Editing Larry Fast

{{short description|American composer}}
{{BLP sources|date=May 2010}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name              = Larry Fast
| image             = Larry Fast.jpg
| landscape         = yes
| caption           = Larry Fast performing in 2006
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age|1951|12|10}}
| background        = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| origin            = [[Essex County, New Jersey]]
| instrument        = [[Keyboard instrument|Keyboards]]
| genre             = [[Electronic music]], [[progressive rock]], [[pop rock]]
| occupation        = {{hlist|Musician|composer}}
| years_active      = 1975–present
| label             = {{hlist|[[Passport Records|Passport]]|[[Atlantic Records|Atlantic]]|[[Voiceprint Records|Voiceprint]]|ABC Classics}}
| associated_acts   = Synergy, [[Nektar]], [[Peter Gabriel]], [[Yes (band)|Yes]], [[Tony Levin]] Band
| website           = {{URL|synergy-emusic.com}}
}}

'''Lawrence Roger Fast''' (born December 10, 1951) is an American [[synthesizer]] player and composer. He is best known for his 1975–1987 series of synthesizer music albums (''Synergy'') and for his contributions to a number of popular music acts, including [[Peter Gabriel]], [[Foreigner (band)|Foreigner]], [[Nektar]], [[Bonnie Tyler]], and [[Hall & Oates]].<ref>{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p30338|pure_url=yes}}|title=Biography: Synergy|last=Bush|first=John|website=[[Allmusic]]|accessdate=21 May 2010}}</ref>

== Biography ==
Fast grew up in [[Livingston, New Jersey]] and attended [[Lafayette College]] in Pennsylvania, where he obtained a degree in History. There he took his previous training in piano and violin and melded them with computer science to become interested in synthesized music and to build his own primitive sound-making electronic devices.

He was introduced to [[Rick Wakeman]], the keyboard player from the band [[Yes (band)|Yes]], during a local radio interview, and traveled to the UK to work with Yes on their 1973 album ''[[Tales from Topographic Oceans]]''.<ref name="FWR_Audion">{{cite web |url=http://www.floatingworldrecords.co.uk/albums/audion/ |title=''Audion'' CD details |publisher=[[Voiceprint Records]] (Floating World label) |accessdate=14 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130420091654/http://www.floatingworldrecords.co.uk/albums/audion/ |archivedate=20 April 2013 }}</ref> It was there that he got a recording contract with Passport Records.

== The Synergy project ==
Fast recorded a series of pioneering synthesizer music albums under the project name Synergy.

The first album in the series, ''Electronic Realizations for Rock Orchestra'', was released as an [[gramophone record|LP]] in 1975. Like the following albums in the series, it exclusively made use of synthesizers and electronic instruments. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Fast released eight more Synergy LPs on [[Passport Records]], all of which were later re-released on [[Compact Disc|CD]]s. The 1998 remastered re-release of ''Semi-Conductor'', a compilation album originally released in 1984, contained ten additional tracks. The eleventh album in the series, ''Reconstructed Artifacts'', was released in 2003; it contained completely new performances of select compositions from the previous albums, using modern digital synthesizers as well as new digital recording technologies.

At least two tracks from the album ''Audion'' (1981) were used as the basis for music in [[Commodore 64]] computer games: [[Rob Hubbard]]'s scores for the C64 version of ''[[Zoids: The Battle Begins|Zoids]]'' and ''[[Master of Magic (1985 video game)|Master of Magic]]'', which were unofficial partial-covers of songs ''Ancestors'' and ''Shibolet''.

Synergy's first album states "..and nobody played guitar." The second album, Sequencer, says "...and still no guitars." These are rumored to be a tongue-in-cheek response to statements that appeared on albums by the rock group [[Queen (band)|Queen]] that they used no synthesizers, which were made to inform listeners who assumed otherwise. Fast's third Synergy album, Cords, states "Finally, guitars...sort of," which references the use of a Russ Hamm [[Guitar Synthesizer]] played by Pete Sobel.

In August 2013, after several years of no releases, "Tower Indigo" was released on the [[Projekt Records]] compilation ''Possibilities of Circumstance''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.projekt.com/store/product/pro00295 |title=Various Artists: Possibilities of Circumstance |date=Aug 2013 |accessdate=15 October 2013}}</ref>

The Synergy albums are:
* 1975: ''Electronic Realizations for Rock Orchestra'' <small>No&nbsp;66 [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]] (18 weeks)</small>
* 1976: ''Sequencer'' <small>No&nbsp;144 ''Billboard'' 200 (11 weeks)</small>
* 1978: ''Cords'' <small>No&nbsp;146 ''Billboard'' 200 (6 weeks)</small>
* 1979: ''Games''
* 1981: ''Audion''
* 1981: ''Computer Experiments, Volume One''
* 1982: ''The Jupiter Menace'' (soundtrack for film ''The Jupiter Menace'')
* 1984: ''Semi-Conductor'' (compilation containing two new tracks)
* 1987: ''[[Metropolitan Suite]]''
* 1998: ''Semi-Conductor, Release 2'' (re-release of ''Semi-Conductor'', remastered and containing ten additional tracks)
* 2003: ''Reconstructed Artifacts'' (compilation consisting of re-recorded versions of old tracks)

