Music Reviews

I do have to admit that I didn’t quite see the full-bore CD revival coming. Sure, artists continue to release their new music on CD—whether it be via their own labels, or through the major labels and their respective distribution arms—but it seemed more like a “gotta do it” kind of exercise since a) they’re relatively cheap to produce, and b) they’re relatively easy to travel with and sell direct to their fanbases at the merch table before/after shows.

But now, having seen firsthand how indie records stores across the country have been re-allocating space to restock scores of mostly vintage CD titles in the past year or so—mainly appealing to younger generations now experiencing their first wave of nostalgia, and what they may have missed out on the first time around—the CD format still has some life left in it yet.

Even better—at least for inherent audiophile collectors, like yours truly—CD-centric box sets continue to be released at a fairly reasonable clip, and they’re usually stocked with bonus material, outtakes, alternate takes, and more. Even better than that initial even better note of mine, some of these boxes also include additional BDs with historical live performances and period videoclips, plus 5.1 and/or Dolby Atmos mixes to boot. True, some of these reissues have comparable multidisc vinyl companions, but those LP sets often aren’t able to include all of the bonus material, usually for budgetary reasons. Naturally, I like obtaining vinyl box sets too—I mean, have you met me?—in order to spin the remastered and hopefully upgraded versions of the core album at hand, but I’m also a proponent of getting in hand all the bonus material that artists and their management teams and/or estates will allow. And if surround-sound options are also included, then that’s (say it with me now) even better!

And thus, all this more-is-better preamble leads us into today’s CD/BD-oriented review of a recent multidisc box set that ups the ante on its admittedly worthy vinyl counterpart. (On Saturday, July 26, 2025, I’ll review another multidisc CD/BD box set that follows a similar expanded path.)

JACK BRUCE
HARMONY ROW
2CD/2BD (Esoteric Recordings)

Following the precedent set with last year’s most excellent 2CD/2BD box set for Songs for a Tailor, Jack Bruce’s August 1969 debut solo album on Polydor in the UK and Atco in the U.S., Esoteric Recordings resumes this particular upgraded reissue campaign a year later with a comparable 2CD/2BD box covering the ace bassist/vocalist’s third solo effort, July 1971’s Harmony Row (also originally on Polydor and Atco, respectively).

Sprung from Cream just a few years prior to the appearance of Row, Bruce remained quite intent on branching out beyond that indisputably groundbreaking power trio’s blues/rock-oriented turf, and Harmony Row builds on the Tailor template by deftly balancing his improvisational prowess with more challenging arrangements, piano-based balladry, and jazz/bossa nova-inflected experiments.

Released on June 27, 2025, Esoteric’s Harmony Row 2CD/2BD deluxe collection comes in a nice, sturdy, glossy, cube-shaped box that will sit well on the shelf next to Tailor—and it also mirrors the size and shape of other Esoteric box sets such as the 50th anniversary 4CD/1BD collection celebrating Nektar’s November 1973 opus Remember the Future, which I covered in my Immersive Audio File column here on S&V back on July 31, 2024. The 68-page softbound Row booklet contains well-researched liner notes from British music journalist Sid Smith—one of the sharpest and most insightful liners scribes on either side of the Pond—plus scores of photos, lyrics, and more. Esoteric usually goes the extra mile with their box set packaging, so kudos must again be given to the label’s major domos Mark Powell and Vicky Powell, and their team, for justifying the SRP—which, in this case, is £61.99 (circa $74.99 U.S.). The Harmony Row cube can be ordered directly from Cherry Red Records here. (If you’re so inclined, the companion, 11-track gatefold 1LP set—remastered from the original master tapes and cut at Abbey Road Studios—can also be obtained via Cherry Red for £27.99 [circa $36.99 U.S.].)

