FERRANTE & TEICHER "ADVENTURE IN CAROLS" (1956)

«What other duo-pianist can boast that they have played together since the age of six? Arthur Ferrante and Louis Teicher were fellow prodigies at New York’s famous Juilliard School of Music, and even while students they appeared as a team. After graduation they gave a few joint recitals, then decided to take time out to prepare a really distinctive repertoire. Together they returned to Juilliard, this time as fellow members of the faculty, and spent all their spare hours for the next year or so working over the standard pieces and cleansing them of every last hackneyed cliché. Their professional debut as a team took place quite a distance from the concert hall, for they bowed in as a popular piano duo at New York’s sophisticated penthouse night club, Spivy’s Roof. They were such a hit with the starlight crowd that they went on to more cosmopolitan boites like the Blue Angel, the Little Club and the Ritz-Carlton Terrace. Since 1947 they have been crisscrossing the country annually, winning laurels everywhere for what The New York Times called their "prodigious technical feats." Radio and television audiences know them for their guest stints on Piano Playhouse, and the Firestone, Telephone, and Carnation hours...They have also appeared with leading symphony orchestras throughout the country. Their gift for blending the classic with the modern and the "heavy" with the "light", their extraordinary sensitivity, their technical perfection — these are just a few of the reasons why one stern Manhattan critic, echoing the national consensus, called Ferrante and Teicher "the most exciting piano team of our time".»

[from "Adventure in Carols" liner notes]



Here we are again, approaching that particular time of the year when we all become good and exchange gifts... Even though I don't have a 'rule' to post a Christmas record every month of December, this time it's my pleasure to introduce a masterpiece by Ferrante & Teicher which has never been re-issued on CD, and whose digital version available on the market comes with no less than an indecent amount of clicks, crackles and even... skips!!! And what other month would suit better an album titled "Adventure in Carols"?

For this remaster I also ventured in a territory in which I'm still experimenting to find my way: the 'simulated stereo' effect. In some of the most recent posts I already offered a few pseudo-stereo tracks derived from original mono recordings, but for this post I decided to process the entire album.

Basically, I tweaked the Eq of the left and right channels and used the differences between them to assign different pan positions to certain groups of frequencies. As I said, I'm still in an early stage and I would like to know your sincere opinion, so don't be shy and let your comments flow!

Some quite rare and particular releases are going to be featured on the blog in 2019, I will try to post at least one record every month and I beg you to believe that I really can't do better than this. I also have a couple of requests to honour and I'll try my best to keep my word as usual.

If you enjoy what you read and/or listen on these pages, then please let me know about it: leave a comment or get in touch, my e-mail address is written at the bottom of each post.

Have fun and a Merry Christmas! Now let's move on to Ferrante & Teicher and their immensely creative "Adventure in Carols"!



The following biography was created comparing the most relevant information available on the pages dedicated to Ferrante & Teicher hosted on AllMusic, Amoeba Music, ferranteandteicher.info, Space Age Pop and Wikipedia.

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Arthur Ferrante (September 7, 1921, New York City - September 19, 2009, Longboat Key, Florida) and Louis Teicher (August 24, 1924, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania - August 3, 2008, Highlands, North Carolina) met while attending the prestigious Juilliard School of Music; both were child prodigies, and they struck up a fast friendship, performing together as a duo even while they were still in school.

After graduating as piano majors, by 1943 they both joined the Juilliard faculty, while developing a distinctive style of their own during their spare time. In 1947, they became a full-time concert act, at first playing nightclubs, then quickly moving up to classical music with orchestral backing. A switch to popular songs and standards by the likes of Kern, Porter, Gershwin, and Rodgers made them mainstays in the pops-orchestra field.

At the same time, they began experimenting with modifications to pianos, inserting objects into the string beds, striking keys or strings with blocks, and generally striving to figure out how to get the strangest possible sounds. By adding paper, sticks, rubber, metal bars, chains, glass, mallets, and other found objects, the duo was able to produce a variety of bizarre sound effects that sometimes resembled percussion instruments, and other times produced an outworldly and dreamy, almost electronic sound well before synthesizers were commonly used in recordings. The treated piano works of John Cage influenced their early work, but they had their own unique sound.

Here's how the pair described this musical transition: «...it was while teaching that we began experimenting and creating new material for two pianos. For novelty numbers we stuffed wads of paper, sticks, rubber stops, masonite strips, cardboard wedges, and sandpaper into the pianos conjuring up weird effects (a la [John] Cage) resembling gongs, castanets, drums, xylophone, and harpsichord. Though we have gradually dropped many of these gimmicks, we feel that we have developed a musical style, and undoubtedly play in a manner that makes some former colleagues at Juilliard wince a bit.»

However innovative and exciting their work was, it was tough to translate into commercial success. Their concerts were as likely to be held in gymnasiums, churches, cafeterias, and ballparks, as in concert halls. Much of what they earned went into new motors for their delivery truck. «If our wives hadn't worked,» Teicher once said, «we never could have survived...»

