Posted on 09/09/2014 6:47:47 PM PDT by Squawk 8888
The great electronic albums of the 1970s get plenty of kudos – but what of their predecessors?
Casual accounts of the history of electronic music tend to point back to familiar sources: Suicide’s babble’n’hum; Cluster, Klaus Schulze and the rest of the Krautrock squad; the stygian mulch-music of early Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle; and of course Kraftwerk’s meticulous robot pop. Further back? Well, that’s when things tend to get a little foggy.
Experiments with recorded electronic music actually date back to the 1940s (hell, depending on how you define “electronic music”, they date back to the 1880s). As early as the mid-1950s, predominantly electronic LPs were already being pressed, marketed and sold to the a willing (if slightly confused) public. Half a century down the line, many of these records still sound fantastic. Some are fascinating relics with plenty to say to the contemporary listener; others sound impossibly ahead of their time.
The following rundown is limited to complete artist albums, as opposed to compilations or collections of stand-alone works. As such, important names perhaps more readily associated with the realm of “art music” – Pierre Schaeffer, Pierre Henry and the GRM sect; Edgard Varèse; Iannis Xenakis; James Tenney; Alvin Lucier; Luciano Berio and plenty more – are respectfully put to one side. Similarly, dear quibblers, “electronic” has been broadly taken to refer to albums that put new synthesizer instruments or synthesized tones at their core. By that token, some exceptional albums (Terry Riley’s organ masterpiece A Rainbow In Curved Air; Steve Reich’s Live / Electric Music) are omitted, and rock and pop LPs that flirt with electronics without going the whole hog have also been left out.
Ground rules set – and inevitably occasionally broken – here they are: 15 essentials from electronic music’s Big Bang.
(Excerpt) Read more at thevinylfactory.com ...
I think it was Harrison of the Beatles put out ELECTRONIC NOISE on the ZApple label.
noise it was,
You guys would likely enjoy Moogfest in Asheville, an annual festival dedicated to early electronic music. Asheville was his home. They’ve been having a festival there in his honor for years.
Annually for five days in late April. Here’s the lineup for 2014:
http://www.moogfest.com/moogfest-lineup
Tomita’s “Snowflakes are Dancing” is the first electronic music remembered. The album was played so often, it eventually needed to be replaced.Beautiful music.
His “Heaven and Hell” album, though a great sound on Sagen’s Cosmos just was not up to the Snowflakes’ standard.
Switched On Bach by Walter Carlos is also one of interest. However Tomita is still owner of the blue ribbon.
ELP did a remake of "Fanfare for the Common Man", I think for the 1976 Olympics. It is a great listen.
Is this the same thing you are referencing?
“Everything you wanted to hear on the Moog - but were afraid to ask for” (or something like that).
Like Switched on Bach, but includes Bolero and a great piece from Carmen.
cheers
Jim
No. I am referring to Hoedown on their album “Trilogy.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilogy_(Emerson,_Lake_%26_Palmer_album)
No. I am referring to Hoedown on their album “Trilogy.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilogy_(Emerson,_Lake_%26_Palmer_album)
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