Far Corporation is a conglomeration of musicians brought together by producer Frank Farian, who is also notable for doing the same thing with groups Boney M. and especially Milli Vanilli. In fact, the group’s name was shortened from the unwieldy “Frank Farian Corporation” which was originally put together to record a cover of Paul Simon’s Mother and Child Reunion. This ‘supergroup’ included Barclay James Harvest, Trio, Boney M and Force Majeure members Kerrie Cox and Dave Libby.
Far Corporation’s primary claim to fame is their cover of “Stairway to Heaven”. Contrary to public perception, Far Corporation was actually the first group to make the singles charts with this song as Led Zeppelin had never released it as a single. Some of the musicians Farian assembled include vocalist Robin McAuley, drummer Simon Phillips, ex-Saga drummer Curt Cress, and three members of Toto: vocalist Bobby Kimball, keyboardist David Paich, and guitarist Steve Lukather. Far Corporation released its first album Division One in 1985 on Arista Records and “Stairway to Heaven” reached #8 on the UK singles chart that year. Also included on the album was a cover of Free’s “Fire and Water”. The group took nearly a decade to record a follow-up, during which time Robin McAuley hooked up with Michael Schenker to form the McAuley Schenker Group. Cress, Kimball, Paich, and Lukather were all present on the group’s second release, 1994’s Solitude on MCI-BMG. This time they were joined by former Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham. As before, this album also featured a notable cover song - Steely Dan’s “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” - but it failed to repeat the success of “Stairway to Heaven”. |
