BRAND X — Unorthodox Behaviour (review)

Album · 1976 · Fusion

4.5/5 · 2024-10-11
FunkFreak75

The debut album from Britain's answer to Return To Forever.

Line-up / Musicians: - John Goodsall / electric, acoustic (7) & 12-string acoustic (2) guitars - Robin Lumley / piano, Fender Rhodes electric piano, Moog - Percy Jones / fretless bass, marimba (5), acoustic bass (7) - Phil Collins / drums, percussion, tambourine, vibes (2) With: Jack Lancaster - soprano saxophone (7)

1. "Nuclear Burn" (6:20) Percy Jones inimitable fretless bass couples up with Phil Collins' extraordinary jazz drumming and Robin Lumley's tempering Fender Rhodes to lay down the foundations for John Goodsall's explosive John McLaughlin-like guitar shredding. Yet it's Robin's Moog that takes the first official solo--two minutes into the song. Phil takes Robin's fiery solo as a challenge and ups his chops to "duel" Robin before the John returns to recapitulate the main theme. Then things get really crazy as everybody tries sledding down the mountain together, barely keeping their balance and unity. Another main theme repeats before the upper end instruments quiet down so that Percy and Phil can really show their stuff. Amazing! Yes, it's all a show of "We can do Return To Forever, too" machismo, but it works: they do not fail to match all of the fire and skill, top to bottom, and even manage to show a little of their own uniquity along the way. (9.5/10)

2. "Euthanasia Waltz" (5:39) great 12-string acoustic guitar chords open and modulate the song while the dynamics shift according to which instrumentalist they wish to showcase. Percy and Phil impress the most, up front, but underneath it all both John and Robin impress as well. (9.125/10)

3. "Born Ugly" (8:13) a journey into mega-funk with the amazing Percy Jones leading the charge. (We KNOW he can play the funk from his sessions with Brian Eno.) The other boys in the band may just have a touch too much white in them to keep up with the Joneses, but they do put together an impressive and fairly enjoyable song. Robin Lumley's keyboard work is particularly interesting. Also, the in the dreamy middle section is very cool for its latent potentialities--as well as for the awesome Larry Coryell-like guitar shredding that rises out of it. You can certainly get the feeling that the four musicians are definitely putting their all into the creation and performance of this music--and Phil does finally get into his full funkiness with the final third of the song. (13.375/15)

4. "Smacks of Euphoric Hysteria" (4:26) melodically and structurally this one might just be a little too close/imitative of Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, and Al Di Meola's collaborations, but it stands up well side by side with the band that they are doppelganging. (9/10)

5. "Unorthodox Behaviour" (8:25) using band-mate Bill Bruford's snare sound can be advantageous, thinks Phil Collins, as he and Percy "Alphonso Pastorius" Jones play "straight men" to the quirky idiosyncratic play of the other two (as well as Phil's track on the vibes and Percy's on the marimba). A little too much playful experimentation might be good for practice, but for a studio album we like to have more meat and potatoes. (17.5/20)

6. "Running on Three" (4:37) fast paced with some solid rock forms and styllings (often reminding me of THIN LIZZY with the twin playing of John's guitar and Robin's keyboard). Phil is an animal on this one--making me totally think I'm listening to Lenny White--and Percy gets to run fast melodic à la Doug Rauch, while Robin settles into some excellent Chick Corea-like support work on the Fender as John's guitar plays some awesome Ray Gomez-Doug Rodrigues-like guitar leads. Wow! These guys can play! (9.33333/10)

7. "Touch Wood" (3:03) now for the acoustic side à la "Romantic Warrior": blazing acoustic guitar ceaselessly running, bowed acoustic bass and Danny Thompson-like stand-up with nimble piano riffing and acoustic guitar strumming with a little bit of Jack Lancaster's soprano saxophone before fading out. Interesting! I am most impressed by the instrumental sounds I hear that I rarely ever get to hear from these particular musicians. (8.75/10)

Total Time: 40:43

There is no place for fluff or tame/smooth jazz here as this band launches with every intention of proving themselves to belong in the same conversations with RTF, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Eleventh House, Nucleus, Tony Williams and Billy Cobham. Listening to this album makes one wonder how Percy Jones and Phils Collins aren't in the general discussions of the greatest jazz musicians of their respective instruments.

A-/4.5 stars; a minor masterpiece of imitative high-powered jazz rock fusion; definitely an album every prog lover should own.