Some tracks from "Adventure in Carols" were previously released on "Xmas Hi-Fivories"... (front cover)

People who associate Ferrante & Teicher only with the Easy Listening music they produced from the early '60s onwards, are often startled to hear their prepared piano works of the '50s. There is nothing quite like them in the annals of recorded sounds. In fact, throughout this period, the duo was accused of using more than just pianos to generate these sounds, and they had to produce the following affadavit to convince Columbia Records before the label released their first single:

«Divers persons upon hearing records of "Susanna's Last Stand" and "Caravan" and subsequent recordings by Ferrante and Teicher have asserted, implied or otherwise made known that such recordings were made by the use of various sundry instruments other than two pianos. Upon our solemn oath and undertaking we hereby assert, acknowledge, testify and state without equivocation or fear of contradiction that the only instruments played by Ferrante and Teicher in connection with the recordings of such compositions were two pianos. - Howard Scott and David Oppenheim, 24 Dec 1952.»

Among the twenty or so albums that the duo recorded until 1960, it is worth mentioning at least those that are entirely comprised of prepared piano pieces, here'a list: "Hi-Fireworks" (Columbia, 1953), "Xmas Hi-Fivories" (Westminster, 1954), "Soundproof" (Westminster, 1956), "Soundblast" (Westminster, 1956), "Adventure in Carols" (Westminster, 1956), "Heavenly Sounds in Hi-Fi" (ABC-Paramount, 1957), "Ferrante and Teicher With Percussion" (ABC-Paramount, 1958), "Blast Off!" (ABC-Paramount, 1958) and "Dynamic Twin Pianos" (United Artists Ultra Audio, 1960).

...a 10" album issued on Westminster back in late 1954. (back cover)

In 1959, their ABC-Paramount producer, Don Costa, moved to United Artists and got Ferrante & Teicher signed by his new label, where they quickly began to tailor their sound to a more mainstream audience. Costa was sent the scores from the United Artists movie "The Apartment" and thought that the main theme would have sounded good on twin pianos. In brief, the "Theme from 'The Apartment'" single went up to #10 on the charts.

This success was quickly followed by their biggest hit, an arrangement of Ernest Gold's epic theme from the movie "Exodus", which climbed to #2 and inspired a popular jazz version by saxophonist Eddie Harris. 1961 brought them another hit with the song "Tonight", which was originally featured on the Brodway musical "West Side Story" in 1957 and in the movie of the same name. This lead to the release of their highest-charting album, the #10 "West Side Story and Other Motion Picture & Broadway Hits".

At their next gigs they started dressing alike, donning flashy tuxedos, horn rim glasses and wigs. They added dramatic flourishes to their performances, did comedy bits in between songs and billed themselves as The Grand Twins of the Twin Grands. Their bookings increased and their salaries skyrocketed. Their United Artists contract called for at least three albums a year, but they often recorded more: a flood of Ferrante & Teicher LPs was released over the course of the '60s, with around thirty of them reaching the Pop charts up through 1972.

They maintained a heavy touring schedule, playing more than a hundred concerts a year at the height of their popularity. They also managed to release one final Top Ten single in 1969 with their cover of the theme from the movie "Midnight Cowboy", which featured the distinct 'water guitar sound' of Vinnie Bell.

Ferrante & Teicher's voluminous recording pace tailed off during the '70s, although they did continue to put out albums on a regular basis. In 1979, they left United Artists to form their own label, Avante Garde, the title perhaps an ironic nod at their early days as serious pianists. They stopped performing and retired in 1989, setting up homes near each other in Sarasota, Florida.

The Lounge / Exotica revival of the '90s helped renew interest in their experimental early recordings, and led to the first-ever issue of "Denizens of the Deep" (Varese Sarabande, 2001), a 1950 set of treated piano instrumentals meant to evoke sea creatures that constituted their first recorded work, which went unreleased at the time due to the perceived lack of commercial potential. A few simple embellishments were added to the archival recordings in order to complete their original concept for the pieces. This was their last release.

Ferrante & Teicher as they appear on the back cover of "Adventure in Carols", 1956

My remaster of "Adventure in Carols" contains the following tracks:

01. Sleigh Ride [original mono] (2:55)
02. Good King Wenceslas [original mono] (2:00)
03. What Child Is This? [original mono] (2:39)
04. Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer [original mono] (2:06)
05. White Christmas [original mono] (3:33)
06. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town [original mono] (2:06)
07. Christmas Song [original mono] (3:28)
08. The First Nowell [original mono] (2:22)
09. Silent Night [original mono] (2:16)
10. Jingle Bells [original mono] (3:01)
11. Adeste Fideles [original mono] (3:03)
12. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen [original mono] (1:58)

Bonus tracks:

13. Sleigh Ride [simulated stereo] (2:55)
14. Good King Wenceslas [simulated stereo] (2:00)
15. What Child Is This? [simulated stereo] (2:39)
16. Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer [simulated stereo] (2:06)
17. White Christmas [simulated stereo] (3:33)
18. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town [simulated stereo] (2:06)
19. Christmas Song [simulated stereo] (3:28)
20. The First Nowell [simulated stereo] (2:22)
21. Silent Night [simulated stereo] (2:16)
22. Jingle Bells [simulated stereo] (3:01)
23. Adeste Fideles [simulated stereo] (3:03)
24. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen [simulated stereo] (1:58)

All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in December 2018 and are available in FLAC lossless format along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.