Fast has been developing a new Synergy album. This will be his first studio album of new material in over twenty years. According to Fast's website, it will use primarily [[software synthesizer]]s (one of which is, fittingly, [[Sample Logic]]'s [[Synergy (software synthesizer)|Synergy synthesizer]]) rather than the hardware he had been using. He has amassed new thematic material for the album and also plans to rework old and unreleased pieces.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://synergy-emusic.blogspot.com/2009/04/update-march-april-2009.html |title=Update March/April of 2009|date=April 2009|accessdate=9 September 2014}}</ref>

== Other music projects ==
{{BLP sources section|date=February 2020}}
In addition to the ''Synergy'' albums, Fast made contributions to musical projects headed by other people:
* Worked sporadically with [[Nektar]],<ref>{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p19532|pure_url=yes}}|title=Biography: Nektar|last=Eder|first=Bruce|website=[[Allmusic]]|accessdate=21 May 2010}}</ref> providing much of the dominating synthesizers on their 1975 album ''[[Recycled (Nektar album)|Recycled]]''.
* Also known for his work with [[Peter Gabriel]]. He played synthesizer on records and on tour, and rounded out the production team on Gabriel's albums from 1976 to 1986. He recorded parts for ''So,'' but these were not used.
* Contributed to the 1977 concept album ''[[Intergalactic Touring Band]]'' on Passport Records.
* Played the [[Sequential Circuits Prophet-5|Prophet Synthesizer]] on [[Kate Bush]]'s 1980 Album ''[[Never for Ever]]''<ref>{{cite web|last=Prasad|first=Anil|title=Evolutionary snapshots|url=http://www.innerviews.org/inner/fast.html|accessdate=12 January 2012}}</ref>
* Produced Canadian progressive rock group [[FM (Canadian band)|FM]]'s 1980 album ''[[City of Fear (FM album)|City of Fear]]''.
* Contributed music to the [[Carl Sagan]] 1980 television program ''[[Cosmos: A Personal Voyage]]''.
* Provided additional synthesizers on [[Foreigner (band)|Foreigner]]'s 1981 album ''[[4 (Foreigner album)|4]]'' and [[Foreigner (band)|Foreigner]]'s 1984 album ''[[Agent Provocateur (musical album)|Agent Provocateur]]''.
* Played synthesizers on the 1983 [[Bonnie Tyler]] single "[[Total Eclipse of the Heart]]".
* Contributed synthesizers to [[Hall & Oates]]'s 1982 album [[H2O (Hall & Oates album)|H2O]].
* Collaborated on the 1980s pop music project [[Iam Siam]], which produced the hit "She Went Pop".
* Produced and performed synthesizer on [[Annie Haslam|Annie Haslam's]] 1989 release ''[[Annie Haslam (album)|Annie Haslam]]''.
* Along with [[David Bryan]] composed, arranged, and performed the score music to the 1992 film ''[[Netherworld (film)|Netherworld]]''.
* Helped create the music for [[Tokyo DisneySea]], a new Walt Disney theme park.
* Toured and recorded with bassist [[Tony Levin]] (himself an alumnus of Peter Gabriel's band) as part of Levin's [[Waters of Eden]] band.
* Toured with the [[Tony Levin|Tony Levin Band]] in 2002 and 2006.  Fast appears on ''[[Double Espresso]]'', the live album recorded by the Levin band on their 2002 tour.

== Other interests ==
Fast has done some work with designing listening devices for the hearing disabled; his wife had been working in the field for some time. Fast owns several patents<ref>{{cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US5548654 |title=Patent US5548654 - Infrared audio transmitter system - Google Patents |date= |access-date=4 March 2014}}</ref> for audio distribution using infrared optical technologies.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US5596648 |title=Patent US5596648 - Infrared audio transmitter system - Google Patents |date=7 April 1994 |access-date=4 March 2014}}</ref>
Fast is also part of a government group aiming to protect some of [[New Jersey]]'s historic assets against developers.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://synergy-emusic.com/ Larry Fast's official homepage], containing his [http://synergy-emusic.com/lfbio.html biography] and [http://synergy-emusic.com/syndiscography.html discography].
* {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p30338|label=Synergy}}
* {{Discogs artist}}
* {{imdb name|0268780}}
* [http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/music/artist/bio/0,,499510,00.html#bio Larry Fast biography] on artistdirect.com
* [https://archive.today/20130131081428/http://news.planetorigo.com/article.php?poarticle_id=380 2009 Interview with Larry Fast] on ''Planet Origo''
* [http://www.innerviews.org/inner/fast.html 2004 Interview with Larry Fast] on ''innerviews''
* [http://www.electronicmusic.com/features/interview/larryfast.html 1997 Larry Fast interview] at electronicmusic.com
*[https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/larry-fast Larry Fast Interview - NAMM Oral History Library (2009)]

{{Nektar}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fast, Larry}}
[[Category:1951 births]]
[[Category:American electronic musicians]]
[[Category:American hi-NRG musicians]]
[[Category:American male composers]]
[[Category:21st-century American composers]]
[[Category:Peter Gabriel]]
[[Category:American new-age musicians]]
[[Category:Lafayette College alumni]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Musicians from Newark, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Musicians from Livingston, New Jersey]]