Return to Forever vs Brand X

 

Some truth in this although BX's Percy Jones did take the electric bass guitar crown away from Jaco Pastorius in jazz polls  on a couple of occasions in the 70's.  Personally I find Romantic Warrior is the easy way into jazz rock fusion (but ultimately is one of the least satifactory - give me Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy), being one of the closest to straight instrumental prog rock - which may have been RTF's intention. If you want Brand X with excellent musicianship and more of a musical challenge, check out son of Brand X: Tunnels (with Jones - and  Goodsall often guesting) e.g. the aptly named Progressivity

 

On the other hand, the early Brand X stuff is full of life...organic life.  They didn't break any new ground and are by no means as influential - or as talented - as Chick Corea's band, but they sound like they loved what they were doing.  I prefer the second Brand X LP to the first, but both make it on my turntable a lot more frequently than Romantic Warrior. 

 

I can't recommend the first two RTF albums enough...I think they're the pinnacle of the jazz fusion genre.  The second wave of RTF (with Connors and then DiMeola on guitar) was more expirimental and much more electric, sort of laying over the path set by Mahavishu but still a lot to enjoy and also recommended.