This wonderful recording had all the hallmarks of a classic space music album in the making when we first heard it in 1991. Like many others from the great crop of British synth musicians, ‘Asfafa’ first appeared as a demo tape at CD Services, and this was one of the selected few that generated real excitement when we were asked to state our opinion the music in contained. After sampling the majestic work, I could hardly wait to pick up the phone and encourage Fox to release it, because I was certain it was going to elevate this artist's name high on the list of great British and European synth composers very quickly – And that is where he is today, still one of the UK’s leading exponents of symphonic ethereal synth music. ‘Asfafa’ is a stunning fifty minute / 9 track mystical montage of cosmic, symphonic synths, heavenly voices, and intricate percussion work. It is a flawless, atmospheric production that features emotional and melodic themes that lift the spirit and penetrate a higher consciousness. A light rhythmic driving force travels through some tracks, gently weaving patterns through waves of lush symphonic strings and angelic voices, evoking visions of great peace within beautiful other worlds, - and all this is achieved without the use of the sampled natural sounds that were commonplace at the time. This album’s music is synonymous with that of Constance Demby’s classic USA CD release ‘Novus Magnificat - Through The Stargate’, one of the all-time success storys of the USA space music scene, and also with classic Klaus Schulze in orchestral ‘X’ mode! It’s his first and one of his best, and an ideal place to start to get into the beautiful and ethereal works of Robert Fox.

471183
Weight: 150.00 g

When ‘Blue Mountain’ was issued Fox was the U.K.'s leading exponent of symphonic spacey spiritual music. Like the two before it, this CD is made up of rich, passionate, harmonious, ethereal, melodic richly textured symphonic synth music. The tracks are both powerful and celestial with rhythmical drumming and the now trademarked choral voices makes regular appearances. It is a perfect fusion of space and symphonics recorded in a style that reminds those who are familiar with one of the all-time great USA space music artists: Constance Demy, for her work on the ‘Novus Magnificat-Through The Stargate’ album. As always, these tracks are all interlinked to give the music that feeling of a continuous piece of music where washes of glorious, dreamy synth chords swell and rise in to the heavens like ascending angelic choirs, all overlaid by some fine melodic themes and percussive passages. Another Robert Fox CD to bear the hallmark of real UK quality!

471185
Weight: 150.00 g

Emotion filled synth music is the order of the day on this, Robert Fox’s second album. Already he was being hailed as the UK's leading synth music composer at the time of its release, purely on the strength of his ‘Asfafa’ CD, and this album only further cemented his reputation as such. ‘Fire & The Rose’ contains 10 tracks that span fifty-six minutes of a gloriously romantic and relaxed symphonic style of grandiose synth music that stands high above anything else in it’s field. The huge themes are filled with stunning melodies and there is a spacey, atmospheric edge to it all that certainly no other UK synth musician at the time had come anywhere near to producing. Vangelis and Constance Demby would have been his nearest non-UK rivals, so that gives you some kind of idea as to the standards he had reached. The music holds it’s place as a fine symphonic synth work you just sit and listen to, and for those into meditation and such things, if you keep the volume levels low, it’s absolutely perfect for relaxation purposes too. Either way, it is simply joyous heavenly music, ideal to shut yourself away with and drift off into the type of "other worlds" that only the very best of orchestral synth music can transport you to!

471184
Weight: 150.00 g

The fourth album release sees a remarkable development of Robert Fox’s unique individual sound - The style is basically similar to the other titles, but there is a lot more going on within each of the compositions. The first half of the album is quite eerie and complex at times, and needs several airings before you can really click into all that's going on within the dense wall of symphonic sound that the musician is creating, but part two was what really made us sit up and listen - It starts with a beautiful theme that reminds you of something that might have come out of the Vangelis musical notebook, with that trademark heavenly choir patch that is so much a vital part of all Robert Fox albums never far away. He develops this piece into a very beautiful work of art that will thrill all those who are into any of the previous Robert Fox releases!

