The greatest electronic albums of the 1950s and 1960s

The Vinyl Factory ^ | May 30, 2014 | Joseph Morpurgo

[Squawk 8888]

IMO Switched-on Back is the benchmark. Wendy Carlos demonstrated that electronic instruments are not a novelty.

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[Celtic Conservative]

Wht about the original “Doctor Who” theme music? Peformed by the BBC Radiophonic workshop, it is an early example of analog synthesized music.

CC

[17th Miss Regt]

Isao Tomita put out a couple of albums of electronic music in the early ‘70s.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Literally wore out my copy of Switched On Bach, I listened so many times.

[Fungi]

Emerson Lake and Palmer did some great stuff. Their synthesizer version of "Hoe-down" by Aaron Copland is a masterpiece.

[henkster]

I had Tomita’s Debussy album “Snowflakes Are Dancing.” Very good synthesizer music to listen to under the big bulky Koss headphones.

[a fool in paradise]

Fair call, this was about albums.

Pink Floyd had some electronic cuts (like the main theme to More) but the album contained a lot of less “electronic” cuts as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz9EjhTfc2A

I'll see if I can find an album (late 60s early 70s) that included a cover of the Dr Who theme along with other electronic songs (the Dr Who cut almost goes reggae dub at a point).

[Celtic Conservative]

I’m sorry, I should have given a time frame. Doctor who first came out in 1963.

CC

[henkster]

ELP was THE Techno-Rock.

[Steely Tom]

I had Moog: The Electronic Eclectics of Dick Hyman.

[dfwgator]

The first song that I recall using a Moog Synthesizer was The Beatles’ “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.”

[left that other site]

I LOVED “Switched On Bach”! There was also a Christmas Album which was terrific.

Dad and I listened to these on HUMONGOUS Altec-Lansing Voice-Of-The-Theater Speakers. (Each the size of a washing machine).

[17th Miss Regt]

He also issued an album in which ground up coral from the Bahamas was put in between the top and bottom layers of vinyl. You could here the bits of coral as the diamond needle knocked them loose. I only played the album once.

[Celtic Conservative]

OK, it was just the first things that came to mind. another thing that comes to mind is one of Walter/Wendy Carlo’s compositions. It was a riff on Elgars “pomp and circumstance marches” entitled “pompous circumstances” reimagining the basic melody through other classical artists styles. I recorded it off of CBC 1 radio when I was a teenager.

CC

[left that other site]

Yes...I had that Pink Floyd album with the Dr. Who music.

[freedumb2003]

>>Isao Tomita put out a couple of albums of electronic music in the early ‘70s.<<

He did “The Planets.”

We used to listen to that all night at the dorm.

[dfwgator]

I know Floyd briefly referenced the Dr Who theme on “One of These Days”.

[a fool in paradise]

Supposedly they dabble with it on Meddle and more so in the live versions

[AU72]

I remember visiting a German engineer who set up a sorround-sound in his apartment in Boston in 1976 playing Kraftwerk’s Man Machine.

Thinking the future of music!