much unlike it that you can't tell what it's a bad imitation of.

By the way DJ Getshaneoffthedancefloor is not going to emerge at Olivia's party, it would be too cruel. A 30th birthday is supposed to be a happy time, and young people aren't that into irony. Although they are probably more into it than me, these days.