Bruford - 5G (Rock Goes To College, March 17th, 1979)

As I recall, 5G was bassist Jeff Berlin’s apartment number when he was a student at Berklee School of Music in Boston MA, but you’d better check with him on that. Anyway, he decided to fix it as the title to this bass feature. I was going to say there is not much more to the piece than the powerful riff, but on re-listening there are some nice (chord) changes to play over in between all that riffage, and a decent half time transition at 3’.17“, before more volcanic bass mayhem. Nobody in Oxford, England, in 1979, had ever heard bass slapping at all, let alone anything like that. The title was played as the encore, that part of the evening when audience and band relax as one. I don’t have to spend any more time with the inevitable questions running through my head: What if the gig doesn’t work? What if two band members take an intense dislike to each other? What if the audience is too small and we’re losing money? What if people walk out? All these concerns evaporate as you acknowledge applause from a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand smiling faces, and that’s the real reward, really. It’s the moment to savour. For inveterate performers, such as I was once, everything else is just leading up to that moment, or leading away from it. Bill Bruford - Drums Dave Stewart - Keyboards Allan Holdsworth - Guitar Jeff Berlin - Bass Audio and video have both been sourced and restored from the original broadcast master. Footage licensed from BBC Studios Distribution. All rights reserved. Remember to subscribe: #BillBruford #Earthworks