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.

The last unperfect masterpiece of that Era, very psychedelic and abstract timbre in complex. Collins looks for and finds his new dimension had during Peter Gabriel III sessions. Goodsall look inside himself exploding naturally his mclaughlin side on any thrilling opening. Giblin and Jones make up an original "solstice" of polite and rock sound for their searchings on the instrument. And it is for personal searchings that this album is essential again.

I had never heard of Brand X until this album came out. Right off the bat, the most distinct thing about this group was Percy Jones the bass player. His sound reminds me of Jaco Pastorius but his tone, sense of space and funky melodic inclinations are very much his own. In my opinion he defines the "Brand X" sound. That being said,what initially attracted me to this CD was the composition "Fragile". The interplay between drummer, bass player and keyboard player really push this piece forward without having to suffer through long, convoluted solos. It is indeed a fragile piece played with delicate, refined musicality and sustained harmonic unpredictability (a bit reminiscent of Frank Zappa's "Rubber Shirt"). There is also a conciseness and clarity of form in this work that pervades all the pieces in this collection. The results of which bring fusion almost into the "pop" realm (think Steely Dan going completely fusion).

What is also evident either in the music, the great cover art, the titles of the compositions or the liner notes by Monty Python's Michael Palin, is a sense of humor. These guys sound like they were having fun through out the entire process of completing this album. This humoristic element I usually find lacking in these fusiony outings.

Overall there is a spontaneity here in some very structured compositions that makes for a continually enjoyable outing for the ears and also provides a leaning platform for the green musician who wants to expand his or her playing chops and understanding of how to interact musically with other players.

Though Brand X may have created more accomplished music on other projects, this CD (for me) still stands the test of time in terms of over all memorable excursions into fusion. I also really love the chord progression in "Voidarama" - beautiful stuff.

"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!

This is merely a bunch of holdovers from the "Product" sessions but you already knew that. Predictably, the stuff on this release often sounds too jammy, jazzy or unfinished to be put to good use on Brand X's "Product" because I don't really think the new wave fans they were attempting to cater to would appreciate their music cooked and served with mahavishnu influences on the side. The players on this album mostly consist of the "Night" line-up from the "Product" days when Brand X was more a collective of two bands then an actual band. This particular line-up features bassist, Percy Jones, keyboardist, Peter Robinson, guitarist, John Goodsall, and drummer, Mike Clark. We also get a few guest stars like Robin Lumley, Morris Pert, and good, old Philadelphia Collins himself but for the most part, these guys are usually reduced to a minor role, too bored to care or too invisible to really add something to the overall musical product.

It's a shame that a lot of the lead band members have lost their enthusiasm as well. The only one who carries out just like in the band's youthful days is Mr. Percy Jones, the rest have simply lost all of their energy. John Goodsall has traded in his ability to play fast and furious electric guitar archipelagoes for a very David Gilmour style of soloing as well as some pretty guitar harmonics, both of which are very nice but somehow lack his true identity as an inventive finger flasher. Oh and don't get me started at how pathetic Collins has become at drumming ever since he sold his powerful, drumming soul to a "futuristic" machine that drums for him. For the love of Chuck Bergi, Billy Cobham, and all the other great jazz fusion drummers, a fifth grade jazz band dropout like me could have played the rhythm on "Triumphant Limp" just fine and I played the 2nd trumpet in elementary school band for godsakes.

The album opens with something that's at least funny and relatively enjoyable. "Noddy Goes to Sweden" is an amusing groove with Jones' bubbling bass boasting the biggest personality. It romps through a couple of slightly funky, slightly cute bass led melodies before we meet Goodsall's prety guitar piece, "Voidarama" at the end. Now, first, before I start describing that one, I'd like to say that it's Goodsall's compositions that end up salvaging this album from being a lot of murky jazz fusion boredom. With that being said, Voidarama is very hard to describe other then the cord sequences played on here are very beautiful. Especially the soaring guitar part right after the main theme and the Floyd-esque guitar solo.

Goodsall's "Act of Will" is this album's typical black sheep, purely acosted by the jazz heads for being pop. The stupid vocoderized vox by Goodsall are certainly an anomaly for the song but I can't help but like the actual melody (It's very Abacab era Genesis and I like that) along with this pretty guitar line that frequently pops up in all the right places. John's "Cambodia" is a very evil sounding medieval anthem of some sort that manages to be compelling as well. This song slowly creeps along like it's the theme for some vicious dragon or for a hulking, black knight with a giant ball and chain swinging over his head or even for some lady with a leather skin purse being confronted by a giant crocodile in her front yard (The horror!) and while the imagery I get from this song is very clichéd, the song itself isn't. Those guitar harmonics are as beautiful as they are menacing and we're greeted with yet another powerful guitar solo half way through.

"Fragile!" has the honor of winning "song most likely to give me a ringing headache" award but don't expect it to be giving a highly emotional and tearful speech at the Grammies anytime soon. It's essentially a very weak and messy groove that keeps falling apart and made even more annoying with totally scattered and unorthodox bass/keyboard/drum spurts all over the place. The song just has to start before I start wishing for the wretched thing to end. You can say that's quite an achievement because they're really aren't that many songs that conjure up a feeling like that for me.

"Triumphant Limp" is an overlong, midtempo jazz jam with a few nice bits of creativity but overall just sucks. For the most part it's mainly Collins just lightly tapping the cymbals in the most rudimentary pattern reserved only for aspiring twelve year old drummers, Goodsall playing this cool, pre-grunge grungy guitar riff, Lumley playing a notable synth riff, the bass going "babumbabumbaum" over and over and that's basically a full coverage of what happens for a long six minutes.

"D.M.Z." despite being a full seven minutes and having that patented jazz acronym that stands for nothing but B.S, is a bit better. The first part of this jazzy thing is actually influenced by the music of Italy. No, not the esteemed Italian Prog but as Jones' bass plays a faster groove, Robinson plays a little prancy motive that sounds very reminiscent of Italian Baroque. Talk about your weird jazz fusion influences. Well, at least this jazzy jazzfest raises up some resonant feelings within me, it makes me feel very hungry and have the urge to go drive down to my local Frankie's Pizza and Pasta, an American run food business pretending to be Italian. Mmm, resonance never tasted better!

In the end "Do They Hurt" is no where as bad as I originally thought it was but it's no where near good either. Despite all the excessive jazzy jams, this album is much more accessible than Masques, which is about as hard as they come as far as jazz fusion is concerned. Believe it or not, the subsequent album after this is yet ANOTHER outtakes album. Wow, an outtakes album for outtakes; isn't that novel?

Album Grade: B-

Best Songs: Cambodia, Voidarama, Act of Will (Yes, indeed)

Worst Songs: Fragile!, Triumphant Limp

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.

I found this record for small money at a second hand store. I fell for the cover and of course I had heard the name "Brand X" before, knew that it was something with Phil Collins but had never heard them at all. Well, the awesome cover showing a lady meeting a crocodile at her driveway was released 1980, thirtyfour years ago, and it was Brand X's fifth album. I guess the crocodile asks the lady if her shoes hurt. A record with such an artistic cover must be great did I think and bought it. Now have I listened to it some times and I love what I hear and it is of course much more than Phil Collins, he's just present on two tracks. I think this is just how I want jazz rock to be and it feels so much like the seventies. The music is authentic and such as candy for my ears.

Just one song has some form of vocals, "Act of Will" which John Goodsall, the guitarist sings. The bassist is Percy Jones on the most tracks and he does such a lovely job. He plays around and makes the bass shimmer on for example "D.M.Z" a splendid jazz rock song. "Fragile" is another lovely piece which I would call elegant and "Voidarama" has so lovely feelings in the guitar work. The best track I think is "Triumphant Limp" which is so joyful and talanted. The main themes come like sweet caresses to me and Peter Robinson, John Goodsall, John Giblin, Robin Lumley and Phil Collins have done that very well.

I don't know how the other Brand X records sound so I can't compare them, but this was great. If more records were like this, could I exclaim, but there are so why complain. This though is a obvious four star record. Perhaps some of the bands others are even better. I would recommend this for you friends!

Brand X modernize their sound and streamline music further on the 1980's "Do they hurt". On the first track, we have a fantastic bass modern playing seconded by mediocre vocals, simplified drums and 80's keyboards. Wouldn't be surprised if it were inspired by Collins but it seems it wasn't! "Voidarama" has a warm fusion feeling of late 90's with twists of smooth jazz, I really like the sound of the song and guitar fiddling. The atmosphere is let down again by "Act of will" that is closer to new wave than fusion. "Fragile" is a typical experimental Brand X song that even sneaks into post-bop territory although more as a joke I guess. "Cambodia" is another guitar-heavy track, very accessible and far from complex. "Triumphant Limp" with Collins onboard offers a nice groove on cymbals. The best track comes at the end "D.M.Z" is a full-fledged fusion track with a killer bass-drum patter and fresh piano. You can evidence that the players did not take this record as seriously as the previous ones before in 1976-1978.

Phil Collins ended up crossing the paths of a jazz rock group as they wandered around the studios in 1974. A producer said if he didn't want to join the drums of a very good band that was looking for a drummer of Billy Cobham's quality or Steve Gadd.Collins was on tour with Genesis commanded by Peter Gabriel at this time. In fact, it was the end of the Gabriel era, with the last album (double album) The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.Gabriel would never return to Genesis unless on Gabacabriel (bootleg) benefit concert badly sung by the way to raise funds for Gabriel himself! Back to Brand X, a group formed by fantastic musicians and virtuosos such as Percy Jones (bass), John Goodsall (guitars), Robin Lumley (keyboards) and Phil Collins (drums and voice) as well as percussionist (R.I.P.) Morris Pert. As Collins says in the only interview, Genesis and Brand X were two extremely opposite bands. In Genesis Phil used a drum/Premier kit and was extremely disciplined in his improvisations. In Brand X he used a drum/Gretsch kit and abused the will of improvisations jazz and avant-garde experimentalisms. He said that on Brand X he was actually Phil Collins drummer. On Genesis he was a percussionist who worked for a musically driven group. The LPS that I think are sensational and unique, showing that Collins is one of the 10 best drummers of sec.XX are undoubtedly the ones he plays, and I had the pleasure of piercing all the cookies in the 70s: -Unorthodox Behavior (1976) -Moroccan Roll (1977) -Livestock (Live 1977) -Product (1979) -Do They Hurt? (1980) -Is There Anything About? (1982)