Defend the Undefendable : Synergy

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long 10 min+ keyboard solos and nothing else!

Makes Yes's Relayer sound like hot shit.

Tell me something nice about Synergy.

― Andrzej B. (Andrzej B.), Thursday, 22 April 2004 01:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Larry Fast did production work for Peter Gabriel. Oh, wait, nice? Umm..., according to the sleeve notes for 'ERFRO', because they use the sansui qs 4 channel quad system, the stereo sound is - unreal. unquote.

― pher (pher), Thursday, 22 April 2004 01:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Gem (and the holograms) would have been nothing without her/it.

― chris andrews (fraew), Thursday, 22 April 2004 01:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I picked up a couple of lps out of a dollar bin. It is pretty dull stuff compared to TDream of the same time period, but a few of the synth sounds were pretty good. Some of it might be good for sampling, so it might have a second life that way.

― earlnash, Thursday, 22 April 2004 01:48 (twenty-two years ago)

"long 10 min+ keyboard solos and nothing else!"

This doesn't sound bad at all frankly, but I've not heard Synergy so I can't defend them.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, 22 April 2004 01:49 (twenty-two years ago)

i demand a resurgence in this thread due to the hilarity of my remark.

― chris andrews (fraew), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 02:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I appreciated the Jem comment, Chris. :)

As for Synergy, the first album Electronic Realizations for Rock Orchestra is quite cool for analog-heads; the remastered version from Fast's Third Contact label is crystal-clear. His version of "Slaughter on Seventh Avenue" is quite beautiful in certain moments. I also like Cords and Audion. Like Wendy Carlos' synth albums (actually, she and Fast are friends), I find it's an acquired, 'love it or hate it' taste.

Ones I've heard that I could do without include Jupiter Menace (which IIRC is a soundtrack that largely draws from tracks from previous albums and retitles them) and Metropolitan Suite.

One Synergy album I'm interested in hearing would be Computer Experiments, Vol. 1, mostly because I read this negative review about it but the idea sounds interesting.

Fast also plays in Tony Levin's recent band with Jerry Marrotta, etc. They have a 2CD live album out.

― Joe (Joe), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 16:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Also, the "10+ minute keyboard solos" tag is largely inaccurate (at least, based on the albums I've heard). He's someone who writes/plays songs (melody, chords) exclusively on keyboards; not exactly the same thing.

― Joe (Joe), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 16:03 (twenty-two years ago)

when I was in high school I was a huge fan of his(Carlos and Vangelis as well) and when I learned he did much of his recording at The House of Music studio in West Orange, near my house, I wrote him and met him a few times. He was very nice. The stuff he did on those Gabriel records is very cool, esp the 3rd and 4th, and apparently he was set to work on So untill Lanois decide to replace the unique synth-horns with more actual horns, or something like that. He also worked with Carlos on a project of designing audio systems to assist the hearing impaired at movie theaters using infrared which you can't front on. He worked on a lot of stuff while working with the House of Music and may have some involvement with Dr. Buzzards Savannah Band, whose record was recorded there.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 17:15 (twenty-two years ago)

eight months pass...

Fast also plays in Tony Levin's recent band with Jerry Marrotta, etc. They have a 2CD live album out.

That has serious Awful potential. That said, does anyone know if any of this is on Soulseek? Going through this crazy Fairlight stage right now, and I'd at least be interested in hearing it.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 14 January 2005 22:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I really liked his contributions to Nektar's "Recycled" album (he was also on the North American version of "A Tab in the Ocean"). My favourite of the Synergy records is "Cords", but I've never heard "Audion" or the computer experiments one. The first couple of his didn't grab me terribly, but I certainly don't think they're bad. Maybe a little dry in places. His was the first version of "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" AND "Classical Gas" I'd ever heard!

― Pangolino again, Saturday, 15 January 2005 00:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I still have one of their albums in my closet, though I don't remember ever liking them much.

― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Saturday, 15 January 2005 02:16 (twenty-one years ago)

From AMG's review of Computer Experiments, Vol. 1:

"The three soundscapes on this recording are from a self-composing computer program, Pink Tunes, developed by John Simonton. The computer reads the output as data and converts it to voltages that an analog synthesizer can read."

Sounds interesting, but having dl'd the first two tracks of it, I have to say: it's boring as piss. The Jupiter Menace (which I gather was assembled when the director couldn't get the rights to Holst's The Planets) has a track or two of cool rhythmic Fairlight stuff, but other than that is seriously overblown nonsense. Maybe Audion, which AMG trumpets as having "riffs with rock & roll textures and timbres," is more interesting. Not really holding my breath, though.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Tuesday, 25 January 2005 15:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I used to have all of Synergy's rekkids, and liked them a lot, though I can't remember much except "Computer experiments" was the one I didn't like much. I sort-of think "cords" and "audion" were the best ones. Didn't he regain the rights to his albums at some point ad release them himself? I don't think he's remotely undefendable, anyway, I mean come on, compared to kitaro?

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 25 January 2005 15:24 (twenty-one years ago)

six years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnwfKSFCcyE

― corey, Sunday, 6 March 2011 15:17 (fifteen years ago)

I bought that album from a cut-out bin, but haven't owned it for a while. I wasn't really into it even back when I was much more into that sort of thing.

― _Rudipherous_, Sunday, 6 March 2011 15:33 (fifteen years ago)

totally defensible dollar records, these

― CharlieS, Sunday, 6 March 2011 15:34 (fifteen years ago)

Oh, going by my earlier post on this thread I still had this album a few years ago.

― _Rudipherous_, Sunday, 6 March 2011 15:34 (fifteen years ago)

I quite like 'Shibolet' on Audion:

http://www.we7.com/#/song/Synergy/Shibolet

But that's mainly because I remember Rob Hubbarb's cover/rip-off used in the game 'Master of Magic' which is loads more interesting sonically:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm5Hjsm5NZ4

― Chewshabadoo, Sunday, 6 March 2011 16:09 (fifteen years ago)

five years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY1lpraDw7c

― clouds, Friday, 11 March 2016 18:53 (ten years ago)

two years pass...

LF's profile on discogs is brief and hilarious:

Profile:
Note: Larry Fast owns the trademark Synergy for use on recordings in the United States, registration numbers 1,273,912 and 1,545,702 in the US Patent and Copyright Office.

His recording studio is called Synergy Studio (2).

― andrew m., Thursday, 26 April 2018 18:38 (eight years ago)

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