How's Tricks

How's Tricks is the fifth studio album by Scottish musician Jack Bruce, released in 1977 through RSO Records.[3][5] It is credited to "The Jack Bruce Band".

How's Tricks
Studio album by
Jack Bruce
Released1977
RecordedOctober - December 1976, Manor Studios
GenreRock, jazz-rock, blues-rock
Length42:18 (initial release),
52:00 (2003 reissue)
LabelRSO
ProducerBill Halverson[1]
Jack Bruce chronology
Out of the Storm
(1974)		 How's Tricks
(1977)		 Jet Set Jewel
(1978)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide[1]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[4]

The album peaked at No. 153 on the Billboard album chart in May 1977.[6] It would be Bruce's last album released under Robert Stigwood's management (and, consequently, his last for RSO); although the Jack Bruce Band would remain under contract with Stigwood for another year, the band's 1978 album Jet Set Jewel was rejected by Stigwood and RSO as not commercially viable, with the band subsequently dropped from the label. Bruce's leaving Stigwood/RSO ended a fifteen-year affiliation that began in 1963 when Bruce joined the Graham Bond Organisation.

Critical reception

MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide deemed the album "an uninspired set of 10 lackluster tunes."[1] The Rolling Stone Album Guide called it "a journeyman effort hardly worth dredging up."[4]

Track listing
  1. "Without a Word" (Jack Bruce, Pete Brown) - 5:26
  2. "Johnny B'77" (Jack Bruce, Pete Brown) - 3:23
  3. "Times" (Jack Bruce, Pete Brown, Hughie Burns) - 4:49
  4. "Baby Jane" (Hughie Burns) - 2:37
  5. "Lost Inside a Song" (Jack Bruce, Pete Brown, Hughie Burns) - 4:04
  6. "How's Tricks" (Jack Bruce, Pete Brown) - 4:12
  7. "Madhouse" (Jack Bruce, Pete Brown) - 3:45
  8. "Waiting for the Call" (Jack Bruce, Pete Brown) - 5:48
  9. "Outsiders" (Jack Bruce, Pete Brown) - 2:57
  10. "Something to Live For" (Tony Hymas, Pete Brown) - 5:19

2003 CD bonus tracks
  1. "Without a Word" (alternate version) (Jack Bruce, Pete Brown) - 5:50
  2. "Something to Live For" (alternate version) (Tony Hymas, Pete Brown) - 3:52

Personnel
  • Jack Bruce - vocals, bass, harmonica
  • Hughie Burns - guitars, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Baby Jane"
  • Tony Hymas - keyboards, vibraphone, backing vocals
  • Simon Phillips - drums, glockenspiel, backing vocals

References
  1. MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 166.
  2. Viglione, Joe. "How's Tricks - Jack Bruce | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  3. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 2. MUZE. p. 21.
  4. The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 92.
  5. KRAMPERT, PETER (23 March 2016). The Encyclopedia of the Harmonica. Mel Bay Publications. ISBN 9781619115774 – via Google Books.
  6. "Jack Bruce". Billboard.


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