|
| Walhello -> Knowledge Base -> CDs -> B -> Brand X Product |
| Brand X - Product Band: Brand X Tracks: - Don't Make Waves - Dance of the Illegal Aliens - Soho - ... And So to F... - Algon (Where an Ordinary Cup of Drinking Chocolate Costs L8,000,000,000 - Rhesus Perplexus - Wal to Wal - Not Good Enough - See Me! - April hit and miss I waste so much money on hit and miss stuff like Brand X. I should have paid attention to the lineup. Percy Jones does not appear on this one. I really like Livestock and Moroccan Roll but not this one at all. Why did they have to try and sing? Probably my least favorite Brand X album Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy all the Brand X albums up to Masques. But the first Brand X album I heard was Product from 1979. I was a bit disappointed with this album. There are two songs with Phil Collins on vocals, "Don't Make Waves" and "Soho", so unsurprisingly they bear a resemblance to Genesis. But a lot of the instrumentals I find rather unmemorable and slick, bordering on cocktail lounge. The keyboard sound also seems to be less impressive, less great synths and much more of that ugly sounding Yamaha CP-70 electric grand piano (just like what Genesis was using around that same time). I have never been a fan of that instrument. A lot of the album seems to just to show off The Band members technical abilities. The Band doesn't even seem to be on the same Page any more, John Goodsall and Percy Jones are here, as always. But you have way more musicians than ever before and they only play on certain tracks. You have Phil Collins and Mike Clarke on drums, John Giblin as another bass player, Robin Lumley and Peter Robinson (ex-Quatermass who also previously appeared on Masques) on keyboards, and Morris Pert on percussion. Rarely do two musicians who play the same instrument play together on the same cut. There are a couple of worthy numbers here, one is "Algon", and the other is "Wal to Wal". The latter features the same drum machine that you'd hear on such Genesis albums as Duke and Abacab and Phil Collins' Face Value. The cut is also called "Wal to Wal" because it features both Percy Jones and John Giblin on bass, dueling basses, more or less, and the fact both were playing the Wal bass guitar (which assume is fretless, as it does sound fretless to my ears). To me, any four of Brand X's previous albums or even Marscape by Jack Lancaster & Robin Lumley (which might as well be another Brand X album since John Goodsall, Percy Jones, and Phil Collins were all on that album as well) are better than Product, in my opinion. Jazz-rock Fusion outfit goes Progressive. Unlike the previous four recordings this effort from the brilliant Brand X owes more to Prog-Rock than it does fusion. Drummer Phil Collins even sings two numbers. Both are unlike the Genesis music he was recording at that time. The compositions are inventive and creative. Percy Jones in particular offers some outstanding pieces. On this recording and the following Do They Hurt they established a unique sound unlike that anyone else was playing at the time. Well worth having...Simon Buy Brand X Product at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.comJamster - the latest ringtones for your phone! |
