"One Of A Kind" is a 1979 album by the band Bruford, which features Allan on guitar throughout. He also contributed a composition. In contrast to the first Bruford record, this is a real band effort, with the arrangements worked out collectively, although Bill is the unquestionable leader, writing most of the material. The album features the same core band as the first, but sounds tighter and a little more organic. Allan is featured plenty, playing melody lines and solos, and has a composition, “The Abingdon Chasp”, with some majestic multitracked guitar parts, and even a short acoustic interlude. The album as of 2023 is available in the original mix, as well as a remix done in the 2000s. The consensus among Allan's fans seems to be that the original mix is the best one.

Track listing

Bruford: One Of A Kind (D) (YT)
No.	Track title	Composer	Length	Comments
1	"Hell's Bells"	Stewart, Alan Gowen	3:32
2	"One of a Kind, Pt. 1"	Bruford	2:20	Guitar solo 0.41-1.23
3	"One of a Kind, Pt. 2"	Bruford, Stewart	4:00	Guitar solo 0.48-2.34
4	"Travels with Myself – And Someone Else"	Bruford	6:10	Guitar solo 5.00-6.10
5	"Fainting in Coils"	Bruford	6:33	Guitar solos 1.06-1.46, 3.25-4.36
6	"Five G"	Berlin, Bruford, Stewart	4:41	Guitar solos throughout
7	"The Abingdon Chasp"	Holdsworth	4:50	Guitar solos throughout
8	"Forever Until Sunday"	Bruford	5:46
9	"The Sahara of Snow, Pt. 1"	Bruford	5:18
10	"The Sahara of Snow, Pt. 2"	Bruford, Eddie Jobson	3:23

Summary of quotes on "One Of A Kind"

Allan Holdsworth played with Bill Bruford after being asked to contribute to Bruford's albums "Feels Good To Me" and "One Of A Kind." He grew tired of repetitive solos in U.K. and struggled with declining interest. When Bruford invited him to work on "One Of A Kind," he expected improvements, but issues persisted, prompting his departure. For the recording of "One Of A Kind," Holdsworth used a single 50-watt Marshall and two 4x12 cabinets. Recording engineer Stephen Tayler noted Holdsworth's critical and self-critical nature during the recording process. [This summary was written by ChatGPT in 2023 based on the quotes below.]

Quotes on "One Of A Kind"

Allan Holdsworth (Guitar Player 1980)

How did you happen to play with Bill Bruford?  Bill asked me if I would play on his album, Feels Good To Me. Afterwards, I started to really get sick of soloing. I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I just killed myself with alcohol. When Bill asked me to work on his second album, One Of A Kind, I expected things to be different, especially since he had Jeff Berlin on bass. Jeff’s a very good player.

Didn’t you feel that your declining interest would be detrimental to the group?  Well, some musicians are very efficient in that they can wade through things and not get upset. Unfortunately, I can’t do that. As soon as something like that starts to affect me, I lose all heart. And once I’ve lost the heart of it, I don’t even try anymore. It’s wrong; it’s a bad thing. But because I just couldn’t fight it, I left. I started complaining a lot and as a result, on Bill’s One Of A Kind I was able to play quite a few of the solos live. I really liked the solo at the end of "In Five G."

Allan Holdsworth Remembers:"In The Dead Of Night" (Guitar and guitar shop 1999)

But as Holdsworth remembers, his gear for the recording of that album and its groundbreaking solo is somewhat pared down compared to the equipment he uses today. "I was using only a single 50-watt Marshall and two 4xl2 cabinets," he mused. "Occasionally, I used a Vox AC30, but not on the UK album-1 used that on Bill’s record, One Of A Kind.

The Man Who Changed Guitar Forever (Guitar Player 2008)

Upon exiting U.K. in 1979, Holdsworth and Bruford resumed working together for a few months, performing live (Bruford’s BBC: Rock Goes to College provides a taste, and showcases the guitarist’s improvisational prowess), and recording Bruford’s One Of A Kind.

Stephen Tayler on recording "One Of A Kind"

In the August 2021 issue of Vintage Guitar Magazine, recording engineer Stephen Tayler reminisces about the recording of "One Of A Kind":

"Allan was quite the character,” Tayler remembers. “I first experienced his work on the Gong album Gazeuse, which I mixed, then I worked with him on Feels Good to Me and the U.K. album. He was extremely focused and critical of his contribution, but very insecure about his playing, and never that happy about a performance. He wanted to keep doing things over, so we had to encourage him and finally tell him we'd captured it!”

“For overdubs, we started to have Allan play in the control room while feeding his signal to the studio floor. I usually recorded one microphone close to his cabinet, then I'd set up another at some distance to pick up the room sound to a separate track so I could create a balance. I remember recording Allan playing his Strat in the control room as we monitored really loudly so he could control tone and feedback.”

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