DO THEY HURT?

2.5 stars really.

This album is a bit the direct continuation of the preceding Product, with the same participants but in varying degrees of involvement. While the artwork is semi-funny - a bloated crocodile represents the record companies and the "victim" is carrying an alligator skin purse on the back cover. As usual these guys are playing their virtuosic selves away, this time not even worrying whether someone is still listening. One thing is quite shocking though, Collins' simplified drumming is actually stunningly detestable on the track he plays on, and to be truthful Clarke's is not much different (DMZ)

Right from the opening notes of the ultra-funky Noddy Goes To Sweden's jazz-funk, one can feel that this is going to be a difficult task to sit through the album's entirety, Not only is the drumming and rhythmic pattern of Noddy are irritating, but the track is plagued by spoken words in the background. And it gets quickly even worse as the following Act Of Will is a pop tune with vocoderized vocals (not Phil's apparently). Between these two is the aptly-titled Void-arama is a fairly boring piece from Goodsall, a fairly repetitive guitar-dominated tune. The Fragile track is probably the real start of the album as we finally find what makes the group's identity. A long slow track filled with their usual clichés but it's probably as good as BX gets on this side of the vinyl.. Cambodia is a short sweet track that sounds nothing like the country it's named after, but Goodsall's guitar is all over the track. Triumphant Limp is another slow-paced track, where the band is free to jam

This one is not that bad as I make it out to be, but everything they had to say had been said a long time ago. Just another half-baked croissant like Product or Masques, thus making Brand X no better than Brand MO, Brand RTF, Brand WR or Brand EH. But otherwise the redundancy factor is striking making me redundant my reviews. I hate that!!!!

Sometimes titles can tell you a lot. I'm sure, given the turbuilent shifting landscape of the music biz when this album was cut, the guys in Brand-X must've been feeling some pain. Not wanting to throw away everything that made them unique, they gave it one last try. The results, mostly good actually, a bit more even than "Product" but not quite at the level of "Moroccan Roll" or "Masques" either. They open with the alternately frantic and robotically grooving "Noddy Goes to Sweden". "Voidarama" is a nicely constructed melodic and funky fusion tune with Phil Collins actually playing some good stuff (amazing considering how much his drumming was dumbing down exponentially by this point). "Act of Will" was completely uncalled for, a very bad rock/pop tune with a completely unintelligible vocoderized vocal by John Goodsall. However, the remaining tracks try their darndest to make you forget about that aberration. "The Mahavishnu Orchestra influenced "Cambodia" and "Triumphant Limp" do this most successfully. Definitely worth having for these gems, just skip "Act of Will" altogether.

Another classic regarding such an experimental Fusion, one of the best references for some US bands like TUNNELS, nowadays!! Godsall and Jones, above all, are inspiring musicians here, despite of being a bit cold in some circumstances only... I can suggest this work to their new listeners and regarding of every decent fusion discography!!

Conventional very good fusion. Even funny. Compared to "Unorthodox Behaviour" and "Moroccan Roll", the compositions here are a bit more diluted: the tracks are less loaded, although there are bits where the bass and drums are complex and fast. The rythmic electric guitar is slightly razor. There are less solos than on the previous albums. The keyboards have the typical modern fusion sound. Phil COLLINS, on drums, is very good but his '76 peak is passed, so he took it easier here.

"Cambodia" is probably the track that got my attention the first time I played this album. It has a very nuanced style through the sound creation the track produces. The other track that also attract me is "D.M.Z.". Musically, the band had tried to maintain their composition through the mix of heavier elements from jazz and rock. On musicianship I can hear how John Goodsall (guitar) had perfected his guitar-playing mode. Phil Collins drumming only share two tracks while major portion of drum isperformed by Michael Clarke. Am quite happy with the facts that Percy Jones plays more bass guitar than John Giblin. I personally prefer Percy Jones bass playing style than John Giblin because his style fits the music of Brand X really well. John Giblin whom I knew well through his contribution with Peter Gabriel. Giblin's style is more suitable with Peter Gabriel music, I think. Robun Lumley plays keyboard more than Peter Robinson.

I personally enjoy this album even though I prefer their "Morrocan Roll" album. Yes, it's an excellent addition to any prog music especially in the vein of jazz rock fusion . Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Mostly for fans this time around as this is basically a collection of tracks that didn't make it to the "Product" album the year before. Still some really good material here but without the usual fire that made 'Moroccan Roll' and 'Unorthodox Behaviour' so spectacular. Phil Collins is only present on a couple of tracks here though Mike Clarke rocks these tracks like no other (as usual), and Percy Jones is at his fretless best. Highlight's include "Voidorama" and "Triumphant Limp", two classic Brand X tunes. Still not an essential album by any means unless you want more from this band. 3.5/5

By the time of relase of this album Brand X certainly had passed already their pinnacle which had been with their first two releases. Nonetheless the clearly better second half of this disk saves it from being considered completely redundant. First two tracks are more or less just quite pleasant but rather boring and ordinary jazz fusion and "Act of Will" is at least for me the worst and most horrible one featuring some awful vocoded vocals. Things start to get slowly better with "Fragile!" and the following guitar-orientated is the (only?) highlight of this rather mediocre (compared to earlier ones) album. Last two tracks are quite good jazz-rock but of course not to be compared with works by Mahavishnu, RTF, Soft Machine or Nucleus. This record had been for sure not an essential one anymore by this group but still slightly better than the previous one although Collins contributed here only 2 of the 7 tracks. Still good for 3 stars I would say!

No, they don't hurt at all.

This is one of the better Brand X albums. Why? Well, first of all, and probably mainly, there is an appearance by Phil Collins the drummer on two of the tracks. Phil Collins the drummer is an excellent musician. Luckily, there is no sign of Phil Collins the singer. When Phil Collins the singer shows up on a Brand X recording, he seems to be unaware that Brand X is a fusion band, and not a pop combo.

Actually, this is an album by two different lineups of Brand X. Five tracks feature John Goodsall on guitar, the always amazing Percy Jones on bass, Peter Robinson on keyboards and Mike Clarke on drums. The other two tracks have John Giblin on bass instead of Jones, Phil Collins on Drums instead of Clarke, and Robin Lumley added as a second keyboardist.

Both lineups perform spectacularly on this album. The music is exceptional fusion. I wouldn't quite put it at the level of the best Mahavishnu Orchestra, or Return To Forever, but it is very close.

And one thing that shouldn't be missed are the liner notes by Monty Python's Michael Palin.

Do they hurt from 1980 was in Brand X career their final let's say good record, even has some memorable and quite mediocre arrangements in same time. I personaly like this album, of course not as much as thir first two excellent works, but this is a decent album in my view. The album sounds from great to ordinary jazz fusion, but as always the musicianship is top notch. The highlight is for sure Triumphant Limp and ending track. Not much to say, just the peak of the career is already gone by this time , and they struggle to remain in attention. Not a bad album for sure, but not an excellent one aswell. I like it 3.5 stars.