471191
Weight: 150.00 g

When this was released in 1997, we felt it was his most delightful work since the really early stuff! ‘Light’ is nothing short of a sensational album with the superb trademarked choral synths being joined by heavy drum patterns, ethnic influences, plus some excellent piano work and chanting samples. There is a real solid approach to the music on this album, and the miles of synth layers that are used to create it will have you riveted to your speakers for the duration, because they exude vitality, plus there is a real sense of purpose and originality from each of the 10 tracks. His sound has developed at this stage of his career and as a result his music has become much more varied. The added sonic dimensions include amazing new keyboard/synth textures and melodies, plus drum laden soundscapes that are unique enough not to be comparable to anyone else’s music, but at the same time familiar enough to be enjoyed seriously by a wide variety of synth music fans. This is Robert Fox at his peak - Some say it has the same feel and huge level of scope that Andy Pickford's 'Maelstrom' (one of the UK’s biggest selling synth music releases) has, so that in itself is one major compliment. Music like this is so varied that it would take weeks to review in meticulous detail, so let’s just say that if you go for that melodic, choral symphonic sound of Robert Fox you can’t go far wrong with this, his 5th CD album - Check it out soon.

779393
Weight: 150.00 g

Two early pre-‘Asfafa’ albums packaged together and available on CD for the first time. From 1990 we have ‘Far Distant Shore’, and it opens with a sprightly, layered piece (with a title so long, I’m not even going to try to type out) that sounds more like ‘83-era Ian Boddy than anything else, only with more of a choral symphonic feel to it. Then cruise control kicks in for the near nine-minute ‘Endgame’ as wave after wave of synths kind of sprawl out of the mix in a manner more akin to romantic Wavestar. These lush chords spread over the rolling drums and string-synths forming the main focus of the backdrop, while tinkling synths glimmer all around. It’s at the end of this piece that you notice it’s really two minutes shorter than it says on the sleeve, so make that nearly seven minutes long. The rest of this album’s 7 tracks are all mid-length, mainly along the same mix of slowly rolling rhythms and high-flying chords, with string-synth backdrops and layered melodies - All very panoramic, powerful, serene and dynamic, but – and I would not be doing my duty if I didn’t say – despite the remastering from the original, presumably cassette, source, the production, although clear, is somewhat “tinny”. ‘Voices From The Inner Ear’, is even earlier from 1989 – It has the same sounding production and starts off with ‘In The Beginning’ which is more percussive, with chunky rhythms over resonant synths, cascading chords and a general mix of choral and melodic leads, striking a balance between the delicate and the powerful, plus it’s all quite evocative on the whole. ‘Slow March Into Oblivion’ is a more filmic piece that sounds like it would have not been out of place on the music Clannad did for the ‘Robin Of Sherwood’ TV series. ‘Runner’ relies heavily on its rumbling bass end for the dramatic effect, sadly an effect that is all but lost in the murky production, but when it settles down to a more relaxed scene, the combination of strings and melodic synth textures achieve their aim. The final 4 tracks continue the same style, as big symphonic synths lie alongside subtly powerful rhythms, deep bass, acres of strings and some generally gorgeous little tunes, all very anthemic in many ways, the title track sounding more like something that might have come off Mark Shreeve’s ‘Assassin’ album. If you can get past the production shortfalls, and have a liking for symphonic, melodic synth music with a decided early-mid 80’s UK-influenced feel, then this is more than a decent album.

740072
Weight: 250.00 g

The 6^th Robert Fox took one giant leap into a new world of ‘Electronic Music’ that expanded his already sizable fan base to quite an extent. The album is an 8 track, sixty-three minute epic that finds Fox taking some of his traditional patented sounds into a more modern setting that probably has more to do with what Code Indigo (of which he is a leasing contributor) has been doing rather than his early work. Although Fox fans might miss that big slab of choral sound that so often used to ring throughout his early work, there are lots of new influences to take their place (although they are not really totally gone anyway!). We hear influences and interesting sounds from the likes of Jarre (rarely) to Enigma and Oldfield (just a touch), with lots of Vangelis and Code Indigo touches in there too. The melodies and rhythms make their presence felt like they have never done before on a Fox album, plus he keeps his famous choral voices to a more metered level, often keeping them out of the sonic picture altogether, but this just means that they become much more effective when they are utilised. There are no massive, sweeping epics here, and it doesn’t really break any new ground, but this guy is really good at what he does and he makes great music. This album seems to have added a new dimension to his production skills. It may need a couple of plays to get into, but the rewards are there for those who like their synth music to be extremely melodic, with a touch of the cosmic way of doing things, and if Vangelis is your bag, well you can’t go wrong really!  Click on the ‘More Product Information’ link for an extended review with a track-by-track description.

