Just wanted to post since I am a new user and since nobody has posted anything for a while. Being a drummer, the main reason I started listening to SG is because of Joel. I first heard them at a birthday party, of all places! My friend Fillip was playing 20/20 and I was hooked! (Fillip's Dad introduced him to jazz).I had never heard drums that sounded like that. Resonant and tight. I think Joel is way underated. The funny thing is that Fillip and I are both 18 and while are peers are into sports, sportcars and hard rock, we are going to jazz concerts!
Unlike some of you I like the newer Spyro stuff more than the old. Everything from Three wishes to In Modern Times. I have some of the old stuff but the drums sound, well like 80's drums did. Of course having been listening to them for about three years I end up wanting to learn how to play the guitar,bass, piano and sax!
Just because they are so inspiring.
Anyway I just wanted to post this for the sake of it. I am looking forward to the Sonoran Jazz Festival in Tucson, AZ where Spyro will be!

Welcome to the board, Avid. Glad you're part of the team now. But please, don't turn off the older SG music just yet. Albums from Alternating Currents to Fast Forward may be tainted (for want of a more definitive term) because of the electronics involved in the drum play, but those are still good albums. Richie Morales' work on Whirlwind (Breakout, 1986) for me is one of the best drum efforts during that period. However, Eli Konikoff had a very different style. Check out the albums Spyro Gyra, Morning Dance and Catching the Sun for some SG music produced before technological advances changed the sound. And an absolute must is Access All Areas, their first live album, released in 1984.
As for the newer stuff, you're right on the money with Three Wishes and 20/20. It took me a while, but I finally came around last summer to really appreciate Dreams Beyond Control and Heart of the Night.
Glad to have you aboard. And happy listening.

------------------
Woody
jazzwriter23@yahoo.com

Welcome and Good on ya Aviddrummer!....and I'm not Mr. Rosenblatt but I wish I could play the drums like him.

Anyway, keep listening to REAL music, and that is JAZZ.

Hi Jazzwriter,
the strangest thing happened! I tried to post a reply and it didn't except my password. So I had it email me my password and it said my user name was bobnpat and gave me another password! So I had to register again! Weird!

Anyway what I wanted to say was that I didn't mean for it to sound like I don't care for of like the old Spyro. I just prefer the newer sound. I do have a tape of Access All Areas. Definitely a great album. I also have Fast Foward and Freetime. I like Richie's drumming on that and Pacific Sunrise is an awesome song!
Their music does grow on you doesn't it. I actually took back Heart of The Night after buying it when I first started listening to them. But then I wanted to hear De La Luz again. So I bought it again. Since then it has grown on me and really like that album. It seems to me after the first two songs the rest of the album has a funk/jazzy sound. What do you think?

Hey all, Can you imagine all of those older albums recorded with today's technology?? I too hated that electronic drum set Richie Morales played! I wished he'd used real drums on those tunes!

Oh, absolutely! When I first got Heart of the Night, I kind of put it aside after the first two or three listens. Sometimes, the first song can make or break an album. While Heart of the Night is a good song, it was a bit on the smooth side. And after Love & Other Obsessions, with its R&B vocals, I put both of them on the shelf and didn't pick up either again until early last year. At the time, I felt 20/20 and Dreams Beyond Control were much better. While I still love those two, I've completely reconsidered Heart of the Night. For one, I listened past the first song and really fell in love with Westwood Moon, Midnight, Playtime and Valentino's. I've also taken a much stronger liking to De la Luz and Believe. The other songs are good, too, but these six I think are the strongest. If you match them up against the best six from any other SG album - with the possible exceptions of Three Wishes, In Modern Times and the two live albums - I think they'll hold up pretty well.
And when you consider the sequence from De la Luz to Believe (adding Surrender), I believe that is the funkiest, jazziest and swingingest 7-song sequence from all of their albums, with Three Wishes being a close second.

------------------
Woody
jazzwriter23@yahoo.com