Jack Bruce: Shadows In The Air : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Most of the world knows Jack Bruce as the guy who sang and played bass for Cream, the archetypal supergroup that made a guy named Clapton into a deity and rock improvisation an okay thing to do. Cream, however, only accounts for a tiny slice of Bruce's forty-year career -- which is better represented by solo outings like this fifteen-track set of low-octane, Latin-jazz-rock grooves. Listen to the somnolent, noirish anti-ballad "Heart Quake" (a slow dance for the nightbreed that would've made the perfect soundtrack when Tim Leary's ashes got shot into space) or the speakeasy brooder "This Anger's a Liar" (featuring Dr. John on the ivories), and you'll get the point. Remodeled versions of "Sunshine of Your Love" and "White Room" can virtually be dismissed as publicity-grabbers, though old mate Slowhand pitches in with his usual high-caliber guitar slinging. Self-indulgent? Sure. But when you get to Bruce's level you've earned the right to dabble a little.

ADRIAN ZUPP
(July 9, 2001)