Album review : JACK BRUCE and FRIENDS – I’ve Always Wanted To Do This (5 CD boxset, remastered)

October 10th, 2026 by brianmc

Cherry Red [Release date : 16.09.26]

To begin with, never mind the classy songwriting and high calibre musicianship, I’ve Always Wanted To Do This was a smart piece of logistics and organisation… not very rock’n’roll, but important just the same.

Bruce assembled the band – Humble Pie guitarist Clem Clempson, jazz-funk drummer Billy Cobham and Springsteen keyboardist David Sancious – in the early months of 1980. “Hold Me Back” they shouted.

Quick learners all, there followed a short series of gigs at the Bottom End Club in New York in March that year, testing out Bruce’s new material, smoothing out the kinks, seeing what works, what doesn’t.

The results were then recorded by the band through the summer, culminating in a series of gigs throughout the USA and Europe in the winter, 1980 going into 1981.

Bruce and the band shook up the status quo, perhaps a musical reflection of the dire economic straits in which the UK and the USA found themselves at that time…both countries were enduring a period of profound economic difficulty and significant political change.

Where you might think this would lead to an album of downbeat blues, it instead was populated with songs that built bridges between rock, art pop, and blues, and songs that like to take a run at jazz now and again. Bruce knew that everybody was looking for a distraction.
Himself included . . . after an endless 2 year fallow period, his contract with the Robert Stigwood Organisation had just expired. He felt free again, and I’ve Always Wanted… was the result.

And so there’s a freedom to the music. The bulk of the songs were Bruce/Brown co-writes. (But quaintly, two of the ten songs were co-written with Gary Bell, writer of several Five Star hits. Who’d a thought it?)

Still, that strong foundational blues element in his music remained.

The standouts are many and varied. ‘Out To Lunch’ and ‘Living Without Ja’ are those of a bluesier hue.

Meantime, Cobham and Sanctious busy themselves behind Bruce’s always undervalued vocals, creating an enviable jazz funk chemistry on ‘Bird Alone’, and ‘Jet Set Jewel’, from the album that never was.

You can’t please everyone, but Bruce had a go by adding the commercial sound of ‘Facelift 318’ and ‘Running Back’s progressive pop.

A sympathetic remastering job adds clarity and depth.

The Live Concerts on CDs 4 and 5 are just brimming with brilliant performances. For completists, CDs 2 and 3 are illuminating. After years spent on the touring treadmill, but living through a frustrating lack of recording opportunities, Bruce finds fresh sense of purpose back in spotlight. You sense the band gathering momentum.

That momentum creates new life on CDs 3 and 4.

The band’s wonderfully loose and occasionally funky arrangements create enough moments of thrilling drama to give chills to anyone who simply appreciates great rock music.

By then, the set has become a series of tough, resilient songs, with as much going on in the shadows as there is in the light.

Performances that can withstand a bum note here and there…sometimes, in themselves, reinforcing that unmistakable ‘this is live’ experience.

Add to that the higher profile material from Bruce’s past. ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’, ‘White Room’ and ‘Politician’, three from the Cream era, all still sounding fresh in this demanding musical environment. A gig to remember.

Not forgetting a wonderful version of ‘Theme For An Imaginary Western’, arguably one of Brown/ Bruce’s most compelling compositions. *****

Review by Brian McGowan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

Josh now hosts “Taerk’s Tracks” as part of the Singer Songwriter Sunday sequence on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio.

This is the first show broadcast on 27 September. Josh presents some of his inspirational artists and tracks.

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 20 September 2026.

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Power Plays w/c 28 September 2026

HARDCORE SUPERSTAR – Halo (Frontiers)
THUNDERMOTHER Bimbo Boost (Napalm Records)
ELYSION Dead Loves (Massacre Records)
CHRIS JOHNSON & THE HOLLYWOOD HILLBILLIES Till The End Of Time (Rustbelt Electric)
LAKE Ordinary People (indie)
CRASHING WAYWARD Bullet For Heart (Golden Robot Records)
DEAD POET SOCIETY Miami For The Weekend (Spinefarm)

Featured Albums w/c 28 September 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

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