Who? If you have to ask, you won’t be buying this. If you know the name, then you’re either a drummer, jazzer or prog fan. Bill Bruford is retiring from live performance at the age of 60 and uses this autobiography to put his 40-year-plus career into context. He settles a few scores, but in a relatively jovial fashion, as befits a public school-educated cove from the Home Counties.
Bruford serially graced the ranks of Yes, King Crimson and Genesis, but fans shouldn’t expect too much behind-the-scenes insight. You get the feeling he’s glad he wasn’t given Phil Collins’ role, though he would certainly have welcomed his royalties. The happily married Bruford is/was too normal for rock’n’roll, which is why he spent the last half of his career playing jazz; that is, when not tempted back to various money-spinning Yes re-formations.
The musical analysis, some of it borrowed (with credit given) from academic books, can pall after a while and you find yourself skipping pages hoping for a few tidbits of gossip or scandal. Sadly, none emerge, Bob Fripp in particular remaining a closed, er, book. Still, he put in the time so he deserves an autobiography. Bill Bruford, we salute you.
