Search - Exchange :: Beyond Words - Best of

Pretty good summing up

BK | San Francisco, CA USA | 01/02/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Exchange was a two man Canadian keyboarding group that released about five albums in the late 80s and early 90s. There is a slight possibility that you have heard their music on NBC's coverage of the Tour de France (in the mid-90s) or in the Prince Valiant cartoon that was on one of the Turner cable channels (also in the early 90s.) Whatever the case, their output was markedly consistent; one person referred to their sound as a cross between Bruce Hornsby and John Tesh, which is rather accurate, although Yanni (circa 1986), Giorgio Moroder and David Foster could probably be included in the mix as well."Beyond Words" is a compilation and their final album. They consciously exclude any of the vocal tracks that pop up in their previous albums - perhaps the lyrics seem a tad schmaltzy in retrospect. Their eponymous 1992 album gets generous representation here; in fact, only the vocal tracks and one instrumental are missing; the track order is even really consistent. The older albums definitely attempt to emulate real instruments using digital, pre-sampled synthesizers, rather than exploiting the unique timbres themselves, lending a slightly dated quality that I think will only appreciate over time."