As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download links.



"Adventure in Carols" was released by Westminster in November 1956 with catalogue number WP 6021. As per title, the album includes twelve Christmas carols which were performed by Ferrante & Teicher on two prepared / treated pianos. The LP comes housed in a playful sleeve that depicts a futuristic scene that involves Santa Claus being launched on a rocket by a team of other Santas. My copy of the album also includes a Westminster promotional leaflet advertising other Christmas and Classical Music records.

Eight of the twelve selections - namely "Sleigh Ride", "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer", "White Christmas", "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", "Silent Night", "Jingle Bells", "Adeste Fideles" and "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" - were already been released by Westminster two years ealier on the 10" album "Xmas Hi-Fivories" with cat. number WL 3044. You can see the original cover (front and back) a few paragraphs above.

I really have no idea if the four exclusive tracks on "Adventure in Carols" were recorded at the same time of those previously issued on "Xmas Hi-Fivories" in 1954, or if they were still 'fresh' at the time of release, so to speak...

The recording volume on the original album is quite low, and the music is rich in dynamics and contrasts. It wasn't easy to restore the beauty of the quieter parts, but I guess I found the right compromise between clicks/crackles removal and clarity. This resulted in an increasing of the background noise that I didn't attenuate to preserve the 'pureness' of the higher frequencies.

As I wrote in the introduction to this post, it is my pleasure to present "Adventure in Carols" both in the original mono version and in an all-new 'simulated stereo version'. However, don't expect anything mind-blowing: the differences are subtle and the treatment is in line with the spirit of the original recordings, it adds them a little bit of 'movement' without creating unpleasant artefacts.



The following is a slightly edited version of the liner notes that are printed on the back cover of "Adventure in Carols":

«If you are looking for something different in Christmas music - if your Christmas office parties or gatherings at home have been too much the same for the past few years, and you would like to introduce a refreshing new note into the proceedings - let pianists Ferrante & Teicher take you on an "Adventure in Carols".

The paths along which this talented team will lead you bear the old names with which you are familiar ("White Christmas", "Jingle Bells", "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and others just as popular...) but the names, plus the famous melodies, are the only things about this recording which bear any resemblance to any other version of these carols you may have heard.

For this recording Ferrante & Teicher arranged the carols for two pianos - or should we say that they arranged two pianos for the carols? Actually, they did both - for, if playing conventional pianos in the conventional manner did not produce the effect the boys were after, they worked on both music and pianos until they got just what they wanted.

   

A Westminster promotional leaflet advertising other Christmas and Classical Music records

Westminster’s studios never had seen anything like the session that produced this unique recording. All over the country, of course, audiences for years have seen Arthur Ferrante or Louis Teicher rise from his bench in the middle of a performance and address himself to the innards of his Steinway - alternately muting, plucking, strumming and beating the strings.

Nor does either of them hesitate to use his elbows, forearms or knuckles to elicit a desired chordal effect - not to mention an assortment of wooden and metal gadgets designed to give the pianos a new personality altogether.

These unorthodox and sometimes gymnastic doings are not calculated to amuse. They are an integral part of the team’s very special arrangements. Their goal always is to achieve the maximum tonal contrasts and to simulate orchestral color as vividly as possible within the limitations of pianistic dynamics.

But no concert audience ever saw what Westminster’s engineers saw - or ever heard what has been captured on this recording. It’s not a single recording, to start with, but a double one - no pun intended. The boys played everything through once, then donned earphones and went over the same ground again, interpolating all manner of fancy figurations and fugal folderol.

What with a profusion of microphones stationed over the keyboard, the gadget-laden strings and the paired celestas, the results herewith are unlike any pianism, duo or otherwise, that you have ever experienced. It is as if Santa had, at last, discovered high fidelity. After so many years of hearing the same old tunes played the same old way, Old Nick undoubtedly would join everybody else in welcoming these new Christmas sounds.»

Arthur Ferrante and Louis Teicher, circa early '60s

The following clips offer a complete preview of the remastered album, enjoy!

