Enoch Light Orchestra Presents “Spaced Out”   “Exploratory Trips Through the Music of Bach, Bacharach, The Beatles Integrating the Moog,   The Guitar Scene, Electric Harpsichord, French Horns, Etc.”   EMI / Columbia   UK

The Ted Heath Orchestra Plays Beatles, Bach & Bacharach   Phase 4 Stereo   Decca Records     Why the same three “B”s?!

Ron Goodman and His Orchestra ….Play Burt Bacharach   EMI/Columbia UK

Lennon & McCartney GO LATIN with Tony Osborne

“The Plastic Cow Goes MOOOOOOg”   Composer/arranger/performer Mike Melvoin.   Dot Records   (1970)

Listen up: The Ballad of John and Yoko

From the Liner Notes: “This album is based on musicianship, performances, and repertoire more than effects. I think it’s the first pop electronic album with a soul. It’s a very human electronic album.”

The Moog is an electronic device that can create the four different basic sound waves with their characteristic tambours. After the initial production of the basic sound wave, a variety of different modulation devices enable the player to create innumerable different sounds and effects. The sounds of “old” standard musical instruments can be simulated, but more importantly, as in this album, entirely new musical instruments can be created.

The first recording session for this album produced the rhythm tracks for all the cuts.   Guitarist Dennis Budimir, drummers Paul Humphrey, Earl Palmer, and Colin Bailey, and Melvoin playing the bass register on the Moog laid down the rhythmic base for all the tunes. Future sessions involved Melvoin playing only the Moog as a composer/conductor “plays” an orchestra. The sounds in this album are within the ranges of all the standard musical instruments, but were not designed to duplicate their sounds.

Technical assistance was provided by Bernie Krause and Paul Beaver, electronic masters of the Moog synthesizer. They, along with producer Tom Mack, and Melvoin are the men responsible for the creation of the new Moog language needed to put together this album.   Listen, if you will, for such onomatopoetic sounds as a “phased rubber band,” a “glass shower,” “damped bells,” and a “soprano with a gurgle.” They’re there. You’ve never heard them before, but you will hear them again!

Mike Melvoin, originally from the jazz world, was the Musical Director of the nationally syndicated Woody Woodbury television show, and in the last several years has recorded with and for every major West Coast recording artist as a keyboard performer. One of America’s most talented young musicians, he here makes great inroads in the electronic music field. The trail has been blazed, the sound has been phased. Sopranos with a gurgle . . . and listeners with an ear . . . may never be the same!

Thanks to 36 15 Moog for the download!

Moog Indigo Created by Jean Jacques Perrey. Vanguard Records. (1970)

After establishing himself at the vanguard of electronic music as one half of Perrey & Kingsley, Jean Jacques Perrey continued to pursue his own uniquely space-age brand of humor-oriented pop throughout the 1970s. One of the best examples of his work during this time is Moog Indigo, an album built around Perry’s experiments with the Moog synthesizer. This album has been popular with the electronica crowd thanks to the presence of “E.V.A.,” a funky synth excursion that became popular with remixers (Fatboy Slim turned in a memorable remix of this tune on Best of Moog). The remainder of the album divides its time between funky lounge-pop and experimental tracks that mix avant-garde electronics with novelty pop. One of the big highlights in the lounge arena is “Soul City,” a funky instrumental where Moog synthesizers take the place of horns in a guitar-heavy slice of R&B. There is also a swinging take on “Hello Dolly” that sounds like cocktail jazz from another planet. As for the strictly novelty-styled tunes, the most memorable is “Gossipo Perpetuo,” a clever tune that mixes tape loops designed to sound like chattering voices with a fast-paced synthesizer samba groove to create a genuinely smile-inducing slice of novelty pop. Serious electronic music fans may find Moog Indigo’s humor-oriented style too lightweight, but everything presented here is tight and catchy and there is no denying that Perry has assembled his songs with amazing technical skill. In the end, Moog Indigo is a solid pick for lounge fans with a sense of humor. ~ Donald A. Guarisco, All Music Guide

An incredible record of funky moogy grooves — possibly one of the best of the genre! Jean Jacques Perry really outdid himself on this record — going past the simple cut ups of his work with Gershon Kingsley, and hitting a style that was more groovy, and more song oriented. The best example of this is the album’s fantastic funky tune “EVA” — a monster break/moog cut that’s been sampled by Gang Starr for “Just To Get A Rep”, and more than a few other artists over the years! The rest of the record’s just as great — and cuts include “Soul City”, “18th Century Puppet”, “Gossipo Perpetuo”, and “Passport To The Future”. — Dusty Groove America

“The Moog Invasion” by Electronic Sound. EMI Records, Germany.   A compilation of recordings by Dick Hyman, Richard Hayman and The Copper Plated Integrated Circuit.