One of my least favorite Spyro Gyra CDs, but it isn't as bad as Original Cinema. Still, it has some bad tunes and really bad album cover art. This, the band's 14th album, is curiously credited to "Spyro Gyra featuring Jay Beckenstein," the band's only album to single out Beckenstein. Here's what Stewart Mason says about that (and I concur):
Saxophonist Beckenstein has certainly always been the band's leader, writing a good chunk of the material and producing the albums, but given that the lineup is basically unchanged from the previous few Spyro Gyra albums, the new nomenclature is puzzling. It also goes against Spyro Gyra's entire musical aesthetic, as the group's unabashedly commercial and melodic style works against the traditional jazz concept of soloists and sidemen. Everyone on Fast Forward plays the melody, the whole melody, and nothing but the melody...it doesn't really "feature" anyone in particular.I would like to report that the band bounced back with their next release, 1992's Three Wishes, but, believe it or not, I don't own that album and haven't heard it. The band was definitely slumping in the early '90s, but, fortunately for fans like me, that slump was short-lived.
Press of the time:
- DownBeat (★★★): "the playing stronger than ever, and the results positive for SG fans."
- Billboard: "another sure-fire outing"
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #117 (July 21, 1990)
Tracks: My favorite tunes are the Latin-flavored tunes Para Ti Latino and Ocean Parkway. Easily skipped are Speak Easy, Futurephobia, and Tower Of Babel. The rest? Meh.
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| For more information on the brief life of the CD longbox, go visit The Legend of the Longbox. |
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Because this isn't one of my favorite SG CDs, I took it to work one morning and it stayed there for years. Occasionally, I would play it for my students as they entered the classroom. I had a co-worker that once recognized the music, which really surprised me.
Previously revisited for the blog:
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