BRAND X

Wow! These ratings by my fellow reviewers are... shocking...

GOODSALL and Co. playing virtual catch-up to then-modern styles and... phenomena... is not a good look. It just sounds tacky (mostly at the frontend of the album, by the way). Hear it for yourself: the cheesiest, faux-horror, MJ- calling synth-stabs on "Stellerator"(?!). The most workable of this is on one of the strongest tracks on the album, "Drum Ddu", but can I really recommend it?

The next track (from the top), "Virus", feels far more confident in itself. Still not anything of interest. If anything, I must say the production feels a little hollow (this is really the worst of this sin on the album). The disappointment continues on "XXL". We get a glimpse back into the band's regular confidence in the title track with spanky drums and the strange, virtuosic noodlings one would hope to get from Percy JONES. Really, after the first half of the album, thank God!

The second half continues with the beautiful, spacy "Five Drops", with ethereal vibes (by Marc WAGNON) and keys. And eventually, we're basically business as usual, with the very nice "Operation Hearts And Minds". Like, seriously. So thankful for what I'm hearing at this point in time. This album was all over the place. Totally inconsistent, especially as I'm now directly comparing it to their second-to-last, X-Communication.

Overall, just a sad final statement by, still, a great band. Best I can say is that, if they took the second half of the album and had released an EP of just that, it would be one of their best.

RIP John (1953-2021). Certainly no disrespect.

True Rate: 2.5/5.0

I am definitely writing this review, a week or so following his untimely death, in honor of him and his great legacy. I'm terribly sorry I never got to see them/him perform in person. And what's most unbelievable about it all, is that he (I assume he) fell ill and they were then looking to postpone the show in my hometown just a month ago... Pretty surreal. Rest in Peace, sir. Rest in Peace, as Robin LUMLEY put it, to BRAND X.

X-Communication was released ten years after their last effort (and effort is a good enough descriptor of it, in my opinion), Is There Anything About? (1982). Interesting to think that there was a whole decade between it and this release. Then again, we are yet to see anything following their final studio album in 1997 today.

To a point above, I think this is the strongest effort the band has had since 1979's Product, a personal favorite of mine. It's relatively consistent, in feeling and, for the most part, in compositional knack. There's some really very interesting tracks on this, ranging from brooding to "Eastern" and exotic. My personal favorites are "Xanax Taxi", "Liquid Time", "Mental Floss" and "Kluzinski Reprise". To keep this shorter, I'll end this here.

True Rate: 3.5/5.0

What is NOT included in this boxset : 1:The complete "Is There Anything About" Album 2:Why Won't You Lend Me Yours? (BBC, Missing Period) 3:Tito's Leg (Live, Missing Period) 4:Pool Room Blues (Soho B-Side) 5:Genocide Of The Straights (X-Cerpts Promo EP) 6:Algon (Live, The Plot Thins - A History Of Brand X)

All of this would fit nicely as a disc 5 in this boxset Also non of the later archival/live stuff isnt here, but thats not that important

Nevertheless, The price for this boxset is nice, and you get 6 FULL Brand X albums and 35 minutes BBC Recordings

There seems to be very little information about this album on the web but my theory initially was that what remained of the recordings was handed over to Short, either by the band members out of contractual obligation or by the record company who wanted to milk these for all they were worth, who then recorded some overdubs and put this album together without the involvement of any former Brand X member. Amusing though this idea might have been to me, it was sadly debunked when I bought the CD and read the liner notes which reveal that, at the very least, keyboard player Robin Lumley was involved with the release to a large degree, but no John Goodsall, Percy Jones, Phil Collins or any other Brand X alumni.

I believe the opening track "Ipanaemia" is the only song on here that was at the time of its recording intended for release in the same form as it's presented here. "Swan Song" credits Short for co-writing as well as "syndrums and vocals", which leads me to believe that this may have originally been an improvisation that was later overdubbed and reworked into a proper song by Lumley and Short. "A Longer April" is of course a reworking of "April" from the Product album, turning what was once just a pleasant filler track into a more full-fledged song in its own right, but the sax part must have been recorded in 1982 as well. Likewise, "Modern, Noisy And Effective" just reuses the backing track from "Soho" (also from Product), and the rest of it must have also been played by Lumley no earlier than 1982 as it's synth only and sounds more like Yellow Magic Orchestra than Brand X (a YouTube commenter noted the, likely coincidental, similarity to the Rainbow Road theme from Mario Kart 64, which now makes me unable to control my laughter every time I hear the song). The final two tracks like I said are just some leftover jams. Actually, calling TMIU-ATGA ("They're Making It Up As They Go Along") a jam is bit of an overstatement; it's more like a sound check. It adds to the humour for me because it contributes to my impression that they were really scraping the bottom of the barrel when putting this album together.

But the craziest part is that I actually like it. There's a charm to it all, and everything comes together just nicely enough to keep your interest for its short running time. It may be the weakest album from this era of the band but for fans it is still worth the effort of seeking out.

Founders John Goodsall (guitar) and Percy Jones (fretless bass), along with drummer (in replace of Phil Collins) Kenwood Dennard, recruited Chris Clark as keyboards player, while Scott Weinberger took the position of percussionist, important but long-time vacant. The tracklist focuses mainly on their first three albums, namely Unorthodox Behavior, studio sophomore Morrocan Roll and Livestock, their 1st live album. Even so, this performance stands by its own. The band shows desire to play, they are in fine form, and the interplay is tight & sensible. Sticking mainly to the original versions, they still retain freedom for brilliant improvisation. Chris Clark adds to the jazzier part of that. Scott Weinberger's percussion could be allowed more presence, to be fair. Kenwood Dennard makes a strong case for his drumming, injecting high levels of welcomed energy. Jones & Goodsall go effortlessly from easy groove to frenetic jazz-rock. Old-time collaborator Stephen W. Tayler mixed this at Peter Gabriel's RealWorld complex, preserving dynamics along with clear sound.

Good in general terms, excellent as a live album.