296668
Weight: 150.00 g

Click here for more product information

The 7^th album was released towards the end of 2002, and again, there is an impressive development to the sound of Robert’s music.  With a generous playing time of just over sixty-seven minutes and 13 tracks, the opening three tracks provide a simply divine thirteen minutes of absolute genius and the rest of the album is pretty damn goods too. Throughout the entire set you will find plenty of the familiar big sounding, melodic choral and string combination themes you are used to with this musicians work, but his further venturing into the worlds of rhythms, spacey textures and sound sampling have expanded the range of styles and atmospheres that are delivered in abundance on this album. This is a musical experience you won’t forget in a hurry because of the range of moods it can provoke – It’s beautiful themes will give rise to strong emotional response and it’s chilling atmospheres will evoke real feelings of trepidation – It is music for the mind at it’s best, portraying startling images of serene beauty one minute then chilling you to the bone with dark atmospheres the next. Click on the ‘More Product Information’ link for an extended review with a track-by-track description.

740078
Weight: 150.00 g

Click here for more product information

Click on the ‘More Product Information’ link for an extended review and track details.

405358
Weight: 350.00 g

Click here for more product information

Orchestral trance anyone?  Well, not exactly – this album is absolutely full to overflowing with melodies of the sprightly, flowing variety, layered with lush string synths and an ocean of synth backdrops, but backed by a variety of electronic percussion rhythm bases that will entrance even those who, theoretically, don’t like “this sort of thing”. The odd part about this album is the fact that it all works together so well – The sheer attention to detail and texture across every composition means that you are hearing a whole set of classic synth tracks, complete with a full sound, plenty of ideas, excellent arrangements and more, allied to slow-mid-paced rhythms that are spot on the right side of the ambient 90’s fence, for synth fans. It’s a sort of synth lover’s entry point to the world of 90’s electronic music without straying too far off the melodic tried and trusted beaten track.

189636
Weight: 150.00 g

Rhythmic, experimental yet very accessible! This is one of those rare albums that show that sometimes you don’t need vast arsenals of electronic equipment to produce a thoroughly satisfying album! While this album is deceptively simplistic sounding, it conveys all the warmth, character, strength, fluidity and atmosphere that many others, particularly the Euro-mainland fraternity, fail to provide. Here there are 12 tracks, all melodic, and all with that certain ‘magic’ of a stripped down sound that doesn’t ever feel ‘empty’ or unfulfilled. The soothing string-like backdrops and deep bass covers either end of the musical spectrum, while the mix of melodic space music, strong rhythmic tunes and atmospheric soundscapes, go together to provide a most satisfying album. There is nothing here that will tax your concentration on the one hand, but equally there is nothing that will bore you senseless or make you want to switch off, on the other. At times the electronic drum rhythms sound a bit too sparse for their own good, the main culprit being the four-minute track ‘Angels’, but by and large the ‘primitive’ nature of the rhythms fits well with what is created on the melodic side. So, overall, this is a highly satisfying, tune-laden, feel-good synth album of a curiously hypnotic light-sounding nature.

460357
Weight: 150.00 g

A 9-track debut album for this talented instrumentalist, and track 1 rides in on a wave of undulating and cascading sequencer, percussive and upper register synth rhythms, feeling and sounding a bit like a (guitar and vocal-free) synth version of the end of the first part of Mike Oldfield's ‘Ommadawn’. Track 2 starts with a relaxed synth landscape which drifts into even more relaxed gentle rhythms and the flow of the piece is slow and studied, as the emphasis is more on mood than melody, although it's all very delicate stuff. It is this delicacy of movement that pervades most of the album and you drift along on tranquil layers of cosmic synth, slow melodies, slower rhythms and the effect is very relaxed, almost orchestral for such a sparse sounding album, although the rumbling synth bass on track 5, the 'Latin' rhythms on track 7 and the harder percussive rhythms on track 9 help to add some variation.

460359
Weight: 150.00 g