Tuesday 30 June 2020

Raymond Scott ‎– "Manhattan Research Inc." (Basta ‎– 30-9078-2) 2000


Whereas one ,rather more famous, Manhatten Project became the Destroyer of Worlds.
There was another that became the Creator Of Worlds,in fact the creator of the synth.This one was run by Raymond Scott,who spent his time stretching the limits of modern 1950's science to make something positive for the future of mankind,rather than its destruction.Although some of the music his research and innovation went on to enable its existence by,would make any sane man choose nuclear annihilation rather than have this torture inflicted upon them.
From around 1949 onwards,former Big Band Jazzer Raymond, spent most all of his time inventing early synth's like the "Electronium", and the "Clavinox",which was a keyboard controlled Theremin,and the "Karloff",an early sampler. Naturally he used all this gear in his wacky music,which can be heard in most decent american cartoons up to and including ,in my opinion, The best TV series ever made, "The Ren and Stimpy Show".
This posthumous release of unreleased works discovered at his home, showcases Scott's pioneering electronics from the 1950s and 1960s with his futuristic electronic compositions mainly used in television and radio commercials and for the burgeoning market for novelty records of electronic music.He was highly prolific in all areas of early electronic music it seems.
So that's why he was forgotten?
Tracklist:

1-01 Manhattan Research, Inc. Copyright 0:11
1-02 Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. (Instrumental, Take 4) 1:14
1-03 Bendix 1: "The Tomorrow People" 1:06
1-04 Lightworks 1:52
1-05 The Bass-Line Generator 3:10
1-06 "Don't Beat Your Wife Every Night!" 1:44
1-07 "B.C. 1675" (The "Gillette" Conga Drum Jingle) 3:16
1-08 Vim 0:59
1-09 Auto-Lite: Sta-Ful (Instrumental) 0:47
1-10 Sprite "Melonball Bounce" (Instrumental) 1:01
1-11 Sprite "Melonball Bounce" 0:59
1-12 "Wheels That Go" 0:50
1-13 "Limbo: The Organized Mind" 4:33
1-14 "Portofino" 1 2:13
1-15 County Fair 1:01
1-16 Lady Gaylord 1:02
1-17 Good Air (Take 7) 0:38
1-18 IBM MT/ST: "The Paperwork Explosion" 4:31
1-19 Domino 0:33
1-20 Super Cheer 0:34
1-21 Cheer: Revision 3 (New Backgrounds) 0:39
1-22 "Twilight In Turkey" 1:32
1-23a Raymond Scott Quote 0:55
1-23b Vicks: Medicated Cough Drops 0:41
1-24 Vicks: Formula 44 0:46
1-25 Auto-Lite: Spark Plugs 1:00
1-26 Nescafé 1:06
1-27 Awake 0:35
1-28 "Backwards Overload" 6:04
1-29 Bufferin: "Memories" (Original) 0:59
1-30 Bandito The Bongo Artist 1:30
1-31 Night And Day 1:45
1-32 Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. ("395") 1:07
1-33 K2r 0:19
1-34 IBM Probe 1:56
1-35 GMGM 1A 1:49
1-36 The Rhythm Modulator 3:37
2-01 Ohio Plus 0:17
2-02 "In The Hall Of The Mountain Queen" 0:49
2-03 General Motors: Futurama 1:04
2-04 "Portofino" 2 2:14
2-05 "The Wild Piece" (a.k.a. "String Piece") 4:07
2-06 "Take Me To Your Violin Teacher" 1:40
2-07 "Ripples" (Original Soundtrack) 0:59
2-08 Cyclic Bit 1:04
2-09 "Ripples" (Montage) 4:06
2-10 The Wing Thing 1:00
2-11 County Fair (Instrumental) 1:00
2-12 "Cindy Electronium" 1:59
2-13 "Don't Beat Your Wife Every Night!" (Instrumental) 1:45
2-14 Hostess: Twinkies 0:32
2-15 Hostess: Twinkies (Instrumental) 0:32
2-16 Ohio Bell: Thermo Fax 0:24
2-17 "The Pygmy Taxi Corporation" 7:11
2-18 Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. (Announce Copy, Take 1) 0:29
2-19 Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. 0:44
2-20 Lightworks (Slow) 1:40
2-21 "The Paperwork Explosion" (Instrumental) 3:39
2-22 Auto-Lite: Ford Family 1:03
2-23 Auto-Lite: Ford Family (Instrumental) 0:54
2-24a Raymond Scott Quote 0:27
2-24b Auto-Lite: "Wheels" 1:23
2-25 Bufferin: "Memories" (Demo) 0:40
2-26 "Space Mystery" (Montage) 5:11
2-27 "The Toy Trumpet" 2:15
2-28 "Backward Beeps" 1:05
2-29a Raymond Scott Quote 0:35
2-29b Auto-Lite: Sta-Ful 1:01
2-30 Lightworks (Instrumental) 1:29
2-31 "When Will It End?" 3:14
2-32 Bendix 2: "The Tomorrow People" 1:03
2-33 Electronic Audio Logos, Inc. 5:23


Monday 29 June 2020

Perrey & Kingsley ‎– "The In Sound From Way Out!" ( Vanguard ‎– VSD-79222) 1966


From the 'Stereolab' (now where have we heard that before?) of  Gershon Kingsley and Jean-Jacques Perrey....fine american names both.....we bring you "The In Sound From Way Out!";probably one of the top ten album titles of alllll time. It even got used twice when The Beastie Boys brought out an album with the same name,same cover, but far far shitter music inside.
Using all those avant garde Musique Concréte techniques made famous by lofty com-poseurs like Pierre Schaeffer nigh-on twenty years previously.Perrey and Kingsley did the american thing and made the silliest music possible with kilometres of magnetic tape and a razor blade.I say 'silly', but if some French bloke fresh out of the Conservatoire de Musique made this in 1952,it would still be hailed as a ground breaking work of art-sonique to this day.
Instead it's filed in the Novelty section as a rediscovered piece of cheese to break the ice at your soirée...in fact exactly what it was created for in 1966.Forget History and we're doomed to repeat it.....oh shit,was that my right wing ignorance and a reference to Statue toppeling again??? In which case I don't apologize.


