THE FRIENDS OF MR. CAIRO

It's good that this collaborative work between Jon Anderson and Vangelis is finally added in this site. This album was for me an "alternative" music as by the time it was released, punk and new waves swept the music industry away with bands like Ultra Vox, Orchestral Maneuvre In The Dark, Duran Duran, B 52s who were the icons of early eighties. When I heard "The Friends of Mr Cairo" . what a treat man! It sounded beautifully for my ears. The magic of this song relies on its continuous streams of music with many changes in style through smooth transition pieces. It has a tight composition with energetic style at first part followed with mellow one at the end, featuring only Jon's vocal and Vangelis synthesizer. "I'll Find My Way Home" is another track that has been my all-time favorite especially with its excellent lyrics and floating and spacey music. I always use this song to conclude workshops that I facilitate because the music and the lyrics are fit with the purpose. "State of Independence" is also another enjoyable track.

It's a very good album with unique vocal quality of Jon and multi layer keyboard / synthesizer work by Vangelis. I think the collaboration of these two talented musicians are - overall - better than their individual solo album. Keep on proggin'!