Fastway

Fastway may refer to:

Fastway (album)

Fastway is the first album by the band, Fastway, released in May 1983.

Founding member Pete Way (ex bass guitar player with UFO) did not actually play on the album, because by the time the recording sessions began he had already left the band. He soon formed another band, Waysted. The bass guitar parts on the album were actually played by the session bass guitarist Mickey Feat, who is uncredited on the album.

The album has been reissued as a two-fer with the second Fastway album, All Fired Up; however, that edition omits the song "Far Far from Home", bonus track featured on the standalone CD release of the first album.

UK-based record label Rock Candy Records has since re-issued the album with additional liner notes and bonus tracks, including B-sides and BBC sessions.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Fastway

Fastway (band)

Fastway is a British rock band formed by guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke, formerly of Motörhead, and bassist Pete Way, formerly of UFO.

Career

In 1983, both players had been disgruntled with their own bands and decided to work together in a new outfit. They recruited drummer Jerry Shirley, formerly of Humble Pie, and the then-unknown vocalist Dave King. They took their name from a combination of the founding members' names. However, Way then discovered that he could not escape from his recording contract with Chrysalis Records, and then received a tempting offer to play for Ozzy Osbourne, so he abandoned the project without ever playing on a single record. Bringing in session bassist Mick Feat, the band then recorded their debut album, Fastway (Feat was uncredited on the album).

After critical and commercial success, the band toured to promote the album (with one-time Fixx bassist Alfie Agius as their session bass player). The band then recruited Charlie McCracken, formerly of Taste, as "permanent" bassist, and released another success in the form of All Fired Up the following year. After the hardships of touring, Shirley and McCracken subsequently left.

Abracadabra

Abracadabra is an incantation used as a magic word in stage magic tricks, and historically was believed to have healing powers when inscribed on an amulet.

Etymology

The word may have its origin in the Aramaic language, but numerous conflicting folk etymologies are associated with it.

The word Abracadabra may derive from an Aramaic phrase meaning "I create as I speak." or from the Greek "Αύρα κατ' αύρα" meaning "from Αura to Aura". This etymology is dubious, however, as אברא כדברא in Aramaic is more reasonably translated "I create like the word." In the Hebrew language, אברא translates as "I will create" and כדברא "as spoken". The second lexeme in this supposedly Aramaic phrase might be a noun given the presence of the definite article on the end of the word (it cannot be an infinitive construct, as the infinitive cannot take the definite article). Regardless, this phrase would actually be pronounced ebra kidbara, which is clearly different from abracadabra.

"[A]bracadabra may comprise the abbreviated forms of the Hebrew words Ab (Father), Ben (Son) and Ruach A Cadsch (Holy Spirit), though an alternative derivation relates the word to Abraxas, a god with snakes for feet who was worshipped in Alexandria in pre-Christian times." David Pickering's description of the word as an abbreviation from Hebrew is also a false etymology—as he apparently here means Aramaic (בר is Aramaic for "son", it is בן in Hebrew, although בר is an honorific form), nor does he account for the final five letters (i.e., -dabra) in the lexeme.

Abracadabra (video game)

Abracadabra is a text adventure game developed by Odisea Software and published by Proein Soft Line only in Spanish for the Amstrad CPC, MSX and ZX Spectrum in 1988.

Plot

In the year 1209, a knight named Clus d'Eledorf was bewitched by the jealous Queen Saligia, enamored with him, to become a ghost haunting the Castle Burgenfels until he would confess his love to her. The game is divided into two parts. In part one, Clus has to find a way to rid of the witch, break the curse and escape his prison. In the second part, Clus needs to seek out and rescue his beloved Princess Violeta from the Greenwald forest.

Reception

The game was well received by Spanish video game press. MicroHobby called it an "excellent game with a high level of graphic quality and more importantly a stunning setting and realization" and a "fantasy adventure game that provides all the elements necessary to satisfy even the most demanding fans of this genre."Micromania gave it a score of 8/10 and CAAD opined that "among the adventures existing on the Spanish market, this one is definitely the best."

Abracadabra (ABC album)

Abracadabra is the sixth studio album by the British band ABC, released in August 1991 on EMI. It was the final ABC album to feature founding member Mark White, who departed the band in 1992.

ABC moved to the EMI label, where they recorded the LP Abracadabra, a tightly produced fusion of early 1990s techno sounds and 1970s dance grooves which was met with muted critical approval and appreciation from the band's fan base.

The first single, "Love Conquers All", peaked at No. 47 on the UK Singles Chart and remixes of "Say It" (done by Black Box) were well received on the US dance charts.

Background

In a 1997 interview, Fry summed up the making of the album, saying, "Went round in circles making this. Started in the US in Detroit Chicago and New York. Scrapped a lot of music to get to the finished record. Finished it at the Townhouse Shepherd's Bush. A low."

In a 2006 interview, Fry spoke of the album, relating to the duo returning to dance beats and the club scene since the Up album. Fry said, "Well, actually, Abracadabra...we got a massive deal with EMI, but, by then, the group had really burned out, but we were making Abracadabra. Some of the record worked. "Love Conquers All," and "Spellbound," with Phil Manzanera (from Roxy Music), worked. There's some moments on it. What can I say? I'm very critical, very critical."