Tracklist:

1.Unidentified Flying Object 1:55
2.The Little Man From Mars 2:25
3.Cosmic Ballad 3:24
4.Swan's Splashdown 2:15
5.Countdown At 6 2:49
6.Barnyard In Orbit 2:24
7.Spooks In Space 2:00
8.Girl From Venus 2:21
9.Electronic Can-Can 2:00
10.Jungle Blues From Jupiter 2:55
11.Computer In Love 2:03
12.Visa To The Stars 2:13


Sunday 28 June 2020

Tom Dissevelt ‎– "Tom Dissevelt ‎– Fantasy in Orbit. Round the world with electronic music by Tom Dissevelt" ( Philips ‎– 633 302 BY) 1963


This could have been the Dr Who soundtrack that never was....in fact it never was a Dr Who soundtrack. Tom Dissevelt isn't as re-discovered as Delia Derbyshire, or as cute,or as tragic,so he's already struggling in the pathos stakes,as well as being compleatly forgotten until the early part of this century. that said, there isn't anything here to rival the 'Dr Who Theme' of the same year,so maybe he deserves to be in Delia's shadow.
There are, however,many similarities between the electronic concréte sound of Dissevelt and Derbyshire,which is unsurprising as they had virtually the same equipment.Although with the funding from Phillips for the Nat Lab, I guess Tom would have had the superior kit compared to what the BBC were likely to have provided the lovely Delia and chums at BBC Maida Vale.
Is this where Bowie nabbed his Major Tom character from?He was known to be a fan,and Tom was indeed the first Dutchman in space, albeit in sound only.


Tracklist:

1. Ignition
2. Atlantic
3. Spearheads
4. Zanzi
5. Anchor Chains
6. Tropicolours
7. Gamelan
8. Woomerangs
9. Waltzing Matilda
10. Pacific Dawn
11. Gold And Lead
12. Mexican Mirror
13. Seconds To Eternity
14. Re-entry


Saturday 27 June 2020

Tom Dissevelt & Kid Baltan ‎– "The Fascinating World Of Electronic Music" (Philips ‎– P 08168) 1959


Fascinating isn't it?......what do you mean 'what!'???, The world of Electronic Music of course!?
This is the Dutch 'The In Sound From Way Out',but done seven years before Perrey and KIngsley's batchelor pad classic in the USA. This never made it into the Space-age Batchelor pads of America of course,only being released in such weird nowheres-ville places as Argentina, the Netherlands,and Mexico!?
It's not quite as silly as Perrey and Kingsley's work in the mid to late sixties, but I'm sure a copy of this may have found its way into their sweaty palms at some stage in the process....even the cover art bares some similarity to the In-Sound from not so way out,Holland in fact.
Its also Fascinating, how the technology of any age is used mainly for our own titilation and entertainment rather than helping anyone;like the internet, far from being an information superhighway,and bringing everyone together in harmonious peace,its used for masturbation,gossip,propaganda,getting laid by strangers and stealing,...oops...I mean sharing, free records.......Fuck peace man!
I know what you're all asking,"Who is this cool sounding Kid Baltan?".
Rule one is, always reverse the words when deciphering an alias.
So we are left with Dik Natlab, which is none other than Dick Raaijmakers......satisfied now with your endless questions?....No?.....Who's he?.....?
Dick Raaijmakers,is a Dutch early electronic composer,who worked for 'Nat Lab' (Baltan),(Natuurkundig Laboratorium ,laboratory for physics),.....you dig?
The enigmatic 'Kid Baltan......somehow not as I imagined him!?
So, Kid Baltan, got together with fellow Dutchman, Jazzer and experimental composer, Tom Dissevelt (real name), and made these weird musique concrete pieces for 'Phillips' in the 'Natlab' ,which was created by Phillips in order to develop new ways in music on a scientific basis. 
Again, these tunes would be perfect for some East European animation, but instead, like the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, the company didn't give enough credit to Tom and Dick, so Tom left the Natlab to Dick in 1963.
I also noticed that Perrey and Kingsley called their studio the "Stereo Lab"......inspired from the Nat Lab by any chance?...also strange because most of these things were in Mono.....'Mono Lab' anyone?
Originally credited as being by "The Elektrosoniks",this,nestling between The Incredible String Band and The Velvet Underground, was cited as one of David Bowies all-time top 25 albums!?


Tracklist:

1 Syncopation 2:49
2 Intersection 3:12
3 Drifting 7:22
4 Vibration 3:07
5 Song Of The Second Moon 2:35
6 Whirling 3:00
7 Mechanical Motions 5:25
8 Pianoforte 5:05


Friday 26 June 2020

Various Artists ‎– Anthology Of Dutch Electronic Tape Music: Volume 2 (1966-1977) (Composers' Voice ‎– CV 7903) 1979


They have funny names, wear clogs, take drugs openly,ride bicycles,have childrens stories about putting fingers into Dykes...and if that wasn't enough to recommend that you move to Holland, then how's about all this early electronic music then?
They're so liberal over there that all of this was probably state-funded. If the government did that in the USA the Rednecks would start lynchin' people of colour again,if they ever stopped?
There's something about all this early electronica that is far more disturbing that it's younger,trendier, sibling Industrial Music,which tried far too hard to be unsettling.This is the same as the difference between those scary movies where you saw nothing except what your own mind imagined,and shit yourself.Industrial Music was more like a Slasher move where nothing was left to the imagination. The human mind is capable of indescribable horrors,and this musique concrete stuff gives the mind the space it needs to create the terror of real life,or rather reveal the terror of real life. 
Fucking Hell, we're all gonna die!?Why wasn't I TOLD!!!?


Tracklist:

1 –Jacob Cats - Cadence-1 6:10
2 –Tera De Marez Oyens - Safed 7:33
3 –Jos Kunst - Extérieur 9:39
4 –Gilius Van Bergeijk - D.E.S 7:46
5 –Frans Van Doorn - Minnuet 9:05
6 –Thomas Arras - A.B.C. 8:33
7 –Simeon Ten Holt - I Am Sylvia 15:30
8 –Victor Wentink - Discours 13:20
9 –Louis Andriessen - In Memoriam 5:06
10 –Peter Smith - Étude-1 8:58
11 –Tony Van Campen - Sintering 9:55


Thursday 25 June 2020

Various Artists ‎– "Anthology Of Dutch Electronic Tape Music: Volume 1 (1955-1966)" (Composers' Voice ‎– CV 7803) 1978


On a purely Intellectual note to start off with......TeeHeeHeeeee......His name is Hans Kox...titter titter! Fnar Fnar Kyuk Kyuk!
Well, Hans off yer Kox now,and lets get serious.....Nah!
Like everywhere else,the Dutch think they invented Electronic music,and one has to say,they were pretty close to having a point.
The origin of Electronic music is almost as tiresome an argument as who invented Punk Rock.....but in Punk Rocks' case it was quite clearly England, Not Detroit,Not New York,Not Scotland...England,gottit?
As for coherent electronic composition, it seems,on the whole, to be a French thing, although it turns out that Daphne Oram of the BBC may have trumped Pierre Shaeffer,but it was kept traditionally  Hush Hush in that understated British way.We don't like show-offs over there  y'know?
One thing that the Dutch are world class at however, is Funny Names.
Hans Kox .....gaffaw gaffaw. laff laff!

