ELECTRONIC REALIZATIONS FOR ROCK ORCHESTRA

This record is a perfect exhibition of structured & futuristic keyboards arrangements in a melodic, catchy & contemporary classical manner. There are TONS of miscellaneous keyboards producing VERY melodic, symphonic and fluid classical textures; even the sequencers are melodic and never sound repetitive! The tracks are REALLY progressive and amazingly CATCHY. The whole album can easily be uninterruptedly listened. For 1975, the musical genre of this masterpiece was a real breakthrough. The comparison with Tomita is inevitable: Larry Fast is much more structured and serious here, and his tracks form a denser texture, also being less nervous and childish. However, the 2 keyboardists' instruments are quite comparable. The keyboards amazingly emulate miscellaneous instruments: oboe, violins, flutes, trumpets and bells, among others. The amateurs of floating mellotron should not be disappointed here. The fast symphonic part near the end of "Warriors" sounds a bit like on the Wendy Carlos' "Clockwork orange" album. Only the "Synergy" track is less catchy, sounding more futuristic than symphonic. This record is definitely the Synergy's best record.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Very inspirational that Greenback reviewed Synergy (AKA Larry Fast) albums, this innovative music musician certainly deserves a place on Prog Archives. For those who have the opinion that electronic instruments don't evoke emotion, listen to Larry Fast on Peter Gabriel his wonderful and emotional composition "Biko", what a compelling keyboard sound, almost tearjerking!

This re-issued and re-mastered CD release (originally a LP from 1975) sounds great, for me it's one of the highlights of electronic music, along with some Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze albums. Larry Fast uses among other things a Minimoog, an Oberheim Expander Module, a Mellotron M400 (that 'white furniture'), an Oberheim DS-2 Digital Sequencer and a Musictronics Phase Shifter. The music alternates from classically inspired (a bit similar to The Enid) featuring a wide range of classical instruments (played by the keyboards) to mid-tempo electronic rock (exciting fat synthesizer flights) and spacey electronic with a very lush sound (wonderful soaring strings). The track "Synergy" is a very spectacular one (with hints from Vangelis) delivering a bombastic atmosphere with a sensational sequencer sound and flashy synthesizer runs.

A MASTERPIECE, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO ALL ELECTRONIC MUSIC AFICIONADOS!!

This album by Larry Fast's SYNERGY was released at time when people were so curious about further development and exploration of electronic music, based on keyboard. Bob Moog was the on ewho invented the instrument - but that's not the point, people were really waiting for what the instrument could contribute to the sound of rock music. Keith Emerson was one but was there anyone took different approach in electronic music making? No one could answer that question at the time. SYNERGY came out with a mind-boggling album title "Electronic Realizations For Rock Orchestra". WOW! It really astonished those who love rock music. How would it sound like, an orchestra but being played by electronic equipment? Could not believe it at the time.

Having those clouds at the time, I did not think twice to purchase the cassette version of this album. At the time I purchased it, I was already familiar with Keith Emerson works, Rick Wakeman , so I had something to compare to. Oh yeah, the music of this SYNERGY album blew me away at first listen. BOOM! I did like it and enjoyed it very much. I was so proud having this album in my collection while my rock mates did not have it. Not only scarcity that mattered, actually. But, the fact the music was quite unique was really making me proud of it. There was a lot of pulsating keyboard work in multi-layered style and sometime in its complex form. The music is so dynamic and it blends avant-garde exploration of electronic devices plus segments that reminds me to the work of Rick Wakeman.

The beauty of this album is that whenever you finish it, you want to keep repeating over time. It's quite enjoyable - especially for those of you who love keyboard explorations. You may want to explore also with SYMPHONIC SLAM. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Synthesizers back in 1975 were a different animal than what we see today. One did not just his a button and get a sound. There were knobs, sliders, patch panels (I know Keith Emerson's Moog was a bit extreme, but you get the idea) that all affected the sound. And the majority of these could only play one note at a time. So artists like Walter/Wendy Carlos, Tomita, and the like did not have an easy task making their albums.

Larry Fast, recording as "Synergy" deserves mention with those other synth pioneers. His albums, at least at the beginning, were perfect examples of what could be done with synths at the time. Sure, they sound a little dated, but the instrument was still in it's infancy.

This, the first album by Fast, remains a classic of synth albums. His compositions here tend toward light classical, with only a hint of rock. And while he tries to get the essence of an orchestra, he does not try to fully imitate the instruments. And that gives the album a futuristic (in 1975) feel.

And although Fast's own pieces are good, the highlight is his fantastic rendition of Richard Rogers' Slaughter On Tenth Avenue. This famous piece has still never sounded this delicious.

Larry Fast's debut synergy album claims to be for "rock orchestra", but don't be fooled into thinking of string sections full of guitarists and percussion sections full of budding Keith Moons - instead, the entire album is delivered through the medium of Fast's synthesisers. Playing in a fast, light classical style which draws on the symphonic greats without slavishly reinterpreting the same limited set of standards so many prog keyboardists had worn to death with their electronic arrangements, the overall effect is of the orchestral music of the future - a future given birth to via a Moog.

It's on the strength of this album that Larry was brought in to make key contributions to Nektar's Recycled, lending that album its unique prog-cyberpunk sound. At the same time, it does feel rather a bit like a demonstration of the technical capabilities of the latest generation of synthesisers rather than a sincere artistic statement at points, and on the whole I find Larry Fast's work as a sideman to Nektar or Peter Gabriel somewhat more compelling than this solo work.