{"id":643595,"date":"2026-06-17T13:43:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T13:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/643595\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T13:43:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T13:43:20","slug":"i-feel-free-esoteric-collects-jack-bruce-albums-concerts-on-halfway-to-the-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/643595\/","title":{"rendered":"I Feel Free: Esoteric Collects Jack Bruce Albums, Concerts on “Halfway to the Stars”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\"Jack<\/a>BUY NOW FROM AMAZON.COM<\/p>\n

The recording career of the late Jack Bruce (1943-2014) spanned the 1960s through the 2010s, encompassing tenures in the Graham Bond Organisation, John Mayall\u2019s Bluesbreakers, Manfred Mann, West, Bruce and Laing, and, of course, Cream (among other bands).\u00a0 Between 1969 and 2014, Bruce released fourteen solo studio albums as well as numerous live sets, videos, and compilations.\u00a0 Now, Cherry Red\u2019s Esoteric Recordings imprint has recently bundled two studio albums and two live sets from the turn of the (new) century as Halfway to the Stars: The Recordings 2001-2003.<\/p>\n

The bassist\/singer\/songwriter\/multi-instrumentalist was known for his versatility; over the years, he played with such talents as Alexis Korner, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Lou Reed, John McLaughlin, Robin Trower, Allan Holdsworth, Mose Allison, Leslie West, and Bill Ward.\u00a0 As the 2000s began, Bruce was already a \u201cgrand old man\u201d of classic rock, but still looking to incorporate new textures and sounds into his music.\u00a0 His jazz and blues roots were expanded by an immersion into the sounds of Latin America which manifested itself on his first album of the new millennium.\u00a0 2001\u2019s Shadows in the Air opens Esoteric\u2019s box set, a vibrant victory lap for Bruce including guest spots from Dr. John, Gary Moore, Vernon Reid, and Bruce\u2019s old Cream bandmate, Eric Clapton.<\/p>\n

Afro-Cuban rhythms propelled the album which was adorned with horns, strings, and woodwinds.\u00a0 Bruce reunited with Clapton to successfully reinvent the Cream classics \u201cWhite Room\u201d and \u201cSunshine of Your Love,\u201d and the album also featured remakes of past Bruce solo works \u201cBoston Ball Game 1967\u201d and \u201cHe the Richmond\u201d along with West, Bruce and Laing\u2019s \u201cWhy Don\u2019tcha\u201d as \u201cOut Into the Fields.\u201d (All were co-written with Bruce\u2019s frequent lyrical collaborator, Pete Brown.) \u00a0A marriage of blues-rock, jazz, and Latin rhythms, Shadows in the Air inspired Bruce to take its songs out onto the road.<\/p>\n

Halfway to the Stars includes the 2010 release Live at the Milky Way on two discs, preserving Bruce and the Cuicoland Express\u2019 performance of October 20, 2001 in Amsterdam in which Bruce and the band reprised album tracks along with two additional Cream cuts, \u201cPolitician\u201d and \u201cWe\u2019re Going Wrong.\u201d\u00a0 The group\u2019s 2002 concert Live at the Canterbury Fayre is also featured on the new box set in video form on region-free Blu-ray.\u00a0 The collection is rounded out by Bruce\u2019s 2003 album More Jack Than God.\u00a0 Godfrey Townsend (later to join The Yardbirds) joined Bruce\u2019s band on acoustic guitar.\u00a0 Though working with a smaller group this time around, Bruce was comfortable enough to reimagine and reinterpret the songs of Cream, performing \u201cPolitician\u201d and \u201cWe\u2019re Going Wrong\u201d in the studio along with \u201cI Feel Free.\u201d \u00a0In addition to his songs with Pete Brown, Bruce supplied melodies to Kip Hanrahan\u2019s lyrics for compositions including \u201cCold Island,\u201d a moving tribute to drummer Cozy Powell.<\/p>\n

Jack Bruce would continue to write and record; his final studio album, Silver Rails, arrived on Esoteric in 2014.\u00a0 Along the way, he reunited with Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker as Cream for a remarkable string of shows in 2005 which were also captured on disc and video.\u00a0 The albums contained in Halfway to the Stars represent an often-overlooked but still worthwhile period in his discography.\u00a0 The set is housed in a clamshell case with a 24-page booklet boasting new liner notes by Paul Sexton drawing on his past interviews with Bruce.\u00a0 Ben Wiseman has mastered the collection.<\/p>\n

Halfway to the Stars: The Recordings 2001-2003 is out now from Cherry Red and Esoteric at the links below.\u00a0 (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.)<\/p>\n

Jack Bruce, Halfway to the Stars: The Recordings 2001-2003 (Cherry Red\/Esoteric ECLEC52938, 2026) (Amazon U.S.<\/a> \/ Amazon U.K.<\/a> \/ Amazon Canada<\/a>)<\/p>\n

CD 1: Shadows in the Air (Sanctuary CD SANCD084, 2001)<\/p>\n

Out Into the Fields
\n52nd Street
\nHeart Quake
\nBoston Ball Game 1967
\nThe Anger\u2019s a Liar
\nSunshine of Your Love
\nDirections Home (For Tony Williams and Larry Young)
\nMilonga
\nDancing on Air
\nWindowless Rooms
\nDark Heart
\nFlesh
\nHe the Richmond
\nWhite Room
\nSurge<\/p>\n

CD 2: More Jack Than God (Sanctuary SANCD211, 2003)<\/p>\n

So They Invented Race
\nFollow the Fire
\nKelly\u2019s Blues
\nWe\u2019re Going Wrong
\nBizniz
\nProgress
\nI Feel Free
\nRicin (Daylight Gathering)
\nThe Night That Once Was Mine
\nMilonga Too
\nCold Island (For Cozy Powell)
\nUh, Oh!
\nPolitician
\nLost in the City (Jam Mix)<\/p>\n

CD 3: Live at the Milky Way 2001 (Part I) (Flaccid Parrot FPRCD1, 2010)<\/p>\n

Surge
\nOut Into the Fields
\n52nd Street
\nHeart Quake
\nThis Anger\u2019s a Liar
\nSunshine of Your Love
\nMilonga<\/p>\n

CD 4: Live at the Milky Way (Part II) (Flaccid Parrot FPRCD1, 2010)<\/p>\n

Windowless Rooms
\nDark Heart
\nWhite Room
\nWe\u2019re Going Wrong\/Politician
\n52nd Street (Encore)<\/p>\n

Blu-ray Video Disc: Live at the Canterbury Fayre 24 August 2002 (Classic Rock Legends CRP1036, 2003)<\/p>\n

Surge
\nSunshine of Your Love
\n52nd Street
\nThis Anger\u2019s a Liar
\nTheme for an Imaginary Western
\nMilonga
\nWindowless Rooms
\nDark Heart
\nWhite Room
\nPolitician<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUY NOW FROM AMAZON.COM The recording career of the late Jack Bruce (1943-2014) spanned the 1960s through the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-643595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}