Tracklist:

Studio Of The Netherlands Radio Union
A1 –Hans Kox - Three Pieces For Electronic Organ 3:48
A2 –Ton De Leeuw - Study 6:47
Studio Of Delft Technical University
A3 –Jan Boerman - Musique Concrète 3:04
A4 –Jaap Spek - Impulses 7:58
A5 –Rudolf Escher - The Long Christmas Dinner 6:15
Philips Studio
B1 –Henk Badings - Cain And Abel 8:57
B2 –Dick Raaijmakers - Piano-Forte 4:56
B3 –Ton De Leeuw - Antiphonie 15:17
Studio Of Utrecht University
C1 –Frits C. Weiland - Studie In Lagen En Impulsen 4:46
C2 –Hans Kox - Cyclophonie III 7:33
C3 –Tom Dissevelt - Fantasy In Orbit 3:05
C4 –Axel Meijer - Werkstuk-1964 2:32
C5 –Robbert Jan De Neeve - A.F. 1:17
C6 –Peter Schat - De Aleph 7:46
Studio Of Ton Bruynèl
D1 –Ton Bruynèl - Reflexen 4:34
CEM Studio, Bilthoven
D2 –Will Eisma - BTH. 3457 4:08
D3 –Klaus Gorter - K 45 5:40
D4 –Luctor Ponse - Etude-I 6:19
D5 –Berend Giltay - Polychromie-I 6:42

Wednesday 24 June 2020

Karel Appel ‎– "Musique Barbare" (WVB ‎– 99954 DL) 1963


On the theme of electronic Apples,where we heard 'Silver Apples of the Moon',then experienced the lost and found proto-electronic duo 'The Siver Apples';now we have a mad Dutch Painter called Karel Appel!?
Let's face it, artists are a bunch of self-aggrandizing attention seeking twats. And Dutch Abstract expressionist, forward slash, action painter,Karel Appel, was certainly one of them.
Lack of attention as a child leading to low self-esteem issues has a lot to answer for.....Hitler for one.....and Karel takes his anger out on, mostly, canvas;but,that's not enough for him is it?...Oh no...he has to enter the confusing world of Musique Concréte,applying his action painting techniques to magnetic tape.
Karel approach to tape splicing was,how do you say?...er...unique?
Looking like Captain Haddock on angel-dust, our wooly jumper wearing Art Nutter somehow managed to produce one of the most extreme and uncompromising sonic assaults the world has ever heard.No its not a colla-bore-ation with Merzbow from 2007, this was done at the same time those ground-breaking mop tops were singing nursery rhymes like 'Love Me Do' at the top of the UK hit parade.....in 1963?
Captain Haddock unleashed in the Dutch verion of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

The opening piece.....artists call tracks, 'Pieces'by the way....sounds not unlike a Carl Stalling composed soundtrack to a Looney Toons cartoon,zipping and darting,spontaneously, in all random directions.Which, without the coreography of a Warner Brothers cartoon, could send a an unprepared mind insane . I'm guessing he approached the tape edit like an action painting,randomly sticking pieces together, and randomly attacking the studio piano. It would make a great backing track to an experimental eastern european cartoon.
But its when Karel starts to vocalize that it really gets certifiable. Section 8 stuff,probably used to get himself out of Dutch National Service after the war. Repeating the phrase "I Do Not Paint I Hate" over and over again,increasingly manically,accompanied by a prepared tape and wild phonetic drumming.
The final track...er...'piece',find our hero let loose on the drums again, whilst attacking a vox continental. This, The Beatles,it is NOT!
Appel doing his day job......artists call it working!?“I paint like a savage – because we live in savage times.” Said Karel, Another favourite quote of the formidable painter was “I merely muck about”...well,he said it not me!?
He never made another record.

Tracklist:

1.Paysage Électronique (11:41)
2.Poème Barbare (3:30)
3.Le Cavalier Blanc (12:42)


Tuesday 23 June 2020

Kraftwerk ‎– "Autobahn" (Philips ‎– 6305 231) 1974



Yeah I know,yawwwn....It's Kraftwerk, that unappreciated electro-motorik krautrock fourpiece from Dusseldorf.Everyone keeps banging on about how influential they were,but,predictably I'm not having it.
Afika Bambatta says he heard Trans Europe Express and blah blah blah. Well, Trans Europe Express was basically a remake of "Autobahn",using the same mechanical electronic rhythm to suggest travel by various horseless carriges. The darker side of it all is the Trans-Europe Express as the Iron Horse that sped jews to their deaths thirty years earlier via Auchwitz and the semi-mythical Treblinka.
A theme also explored by Steve Reich's 'Different trains' was it not?(The minimalists also had a great influence over all this repetitive German music too don't forget). It helps that Kraftwerk had a better image in 1974 than their later showroom dummies period,when they looked, basically, like Nazi's.
"Autobahn" is also the album that inspired the UK proto-synth popsters like The Human League,Ultravox,but not apparently Tubeway Army,who insisted that he(Gary Numan) had never heard of Kraftwerk.
The reason this album was Kraftwerk's most influential was because they performed this on primetime BBC popular science programme,Tomorrow's World;which also incidently was broadcast in the slot before Top Of The Pops on a thursday evening.Just when the uk youth were sitting in front of the idiot box. then they had Delia Derbyshire's Doctor Who Theme to absorb every saturday tea-time.
Because of "Autobahn"s sucess, they repeated themselves with the next album....so much for experimentation then fella's?
The obvious 'Synth-Pop' album was "The Man Machine", which came out the same time as The Human League's own version of Synth-Pop 'Being Boiled',so that can hardly be called the first Synth-Pop album either.Then Gary Numan appeared at slightly later in the day,claiming no other influence than...yes....Ultravox!Whose 'Systems Of Romance' album of the same year was very synthesizer based.
Personally I prefer the early Kraftwerk,Krautrock period, from 1970 to 74, but you have to admire the beautiful glacial but phat and warm synth noises they committed to tape from 1978 to 1981. "Computer world" was their best synth-pop album,but in 1981 everyone was doing it by then.The year of Human League's "Dare",which involved much more danceable beats and no-one dressing up as silly Robots.
The most influential part of their canon was the compact portable tech.That's what Hip-Hop took from this honky music. And the less portable,but syncable tech is what influenced the producers of House and Techno,that, and the small matter of Georgio Moroders "I Feel Love".....technology has a lot to answer for!
By 1981, Kraftwerk had ran out of ideas,in fact, by 1978 they had ran out of ideas.You could have found most of their ideas in the works of Tangerine dream and Klaus Schulz anyway,mostly from before "Autobahn".
Alas, as a piece of prime late period electronic Krautrock, this holds up as the missing link between the Berlin School and Gary Numan.....who was also a major influence on early Electro and Hip-Hop.
Kraftwerk...Good...but not that good.
RIP Florian and Kraftwerk.

