Brand X Missing Period (Reissue) Review by G. W. Hill
This
is a new edition of this Brand X album. Since I already reviewed an
earlier release of this, and this in terms of the content, the same
thing, I’m going to just use that review here for the sake of
consistency. Let’s just say, thing sounds great and is well worth
having.
Associated with the prog musical style both because
of their imaginative and virtuosic fusion approach to music and the
sometime presence of Genesis man Phil Collins, Brand X have always been a
great largely unknown musical treasure. This CD is the first official
release of material predating their debut disc. This lost disc of
instrumental wonderment is definitely a treasured find for fans of the
band. The musicians on this CD are Phil Collins, John Goodsall, Preston
Heyman, Percy Jones and Robin Lumley.
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| Track by Track Review | ||||
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| Dead Pretty This cut starts as a bluesy rock sort of piece. It quickly changes to fusion textures, and moves through a number of different styles and modes. It becomes more prog rock oriented for the guitar solo segment, which is quite cool. It becomes a bit Zappaish at times, and moves into more rock modes and includes a killer percussion break. |
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| Kugelblitz
This
next cut is more straightforward prog in many ways, and touches on the
music of such artists as Genesis and Al Dimeola. It also includes a few
bits of Steve Howeish material and some other great flavored guitar
work. The piece does, however, touch on the fusionish approach of the
first track as well. In fact there is an entire segment based on a funky
bass riff that really emphasizes this angle of the music. The
composition also gets a bit dissonant at times. This is a killer track.
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| Ancient Mysteries
This
one starts with percussion and has very cool funky sort of jazz
texture. It includes a great segment with strong classic prog textures.
It moves into a frantic, slightly dissonant jam, that then gives way to a
fast paced prog section that really rocks. This one covers a lot of
musical ground as it winds its way through its length, moving from
fusion to prog and back and forth from there.
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| Why Won’t You Lend Me Yours?
Caribbean
percussion starts this one and it begins building in fusionish textures
from there. This one gets a bit off kilter and has some unique timing
modes.
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| Miserable Virgin
Frantic
riffing begins this cut, but only for a moment, then a nice fusion
groove takes the piece to its next segment. The cut builds in this mode,
grooving along quite nicely, and dropping back to slower modes from
time to time. It drops to a more sparsely arranged section for a short
time. Then the buildup that follows has a great musical texture to it.
The cut later drops to strictly percussion for a time, then begins
redefining itself by climbing out of the depths to which it has fallen.
As the buildup continues, some wonderful jazz oriented textures ensue, a
bit in the mode of Al Dimeola, but also calling to mind George Benson
as well. This is a great fusion jam.kes.
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| Tito's Leg
Another
fairly fast paced fusion jam, this one is quite solid and has more
classic fusion textures. This one does quite a bit of stylistic
wandering, although it is all really quite linear. This one has a very
organic sort of structural style and is quite strong. Some of the guitar
work on this one is rather Zappaish, and definitely smo
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CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO:
 | The X Files - A 20 Year Retrospective 2CD - £11.99 |
 | Is There Anything About? CD - £9.99 |
 | Live at the Roxy, LA 1979 CD - £9.99 |
 | Missing Period CD - £9.99 |
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