On the CD side of things, CD1 offers the original 1971 stereo mix plus four bonus tracks, while CD2 contains the new stereo mix courtesy Stephen W. Tayler plus four different bonus tracks, the latter of which also appear on BD1. It’s a fascinating exercise to A/B the album’s core 11 tracks between CD1 and CD2, as you’ll get a clear sense of how Tayler remained respectful to the original but was still able to give it some extra heft (to use a technical term) without betraying the staunchly Scottish artist’s intent. (According to the credits, remastering was handled by another stalwart Esoteric mixing vet, Ben Wiseman.)

The first BD contains another stellar 24-bit/96kHz DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix from the above-noted Stephen W. Tayler, who has clearly been in the 360-degree zone with what he’s been doing here, there, and everywhere in surround in 2025, with BD authoring from Type40, London. One thing I did have to be mindful of during playback, however, was my overall volume level in order to avoid distortion. Typically, I set my volume level between 70-75 for most surround mixes, but I kept it to 60 here. That was the proper sweet spot to find the right balance between this album’s more vocal/piano-driven tracks and its more full-out jams.

The likely best-known track on Harmony Row, “You Burned the Tables on Me” (Track 3), absolutely thrives in surround, with sidewall piano lines supporting bassist Bruce and drummer John Marshall’s up-the-middle rhythm-section work. As Bruce gets more involved in his playing in the back half of the track, the sub channel handles the palpable low-end elements just as it should. Another Row favorite of mine, “Smiles and Grins” (Track 7), opens with a full-channel cello fade-in followed by well-placed organ, vocal, and tambourine accents all throughout. Less intense tracks like the throaty-vocal “Morning Story” (Track 5) and the somewhat ornate “Victoria Sage” (Track 10) keep it all balanced. As noted about what we hear in stereo on CD2, even in 5.1, Tayler continues to understand how to keep the music itself—which was essentially cut live in the room—true to its original vibe.

Speaking of that all-important original vibe, when I had the honor of interviewing Jack Bruce by phone on February 14, 2014, he had some interesting points to make about capturing that special live feel in the studio. “I love playing with incredible musicians, and there is a lot to be said for looking at each other while recording rather than overdubbing everything,” Bruce admitted, “but I like a little bit of both. Sometimes I like to start off a song very minimally and record the guitar, the piano, and the drums together, and then overdub. But you do have to go for separation to a certain extent. It’s a be-all and end-all for me.” (Sadly, Bruce passed away at age 71 that October, just 8 short months after our conversation.)

The second BD contains much of-era video gold. The first video segment, “Jack Bruce & Friends: ‘Out Front’,” aired on Granada Television on August 24, 1971, and it finds Bruce and said friends working, Traffic-like, in the round and through four then-new Harmony tracks—along with a few in-between intros from Jack, as he changes basses, moves to piano, and goes back again to the low end—and a final, killer 11-minute improv rightly dubbed “Powerhouse Sod.” (Jack’s Friends here, incidentally, were organist/vocalist Graham Bond, tenor saxophonist Art Themen, guitarist Chris Spedding, and drummer John Marshall.)

BD2’s second video segment, “Swing in With Jack Bruce” (word separation possibly intended), which aired on Rockpalast on WDR Television in Germany on February 10, 1972, intersperses clean-shaven solo performances (“Rope Ladder to the Moon” on acoustic guitar, “Folk Song” on piano) and stubble-laden three-piece-band jams with interview segments that focus on Bruce analyzing how he squares his working-class background with his heightened level of pop/rockstar success. Here, Bruce leads his taut band (sans Themen) through more muscular songs like “Theme From an Imaginary Western” and a funkier take on Cream’s “Politician,” a song that’s as bitingly poignant today than ever. (“So don’t deny me, baby / Not while you’re in my reach. . .”)

At any rate, Harmony Row is yet another great chapter in Jack Bruce’s solo quiver, and you should make an appointment to visit this aural Glaswegian neighborhood as soon as you can book your next listening trip.

Come back Saturday, July 26, 2025, for my next CD/BD box set review installment—see y’all then!