More information about Ferrante & Teicher and "Adventure in Carols" is available here:

http://www.ferranteandteicher.info/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrante_%26_Teicher

https://www.discogs.com/artist/179036-Ferrante-Teicher

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ferrante-teicher-mn0000170214/biography

http://www.spaceagepop.com/ferrante.htm

https://dangerousminds.net/comments/ferrante_teicher_the_forgotten_gods_of_easy_listening_music

https://www.vintagemusic.fm/artist/ferrante-teicher/

https://www.discogs.com/Ferrante-Teicher-Xmas-Hi-Fivories/release/6596942

https://www.discogs.com/Ferrante-Teicher-Adventure-In-Carols/release/3259544

http://www.ferranteandteicher.info/discography/original/Adventure-in-Carols

https://www.allmusic.com/album/adventure-in-carols-mw0001024413

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/ferrante_and_teicher/adventure_in_carols/

If you have any other useful information about Ferrante & Teicher and "Adventure in Carols", or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!

DICK HYMAN "THE AGE OF ELECTRONICUS" (1969)

«Joe Carlton, Command Records president, is moving on several roots to advance the field of electronic pop music. He is proposing to guitar companies that they manufacture a guitar synthesizer which, he believes, will be the perfect device for electronic rock. On another level, he is working with key chains such as E. J. Korvette, Sears, Roebuck, Whitefront and others to establish a separate category for electronic music, with separate browsers and racks. Carlton added: "We have plans for a synthesizer which will go beyond Moog. The present Moog synthesizer, both monophonic and polyphonic, is based on a keyboard instrument approach... But the biggest contribution of the rock musicians derives from their guitar rather than keyboard technique... Use of a guitar synthesizer would be superior to the present method of taking a hard rock performance on conventional guitar and putting it through the keyboard synthesizer." Carlton, who has produced such hits as "Moog: The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" and the single "The Minotaur", says that this music, because it is new and futuristic, appeals to all young and old and black and white. He added, "As electronic music comes to the fore, as it becomes more familiar, people will recognize its artistic values." He pointed out that the sounds of Stravinsky, Charles Ives and other pioneers were initially attacked but today they are celebrated. "This is the beginning of the world of electronic music," he said.»

[from "Carlton's Electronic Pop Music Campaign on Move", Billboard, August 9, 1969]



Richard "Dick" Hyman (born March 8, 1927, New York City) is an American Jazz pianist/keyboardist and composer, best known for his versatility with Jazz piano styles. Over a 50-year career, he has functioned as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and, increasingly, as a composer. His versatility in all of these areas has resulted in well over 100 albums recorded under his own name and many more in support of other artists. [1]

Hyman's career is pretty intimidating in its achievements and scope. He has scored, arranged and/or performend for Broadway, movies, television and live radio, and he's recorded in every format, from 78s to CD-ROMs. He's got a whole gamut of music genres covered, from Jazz and Blues to Classical to Pop and Electronic Psychedelia. Hyman is exceptionally renowned as a professional musician, and was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame in 1995. His articulate and wry anecdotes, commentary on the business, and techniques of making music have been published along with sheet music in a series of books. [2]



Beginning in the mid-1950s he started recording with his own name for MGM. His cover of "Moritat", on harpsichord with his trio, sold over a million copies in 1956 and was the most successful recording of the tune until Bobby Darin did it as "Mack the Knife". He was the musical director of The Arthur Godfrey Show from 1958 to 1961. He was an early staple of Enoch Light's Command label, for which he recorded light classical, swinging harpsichord, funky organ, and "now sound" combo albums. He also demonstrated his continuing interest in new keyboard instruments, releasing two of the earliest Moog albums. Hyman has stayed in demand as much as any musician around, working for TV, scoring film soundtracks for Woody Allen, and, more recently, as a Jazz pianist and organist. [3]

So, here comes the last chapter in Hyman's Electronic / Experimental triptych. The 1963 masterpiece "Moon Gas", credited to him and Mary Mayo, was covered on Stereo Candies both in mono and stereo some time ago. More recently it was the turn of the seminal "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman", an album of original compositions and improvisations recorded in late 1968 using mainly the Moog Modular. Now it's time for "The Age of Electronicus", his second - and last - Moog album on Command Records. More of Hyman's recorded output will be featured on these pages in the future, now let's take care of this primordial little jewel of Electronic Pop Music.

Sources:

[1] from Wikipedia

[2] from the introduction to an interview with Dick Hyman conducted by Michael David Toth, published on Cool and Strange Music!, issue #7, 1997

[3] from Space Age Pop Music

"The Age of Electronicus" outer gatefold reconstruction

"The Age of Electronicus" inner gatefold reconstruction

The following liner notes, written by Dick Hyman and entitled "Working with the Moog Synthesizer", are included in the inner gatefold of "The Age of Electronicus". They give a hint about how the album was made - basically by recording one different sound at a time on a multitrack reel-to-reel system that you can see pictured on the inner gatefold of the album, probably an Ampex AG440-B - and the way he approached this work.

«It is a lot of work; it is painstaking, repetitive, and even frustrating work. And yet the results, when they come off, are a kind of music, very much worth all that effort. I began working with the Moog Synthesizer when Joe Carlton, the head of Command Records, assigned me to produce the album prior to this one, "Electric Eclectics". Walter Sear, the expert programmer with whom I work, initiated me into the electronic intricacies of Synthesizer sound, and gradually I learned some of the things that the Synthesizer can do.

