All Heaven Broke Loose

Reissue of long out-of-print album by drummer Bill Bruford’s Earthworks. Arguably Earthworks Mark I’s most fully- realised studio release, even as it moves towards a more abstract aesthetic. Includes live performances of the African-influenced ‘Libreville’ and the more atmospheric ‘Pilgrim’s Way’, both originally released on Dig?, demonstrating how Earthworks was able to rework and open up the material in performance.

Their third album, All Heaven Broke Loose, was recorded in Germany in almost exactly the same one hundred hours, at the beginning of 1993, that it took the Allied Forces to defeat Iraq; the title is perhaps an optimistically ironic comment on that unhappy event. Despite its off-kilter approach to tunes that avoid conventional form, Bruford’s intrinsic time sense keeps things grounded throughout. Re-released on Bruford’s own Summerfold Records imprint.