Patrick Moraz - 4 Albums [3CD] (1978-1984) [Reissue 2006-2007] (Re-up)

×

Patrick Moraz - 4 Albums [3CD] (1978-1984) [Reissue 2006-2007] (Re-up)

Close

Patrick Moraz is a Swiss musician, film composer and songwriter, best known for his tenures as keyboardist in the rock bands Yes and The Moody Blues. After playing a role in the success of Yes' Relayer album in 1974, Moraz launched a solo career and became one of the more celebrated keyboardists of his age. During the '70s, when Moraz reached his prime as an artist, the keyboard was still a new and complex instrument. Technology was still evolving in the age before the personal computer. For this reason, Moraz's trailblazing keyboard work startled his audience. He practiced a new and exciting sound that was ahead of its time, owing a bit to the era's prog rock sound. However, that prog rock sound soon lost its novelty as the '70s became the '80s, and Moraz had to adjust to the times on his '80s solo albums. At the same time he found security in the Moody Blues, a legendary band whose ranks he joined for a few albums.

Patrick Moraz - Patrick Moraz (1978). Loosely planned around a concept of primitive (i.e. acoustic) culture clashing and then merging with modern (i.e. synthesizer) culture, Patrick Moraz could more accurately be said to track the keyboardist's descent from the rich acoustic diversity of his '70s releases into the synthesized tones of his '80s albums. While heavily processed vocoder lines show up in "Primitivisation," this album is largely instrumental. The result, though, is less a satisfying album than a interesting demo of Moraz's future work. The appropriately cheery "Temples of Joy" makes its debut here; with Bill Bruford's fine drumming added, it would reappear in an otherwise identical form six years later on Flags. That same album's "Karu" appears here as a solo in the gentle vocal piece "Keep the Children Alive," while the woozy pitch-bending synths of "The Conflict" prefigures such releases as Future Memories. It is a pivotal album in Moraz's development, and thus worth a listen to Moraz fanatics, but there's little of abiding interest other than Moraz's pleasantly pensive piano solo in "Intentions."

Patrick Moraz - Future Memories I and II (1979-1984). 2007 digitally remastered reissue from the Moraz discography that combines the first two "Future Memories" albums on to a single CD, adding a bonus track to boot. That bonus is "Here Comes Christmas Again (Et Revoici Noel)" which is actually a new version of a re-make of "More Tea Vicar" and it leads off the set.

Patrick Moraz & Syrinx - Coexistence (1980). This album is rather pan pipe flute oriented. It has a very Latin style with many percussions. The presence of Syrinx playing the omnipresent pan pipe flute obliges Moraz to be more in the background, creating a well balanced exotic ensemble.

×

Patrick Moraz - 4 Albums [3CD] (1978-1984) [Reissue 2006-2007] (Re-up)

Close

×

Patrick Moraz - 4 Albums [3CD] (1978-1984) [Reissue 2006-2007] (Re-up)

Close

×

Patrick Moraz - 4 Albums [3CD] (1978-1984) [Reissue 2006-2007] (Re-up)

Close