Fast Forward

Spyro Gyra | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Grp Records
• ASIN: B0000001QX
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98,055 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Spyro Gyra's first album for MCA after their longtime label, GRP-Crescendo, was absorbed into its corporate parent, 1990's Fast Forward carries the curious band subtitle "featuring Jay Beckenstein." Saxophonist Beckenstein has certainly always been the band's leader, writing a good chunk of the material and producing the albums, but given that the lineup is basically unchanged from the previous few Spyro Gyra albums, the new nomenclature is puzzling. It also goes against Spyro Gyra's entire musical aesthetic, as the group's unabashedly commercial and melodic style works against the traditional jazz concept of soloists and sidemen. Everyone on Fast Forward plays the melody, the whole melody, and nothing but the melody, with no improvisations or sidebars. The resulting tunes are unfailingly pleasant -- there's nothing here that would cause anyone to leap immediately to the forward skip button on their CD player -- but this relentlessly safe smooth jazz is unfortunately deficient on memorable songs, expressive playing, or foot-tapping tunes. It doesn't really "feature" anyone in particular. -All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the Best, January 17, 2009

By 

Robert Amir-rashad (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fast Forward (Audio CD)

This is, by and large, my favorite CD by Spyro Gyra. Every piece on it is great work. If you don't have Fast Forward in your jazz collection, you need to get it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A reference Jazz album, October 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Fast Forward (Audio CD)

This is by far my most favouite album from Spyro Gyra. It is benchmark in which all other Spyro Gyra albums should be judged on. I think this album reflect a perfected style which has resulted from years of hard work. A must have for all you Spyro Gyra fans out there!!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A review of Spyro Gyra's Fast Forward., April 28, 2003

By 

James Houser (NY, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fast Forward (Audio CD)

Fast Forward is a very good Spyro Gyra album. It was released in 1990. This cd would rank in my top 6 favorite Spyro Gyra albums of all time. All 10 songs have great beats and are great Spyro Gyra playing.

My top 3 favorite tracks off of this cd would probably be 1,5, and 7. Bright Lights is a nice song with great playing by Dave and a good organizational manner to it. Speak Easy is a classic Spyro Gyra song, and has a mysterious type of feel to it. 4MD is also another one of their best songs off of this album. It means for Miles Davis. All of the songs on here are terrific early 90's Spyro Gyra. It also has a nice vocal part in the tenth song.

Fast Forward is a nice, somewhat forgotten Spyro Gyra cd. It is well worth the buy, seeming of how it can be hard to find sometimes. Thank you for taking the time and generosity to read my review.