MOROCCAN ROLL

I'm a big fan of Phil Collins drumming because his style was really terrific in early albums of Genesis. That was the reason why I had this album in my collection. The first time I listened to it, I was surprised the kind of music was completely different than Genesis. At that time I had no information about who and what BRAND X was all about - no internet, no prog magazine, nothing. The only thing I knew was Phil Collins and I expected something like Genesis. The music of BRAND X reminded me of the music of bands like Return To Forever (Chick Corea), Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra (John McLaughlin) or early albums of Al Di Meola (Land of the Midnight Sun, Elegant Gypsy, Splendido Hotel). So, I dropped my imagination about Genesis, and I just enjoyed the music .."boom!" it's an excellent music man!

The album starts off with an eastern nuance music with great vocals with "Sun In The Night" (4:25). The sitar work by John Goodsall will remind you immediately to the work of Ravi Shankar. It's a very rewarding track. "Why Should I Lend You Mine (When You Have Broken Off Already)" (11:16) begins in an ambient style with keyboard work combined with improvised bass lines. Drum enters in crescendo and the style reminds me of Bill Bruford's. Guitar enters nicely and performs its sol augmented with great combination of keyboard improvisation and dynamic drum. Wow! I have to admit the virtuosities of all musicians here - they all play wonderfully! "Maybe I'll Lend You Mine After All" (2:10) is a logical continuation of previous track. It's a slow track exploring bass guitar, chanting vocals, keyboards / piano and Morris Pert's percussion work.

"Hate Zone" (4:41) starts off with dynamic drumming followed with a stream of music produced from bass guitar, stunning keyboard solo and percussive. It's one of my favorites - because the music is energetic and beautifully composed. Guitar solo is stunning and it reminds me to the work of John McLaughlin or Gary Boyle. The combination of percussive, solid bass lines and improvised keyboard / synthesizer produces a segment with eastern nuance. "Collapsar" (1:35) is a mellow track containing exploration of keyboards and its sound effects that projects a spacey nuance."Disco Suicide" (7:55) starts off with great bass work followed with medium/fast tempo music with wonderful combination of keyboard, guitar and drum. The piano solo is stunning. The music style changes from medium to fast and slow tempo with variations in solo (piano and guitar).

It flows nicely to another excellent track "Orbits" (1:38), continued with "Malaga Virgin" (8:28) - a wonderful track with jazz-rock improvisation music featuring great guitar solo, inventive bass lines, dynamic drumming and stunning keyboard. In "Malaga Virgin" Percy Jones performs his skillful bass guitar work, augmented with sitar and percussive. It's really a great track . "Macrocosm" (7:24) is an energetic jazz-rock fusion music in the vein of Return To Forever featuring fantastic interplay between Goodsall guitar work and Robin Lumley's keyboard. This kind of music that reminds me to the interplay of Al Di Meola with Chick Corea in Return To Forever. An excellent track. The drum work by Phil Collins is also terrific, augmented with Percy Jones inventive bass lines.

. For those of you who love jazz-rock fusion music, this album is highly recommended. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW