BRAND X: DO THEY HURT? (1980)
1) Noddy Goes To Sweden; 2)
Voidarama; 3) Act Of Will; 4) Fragile; 5) Cambodia; 6) Triumphant Limp; 7)
D.M.Z.
I think it is technically enough just to state
that all the tracks here are outtakes from the Product sessions, and that if the band did not think them good
enough for Product, then we are completely
free from any respectable obligations. Arguably the best thing about the record
is its cover, and even that one is fairly tacky in a New Wave-era fashion. The
second best thing are probably the liner notes, just because they were written
by Michael Palin (and the album title itself is an elusive reference to
witches from The Holy Grail).
The third best thing would have to be at least
one stand-out track, but everything that stands out here is actually not good: most notably, ʽAct Of Willʼ,
which sounds like a hookless Alan Parsons Project-style adult pop song, with
meaningless verses sung by Goodsall through a vocoder for «mystical» effect. I
suppose the guys had a lot of fun with this in the studio, but Brand X as an
adult pop band is a suicidal proposition by definition. Goodsall's other
attempt to write a «dark and serious» composition is ʽCambodiaʼ, slow, dense,
arpeggiated, gradually layering on heavy riffs and shrill solos, but never
truly realizing its potential — somehow, it seems to promise an apocalyptic
crescendo, yet all it eventually squeezes out of itself is a simple ceremonial blues
theme that is neither too threatening nor too awe-inspiring.
Most of the rest consists of Jones-dominated
numbers that just give us more fusion clichés and no truly memorable themes.
Fans of Percy's fretboard-walking will certainly enjoy them, but ʽNoddy Goes To
Swedenʼ, ʽFragileʼ, ʽD. M. Z.ʼ — they all sound like technically flawless,
spiritually pedestrian fusion jamming to me. Robinson's piano work on ʽD. M.
Z.ʼ is funny in places, as if he is trying to deconstruct some pre-war pop
melody with his odd tempos and dissonances, but that is just the main theme,
and the rest is guitar and bass noodling, mainly, and this time, it really
begins to look as if the alleged «freedom of self-expression» has become an
invisible cage for these guys. ʽTriumphant Limpʼ, the title of a half-hearted
and ultimately forgettable attempt to bring a more hard-rocking sound into
their lives, would have been a much more telling title for the entire album —
«triumphant», because you have to admire both their tenacity (clinging to the
tried-and-true in spite of changing musical fashions) and their nimbness,
agility, and professionalism, but «limp» because, well, this music has long
since ceased to be «progressive» in any reasonable meaning of this word. Thumbs down.
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