Get it on with Bruton!

I didn't know how and where to begin when I decided to explore the Bruton label. But as a good point of departure I found a place with links to a heap of ripped mp3 albums. The cache I downloaded contained 115 Bruton albums, and I went through all of them in my everlasting search for good library tunes. I soon discovered that albums with certain letter code prefixes contained rather good, accessible and groovy music that appealed to me. The best tunes were on the BRD, BRG and BRH series. So I started buying these and many other Bruton LPs on Discogs and ripped them. On the back covers Bruton had written some clues to the musical moods. BRD = Leisure, Pastoral, Nature, Tenderness, Romance. BRG = Happy, Bright, Open Air, Sport. BRH = Contemporary, Pop, Rock. With a little experience of the library music field, you'll be more or less able to guess what to expect from these clues. But the old saying "never buy a library album unheard" is just as appropriate here as anywhere else. There were lots of hits and misses, since I couldn't find mp3s to preview them all.

I would say that 90 % of the Bruton stuff is hard to listen to with any pleasure. Much of the music is marred by bad use of the synthesizers they had a available around 1980. It sounded cool then, of course, but not nowadays. (I'm aware that some would disagree.) Of the remaining 10 % there are quite a few outstanding library tracks, especially in the funk department, with driving rhythms and great precision playing. Other stuff is just tiresome jingles and some are boring orchestral easy listening tunes or dull, ambient sounds. But if you search through the "production music" dross, you'll find some real treasure and pearls. That's what I've tried to do with these two collections: to pick out the good tunes.   

Almost all the British library giants composed for Bruton. Steve Gray, Brian Bennett (once the drummer in the Shadows), Alan Hawkshaw, Francis Monkman (better known from the group Sky), Johnny Pearson, David Snell (harpist extraordinaire with a knack for crime funk), Frank Ricotti (vibraphone man and percussionist on countless jazz and pop albums), Dave Gold, Frank McDonald & Chris Rae (usually to be found on the De Wolfe label), David Lindup (big band leader), Keith Mansfield, James Clarke, Chris Gunning (composer of the famous "Poirot Theme"), John Cameron, Sam Sklair, Nick Ingman… All well-known names.

I have planned three more Bruton compilations at the moment. They will contain music from the BRD, BRJ, BRK, BRL and BRS series. I will announce them here whenever they're ready. The BRD will be completely different from the two presented here, which has certain characteristics in common and belong together as a perfect pair. There are still some goodies left from the BRG and BRH series which didn't fit in. They will appear on later comps. The folder also includes some essential information about the Bruton label, culled from a Bruton CD comp on Vocalion from 2015.