The Moog Synthesizer is a new instrument and, like many new things, it is somewhat misunderstood. I think of it as a super-organ which offers the player vast new possibilities in tone production, and which at the same time requires him to organize his thoughts in a serial way, as opposed to creating an entire performance at one sitting. In other words, it is not all done at once. Successive lines of tones are recorded in conjunction with a multi-track recorder. The Synthesizer is not analogous to a player piano, nor will it make up its own arrangements. It is very much a played device, and the programming which is involved relates to the production of individual tones (their timbre, duration, attack, decay, etc.). It is the arranger-composer, not the Synthesizer, who groups these tones into the desired musical organization exactly as he would do if he were playing a conventional instrument or writing a score.

Another common misunderstanding about the Synthesizer is the notion that it is a perfect substitute for all instruments and types of orchestras which have preceded it in musical history. The Synthesizer is not about to replace any of these instruments or orchestras. It is not nearly as efficient, although it can do some pretty imitations. An orchestra sounds more like on orchestra than a Synthesizer can, and a lot more quickly and economically too. But when the Synthesizer is used to create its own thing, the new aural events are remarkable for both the player-arranger and the listener. The new sounds (unlike those which any orchestral instrument can produce), the unexpected alterations of the old sounds, the convenience of being able to play them on a keyboard and have them recorded directly on a multi-track recorder — these are the factors which encouraged an imaginative and programmatic approach to the arrangements in the present album.»

"The electronic soul of Command", reconstruction of a double-page spread advert originally published on the August 9, 1969 issue of Billboard

"The Age of Electronicus" contains the following tracks:

01. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (2:48)
02. Give It Up or Turn It Loose (3:13)
03. Blackbird (3:12)
04. Aquarius (2:49)
05. Green Onions (7:53)
06. Kolumbo (7:42)
07. Time Is Tight (3:08)
08. Alfie (3:44)
09. Both Sides Now (3:04)

Bonus tracks:

10. Green Onions (Single Edit, Stereo Version) (3:08)
11. Strobo (Simulated Stereo Version) (2:58)
12. Lay, Lady, Lay (Simulated Stereo Version) (3:18)

All tracks were remastered in October 2018 from the original vinyl records, except "Give It Up or Turn It Loose", "Kolumbo" and "Time Is Tight" which were remastered from the expanded CD version of Hyman's "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman". They are available in FLAC lossless format along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.

As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download links.

Dick Hyman, circa late '60s / early '70s

Here's the complete credits and personnel list of the album:

Dick Hyman - Moog Modular synthesizer, Baldwin electric harpsichord, Lowrey organ, Maestro Rhythmaster unit, Echoplex tape delay unit, triangle

Billy LaVorgna - drums

Arranged and Produced by Dick Hyman.

Programming by Walter Sear.

Mixing: Fred Christie at Fine Recording

Mastering: Lee Hulco at Sterling Sound

Cover and Liner Design: Byron Goto / Henry Epstein

Photos: Roger Pola / Eric Goto

Coming just months after the successful "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman", "The Age of Electronicus" was released by Command-ABC Records in August 1969 with catalogue number 946-S. The album was also released as a Reel-To-Reel stereo tape with catalogue number X 946, and was preceded by a 7" single containing two of its most favourable tracks, namely the covers of the well-known "Green Onions" by Booker T. & The M.G.'s and "Aquarius" by The 5th Dimension.

When the LP was released, the previous "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" was still in the Billboard Top 100 LP Chart. Surprisingly, "The Age of Electronicus" failed to repeat the success experienced by its predecessor, even though everything was apparently made to enhance its accessibility and Pop charm.

Coming in a colourful gatefold cover, "The Age of Electronicus" was released as part of an Electronic Pop Music series which, as you can see from the Command Records advert featured in this post, also included Walter Sear / The Copper Plated Integrated Circuit's "Plugged In Pop" and Richard Hayman's "Genuine Electric Latin Love Machine". Both these albums will be investigated at a later date here on Stereo Candies.

The main difference between Hyman's two Moog albums is that "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" is entirely made of original compositions and improvisations created by Hyman himself, while "The Age of Electronicus" is mostly based on the re-elaboration of successful Pop tunes with the only exception of "Kolumbo", a more experimental track someway similar to the now legendary "The Minotaur", also by Hyman: that was the track which got picked up by radio stations months earlier and was fundamental to the success of the previous album, becoming the very first single featuring a Moog synthesizer to chart.



Another significative difference between the albums is that the tracks on "The Age of Electronicus" don't feature any regular instrument except Billy LaVorgna's great drumming on selected tracks: most of the sounds are generated by the Moog and a few other devices as detailed on the album credits and the liner notes that follow.

