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.
Bookmarks