Tracklist:

1. Autobahn 22:30
2. Kometenmelodie 1 6:20
3. Kometenmelodie 2 5:44
4. Mitternacht 4:40
5. Morgenspaziergang 4:00

DOWNLOAD from the information super autobhan HERE!

Monday 22 June 2020

Tonto's Expanding Head Band ‎– "Zero Time" (Embryo Records ‎– SD 732) 1971



Tonto is the name of the enormous twenty foot by eight foot synthesizer invented by Malcolm Cecil (Tonto's Expanding Head Band founder). T.O.N.T.O. stands for The Original and New Timbral Orchestra due to its amazingly expansive symphonic sound.
I am led to understand that the traffickers of this pre-synth era kraftwerk trumping duo, are ....as they say these days...'Of Colour';which in this epoch of 'taking the Knee' for Black Lives Matter, and using the knee to asphixiate an offender,means that Black culture invented Electronic music,and all other electronic albums must be thrown into the murky waters of Bristol docks.
Indeed, its now ok to press the History Eraser button and forget all the naughty men who had the prescence of mind to behave in the accepted ways of their time.So we can now repeat their mistakes.
So,yeah,Tonto's Expanding Head Band invented synth Pop,and electronic music in general,so Depeche Mode never existed,so we are doomed to repeat their many mistakes all over again.
I must also apologize for the clumsy use of the adverb 'Traffickers' in reference to the purveyors(clever use of synonyms there?) of this new form of music;it alludes to drug use, and I'm only using it because its a reference to 'People of Colour',and apparently I'm not of colour.....so shame on me,so i will take the knee every day for a fortnight to make it all better again.
Sure 'Black Lives Matter', no-one said they didn't to my knowledge, but this 'movement',slash fashion cult, is causing more of a rift rather than healing it.Whitey is gonna find it even more awkward to relate to their black chums,for double fear that they are gonna say something unacceptable.So what we end up with is more incentive to keep to your own,and divisions increase.
Don't have a go at me because of your slave trade guilt Honky!!!I'm doing my bit by erasing electronic music history from before and up to Tonto's Expanding Head Band,d'you understand Kemosabe?
Fucking imperialist slave trading White Bastards!Its a modern  version of the concept of 'Original Sin',but just for Whites.Born with 'racist' tatooed on their foreheads.
I'm thinking of sueing all scandinavian countries for what those Vikings did to my ancestors. If there's a few quid to be made we'll find any ol' excuse to be offended.
Micro-agressions like, "ooo aren't you articulate' are indeed unwitting racism by stealth,just as the word 'You' is abused when referring to past injustices done by the 'White Man' to 'The Black Man'.'You',as in 'Me'.....i'm not aware of owning slaves,or not employing someone because of their skin colour.This is unhelpful to the BLM cause is it not?.....cue the Honky bastard who accused me of racism because I don't like Hip Hop,Soul or Reggae......hot off the press, we're all racists,it's in the DNA,it just depends how you manage your inate tribalism problem.Sort it out, or don't,its a subjective problem,and legislation won't alter anything,except build even more resentment.Nothing's gonna change!
Answer this profound problem, with honesty please, to test your racism levels....You're in a boat,There's a white family, a Black Family,an Asian Family etc, bobbing about in the ocean and you've only got room for one...which do you choose to save and why?

Oh yeah...if you're wondering...NO, Tonto's expanding Headband did NOT invent electronic music!!!?...jeeeez!

"We're all Coloured,otherwise you wouldn't be able to see anyone" (Don Van Vliet,1972)

Tracklist:

1 Cybernaut 4:30
2 Jetsex 4:14
3 Timewhys 4:57
4 Aurora 6:48
5 Riversong 8:00
6 Tama 5:23


Sunday 21 June 2020

Joe Byrd And The Field Hippies ‎– "The American Metaphysical Circus" (Columbia Masterworks ‎– MS 7317) 1969


After the fine 'United States Of America' project bombed,probably dropped over Cambodia by their bastard of a record company,and kept all the royalties to themselves President of The United States...the band...Joe Byrd, made a similar record,using lots of effects,and a smattering of electronics, named after a USA track,"The American Metaphysical Circus". As political as ever, Byrd unwittingly predicted the Trump years, and their impending end, in the "Four Dreams For A Departing President" section.After Trump could only attract 6224 Morons to a rally in Tulsa,capacity 19000,after he had boasted there were a million applications for tickets only last week on twitter....titter titter.
This bunch of studio bound 'Field Hippies',manage to have made a kind of off broadway Hippie Musical,in the terrible tradition of Godspell,and similar,but blended with the 'United States Of America' album part two.
When i tell you that Joe Byrd received Stanford University's Sollnit Fellowship for graduate study in composition. But chose to 'split' for New York, where he worked as conductor, arranger, teacher, Associate Producer for a record company!???...then that'll go someway to explain why this sounds like a bunch of young 'talented' kids who passed an audition to get in the band.It's an academic's idea of what's cool.It sounds so composed,that it could easily be mistaken for one of those terrible age of aquarius musicals that eventually gave us Andrew Lloyd Webber,and the age of Musical Theatre that has compleatly taken over the worlds' theatres.
Again, there's some of those 'ragtime' moments that Psychedelic America found utterly hilarious,but makes any european wanna smash their record players.
After this I guess Byrd went back to his day job arranging pop hits to sound like James Last.....Phil Ochs accepted....yeah I read the comments section......The Byrd had flown.

Tracklist:

The Sub-Sylvian Litanies
Kalyani 3:50
You Can't Ever Come Down 2:58
Moonsong: Pelog 3:47
American Bedmusic I - Four Dreams For A Departing President
Patriot's Lullabye 2:44
Nightmare Train 3:23
Invisible Man 3:31
Mister 4th Of July 1:46
Gospel Music For Abraham Ruddell Byrd III
Gospel Music 4:28
The Southwestern Geriatrics Arts And Crafts Festival
The Sing-Along Song 4:00
The Elephant At The Door 5:10
Leisure World 1:33
The Sing-Along Song (Reprise) 0:44



Saturday 20 June 2020

The United States Of America ‎– "The United States Of America" (Columbia ‎– CS 9614) 1968



Another group vying to be the first electronic rock group was the ironically monikered, United States Of America.
Their name was of course an provocation—“a way of expressing disdain for governmental policy. It was like hanging the flag upside down,” as the group’s Dorothy Moskowitz explained.The United States of America somehow sounded like a counterculture state-of-the-union address. Their debut album was the work of a group of UCLA students working under the direction of Joseph Byrd,a former student of John Cage,and ,the irony doesn't stop with the group name,a card-carrying Communist (well done you're in the club!?).He envisaged an avant-garde rock band with radical politics at its center, the Psychedelic Crass, and from that combustible starting point came a suite of music that pulls in all directions. Psych-rock and musique concrète leaks into trad jazz and ragtime,a much parodied Psychedelic era genre,and more evidence that Pysch Humour,alongside anyone who is 'stoned' just isn't funny,but with Moskowitz’s beautiful but effectless voice soothing the irritation somewhat.
Never play Ragtime or Dixieland jazz...EVER!

