Voiceprint Music - Release

Release

£9.99

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Catalogue number

IDVP009CD

Release date

20/11/2006

Format

Label

Time Wave

Patrick Moraz

Future Memories II

Disc 1

1. Heroic Fantasy 2. Video Games (How Basic Can You Get?) 3. Satellite 4. Navigators 5. Flippers 6. Pilot's Games 7. Chess 8. After the Year Adter... 9. Bonus Track: A Moment In New York 10. Extra Bonus: Single Version of How Basic Can You Get

Swiss born Patrick Moraz is probably best known in rock music circles as the man who played for two of the world’s biggest rock bands. Patrick was a member of Yes recording the album Relayer and touring extensively with the band between 1974 and 1976. Following his time wit Yes Patrick would play with the Moody Blues. Patrick stayed with the band between the years 1978 and 1991 touring the world extensively and contributing to a number of successful albums.

Patrick has also been a member of the progressive rock band Mainhorse forming the band with bassist Jean Ristori in 1969 and releasing one self titled album in 1970. Following that his next port of call would be Refugee where he joined forces with two former members of the Nice. This band also released one critically acclaimed self titled album before patrick left to join Yes.

Patrick’s career however would it seem be pre ordained. As a child Patrick would have been considered a musical prodigy and whilst he became adept at a number of instruments it was the piano where Patrick excelled to the extent that he was named “Best Young Soloist” at the prestigious Zurich Jazz festival in 1961. Similar awards came Patrick’s way in 1963 and 1965 which led him to performing with some of the great jazz artists of the time including the legendary John Coltrane at various European jazz festivals.

By the time of the release Patrick’s debut solo album in early 1976 Patrick was firmly installed as the keyboard player in Yes. Following the release of Relayer all the members of Yes embarked on solo projects thus ensuring that The Story Of I received maximum coverage in the music press.

Following the release of this album Patrick returned to touring duties with Yes before leaving during the sessions for the follow up album to Relayer.

Patrick then released his second solo album in 1977(Out In The Sun) before replacing Mike Pinder in the Moody Blues a partnership that resulted in a number of successful studio albums and would last until 1991. During this time and beyond Patrick has recorded and released a number of solo and collaborative albums including works with another former member of Yes, drummer Bill Bruford. In late 2005 Patrick signed a new distribution deal with Voiceprint which will oversee the release of his entire back catalogue of solo albums and also include albums from Mainhorse and Refugee.

Future Memories II followed five years after the initial Future Memories Live on TV album and this album is highly regarded by the Patrick Moraz fan base. The instrumental album has a very eighties sound and feel to it no doubt helped in part by the then keyboard technology of the time and as the titles may suggest (Video Games How Basic Can You Get and Pilot’s Games) some of the pieces may have been inspired by the then popular culture of electronic arcade games.

As with all the albums in this series of re issues Patrick Moraz has personally re mastered this album for release.

Reviews

Back in 1979 did Patrick Moraz a live performance for television. The music he played on his own were mostly improvised musical themes performed on his many keyboards. Those keyboards were placed in the Aquarius Studios in Geneva, Switzerland. Director Francois Jaquenod had the task to make it interesting for the viewers who saw the whole show on the 29th December 1979. Five years later he did the same trick with “Future Memories 2” Unfortunately was it again only broadcasted in his own country. But the good news is that later this year the rest of the world can see how the images looked while Patrick played his parts on his synthesizers. A special DVD version of the same “Future Memories” recordings will be released. But first we can enjoy the CD releases of those TV performance. The instant music made for TV was released on several discs lately. “Future Memories Live on TV”, “Future Memories I and II” and “Future Memories II”. Too bad that I only had the chance to hear the last CD. But this one sounds very impressive and features a Patrick Moraz in top condition and was as already mentioned recorded 5 years later after the first “Future Memories” sessions. All seven tracks from the original album tell a story. The music very strongly reflects what happens in this story. A good example is “Pilot’s game”. Patrick is here at the control of a spacecraft. So it’s obvious that we hear all kinds of synthesizer tunes coming from outer space. Also “Chess” is a fine example. The story of the Sun King and a chess game is translated into a piece of music which has all kinds of barrock themes. Also the music for the credits is included. It has the title “After the year after” and is a beautiful mellow tune. The CD version has two bonus tracks. The first, “A moment in New York”, is a fast track and has a sax solo played by on a synthesizer. The last bonus track is the single version of “Video games”. The track is the only song which has some vocals done by Patrick himself. This time did he call this shorter version “How basic can you get”. I must admit that he did a rather strong vocal performance together with his vocoder. Strong can I also mention the entire second “Future Memories” album. It once more shows what a great musician Patrick was in those days. Hopefully will I one day also hear the first version of “Future Memories” and tell you if it is of the same high level. **** (Henri Strik)