Truce

Recorded in two days of intense sessions with Robin Trower (with Reg Isidore on the drums), Jack Bruce revels in the blues across the material on Truce while freely ranging over a musical landscape that encompasses both hard rock and elements of progressive rock (and even funk and soul), without ever losing focus (which has sometimes tended to happen with his solo projects). And in the process, the sheer virtuosity of all concerned was showcased with laser-like precision. Bruce's playing and singing are beautifully showcased, in some of the best stripped-down musical settings he'd had to work with since his days with Cream — this is just a killer showcase for both of the featured players, and Reg Isidore, even if he's no Ginger Baker, acquits himself beautifully on numbers such as "Thin Ice" and "Last Train to the Stars." Trower's playing is a good match for Bruce's, and his presence seems to lend some restraint to Bruce's excursive tendencies, which have sometimes rendered his solo projects less than fully accessible. This is the kind of record that ought to have been on the to-buy list of any fans of Cream, Procol Harum, or most any of the early metal bands of the '70s (e.g., Mountain).