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''Songs for a Tailor'' is the 1969 solo studio album debut of musician, composer and singer Jack Bruce, who was already famous at the time of its release for his work with the supergroup Cream. Originally released on the Polydor label in Europe and on Atco Records in the U.S., ''Songs for a Tailor'' was the second solo album that Bruce recorded, though he did not release the first, ''Things We Like'', for another year. The album, which was titled in tribute to Cream's recently deceased clothing designer, displayed more of the musician's diverse influences than his compositions for Cream, though it did not chart as highly as his work with that band. Nevertheless, it was successful, reaching No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 55 on the Billboard "Pop Albums" chart. While it has not been universally critically well-received, with a negative review by ''Rolling Stone'' on its first release, it is generally acclaimed and is considered by many writers to be among Bruce's best albums. The literary lyrics by poet and songwriter Pete Brown have been particularly divisive, with one critic singling them out for praise while others have been more generally critical. Songs on the album include "Never Tell Your Mother She's Out of Tune", and "Theme for an Imaginary Western", which was covered famously by Leslie West's Mountain, and is featured in 2006's ''1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them''. ==Background== After performing with various blues bands in his youth, Bruce rose to prominence in the rock world as a member of influential rock band Cream. After the group disbanded in 1969, Bruce began releasing solo material. ''Songs for a Tailor'', released in September 1969, was Bruce's debut solo release, but chronologically his second solo album; ''Things We Like'', his first solo recording, was released a year later.〔 The album was titled in tribute to Jeannie Franklyn ("Genie the Tailor"), a clothing designer who designed wardrobes for Cream and was also the girlfriend of Fairport Convention guitarist Richard Thompson〔 (and, according to Bruce's 2010 biography ''Composing Himself'', an ex-lover of Bruce's). In 1969, Franklyn wrote Bruce a letter requesting that he "()ing some high notes for me," a letter that reached him on 14 May 1969, two days after she was killed in a motor vehicle accident in Fairport Convention's touring van.〔 Franklyn died—and Bruce received the letter from her—on his 26th birthday. A blues and jazz musician by background who had studied Bach and Scottish folk music as a child, Bruce produced a debut effort that was musically diverse.〔〔 ''Songs for a Tailor'' was described in ''Music Week'' on its 2003 reissue as "an impressive effort defying musical categorisation". Two of the songs—"Weird of Hermiston" and "The Clearout"—had originally been penned for possible inclusion on the 1967 Cream album ''Disraeli Gears''. However, the album was not simply a continuation of Bruce's material for Cream, but displayed more of the musician's diversity.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Songs for a Tailor」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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