It’s April 2nd. The number of cases of coronavirus in Tokyo has just about doubled in a week, but the government still has not declared a state of emergency so people are still going to work everyday. Literally everything I see is bad news and there is no good news on the horizon. It is soul-crushing.

Let’s talk about some new music.

I’ve gotten way into synthwave lately. I’m buying almost everything that New Retro Wave has to offer at the moment. Of that, I highly recommend the latest albums by Wolfcub, Turboslash, Akuma & Tokyo Rose, and Tonebox. Yes, none of this is exceptionally original or groundbreaking but I don’t really care. It sounds good, it’s fantastic background music for writing, and it keeps me in a good headspace.

I’m also getting way into a group called Magic Sword. Their album Endless is also synthwave, but it has a bit more of an organic sound. I don’t know if they use acoustic drums, or if they just go for acoustic drum sounds. Regardless, it has a good 70s electronic vibe to it, kind of Tangerine Dream at times, and I’m into it. You can pick up their album on Joyful Noise’s website.

Video game music! A dude going by the name of Space Quest Historian has been remixing and reworking the soundtracks to the Space Quest video games by Sierra. He already did a limited release of the Space Quest IV soundtrack, and now he’s prepping his Space Quest III reworking. It’ll get a vinyl release eventually, but as of right now you can pick up a digital copy at your own price. For fans of the series, I highly recommend it.

Since I can’t go to record stores at the moment, I’ve been ordering some new releases on Amazon right now. I got the soundtrack to Link’s Awakening, which includes both the music to the original Game Boy release and the Switch remake, but I haven’t gotten around to listening to it yet. I have been listening to the new Early Years box set by Def Leppard and do enjoy that. Some good live and rare stuff on there from back when the band was more of a heavy metal group and Joe Elliot was not a good (but very energetic) vocalist.

I’m also still on my stupid old synthesizer album kick, hopefully my boyfriend (who is cooped up with me and has to hear all this shit), doesn’t mind.

Barry Leng
This is Synthesizer Sound! (Complete Album Download)
There aren’t enough Barrys in music, am I right? John Barry doesn’t count. I’m talking about first name Barrys. We only got Barry Manilow. That’s it. You don’t hear a lot of “give it up for Barry on guitars!” at concerts. Women aren’t lusting after hot lead singers named Barry. No up-and-coming Soundcloud rappers go by Barry. .

The only other Barry I can name-check in music is Barry DeVorzon. He did the fantastic score to the 1979 all-time banger classic movie The Warriors. So I guess he’d have to be my all-time number one Barry in music.

Coming in behind at number two (of two) is Barry Leng, thanks to his 1978 collection of synthesizer pop song covers, This is Synthesizer Sound! The exclamation point is in the title. I do enjoy this album, but I’m not that excited about it.

Far as I can gather, this album was released in Japan only. But many of the songs on it were on a 1974 album called
Golden Hour Of Golden Instrumental Hits Featuring The Many Moogs Of Killer Watts. As great as the name Barry Leng is, I’m going to have to say that “Killer Watts” is even better, wonder why he didn’t stick with that.

The fact that it was first released in 1974 didn’t surprise me. By 1978, the synthesizer album market was drying up, save for Japan, where they kept pumping them out until they just morphed into synthpop records. As synth albums of the mid-70s go, this one feels much more acoustic than others. A lot of the drums are acoustic, and it also features guitar and other instruments. I don’t know who’s playing those instruments, as no liner notes, English or otherwise, are included with the album. maybe Barry was a virtuoso.

He certainly was an accomplished producer. In the 1970, Barry pumped out a steady supply of mid-level disco and soft rock before striking it big in 1978, producing Amii Stewart’s hit cover of “Knock On Wood.” He would then go on to chart on the European charts some more as a producer for dance acts E’voke and Rage. It looks like he hasn’t done anything since the mid-90s though, if his Discogs credits are any indication. Hey Barry, you still out there? What are you up to?

As I said, this isn’t really entirely a synthesizer album, it’s more of a hybrid that mixes synths and more traditional instruments. It’s not the best record of its type, but I think what it lacks in originality it makes up for with production (ti sounds great) and a stellar tracklist. We get a great cover of the theme to For A Few Dollars More, a nice take on the Godfather love theme, and dope covers of “Apache,” “Help” and “Live and Let Die,” just to name a few. It also has a fantastic rendition of “Telstar,” which I’ve already mentioned is one of my favorite instrumentals of all time. Barry does it justice with his version here. I also have to call out the version of “Help.” The synthesizer work isn’t all that remarkable, but the drumming is fantastic. Ditto for “Hey Jude.” I hate “Hey Jude” but I love dope drums and this version has them in spades. The best track in terms of pure synth work is “Soul Coaxing” (google it, you know it). Very ethereal with lots of groovy pitch-bending sounds.

The album also has a cover of “Red River Rock,” another song that you definitely know even if you don’t know the name. You probably heard it on the soundtrack to Planes, Trains and Automobiles. The version on that was recorded by early synthpop act Silicon Teens. I wonder if they somehow came across Barry’s version and were inspired to create their own rendition because of it. Seems like a hell of a coincidence that two different synthesizer-based acts would decide to cover the same song so close together without one inspiring the other.

Fun music for not-so-fun times. Pipe it up loud and drown out the existential dread the best you can.

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