The album only spent 11 weeks in the Billboard Top 200 LP Chart - peaking at #110 - and the poor performance of the "Green Onions b/w Aquarius" single, which peaked at #126, didn't help the LP to reach the success I think it deserved. Furthermore, by the time "The Age of Aquarius" was released, record shops were also offering many other Moog albums and, despite the hype and curiosity surrounding the all-new electronic instrument, without the help of another groundbreaking single the record failed to make a difference.

Hyman's memories about the recording of "The Age of Electronicus" and "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" are available in a great piece written by Thom Holme for the Bob Moog Foundation website. Pictures of a Moog Modular system very similar to the one used on these albums are available here.

The following track-by-track commentary is a slightly edited version of the original liner notes included in the inner gatefold of the album.

"Green Onions / Aquarius" single, Side A

Side 1 opens with "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", originally by The Beatles. The song features a not-quite piccolo sound, a sort-of bass clarinet sound, and a spitting-tobacco kind of sound in which the timbre changes as an individual tone is sustained. A Baldwin electronic harpsichord provides the plectrum effect. The rhythm section, recorded after the Synthesizer tracks were completed, is composed of Billy LaVorgna on drums and the arranger on triangle. The by-play among the three 'horns' is the result of recording each line separately on the multi-track recorder and is particularly effective here in giving the impression of the kind of playful communication three musicians might have with each other.

"Give It Up or Turn It Loose" is an experiment in Electronic Soul, specifically that of James Brown, whose recording is the basic model for this arrangement. The excitement of James Brown's singing and dancing is expressed electronically by the Synthesizer in swooshes, sweeps, and explosions of what engineers call, ironically, 'white noise'. Live drums play along with the Maestro Rhythmaster, a metronome-like mechanical drum device.

"Blackbird" is arranged as an electronic orchestration of the Beatles' recording. The Synthesizer elaborates on the original sparse elements and dwells unexpectedly on a section of bird calls. The sound of the Baldwin electronic harpsichord was fed through the Synthesizer to provide the moving tenths.

"Aquarius" demonstrates the Synthesizer's impression of how the Inhabitants of Saturn might perform the hit song from the musical "Hair". It should be emphasized that the inhabitants of Saturn are an extremely smooth-skinned race, but they do their best. Bill LaVorgna, however, who is quite hirsute, is added on drums. The arranger plays electronic harpsichord and Lowrey organ in addition.

"Green Onions" takes as its premise the classic recording by Booker T. & the M.G.'s and goes on from there. The organ-like sound of the first soloist becomes unexpectedly slippery as the Synthesizer's portamento possibilities are explored. The second and third soloists join in until a feeling of New Year's Eve in Times Square reaches us. After some frantic polyphony, we return to Booker T. in Memphis. (Lowrey organ, drums and electronic harpsichord added).

"Green Onions / Aquarius" single, Side B

Side 2 starts with "Kolumbo", an original number created by Dick Hyman. This track was performed simultaneously on the Synthesizer and the Maestro Rhythmaster, the mechanical drum device, the tones of which were fed through an Echoplex tape reverberation unit. Not only the duration and the frequency of reverberation but the fundamental rhythms were altered during the improvised performance, so that there is an effect of a battery of African drummers following an improvising soloist. The listener can provide his own scenario of what seems to be a musical battle, as a second soloist abruptly materializes, challenging the first man. At the end, the original soloist states a brief epilogue, packs up his horn, and splits.

"Time Is Tight", a song by Booker T. & the M.G.'s, begins with a banjo-like effect obtained by running the sound of the electronic harpsichord through the tape reverberation unit. The Synthesizer states the melody by means of a sine wave programmed to develop an increasingly wide vibrato. (There is a resemblance to a certain type of girl singer who used to work with the big bands). The other 'soloist' is expressed by use of a pulse wave programmed to incorporate a gradual timbral change. Live drums are added.

In "Alfie" the melody undulates over a shifting landscape as the two moons of Mars inscrutably look down. The title translates into Martian as, "What's it all about, Alpha Centauri?" This is my favourite track from the album, it took hours of work to properly clean it from but it was worth every single second!

"Both Sides Now", the Joni Mitchell song, developed into a program piece which postulates what might happen if a bagpiper wandered into an orchestral performance of some characteristic nineteenth century music. The Synthesizer constructs a cartoon symphony, playfully adding to its impression of standard instrumentation a honky-tonk piano (actually the electronic harpsichord). "After an elaborate exposition", as Deems Taylor would have explained, "the main theme returns in a grand Wagnerian finale, our undaunted bagpiper skirling above the orchestral tutti". As mentioned here, this is Hyman's favourite track from the album.

"Strobo / Lay, Lady, Lay" promotional single, Side A

My remaster of "The Age of Electronicus" also includes three bonus tracks:

"Green Onions (Single Edit, Stereo Version)", as the title implies, is an edit of the longer version originally included on the album. In brief, the structure of this edit is the same that was released as a single but uses a stereo mix instead of the mono mix.

