Visit Bill’s online store for exclusive and signed items: www.shorturl.at/adnpq
Welcome to this hot September 2002 evening in South America with Earthworks on very good form. ‘Revel Without a Pause’ is a track on the band’s final studio album ‘The Sound of Surprise’, recorded in London in 2000.
The studio version of this song (not yet uploaded here) was recorded early in its life and had brushed its hair, adjusted its necktie and was ready for repeated public listening. But here in Buenos Aires, it’s an unscrubbed, over-caffeinated, one-off, highly interactive version of the piece, that has dirt under its finger-nails and takes no prisoners. Too many notes, probably, but the audience seemed to like it.
Sometimes there are two or three live versions of a song on this channel, often quite different from one another: different people, tempos, interpretations, soloists, venues, shirts. I’ve always thought other renditions are worth including for critical comparison: is one better than another? If so, why? Not much use asking the performers. They just make the stuff, and best not to dwell too long on its reception. Otherwise you never get anything done. Some months ago we uploaded a version of this same song ‘Revel without a Pause’ from Santiago, Chile, that might interest you. • Bill Bruford's Earthwo... .
But ‘Revel’ is not a spectacular case study in difference, because these two live versions were recorded days apart by the same people on the same tour, so too little time for big changes to emerge. Unlike performances of, say, King Crimson’s ‘Indiscipline,’ recorded 13 years apart, with different musicians and instruments. Or early versions of ‘Close to the Edge’ by Yes, after I’d left the band, compared with Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe’s version from the late 1980s. Those performances really are different. And those differences, I really like. The performances document attitudes, music fashions and styles, performer capabilities, bad nights and good nights, risks, failure and success.
As you probably know by now, your host on this channel is not a member of the ‘It’s-Got-To-Be-Exactly-the-Same-As-the-Record’ Club (Chairman: Eddie Jobson). That way would lie tedium beyond belief. How the people in ‘The Australian Pink Floyd’ manage it is completely beyond my comprehension.
Next Saturday March 2nd is Quiz #7 on this Channel. That's good because I'll be on vacation for a week, dreaming up what we can chat about on March 8th. Thanks for listening!
#improvisationmusic #paistecymbals #drumsolos #billbruford #jazzdrumming #yes #tamadrums #kingcrimson #rockdrummer #billbrufordsearthworks