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Thread: Brand X Appreciation Thread

  1. #1

    Brand X Appreciation Thread

    My kid brother is a real prog and fusion freak but I could never get him to really get into Brand X whom I thought were far and away the best of that bunch. I mean, the Return to Forever stuff is good but, honestly, I find them a bit overrated. I don't hear Stanley Clarke do anything on bass that Percy Jones can't far more interestingly--frankly, I think Jones is far better. And when you have guys like Mike Clark, Frank Katz and Phil Collins playing drums for you, Lenny White comes across as trying too hard to be the best. And everybody talks about guys like Dimeola and John McLaughlin, who are very fine guitarists beyond all doubt, but where's the love for John Goodsall who is absolutely phenomenal (and an American--he's not British)? Is Chick Corea better than Robin Lumley? I don't know but I wouldn't necessarily put my money of Corea because Lumley kicks butt. Mingo Lewis was a great percussion man but is he that much better than Morris Pert? It just seems to me that among the fusion/prog jazz rock crowd, Brand X got ridiculously short shrift.





    Last edited by Speare-shaker; 02-15-2015 at 11:28 AM.

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  3. #3
    Member nosebone's Avatar
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    Apples and oranges .

    Brand X was a Brit rock band with jazz tendencies.

    R t F were jazz musicians playing with rock/funk.

    Imo, Chick Corea is by far, the most prolific and talented of the bunch.


    But I love em both!
    Last edited by nosebone; 02-15-2015 at 03:47 PM.
    no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone

  4. #4
    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    I love Brand X, but the guys you mention (Corea, Clarke, White, McLaughlin, Di Meola) are all phenomenal players and musicians IMO. RTF is one of my favourite bands of all time.
    Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.

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    Member dropforge's Avatar
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    I never thought I'd read a post that seeks to downplay the capabilities of guys like Corea, Clarke, White and Lewis in order to pump up the players in Brand X. Pointless. Phenomenal talent is in abundance in both camps. They have different styles (see Nosebone's remarks). I agree, Jones and Lumley—and yes, Collins—are awesome. Enjoy the music!

  6. #6
    Member BobM's Avatar
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    Good to see a thread on these guys here. It's pretty easy to have a complete Brand X collection. They didn't produce all that much while they were together and they are all worth owning, except maybe Do They Hurt and Is There Anything About.
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  7. #7
    I have Do They Hurt, Masques, Manifest Destiny, Moroccan Roll, Product, Unorthodox Behavior and Xcommunication. I also have Marscape which may as well be a Brand X project since it has the same people. I have two Percy Jones releases--Cape Catastrophe and Percy Jones With Tunnels. These have Frank Katz on drums who played on Xcommunication.

  8. #8
    Here's Phil Collins and Percy Jones jamming with Eno:


  9. #9
    Member nosebone's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BobM View Post
    Good to see a thread on these guys here. It's pretty easy to have a complete Brand X collection. They didn't produce all that much while they were together and they are all worth owning, except maybe Do They Hurt and Is There Anything About.
    ?

    Do They Hurt has some great stuff on it.

    Fragile is amazing:

    no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone

  10. #10
    Just picked up the 4-disc box set Nuclear Burn the other day. Only gotten through the first disc so far, but it is quite nice! Can't believe I never listened to these guys before now, especially considering Phil Collins was a member.

  11. #11
    Member Sputnik's Avatar
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    I have Unorthodox Behaviour, Moroccan Roll and Masques. My favorite by far is Masques. I love some of the stuff on the other two albums, but I find they diddle around a lot without accomplishing much as well. Masques is more consistently interesting to my ears. Percy is definitely a monster, probably my favorite thing about the band.

    I've considered picking up Product and Do They Hurt. I get a sense these are sort of a mixed bag so I've never pulled the trigger. I'll sample them a bit at some point and see, starting with the track Chris posted above.

    Bill

  12. #12
    Love both bands for the excellent compositions and great playing. And I love the way the drummers sound in these bands, as well as Mahavishnu. And records such as Unorthodox Behaviour, and Romantic Warrior sound great at 40 years old. As far as guitar playing goes, Goodsall and Di Meola both have great time and chops, but Goodsall can sustain a more interesting solo over several bars. And they could all write and play chops busting tunes with some good melodies.