"Strobo (Simulated Stereo Version)" and "Lay, Lady, Lay (Simulated Stereo Version)" are enhanced versions of the tracks that originally appeared on the "Strobo / Lay, Lady, Lady" promotional single released in late 1969, which I have already featured here months ago. Basically, I tweaked the Eq of the left and right channels of the mono versions and used the subtle differences between them to assign different pan positions to groups of frequencies achieving a pseudo-stereo effect. This is the first time I experiment with such possibilities, so I would be quite pleased to know what you think about the result.

Here's what I wrote about these two tracks in the original post:

"Strobo" is an original number written by Hyman himself. In a similar fashion to the hit "The Minotaur", recorded in late 1968, the track is built on the top of a dense rhythm played by the Maestro Rhythm Unit, probably feeded through an Echoplex. Some people describe this music as Proto-Techno and others even catch a glimpse of Drum 'n' Bass in its skittering beat. Whatever your view on the subject is, "Strobo" was pretty ahead of its time and its shrill keyboard lines undeniably have a futuristic charm.

"Lay, Lady, Lay" is an instrumental version of the song written by Bob Dylan which was released months earlier on his "Nashville Skyline" album. Hyman replaces the original vocal lines with the Moog, giving the song a very strong imprint. The acoustic rhythm section in the background adds to the value of this cover, creating a somewhat pleasant alienating effect. As much as I enjoy "Strobo", I must admit that this piece induces me in a compulsive state, and I can't help to press the repeat button again and again...

"Strobo / Lay, Lady, Lay" promotional single, Side B

The following clips offer a complete preview of the remastered album, enjoy!

More information about Dick Hyman, "The Age of Electronicus" and the Moog Modular synthesizer is available here:

http://www.dickhyman.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Hyman

http://www.spaceagepop.com/hyman.htm

http://www.discogs.com/artist/15443-Dick-Hyman

http://moogfoundation.org/moog-a-history-in-recordings-dick-hyman-master-stylist-of-the-moog-modular/

http://tapeop.com/interviews/92/dick-hyman/

http://tapeop.com/articles/92/dick-hyman-bonus/

https://www.moogmusic.com/news/happy-birthday-dick-hyman-0

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/dick-hyman-the-beat-goes-on-dick-hyman-by-chris-m-slawecki.php?page=1

https://www.discogs.com/master/view/195522

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/dick-hyman/the-age-of-electronicus/

http://taylorjessen.blogspot.com/2014/03/dick-hyman-age-of-electronicus.html

https://www.whosampled.com/album/Dick-Hyman/The-Age-Of-Electronicus/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moog_modular_synthesizer

https://www.flickr.com/photos/matrixsynth/sets/72157602368600280/

If you have any other useful information about Dick Hyman and "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" - especially corrections and improvements to this post - or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!

DICK HYMAN "STROBO / LAY, LADY, LAY" (1969)

Richard "Dick" Hyman (born March 8, 1927, New York City) is an American jazz pianist/keyboardist and composer, best known for his versatility with jazz piano styles. Over a 50-year career, he has functioned as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and, increasingly, as a composer. His versatility in all of these areas has resulted in well over 100 albums recorded under his own name and many more in support of other artists. [1]

Hyman's career is pretty intimidating in its achievements and scope. He has scored, arranged and/or performend for Broadway, movies, television and live radio, and he's recorded in every format, from 78s to CD-ROMs. He's got a whole gamut of music genres covered, from Jazz and Blues to Classical to Pop and Electronic Psychedelia. Hyman is exceptionally renowned as a professional musician, and was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame in 1995. His articulate and wry anecdotes, commentary on the business, and techniques of making music have been published along with sheet music in a series of books. [2]

Beginning in the mid-1950s he started recording with his own name for MGM. His cover of "Moritat", on harpsichord with his trio, sold over a million copies in 1956 and was the most successful recording of the tune until Bobby Darin did it as "Mack the Knife". He was the musical director of The Arthur Godfrey Show from 1958 to 1961. He was an early staple of Enoch Light's Command label, for which he recorded light classical, swinging harpsichord, funky organ, and "now sound" combo albums. He also demonstrated his continuing interest in new keyboard instruments, releasing two of the earliest Moog albums. Hyman has stayed in demand as much as any musician around, working for TV, scoring film soundtracks for Woody Allen, and, more recently, as a jazz pianist and organist. [3]

Hyman is best remembered among the Spage Age Bachelor Pad Music aficionados for his 1963 album with Mary Mayo - who provided otherworldy wordless vocals - the aptly entitled "Moon Gas" masterpiece, which was already covered here on Stereo Candies both in mono and stereo. His seminal album "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman", recorded in late 1968 using mainly the Moog Modular, was also covered by yours truly here and its follow-up "The Age of Electronicus" is also going to be featured very soon.

In the meantime it's time to take care about another precious little gem...

