Jack Bruce’s 1971 solo record Harmony Row is the next album up in a deluxe edition campaign and expanded look at his early triptych of solo records. Compiled by Cherry Red Records and the Bruce estate and scheduled for release on June 27, 2025 the collection is a high dive into the deep waters of what many consider Bruce’s finest solo album. The first record in the series, Songs for a Tailor was released in 2024 and reviewed by the rock room here. These refurbished collections provide an all encompassing view of Bruce’s career as well as as long over due reassessment, revisiting, and reintroduction to an entire new generation of listeners.

The album and surrounding archival material is reignited by a remastered original mix, a fresh stereo mix, a new 5.1 surround mix, and loads of extras including demos, alternates, and Bruce’s 1971 Granada television appearance as well as a 1972 appearance on Rockpalast. The unreleased and live material is critical in understanding the entire development of Bruce’s Harmony Row. Every single respective element of the sessions and era compiled into a lovingly constructed package.

Harmony Row is a record where Bruce expressed a cohesive vision. He was fully immersed into his solo career and fearlessly traveled the new musical paths he had blazed since the dissolving of Cream.

The album plays as one expanded musical entity; like an orchestra, it contains multiple movements, moods, and compositional quirks. The record is dense with artistic intent but exudes an airy and spacious sonic fingerprint. Bruce confirmed in 2014 that he had composed the music on Harmony Row on piano in one sitting during a 1969 composing session, so their thematic relationships makes sense.

The record is an expansion of themes Bruce touched upon on 1969’s Songs from a Tailor. Bruce referred to all of his early solo records as “diary’s,” musical documentation of where he was at the time. Harmony Row is a deft combination of genres and a welcome departure from the usual rock and roll forms which was a subconscious priority for the next stage of Bruce’s career.

Musically complex and thematically related arrangements consummate the marriage between Bruce’s melodies and long time collaborator Peter Brown’s poetic lyricism. There is a a aura of timelessness and folklore to the recording, brought on by Brown’s lyrics and Bruce’s musical arrangements which at times sound like private recitals. The album is full of dramatic and often cinematic movements that move like diffused sunlight into an aperture.

Inspired by Bruce’s childhood in Glasgow, Harmony Row was the name of a mile long row or testament housing from his childhood which is represented on the album artwork. There is a constant feeling of recall and a pale nostalgia that permeates the record. Supported by Chris Spedding on guitar and John Marshall on drums, the band is essentially a trio but with Bruce providing production as well as every other instrument played including piano, bass, guitar, harmonica, and cello.

Side one of the record opens with the lacy piano prelude, “Can You Follow,” a question posed that segues into the rustic operatics of “Escape to the Royal Wood,” a welcome recipient of the collections’ new stereo mix. Brisk and elegant, Bruce’s piano playing and vocals are the focus.

“You Burned the Tables on Me,” is a smoldering cut that recalls Bruce’s pervious musical incarnations. In the place of thick Les Paul guitar riffs and bombastic drums are jangling piano’s and sympathetically textural Chris Spedding guitar. Bruce’s bass playing elbows its was to the front on this track with busy fingering and well placed pedal notes. One of the rock rooms favorite Bruce songs.

Several well placed piano interludes act as the connective tissue of the record, lending an introspective dramaticism to the more weighty songs of the album. “There’s a Forest,” is revealed by the opening of thick velvet curtains that find Bruce seated at a grand piano, crooning in a clean green falsetto, eyes raised to the canopy.

Seamlessly the song reveals the rising anticipation of “Morning Story,” which appears from milky mists to witness the burning of the sun. Bruce’s bass is warm and rotund, navigating through the song’s hills, curves, and nervous changes while working in perfect syncopation with Spedding’s wah-wah’d guitar licks.

“Folk Song,” closes side one with a hopeful resignation and a gossamer weaving of piano and organ. A love song that could only be the result of Peter Brown and Jack Bruce’s cosmic collaboration.

Side two coagulates into form with “Smiles and Grins,” a disorienting song that softly orbits a descending central riff that grits its teeth when the verses begin. Bruce’s bass takes the lead with demented probing, but is soon surrounded by chattering piano and detailed guitar additions. The most psychedelic song of the record, it sounds like its afraid of its own reflection while traveling through a room full of mirrors.

The second side of the record is an eccentric array of genre-less creativity. “Post War,” is almost rhythmless, a series of esoteric musical statements, many without resolution. “A Letter of Thanks,” is the type of song that Bruce made his name singing. A shifty R and B number, the song races with its foot on the break, is heavy without flaunting it and equates to an irregular but perfectly syncopated groove.

“Victora Sage,” starts as a trilled parlor number before becoming a delicately dreamy paean. Dare I say that the song recalls the heady days of paisley and Beatle melodies. The albums closer, “The Council at Sunset,” was released as a single from the record but didn’t made a dent on the hit parade. The song was inspired by the 1947 novel Under the Volcano and the island comes alive through alluring percussion and Spanish guitar interjections, but Bruce’s steamy multitracked vocals are where the real magic can be found.

The newly realized deluxe edition of Harmony Row by Cherry Red Records pulls together Jack Bruce’s singular musical vision from inception to fully realized performance. The depth of his talents and creative aspirations carefully documented for perpetuity. Demos, alternate versions, new mixes, and video footage assist in compiling a complete view of Bruce’s most fruitful era.