Tracklist:

1 The American Metaphysical Circus
2 Hard Coming Love
3 Cloud Song
4 The Garden Of Earthly Delights
5 I Won't Leave My Wooden Wife For You, Sugar
6 Where Is Yesterday
7 Coming Down
8 Love Song For The Dead Ché
9 Stranded In Time
The American Way Of Love
10.I [Part 1] - Metaphor For An Old Man
10.II [Part 2] - California Good-Time Music
10.III [Part 3] - Love Is All
Bonus Tracks
11 Osamu's Birthday
12 No Love To Give
13 I Won't Leave My Wooden Wife For You, Sugar
14 You Can Never Come Down
15 Perry Pier
16 Tailor Man
17 Do You Follow Me
18 The American Metaphysical Circus (Alternate Version)
19 Mouse (The Garden Of Earthly Delights)
20 Heresy (Coming Down)


Friday 19 June 2020

Fifty Foot Hose ‎– "Cauldron" (Limelight ‎– LS 86062) 1968


Unwitting rivals with the Silver Apples,and the United States Of America for the Electronic Rock pioneer throne was the rather trad Psych sounding Fifty Foot Hose. They still had guitars involved, and had a Grace Slick-a-like as singer; but, crucially a bloke on oscillator, and the guitarist doubled up on Ring Modulator,so we're getting into pre-synthesizer early Electronic territory here.
Inevitably getting lost in the bowel movement of Psych bands from San Francisco in 1967/8 their album became an influential cult classic. Pere Ubu being an obvious beneficiary.
Well, I'd sooner listen to this stuff than The Grateful fucking Dead, in fact i'd sooner listen to Mylie Cyrus than the Grateful Fucking Dead,even though Cyrus is a sexual propaganda-bot for the old world order, in fact I'd prefer anything to another adult orientated psychedelic guitar solo from Jerry Garcia!
Fifty Foot Hose had all the ingredients to have made it to number 154 in the billboard charts, but those weird noises put off the rock crowd and they bombed.Which probably saved them from eventually making their own version of "They Built This City On Rock'n'Roll", like what happened to Jefferson Airplane......stay off the drugs kids.
For artistic integrity to remain intact,the best thing that can happen to you is Failure, or Death.But if you're gonna fail, better make it a glorious failure, like this album,and the Silver Apples' albums;or a glorious death like Jimi Hendrix, who died just as he was starting to suck real baaaad.Like all music,timing is the most important aspect of one's art;but, if you want suck-cess,all you gotta do is turn up consistantly.They'll like anything if you're reliable,repeat yourself constantly, and most important,make sure you're there.No matter what your music is like,don't break up and you'll make it.If Fifty Foot Hose had continued they'd have been as big as The Residents are today,as in 'not very'.And if you broke up,and wanna reform 20 years later with no original members left, that's a surefire way of earning some quick cash....just,please, don't make a new record!? As in football, you have to maintain momentum.The magic is lost the moment a group decides they have musical differences,or the drummer wants to make a solo album.There are NO exceptions!(discuss).


Tracklist:

1 – And After 2:06
2 – If Not This Time 3:39
3 – Opus 777 0:22
4 – The Things That Concern You 3:30
5 – Opus 11 0:26
6 – Red The Sign Post 2:58
7 – For Paula 0:30
8 – Rose 5:07
9 – Fantasy 10:14
10 – God Bless The Child 2:36
11 – Cauldron 4:55
12 – If Not This Time (Demo) 3:39
13 – Red The Sign Post (Demo) 2:17
14 – Fly Free (Demo) 2:41
15 – Desire (Demo) 11:39
16 – Bad Trip (33 rpm) 3:21
17 – Skins 2:24
18 – Bad Trip (45 rpm) 2:03


Thursday 18 June 2020

Various Artists ‎– "Electronic Evocations A Tribute To The Silver Apples" (Enraptured ‎– RAPTCD02) 1996


This is the album that restarted it all. Simeon Coxe was flicking through the CD's in Tower records and came across this tribute to his former band in the various electronic section.Refreshingly not getting upset that someone was releasing versions of his tunes without asking him.He contacted Enraptured and congratulated them,and expressed a desire to get back into music again.
In fact, unknown to Coxe, a german label had been selling bootleg copies of the first two Silver Apples albums for years,helping grow the legend.No spiteful where's the money gone rants,just gratitude that someone had taken the time to spread the appreciation of the Apples work far and wide......some other 'Artists',and money driven bourgois reissue labels should show the same appreciative qualities when comes to the Music Blogs, who have done a Silver Apples for many a rediscovered musician,or buried record labels (eg Vanity records).
Here we have the cream of 1990's UK Indie neo-psych drone meisters,plus Windy and Carl,and Outrageous Cherry,whom i saw in New York and the female bass player was playing unplugged for at least two songs before someone else in the band noticed. Of note is that Scouts of Uzbekistan member, Mark Carolan, is drumming and programming for Alphastone's version of "You're Not Foolin' Me".
Ahaaa, Alphastone, as led by the 'other one' from Spaceman 3,I suppose, Spoaceman number 3, Pete Bassman,which had one of those extraneous members in the group, like Bez,or Chas Smash, who appeared to do nothing.They alway had to have a silly name too, and this one was called 'Digger'...he played some inaudible Conga's,but clearly thought he was Mozart.The only thing he had in common with Mozart however, was that he was an arsehole too. Naturally, constantly stoned off his face like he thought a proper musician should be, Digger had a problem with me and my entourage invading the backstage area to meet Simeon,and drink all the beer;Alphastone were supporting the Xian Hawkins era Apples,who weren't very good. Upon referring to their 'new' drummer, who had replaced the Scouts' Mark Carolan on the drum stool, as 'The New Drummer','Digger' insisted on saying 'Thee Drummer' with increasing aggression until everyone realised that he was indeed 'Superfluous', like the Paul Rutherford of UK neo-psych that he was.Couldn't hear his bongo's for love nor money,and i suspect he had a digeridoo stashed somewhere on his person too. The Silver Apples were better at their next Leicester gig a year later(where I posed as an Observer rock critic),with the original Dan Taylor on skins....now he was 'Thee Drummer', and thankfully, No Digger in sight.I think Windy and Carl supported this time...a vast improvement.
This compilation, However, is brilliant....maybe even better than the Silver Apples' records?...or is that blasphemy?


