THE FRIENDS OF MR. CAIRO

This is another "romantic" album by Jon Anderson and Vangelis, also very "nostalgical" in the case of the title track, which has voices imitating those of old actors and actresses of the old Hollywood films of the 40s-50s.

There were two versions of this album in the L.P. format: one which didn`t include "I`ll Find My Way Home", which was released as a single, and another version (which I have) which includes this song. There also were two cover designs: the one showed in this website (which I have) and another version with a photo of Jon and Vangelis in a "golden coloured frame" (the cover of later L.P. pressings and also the cover on the C.D. version).Also, the first version of this album had the songs is another order: the L.P. had as Side One the songs which were destined to Side Two later ("The Friends of Mr. Cairo, "Back to School" and "Outside of This (Inside of That)".

"I`ll Find my Way Home" is maybe the best song in this album, with great synth atmospheres. "State of Independence" has an influence of "World Music" with synths sounding like steel drums from the Antilles islands. It also was recorded by Donna Summer in one of her albums in the early 80s. "Beside" is a very good love song, with some Classical Music arrangements. "Mayflower" also has great sound atmospheres, but the lyrics are a bit funny, suggesting a new Mayflower ship, but one which is really a spacecraft "taking the Pilgrims to a search for a new land"."Back to School" is really a Rock and Roll song played with keyboards with funny lyrics about a young man who wants to return to school after seeing that finding a job in the "adult world" is very hard. "Outside of This (Inside of That)" is another very good love song.