The message from Martin Ridgley rises higher:
 =-> Quoting Clark Ray to Martin Ridgley:
 CR> There was another Brand X CD released in late '95 or maybe early
 CR> this year.  I can't remember what it's called and I don't have it,
 CR> but it was released.  Mr. Goodsall told me himself at one of his
 CR> gigs in L.A. :-)
 MR> Cool.  I'll go looking for that one!  So, how was the show?  I
 MR> haven't  seen Brand X `live' since about 1978 or 1979!  ;-(
That show was good.  The only real member of Brand X was Goodsall, but
the other guys that he brought with him were good (one of these players
was the keyboard player for the early 5uus band).  They did lots of
Brand X as well as some stuff from The Fire Merchants (Goodsall's solo
band). I love to see him again doing Brand X or any Proggy/Fusiony type
stuff again. He's a marvelous guitarist.
 CR> And, I just ordered _Peter The Wolf_ performed by members of Brand X.
 CR> I'll let you know what it's like when I get it.
 MR> Yeah, please do.
It's really interesting.  It's not for everyone, but if you like Brand X
and its successors, you'll enjoy this.  Overall, the style of music is
more like Marscape (Lancaster and Lumley wrote all of the songs on
this) and Wilding/Bonus than Brand X, if you know what I mean.  It's
more, um, funky than Brand X (see Wilding/Bonus).  As you'd guess, yes,
it tells the story of Peter and the Wolf using different instruments and
songs (some of Prokofiev's original themes are still used, others are
not) for each character. There's much more music here than narration (by
Viv Stanshall) than the classical versions I've heard.
The best song on it, in my opinion, is "Peter's Chase," which is in the
vintage Brand X (ala _Unorthodox Behaviour_) style.  Great little song.
But, then there's two songs on it that I can't believe could ever be
associated with these musicians: "Rock And Roll Celebration" and "Final
Theme", which are, well, bad.  The first is just a lame Rock song and
the last is just the words "Peter is a Hero" over a very blah musical
background. I'm really surprised at this from Lancaster and Lumley.
But, let me say that the album is worth hearing if you skip over these
two songs.
So, who's on it?  Well, check this out:
Viv Stanshall -- narrator
Manfred Mann -- synth (Peter)
Gary Brooker -- synth (Bird)
Chris Spedding -- guitar (Duck)
Gary Moore -- guitar (Duck)
Stephan Grappelli -- violin (Cat)
Brian Eno -- synth (Wolf)
Keith Tippett -- piano (Pond)
Jack Lancaster -- lyricon and saxes (Grandfather)
Phil Collins, Cozy Powell, Jon Heisman, Bill Bruford -- drums (Hunters)
Alvin Lee -- guitar
Robin Lumley -- piano, synths, clarinet
Julie Tippett -- vocals
Erika Michailenko -- chimes
Pete Haywood -- steel guitar
Percy Jones -- bass
John Goodsall -- guitar
Andy Pyle -- bass
Dave Marquee -- bass
Heny Lowther -- violin
The English Chorale
How's that lineup?!!  There's only a couple of people that I'd never
heard of.
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- Clark Ray                                                  -
- email: clarkray@psnw.com                                   -
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