dreadpirateroberts Another wonderful jazz-rock and pop record from Jack Bruce.

Reducing the backing band from his debut to guitarist Chris Spedding and drummer John Marshall, Jack Bruce continued to play a wide range of instruments for his second solo album 'Harmony Row.' If not as commercially successful as his debut, it remains a more satisfying album on some levels.

Tonally 'Harmony Row' occupies similar territory for 'Songs for a Tailor,' with Bruce's piano featuring heavily, usually more prominent than his trademark 'busy' bass. The album weaves a range of moody pieces into a more cohesive collection, aided by the fact that the spangled ferocity of some of Spedding's playing has been eased off. Without a brass section too, the album has a bluer feel, though 'You Burned the Tables on Me' still cooks and there's a tension within 'Morning Story', whereas the blues-rock of 'A Letter of Thanks' gives way to more rock than blues.

This time too, the shorter songs are more thematically consistent with the other pieces. 'Can You Follow' is a beautiful introduction and companion piece to 'Escape to the Royal Wood' for instance. Brown's lyrics are a little more direct, constructing a narrative more often than referencing literature. Only on "Smiles and Grins' (another standout) does an almost disturbing circus feel come to the organ and we see the structure become more fluid than other songs, with a bit of an extended bridge and an instrumental outro. While 'Veronica Sage' misses the mark for me, 'The Consul at Sunset' does not - and showcases Jack Bruce's ability to support a lead vocal with some effective backing. It's languid piano chords are backed by acoustic guitar and percussion, rather than a full kit, and works as a pleasant island getaway.

Once again, this is a four-star album for me, and while it lacks the broader palette that his previous record is drawn from, the consistency of 'Harmony Row' is a real selling point.

Sean Trane Third album from JB, but this time, he drops the Colosseum connection to snatch some Nucleus (Ian Carr’s band) members, just at the time where the band’s original line-up was imploding. To say the least, despite both having played on JB’s Tailor album, John Marshall and Chris Spedding are relatively odd choices, given the album’s shorter song format. I’ve always failed to see the link of the album’s relatively positive title and its dreary artwork, and to be honest, the album’s all-too-wordy nature (it seems that Pete Brown was never this loquacious) always discouraged me of investigating further. As usual, JB sings, plays keys and bass.

A few songs have a hard time hiding their inspiration (or is it that they inspired someone else’s?) and sometimes, JB evens sounds a tad Cat Stevens-ish in Folk Song; while some songwriting is definitely kistchy and disputable: Royal Wood and the closing almost-stinky Spanish-crooner Consul At Sunset. And it’s in the simpler more RnR songs that JB’s often-too busy bass playing is mostly evident, as Letter Of Thanks proves. Among the album’s highlights is the impressive and adventurous Morning Story, and while the vocals of Smiles And Grins might just be a little rough/harsh, the playing is brilliant.

Harmony Row has always been an album I’ve felt uncomfortable with, partly because it isn’t all that accessible, too much all over the map, and even noisy in parts. To be honest, if it wasn’t for the album’s two longer songs, I’d give it a much smaller rating.