Bill Bruford ended his brief affair with
U.K. and condensed his original outfit to a quartet, releasing a second album of sinewy, celebratory
jazz/
rock fusion,
One of a Kind. Good-humored twists and turns abound in the music, punctuated by
Bruford's steadying if slightly subversive rhythms,
Allan Holdsworth's flashes of fire,
Jeff Berlin's insistent bass, and
Dave Stewart's remarkably colorful keyboards. At the heart of many of these songs is an uplifting melody, a trait shared with
fusion artists like
Weather Report and
Jean-Luc Ponty, though
Bruford's outfit favors a faster pace than the former and pursues more musical avenues in a single song than the latter. When he takes to tuned percussion,
Bruford can even sound like
Frank Zappa (both bands have a funky side to them). Standout cuts this time include
"Hell's Bells," "Fainting in Coils" (which, in an indirect link to his previous employers, would have felt at home on
Robert Fripp's
Exposure),
"Five G," and
"The Sahara of Snow." The remaining tracks are a little less muscular, and the band's strength would seem to lie in
fusion propelled by the complex rhythmic patterns of
Bruford and
Berlin (i.e., when the band leans closer to the
rock side of the
fusion family). Those who enjoy their
fusion with a healthy dose of
rock will find
One of a Kind a fair match for anything from
Return to Forever or
Brand X. Note that many of these songs also appear in live versions on the beat-the-boots release
The Bruford Tapes. ~ Dave Connolly
