I cannot quite remember how this came about because it must be about 12 or 13 years ago. You remember the first Jack Bruce biography written by Steven Myatt? It came out in 2005 to coincide with the then Cream reunion concerts. It was called Jack (at the great mans insistence apparently) and wasnt a bad effort, but it did contain some errors and was a bit patchy in places. We really had to wait for Harry Shapiros 2010 magnum opus Composing Himself before the subject was really given the justice it deserved. But Steven Myatt should be praised for attempting to plug a gap on the music books racks, which by the turn of the century was quite embarrassingly and appallingly (IMHO) devoid of anything specifically about Jack Bruce. There were loads of books about Clapton and many about Cream - but absolutely nothing about the life and work of Bruce. That was an unforgivable situation and Myatt set out to rectify it. I must admit it was something I had always fancied doing myself one day, but I am happy that greater talents eventually addressed the subject in style. But a couple of years before the book was published, the intended publishers took soundings from the marketplace and one way they did this was to contact fans who had posted anything on the official web site guestbook. I had quite forgotten all about this until today. I was one of them and they rang me up and asked me my views and of course I was totally positive. For some reason that escapes me now I ended up in touch with Mr. Myatt and was of course very encouraging. All the emails are probably still on my old lap-top computer (which doesnt work too well these days). It was an interesting exercise as I offered some encouragement and suggestions. But this was before he had really written the bulk of it. Eventually he went off into hermit-like isolation somewhere in Ireland to complete the task. But before he did we did discuss the possible title of the book and what any cover might look like. I had a few ideas and sent them to him. Ultimately nothing came of this - and as I say the title became simply Jack and I lost touch with Steven. But I did of course get the book when it came out. Today I stumbled across the handful of designs I did for him. I really do not know if Jack ever saw them. I suspect not. But just for fun here are a few:
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 20:13:51 +0000