Tracklist:

1 –Windy & Carl- Program 4:24
2 –Scaredycat- You And I 5:08
3 –Third Eye Foundation- I Have Known Love 4:49
4 –Flowchart- Lovefingers 4:29
5 –Sabine- Dancing Gods 6:06
6 –Outrageous Cherry- Misty Mountain 2:34
7 –Alphastone- You're Not Foolin' Me 6:32
8 –Lorelei - Oscillations 4:08
9 –Monitor - A Pox On You 3:25
10–Amp - Seagreen Serenades 3:28
11–Tranquil - Ruby 4:36


Silver Apples and Spectrum ‎– "A Lake Of Teardrops" (Space Age Recordings ‎– ORBIT 016CD) 1999


What a nice career junkie Pete 'Sonic Boom' Kember was? Rescuing all these forgotten electronic heroes from the trash heap. Like Delia Derbyshire, respect due, Peter Zinovieff, and Simeon Coxe of the Silver Apples.
Recorded in Coventry(uk) no less,whose concrete brutalist vista's of fly-overs and piss soaked underpasses seem to suit electronic music far more than those horrible Ska-revival bands that the place is more famed for.
If this was the Apples fourth album,it may have rivaled 'Contact' as their best. A drug hazed electronic fog of bleeps,swirls and analogue sweeps that would have fit nicely tacked onto the end of an episode of Dr Who in 1963.

Tracklist:

1 Streams Of Sorrow 5:12
2 Sixth Sense 0:55
3 The Edge 4:17
4 Second Sight 0:31
5 Whirlwind 5:22
6 (I Don't Care If You) Never Come Back 2:36


Wednesday 17 June 2020

Silver Apples - "The Garden" (Whirlybird Records ‎– WR109) 1970/1998


Ozzy Osbourne and Dan Taylor examine the running order of the completed  and notoriously difficult Third album.

With all the renewed interest in the mid-nineties,not that there was any interest when they were around the first time, The Silver Apples took this opportunity to finish the mythical 'Third' album that they had started to record in 1969,until Pan-Am fucked it all up for them.
Simeon told me that it was "Too Commercial",but the evidence dismisses that claim.It's not commercial at all, just a little bit crap.....but not as crap as those albums Simeon did with Xian Hawkins before he rediscovered Dan to finish "The Garden" and tour Europe.
The Can-like repetition,Simeon and The Simeon's primitive electronics are still there,and so is Coxe's warbling vocals. There's also some ill-advised cover tunes,which I'm sure would have been dropped from the finished LP originally;maybe that was the commercial aspect which Simeon was referring to?
There's about four decent Silver Apples style tunes on here that stand uo to those on 'Contact',even if "Walkin'" starts off like a remake of "You're Not Foolin' Me"....well they're not foolin' me!
Sounding like the kind of bonus disc material which blights every remastered classic album since 1990,this is not prime Apples, but it's still an intriguing listening experience.Especially like the instrumental jams,or noodles as they call them.
Sadly just after it's eventual release, Simeon was put out of action for 5 or 6 years after breaking his neck in a tour bus crash.Athough Dan died in 2005, Simeon is still playing as the Silver apples into his eighties, using recordings of Dan's drumming to augment the one man band aspect.


Tracklist:

1.I Don't Care What The People Say 3:08
2.Tabouli Noodle 4:18
3.Walkin' 4:07
4.Cannonball Noodle 5:29
5.John Hardy 2:22
6.Cockroach Noodle 2:24
7.The Owl 3:23
8.Swamp Noodle 2:58
9.
Mustang Sally 3:15
10.Anasazi Noodle 3:20
11.Again 2:58
12.Starlight Noodle 4:39
13.Mad Man Blues 3:13
14.Fire Ant Noodle 3:43

Tuesday 16 June 2020

Silver Apples ‎– "Contact" (Kapp Records ‎– KS-3584) 1969



The Silver Apples' second album caused a bit of a hoo-haa,and is another fine example of what happens when capitalism becomes involved in music.
Our most favourite eclectic NYC-based 1960s minimalist electronic pop duo had struck a deal with the now thankfully defunct airline Pan Am to shoot the front photo of the album's artwork in an airliner cockpit, in exchange for including the Pan Am logo. However, the backside of the record featured a photograph of a plane crash. This led to a lawsuit and the record was pulled from the stores,effectively destroying their career. As if seeing our Silver Appled heroes pickin' banjoes in the wreckage of a plane crash would put anybody off flying with Pan-Am, or the chances of anyone but a few penniless hippies actually seeing this image,would send the airline's stocks tumbling was extremely unlikely.They sued because they could.If these big business idiots had any sense, they would have laughed it off, and added an American Airlines logo on the wreckage on the rear.This would have boosted Pan-Am's public image, and even helped American Airlines as there's no such thing as Bad publicity, sayeth the man, and The Silver Apples would have made the Billboard charts; thus making them suck,but at least they'd have finished the third album,and likely made a fourth. I asked Simeon why he didn't release the previously mythical third album (which eventually saw light in 1998-ish), and he said, "It was too commercial", so Pan-Am missed out there....probably why the fuckers went to the wall.A Pox on you and all your houses big business man.
The album itself, is a droning eardrum buzz groove of classic hippie electronica,and is certainly the superior work of their first career.Dare I say Groundbreaking?....like a falling aircraft?

Tracklist:

1.You And I 3:19
2.Water 4:19
3.Ruby 2:31
4.Gypsy Love 5:32
5.You're Not Foolin' Me 6:26
6.I Have Known Love 3:50
7.A Pox On You 5:08
8.Confusion 3:23
9.Fantasies 6:01


Monday 15 June 2020

Silver Apples ‎– "Silver Apples" (Kapp Records ‎– KS-3562) 1968



I figure that they got their name from Morton Subotnick's album, via the W.B.Yeats' poem,"Silver Apples Of the moon" released the previous year.
Siver Apples were the very first electronic rock duo and an obvious precursor to Suicide,who began their long career of sonic terrorism a year after Simeon and drummer Dan Taylor called it a day after getting sued by Pan-Am.
Simeon Coxe, the singer and electronicist, made his own proto-synth from a bunch of Oscillators and had a variety of levers,knobs and pedals to control the sound of the box of tricks which he named after himself...."The Simeon".
The persussion heavy repetitive sound reminds one of krautrockers CAN more than Suicide,but the influence on Vega and Rev is undeniable.
The original line-up got back together in the mid-nineties, of which I was much privileged to see perform in a pub in Leicester,uk, around 1998 (at the much missed Physio and Firkin), and got to chat with Simeon after saying that me and my buddy were from the Observer.He was much amused by the fact that I referred to himself as "The Simeon" like his machine was called,but I rather liked the ape-like connotations,as in Simian. Thats what happens when you invite drunken Observer reporters backstage when you don't drink yourself and you have a complimentary crate  of beer just waiting to be drank. I thought Simeon looked rather like an urbane Ozzy Osbourne,with his dyed black long hair and round tinted glasses,but he certainly wasn't as thick as Ozzy. I'm not sure if Windy and Carl,and some Spacemen Three offshoot were supporting that night, or was that the gig they did a year or so before,with the new band members,which wasn't so good.
Sadly Dan died a few years after, and Simeon broke his neck in a car accident. This duo were cursed.

