Review Summary: The second opus from this now quintet. The last with Phil Collins.
“Moroccan Roll” is the second studio album of Brand X that was released in 1977. The line up on the album is John Goodsall, Robin Lumley, Percy Jones, Phil Collins and Morris Pert.
Brand X is a British progressive rock band that was founded in London in 1975. Brand X was a jazz fusion band that was active between 1975 and 1980 and had a hiatus from 1980 to 1992. The band was disbanded in 1999 and was reformed in 2016. Brand X is one of the best, most original and well known British bands in the 70’s of the jazz/rock fusion scene. Phil Collins formed Brand X in 1975, with Percy Jones, John Goodsall and Robin Lumley. The debut studio album of Brand X, “Unorthodox Behavior” that was released in 1976, presented a band more rooted in the jazz wave than in rock. From that moment, Brand X became an autonomous group, performing live with Preston Heyman on drums instead of Collins, due to his duties with Genesis, although he continued to record with them. Their second studio album, “Moroccan Roll” released in the following year, featured a fifth member, Morris Pert, in addition to Phil.
Brand X released four studio albums in the 70’s. Their debut studio album “Unorthodox Behaviour” was released in 1976. Their debut live album “Livestock” and their second studio album “Moroccan Roll” were both released in 1977. Their third studio album “Masques” was released in 1978. Their fourth studio album “Product” was released in 1979.
With their second album, Brand X continued to develop the sound of their debut work “Unorthodox Behaviour”. Many of the most familiar elements are still there, like light footed evocative jazz rock with dense textures. However, some new ingredients are also thrown into the mix. As the title itself suggests, the album features, in addition to the jazz rock mix found on their debut album, research and experiments with sounds from the Middle and Far East, mainly from countries like Morocco. So, “Moroccan Roll” delivers a competent jazz rock with small doses of oriental sounds that never make the album boring or tiring. Commercially, the band fared better with this one than with their debut, albeit to a modest extent. Overall, this is an album rated well by the critics and was very well received by the fans of the band.
“Sun In The Night” is a laid back music, the only one with words. It sounds neither like Morocco nor more rock’n’roll. The intensity grows as the song progresses. It’s a peculiar, but yet fascinating piece. The next two tracks “Why Should I Lend You Mine...” and “...Maybe I’ll Lend You Mine After All” move in a different direction. “Why Should I Lend You Mine” is a great instrumental full of surprises ranging from its varied dynamics to the curious percussion and the virtuous and extended sound of Jones’s fretless. Lumley and Goodsall’s solos move within an environment where everything seems to levitate. “Maybe I’ll Lend You Mine After All” is a brief piece that could be the coda of the previous one. “Hate Zone” and “Collapsar” complete the A side of the LP. A solo by Collins kicks “Hate Zone” for several seconds. Jones then joins in on the euphoric piece, followed by the rest of the band. It’s a hard grooving track that moves towards jazz rock. The short and spacey “Collapsar” is full of various Lumley’s keyboard sounds and take us down that levitating path. “Disco Suicide” is a great piece, one of the best built on the album. It’s divided into faster and calmer parts that sound a bit different every time they are repeated. Brand X has added vocals for the final segment of this composition. The very short “Orbits” demonstrates the instrumental mastery of Jones with his unparalleled flair and technique. The only instrument on this track is the bass and various effects. The jam session character of “Malaga Virgin” makes this track come closest to the material from “Unorthodox Behaviour”. The piece switches between the fast and slow, loud and quiet parts. The interplay is exceedingly virtuosic, especially the solo segments by Jones and Lumley. “Macrocosm” is a celebration of the fusion genre, being intricate and uplifting, a showcase for the individual skills of the musicians. It shows why Brand X has been one of the jazz fusion bands with great relevance for decades.
Conclusion: “Moroccan Roll”, unlike its predecessor, credits the tracks to individual authors. So, obviously, it’s not as jam session based as their debut album. It contains some very interesting musical ideas. The Far East sounds play a very important role. The band presents nine tracks, all of which are fascinating in their own way. From wonderfully calm songs to fascinatingly restless jazz fusion songs with progressive parts, everything is represented with the highest quality. This album ended up being the farewell of Collins, who had to leave since he accumulated the post of vocalist and drummer of Genesis. For those who want to hear developed music with emotion this record definitely offers this perfectly, but if you want the true spirit of Brand X and jazz fusion “Unorthodox Behaviour” is for sure the album to get.
Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)
