Showing posts with label Les Baxter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Les Baxter. Show all posts

Wednesday, 18 September 2013

Let' s Get in the Moog...

It seems it's taken ages to get back into blogland and while a month can go as quick as a nation changes  its leadership, in fact it's been a constant on my mind that I MUST get that next post up..

With no further adue I shift from comfortable radio-friendly and present that strange enigma that is Moog, and some of the varied pathways that it has meandered into since Robert first plugged in that diode..

Everything You Always Wanted to Hear on the Moog*
*but were afraid to ask for
The Mighty Moog (Andrew Kazdin & Thomas Z. Shepard)
CBS - date unknown

It seems inappropriate that the most modern of instruments in the late 20th Century was called upon the most in its earliest appearances to cover the past. The classics must have been a bad shape in the record companies eyes that they required a pre-psychedelic remaking at the fingers of the upcoming electric programmers/musicians.

Switched-On Bach - Walter Carlos with Benjamin Folkman
CBS - post 1965

The Moog Strikes Bach... - Hans Wurman - RCA - 1969

Master Pieces - Apollo 100 (featuring Tom Parker) - Young Blood - 1972
Many have wondered who exactly was Mr 100..

At some stage around the early 60's it became too difficult to distinguish between what had laid in the past and what was soon to overwhelm all. Some continued to evoke the mood of the 50's while others pretended to embrace the now with-it generation that was deconstructing their elders..

Moog Rock - Les Baxter - Calendar Records - date unknown

Manchurian Beat - Wonderful Moog Sound (M. Sato & 1864 Cotton Field Rock Band)
JVC - 1972

Flamenco Moog - Dan Lackman Association with E.M.S. Moog Synthisiser
Carina Records - date unknown

Wheels - Tommy Seebach - Columbia - 1975

Golden Instrumental Hits - The Many Moogs of Killer Watts (Barry Leng, Len Beadle & Derek Scott)
Golden Hour - date unknown

Bob Rowe's Music Box - Bob Rowe & "a plethora of tape decks, mixers, amps and synthesisers, and several pieces of equipment, that are, as yet, unnamed" - DJM Records - 1973

Ticker Tape - Electric Coconut - Axis Records - 1974

Of course the record execs could not pass up a chance to stretch the marvels of the future with dallies into other more traditional sidelines..

Nashville Gold - Switched On Moog (Gil Trythall) - Summit - 1973

Moog Plays Switched-On Bacharach - Dave Mullaney - Music For Pleasure - 1972

Electric Love -The Electric Concept Orchestra (Eddie Higgins) - Limelight - date unknown


But the spirit of the age could not be held back and after successfully covering many rock standards the moogsters finally flipped it's keys and truly Switched On..

Switched-On Rock - The Moog Machine - CBS - date unknown

Moog plays ABBA - Robin Workman et al - Tee-Vee Records - date unknown

Electric Hair - The Electric Hair (Robert Byrne) - Festival Records - date unknown

But possibly the greatest recognised use of the wonder of Moog falls into the laps of the following..

Popcorn - Hot Butter - Interfusion - 1972

and let's not forget Son of Hot Butter..

Popcorn and other switched-on smash hits - Electric Coconut - Axis Records - date unknown

Then there is the dark side, the moog path least travelled.. 

Black Mass - Lucifer (Mort Garson) - MCA Records - date unknown

..now I feel in the moog...

Wednesday, 16 January 2013

Ports of Pleasure

Although not my first exotic acquisition Les Baxter's so titled printed square opened the doors of perception that extended the world musical boundaries beyond what was available in the Rock A>Z categories.
Following is a quicky tour around the world as we knew it then (or at least to the late 60's), starting with Sir Les and finishing with Roger's Wide Wonderful World vision..

Ports of Pleasure - Les Baxter - Capital - 1957

African Jazz - Les Baxter - Capital - unknown date

Ritual of the Savage - Les Baxter - Capital - date unknown

Strings, Guitars, Voices! - Les Baxter - Pickwick/33 - after 1960

Ports of Paradise - Alfred Newman & Ken Darby - Capital - 1960

Tour of the World - Les Petits Chanteurs A' La Croix De Bois
Parlophone - 1957


Many Moods of Arthur Lyman - Arthur Lyman - Hifirecords - date unknown

Taboo - Arthur Lyman - Hifirecords - date unknown

Taboo Vol. 2 - Arthur Lyman - Hifirecords - date unknown

Bwana a - Arthur Lyman - Hifirecords - date unknown

South Pacific - Johnny Douglas Orchestra
- World Record Light Music - date unknown

South Pacific - Marc La Salle Orchestra 
- Astor - date unknown

Far Away Places - Enoch Light Orchestra - Command - 1961

Far Away Places Volume 2 - Enoch Light Orchestra
 Command -  after 1961

Tropicana - Hugo Blanco - Karussell - date unknown

Stereo Spectacular!! - Milt Rogers Orchestra - Calendar - date unknown

It's a Big, Wide, Wonderful World - Roger Williams 
London Records - date unknown

Working along the same musical vein I also include this gaggle of National Anthems...

National Anthems of the World Volume 1 - Michael Reynolds 
Major records - date unknown

National Anthems and Their Stories - DickWhittinghill & Camarata
Disneyland - 1965

Sample of interior art and Australian page

...and while I'm at it I'll also include these last two 101 Strings Quad Spectrum Sound Series releases

101 Strings - Astor- date unknown

Les Baxter & 101 Strings - Astor - date unknown

This brings us back to Les Baxter after our journey around the world at many exotic ports of call. Soon I'll be posting more of Les, as he and his Orc fit into other collections waiting to be recorded..