Tracklist:

A1 Oscillations 2:47
A2 Seagreen Serenades 2:53
A3 Lovefingers 4:10
A4 Program 4:05
A5 Velvet Cave 3:28
B1 Whirly-Bird 2:39
B2 Dust 3:42
B3 Dancing Gods 5:55
B4 Misty Mountain 2:38


Morton Subotnick ‎– "Silver Apples Of The Moon" (Nonesuch ‎– H-71174) 1967


Allegedly the first piece of Electronic Music commisioned by a record company. Which is probably correct,as in music made from a purely electronic source.The source being, in this case,The Buchla Modular Electronic Music System.There were plenty of 'electronic' records and recordings before this,especially those of the Musique Concréte variety; but with a synthesizer,Silver Apples is said to be there first.
There's not much in the way of structure here however, more in the line of Free Electronics,relying on funny electronic noises for it's avant-garde novelty value. If this is Avant-Garde then so was the soundtrack to the Forbidden Planet made a decade before this.
There was certainly a lysergic appeal that would have the casual Hippie space cadet freaking out at those groovy sounds man;and the cover art betrays nonesuch's target market with it's far-out oil film projector still.Psychedelic cover means Psychedelic music right?
Just tell 'em what to do and they'll invariably do it.

Tracklist:

A Silver Apples Of The Moon (Part One) 16:30
B Silver Apples Of The Moon (Part Two) 15:00


Sunday 14 June 2020

Don Harper ‎– "Homo Electronicus" (Columbia ‎– SCX 6559,) 1974


Don Harper....if ever there was a more Australian name I'd like to know.....luckily,escaped the Australia of the 1970's for the hip recording studio's of the UK. He found ample work for his musical talents within British TV, for both the BBC and ITV, where he was the man who made Dickie Davis groovy with his musical arrangments for those tiresome sporting collages on ITV's World of Sport programme, where he stayed for 15 years!...poor fucker!
He regularly appeared in the Radiophonic workshop, and did a Library electronic album with Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson..."Electrosonic" for KPM.
Don was either making a statement with the title of this solo album, which would explain why he escaped the land of Dennis Lillie,Rod Marsh, and Merv Hughes (celebrated purveyours of the noble art/arse of Cricket) or he was actually referring to the marriage of man, as in mankind, with the blossoming technology of the age.
Releasing an album called anything with 'Homo' in the title could have got you killed in seventies Australia. I suspect that Dennis Lillie,Rod Marsh, and Merv Hughes were probably gay anyway....just look at those moustaches for fucks sake! Freddie Mercury's wet dream.
Some obviously GAY Australian Cricket legends.
Well as a proud...er... member....coff...I could do this all day!....of the Homo Erectus species(Tee-Hee) of modern man, I can proudly announce to the world that I am,unfortunately, Straight....I would love to be Gay but I think Blokes are a bunch of twats without twats, so i prefer the less competitive world of Ladies......no I don't mean I want to be a lady....look,lets not go there, this attempt at humour is complicated enough!?
I dunno if Don was or was not gay, with glee,I just saw the prefix 'Homo' , and went off on one....sorry Don(RIP).
He was ,however,the Stephane Grappelli of the antipodes, and scrapes those violin strings with the spunkiness of a recently de-closeted 'puffda', as Merv Hughes would say, lubing up Brad Pitts bare arse. You'll never hear a funkier version of the Dr Who theme anywhere outside the James Last Orchestra,and the rest of the tracks are classic Library Music standards that wouldn't be out of place in an elevator, which is NO criticism.And, of course, Don whips out his Syntheziser much to the disgust of his former college Ms Derbyshire,whose influence can be heard on every track.
I wasn't labelled a 'Homophobic Fuck' in the pages of Discogs for nothing you know; but there isn't a statue of me to decapitate as of yet, so I don't give a fuck.......here's my chance to unleash the classic Homophobe's non-argument....."Some of my closest Friends are Gay"....you could sub the word 'Gay' for 'Black' too if you're that way inclined.....i've been called a'Racist Fuck' too y'know.
I have to say I do like the new look of the Churchill Statue,its a Brutal post-modernist statement,and could also be the prediction come true of the Space Odyssey Obilisk?.....definitely a case of 'Don't mention the War'.....I let it slip once but I think I got away with it!"....but, of course Fawlty Towers was banned from UKTV as of yesterday.....then apparently reinstated after a lot of moaning.It all depends on who moans loudest it seems!?
            After............and.............before.......Good innit?

Tracklist:

A1 Dr. Who Theme
A2 Cold Worlds
A3 Fiddle Chop
B1 The Blue Book
B2 Nightmare
B3 World Of Sport


Saturday 13 June 2020

Desmond Leslie ‎– "Music Of The Future" (Musique Concrete ‎– MC 1001) 1960


Apart from inventing the multitrack mixing desk and being a close relation of Winston Churchill, World War Two Spitfire pilot Desmond Leslie, developed an interest in musique Concréte and electronic music shortly after the war had ended. He had his own little recording studio, and proceeded to make these sinister pieces of early electronic music, which found their way onto the soundtracks of a few terrible British Science Fiction movies, and even some early Dr Who soundtracks.
Leslie was probably most famous for punching theatre critic Bernard Levin in front of eleven million viewers during an edition of the live satirical TV show That Was The Week That Was in 1962. Ostensibly this was to protect the honour of his then-wife, Agnes Bernelle, in response to Levin's critical review of her show, Savagery and Delight.Levin was asking for it if you ask me....god knows what Bernie would have said about this....er...music?Or any of Leslie's science fiction novels and screeplays?
Hopefully, we will all get over that punch one day and laud Leslie for his remarkable achievements with music technology and his fantastically weird and forward looking music.


