Cloud About Mercury is the second album by guitarist David Torn

David Torn

David Torn is an American composer and guitarist.He is known for the organic blending/manipulation of electronic and acoustic instruments and performance techniques that have an atmospheric or textural quality and effect, along with a particular harmonic richness...

 recorded in 1986 and released on the ECM label.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Glenn Astarita awarded the album 5 stars stating "Simply put, Cloud About Mercury looms as one of the finest jazz fusion dates of the '80s, and should be deemed a mandatory purchase for aficionados of this genre".

Track listing

All compositions by David Torn except as indicated

1. "Suyafhu Skin.... Snapping the Hollow Reed" - 8:21
2. "The Mercury Grid" - 6:33
3. "3 Minutes of Pure Entertainment" - 7:10
4. "Previous Man" (Bill Bruford, Mark Isham, Tony Levin, David Torn) - 7:55
5. "Networks of Sparks: a) The Delicate Code" - 4:52
6. "Networks of Sparks: b) Egg Learns to Walk... Suyafhu Seal" (Bruford, Isham, Levin, Torn/Torn) - 10:25

Recorded at Audio International in London in March 1986

Personnel

• David Torn
  David Torn
  David Torn is an American composer and guitarist.He is known for the organic blending/manipulation of electronic and acoustic instruments and performance techniques that have an atmospheric or textural quality and effect, along with a particular harmonic richness...
  
   - electric guitar
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
  , acoustic guitar
  Acoustic guitar
  An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
  
  
• Mark Isham
  Mark Isham
  Mark Isham is an American trumpeter, synthesist, and film composer. He works in a variety of genres, including jazz, electronic, and film.-Life and career:...
  
   - trumpet
  Trumpet
  The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
  
  , piccolo trumpet
  Piccolo trumpet
  The smallest of the trumpet family is the piccolo trumpet, pitched one octave higher than the standard B trumpet. Most piccolo trumpets are built to play in either B or A, using a separate leadpipe for each key. The tubing in the B piccolo trumpet is one-half the length of that in a standard B...
  
  , flugelhorn
  Flugelhorn
  The flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the valve bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus...
  
  , synthesizer
  Synthesizer
  A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
  
  
• Tony Levin
  Tony Levin
  Tony Levin is an American progressive rock musician, specializing in bass guitar, Chapman stick and upright bass ....
  
   - Chapman stick
  Chapman Stick
  The Chapman Stick is an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. A member of the guitar family, the Chapman Stick usually has ten or twelve individually tuned strings and has been used on music recordings to play bass lines, melody lines, chords or textures...
  
  , synthesizer bass
• Bill Bruford
  Bill Bruford
  William Scott "Bill" Bruford is an English drummer, percussionist, composer, producer, and record label owner. He was the original drummer for the progressive rock group Yes, from 1968-1972. Bruford has performed for numerous popular acts since the early 1970s, including a stint as touring...
  
   - Simmons drums
  Simmons (electronic drum company)
  Simmons was a pioneering British manufacturer of electronic drums that supplied electronic kits from 1980 to 1994. The drums' distinctive, electronic sound can be found on countless albums from the 1980s....
  
  , synthesizer-drums
  Electronic drum
  An electronic drum is an electronic synthesizer which mimics an acoustic drum kit.The electronic drum usually consists of a set of pads mounted on a stand in a disposition similar to an acoustic drum kit. The pads are discs with a rubber or cloth-like coating. Each pad has a sensor which generates...
  
  , percussion