  13. #13
    Member Since: 3/27/2002 MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER's Avatar
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    I love Brand X but perspective is important. Brand X were trying hard to do what had already been done by Mahavishnu, RTF, 11th House and a host of other Prog artists of the Fusion variety. They by no means eclipsed what came before. But I like them nonetheless
    Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?

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    Brand X may be long gone, but if you like their style, do have a lsiten to Prescott - bassist Kev Hopper was originally inspired to form a band after seeing Brand X live. https://prescott.bandcamp.com/track/reversal
    and here in rehearsal

  15. #15
    Enjoyed that. Has a Dave Stewart/National Health vibe to it. I recognized the keyboard player straight away - currently in Scritti Politti (touring) and writes a column about new tech and gadgets in Prog magazine.

  16. #16
    Marscape,s/t album features Lumley,Goodsall,Jones and P.C. is an interesting album recorded with Jack Lancaster,and very reminiscent of Brand X!

  17. #17
    Member nosebone's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sputnik View Post
    I have Unorthodox Behaviour, Moroccan Roll and Masques. My favorite by far is Masques. I love some of the stuff on the other two albums, but I find they diddle around a lot without accomplishing much as well. Masques is more consistently interesting to my ears. Percy is definitely a monster, probably my favorite thing about the band.
    Bill
    Masques is Brand X masterpiece imo.
    no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone

  18. #18
    Anybody heard the Fire Merchants re-issue w/ bonus tracks?

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by KELLY WELSH View Post
    Marscape,s/t album features Lumley,Goodsall,Jones and P.C. is an interesting album recorded with Jack Lancaster,and very reminiscent of Brand X!
    And features Percy Jones playing a bit of double bass!

    Btw, I wasn't really trying to compare Brand X to RTF, but was concerned why so many who rave about RTF and fusion or jazz-rock in general don't even mention Brand X. Personally, I liked Weather Report way more than RTF. I just feel Brand X should always be mentioned in that company because they certainly demonstrated the chops for it.

  20. #20
    Parrots Ripped My Flesh Dave (in MA)'s Avatar
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    Nothing against RTF but I buy anything Brand X related and pretty much any WR stuff, but my RTF collection is I think 1 CD and 1 LP.

  21. #21
    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Speare-shaker View Post
    I wasn't really trying to compare Brand X to RTF, but was concerned why so many who rave about RTF and fusion or jazz-rock in general don't even mention Brand X.
    Well I don't know who you've been talking to, but my experience is that Brand X is brought up very often when discussing fusion/jazz-rock. By myself and many others.

    If you like both RTF *and* Brand X, you're golden. No need to worry about why the percentage of people who prefer one band isn't a different number.
    Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.

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  22. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by alanterrill View Post
    Brand X may be long gone, but if you like their style, do have a lsiten to Prescott - bassist Kev Hopper was originally inspired to form a band after seeing Brand X live. https://prescott.bandcamp.com/track/reversal
    and here in rehearsal
    They sound way more Medeski, Martin & Wood to me than they do Brand X.

  23. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by Progatron View Post
    Well I don't know who you've been talking to, but my experience is that Brand X is brought up very often when discussing fusion/jazz-rock. By myself and many others.

    If you like both RTF *and* Brand X, you're golden. No need to worry about why the percentage of people who prefer one band isn't a different number.
    Well...I may as well say it...RTF's adulation of L. Ron Hubbard taints them for me. I can't listen Romantic Warrior because they wrote it for him. That ruins it for me. That they would waste their talents on that POS.

  24. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Dave (in MA) View Post
    Nothing against RTF but I buy anything Brand X related and pretty much any WR stuff, but my RTF collection is I think 1 CD and 1 LP.
    Same here. I have one RTF CD--Warrior--it was in a discount bin and which I never listen to.

  25. #25
    Member Since: 3/27/2002 MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Speare-shaker View Post
    I wasn't really trying to compare Brand X to RTF, but was concerned why so many who rave about RTF and fusion or jazz-rock in general don't even mention Brand X.
    but if you're going to mention Brand X, then Tribal Tech and all others who came late to the party should also be mentioned. Perhaps people who speak of the Prog Fusion of the early 70s don't mention Brand X because they didn't exists in the first few years.

    As I stated earlier, I like Brand X, but they came after the innovators and progenitors of the style

    As for Weather Report; I hafta be in the mood for Jazz cause if it don't Rock it usually doesn't excite my senses and WR don't Rock
    Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?

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