Tracklist:

Theme Music From The Film: The Day The Sky Fell In
A1 Play-In 0:26
A2 Destruction Of The Flies 4:46
A3 Invention Of The Weapon 0:45
A4 The Stranger 1:40
A5 The Stranger's Gift 1:05
A6 Finale And Play-out 1:51
Music Of The Voids Of Outer Space
A7 Asteroid Belt 2:21
A8 Mercury, Fleet Messenger Of The Gods 1:05
A9 Comet In Aquarius 1:30
A10 The Warhorns Of Mars 1:40
A11 Saturn-Chronos 4:13
Sacrifice, B.C. 5,000
B1 Dawn, Invocation 2:45
B2 Gathering Of The Elders 4:43
B3 Coming Of The Elementals, The Victim 6:47
Death Of Satan
B4 Esoteric Tone Poem 6:34

Friday 12 June 2020

John Baker ‎– "The Vendetta Tapes" (Buried Treasure Records ‎– BUTR8) 1966 / 2015


A recently discovered stash of John Baker's jazzy soundtrack to BBC mafia themed crime series "Vendetta", first broadcast in the golden year of 1966 when England won the world cup. That will never happen again, and having inventive musicians such as those of the cabilibre of John Baker won't either. This was hands-on underpaid creativity at its most humble.
As usual, John wouldn't have got a credit for this .That honour always went to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop,and the collective responsibility rule. This is what caused the downfall of the communist block, the human need to be noticed,and given a reassuring pat on the back every now and then...like a pet dog.Some acknowledgment that one exists?
The human ego can be a terrible thing to taste,as does equally the iron boot of the committee.

Tracklist:

1 – The Sugar Man (Cue 2) 0:38
2 – The Sugar Man (Cue 3) 3:35
3 – The Sugar Man (Cue 5) 0:27
4 – The Sugar Man (Cue 7) 2:03
5 – The Sugar Man (Cue 9) 0:29
6 – The Sugar Man (Cue 15) 1:44
7 – The Sugar Man (Cue 17) 0:33
8 – The Dolly Man (Cue 1) 1:06
9 – The Dolly Man (Cue 2) 2:26
10 – The Dolly Man (Cue 3) 1:41
11 – The Ice Cream Man (Cue 1) 0:38
12 – The Ice Cream Man (Cue 7) 0:50
13 – The Ice Cream Man (Cue 13) 0:14
14 – The Ice Cream Man (Cue 15) 2:07
15 – The Ice Cream Man (Cue 1A) 2:05
16 – The Ice Cream Man (Cue 2A) 0:48
17 – The Ice Cream Man (Cue 4A) 1:27
18 – The Ice Cream Man (Cue 10A) 1:43
19 – The Ice Cream Man (Cue 18A) 1:22
20 – The Widow Man (Cue 8) 0:28
21 – The Widow Man (Cue 9) 0:56
22 – The Caves Of Steel - RQ1 (Music) 1:10
23 – The Caves Of Steel - RQ9 (Music) 0:22
24 – The Caves Of Steel - RQ11 (Mono - Stop T/O) 0:36
25 – The Locusts: Plagues Of Man (Cue 9) 1:31
26 – Orbit 0:44
27 – The Lively Mind 0:21
28 – Suivez La Piste (Cue 3) 1:43
29 – Suivez La Piste (Cue 5) 0:58
30 – Suivez La Piste (Cue 8) 0:49
31 – COI Technology Pavilion 9:32
32 – The Tape Recorder (Cue 1) 1:11
33 – The Tape Recorder (Cue 2) 0:51
34 – The Tape Recorder (Cue 4) 0:21
35 – Computers In Business 0:50
36 – Man Alive: UFO 1:15

DOWNLOAD the bbc vendetta against john baker HERE!

Thursday 11 June 2020

BBC Radiophonic Workshop ‎– "The John Baker Tapes Volume 2 (1963-75) (Trunk Records ‎– JBH029CD) 2008


I suppose the label this was released on should have been called 'drunk' not 'Trunk' records, as Radiophonic Workshop stalwart John Baker was probably drunk while he made the majority of these novel advert jingles and TV soundtracks.
Compared to his colleagues John was firmly on the musicianly side of composition,and also firmly in the Novelty music section of the workshop. Whereas Delia Derbyshire could make her doomy atmospheres, and Brian Hodgson could spent all his time making weird noises,John was lumbered with making funny tunes from varispeeded shampoo bottle pan pipes for a daytime childrens science programme. No wonder he turned to the evil drink.....but then again so did Delia. Although Delia couldn't keep up with Johns voracious appitite for consuming reams of cigarettes and therefore lived a few years longer.
Delia left in 1973 because the electronics were getting too easy and more conventional, but John Baker was sacked for being Drunk most of the time. The last recording he made before his descent into the dark realms of alcoholism was done at home on his piano in 1975(included here)...probably just before he sold it to buy more booze.He never made music again and died, age 60, in 1997.


Tracklist:

1 – Tempo Counter 0:04
2 – Get Happy 3:54
3 – Electro-Twist MQ LP1/1 1:23
4 – Electro-Suspense MQ LP1/2 1:27
5 – Electro-Rhythm MQ LP1/3 1:23
6 – Electro-Slow MQ LP1/4 1:33
7 – Boy On A Bicycle 4:03
8 – Brass Bandied MQ LP14/1 1:17
9 – Brass Widow MQ LP14/2 1:38
10 – Omo And Giro Adverts 1:20
11 – I Wanna Hold Your Hand Medley 2:33
12 – Electro-Auto MQ LP35/1 1:29
13 – Electro 5/4 MQ LP35/2 1:30
14 – Electro Waltz MQ LP35/3 1:28
15 – Johnny Johnson Jingles 1:25
16 – 1980s Feedback Loop 0:04
17 – Requioso - PIL 9011 2:21
18 – JB Dubs 1:13
19 – Out Of Nowhere 5:23
20 – Electro-Beat MQ LP19/1 1:30
21 – Electro-Weird MQ LP19/2 1:24
22 – Electro-Fugue MQ LP19/3 1:14
23 – Electro-Aggression MQ LP38/1 1:57
24 – Electro-Tension MQ LP38/2 2:27
25 – Jazz Advert 1:38
26 – Brylcreem 0:30
27 – John Baker Goon Advert 0:34
28 – Power Source MQ LP39 3:23
29 – 1980s Tape FX 0:42
30 – Pots 'N' Pans MQ LP48/1 3:24
31 – Banshee Boogie MQ LP48/2 1:45
32 – Feedback MQ LP48/3 2:58
33 – Space Workshop MQ LP48/4 3:12
34 – Piano Concrete MQ LP48/5 2:55
35 – JB Test Tone 0:08
36 – Piano Strokes 2:25
37 – JB At Home On The Piano 0:51
38 – Brief Lives - JB Obituary 1:47
39 – JB 78 RPM - All The Things You Are 2:26