To me, that album cover just screams early '80s. Those headphones were something brand new and just starting to become ubiquitous. Here's a sleeveface photo I lifted from The Reel Foto blog:
I had always pictured her lying on a SoCal beach, but whatever.
After I purchased my first Spyro Gyra album, Incognito, I quickly started delving into their back catalog. This music is very similar to Incognito, but the band relies on a few more production gimmicks which detract from the music itself. I'm glad they grew out of that phase. This album is from my favorite decade of Spyro Gyra music (their first decade as a group) - it isn't that they still don't produce great music, it is most likely due to the fact that the early '80s is when I first discovered their albums. Not as good as Incognito or even City Kids, but of the SG CDs I own, this is in the top 5.
Press of the time:
- Billboard: "more energetic than in the past"
- CashBox: "another tasty effort"
- Record World: "exhibits the consistency that's kept them on top"
- Stereo Review: "Highly recommended"
- DownBeat (★★★★★): "an example of where pop-jazz is going, and of the quality it can achieve."
- US Billboard Top 200 chart: #41 (Oct 3, 1981)
- Billboard Jazz LPs chart: #1
- Billboard R&B albums chart: #29
- CashBox album chart: #40
- CashBox jazz album chart: #3
- Rolling Stone: #28
Tracks: 7 tracks here, clocking in at around 38 minutes. My personal favorites are the title track, the relaxed waltz of Pacific Sunrise, and the happy String Soup. I usually skip Elegy For Trane, not because it is a bad track, it is simply out of place here.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Even though I'd had the LP for a year or two, this album (particularly the title track) reminds me of taking junior college classes in the summer of 1985 at the local high school. The course? It was US History with Mr. Black - which explains why I, like Sam Cooke, don't know much about history.
Previously revisited for the blog:
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