Sources:

[1] from Wikipedia

[2] from the introduction to an interview with Dick Hyman conducted by Michael David Toth, published on Cool and Strange Music!, issue #7, 1997

[3] from Space Age Pop Music

Dick Hyman, 1969

Here's the track list for this 7" single:

01. Strobo (2:58)
02. Lay, Lady, Lay (3:16)

Both were remastered in June 2018 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with scans of the original release.

As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download links.



Bearing catalogue number 45-4136, the "Strobo / Lay, Lady Lay" promotional 7" single was released by Command-ABC Records sometime around mid 1969, probably in July or August. Housed in a company sleeve, the record offers exclusive mono tracks that are not featured on the two aforementioned Hyman's Moog albums released the same year.

Available in two different versions, a commonly found item coming with the usual black and white promo labels and a rarer variant with coloured center labels, the single was not commercially released, at least as far as I know.

The choice of using exclusive promotional tracks seems odd to me... Maybe these pieces were intended for a cancelled release, who knows... Anyway, I'm glad that they exist in some form and I can't help to wonder if other material recorded around the same time was shelved and/or lost.

This article informs us that, after taking part to the realization of "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" and "The Age of Electronicus", Walter Sear did not program the Moog Modular used on these new recordings, he just rented out the synthesizer to Hyman.

I managed to create pseudo-stereo versions of these pieces, they will be available soon as bonus tracks to my remaster of "The Age of Electronicus".



So, on Side A we find "Strobo", an original number written by Hyman himself. In a similar fashion to the hit "The Minotaur", recorded in late 1968, the track is built on the top of a dense rhythm played by the Maestro Rhythm Unit, a primitive drum machine, probably feeded through an Echoplex.

Some people describe this music as Proto-Techno and others even catch a glimpse of Drum 'n' Bass in its skittering beat. Whatever your view on the subject is, "Strobo" was pretty ahead of its time and its shrill keyboard lines undeniably have a futuristic charm.

The flipside presents an instrumental version of "Lay, Lady, Lay", a song written by Bob Dylan originally released months earlier on his "Nashville Skyline" album. Hyman replaces the original vocal lines with the Moog, giving the song a very strong imprint. The acoustic rhythm section in the background adds to the value of this cover, creating a somewhat pleasant alienating effect.

As much as I enjoy "Strobo", I must admit that this piece induces me in a compulsive state, and I can't help to press the repeat button again and again...

The following clips offer a complete preview of the remastered single, enjoy "Stroboo" and "Lay, Lady, Lay"!

More information about Dick Hyman, "Strobo / Lay, Lady, Lay" and the Moog Modular synthesizer is available here:

http://www.dickhyman.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Hyman

http://www.spaceagepop.com/hyman.htm

http://www.discogs.com/artist/15443-Dick-Hyman

http://moogfoundation.org/moog-a-history-in-recordings-dick-hyman-master-stylist-of-the-moog-modular/

http://tapeop.com/interviews/92/dick-hyman/

http://tapeop.com/articles/92/dick-hyman-bonus/

http://robertjaz.com/2014/06/happy-birthday-dick-hyman/

https://www.moogmusic.com/news/happy-birthday-dick-hyman-0

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/dick-hyman-the-beat-goes-on-dick-hyman-by-chris-m-slawecki.php?page=1

https://www.moogfoundation.org/thom-holmes-the-rarest-of-moog-modular-recordings/

http://officenaps.com/now-sound/moogs/

https://www.discogs.com/Dick-Hyman-Strobo/master/1297969

http://www.45cat.com/record/454136us

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moog_modular_synthesizer

https://www.flickr.com/photos/matrixsynth/sets/72157602368600280/

If you have any other useful information about Dick Hyman and "Strobo / Lay, Lady, Lay" - especially corrections and improvements to this post - or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!

DICK HYMAN "MOOG - THE ELECTRIC ECLECTICS OF DICK HYMAN" (1969)

«The Startling Sounds of the Brave New Music World!... Singular, synthesized composition that heralds the future art of Sound-Expansion! This is the new sound of music: amazing, melodic electronic music played on the Moog synthesizer. These are not just the decorative sounds you usually hear from a synthesizer. These are compositions, specifically created for the synthesizer by Dick Hyman... Fascinatingly rhythmic melodies that move music in a fresh, exploratory direction. Dick Hyman's electronic themes provide an incredible, ear-opening glimpse into the new directions for popular music: music that may soon make every kind of music we have known before seem obsolete. The future comes vividly alive in the grooves of this record because Dick Hyman, Command Records and the Moog synthesizer play it not like it is, but like it will be.»

[from the back sleeve notes of "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman"]



Richard "Dick" Hyman (born March 8, 1927, New York City) is an American jazz pianist/keyboardist and composer, best known for his versatility with jazz piano styles. Over a 50-year career, he has functioned as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and, increasingly, as a composer. His versatility in all of these areas has resulted in well over 100 albums recorded under his own name and many more in support of other artists. [1]

Hyman's career is pretty intimidating in its achievements and scope. He has scored, arranged and/or performend for Broadway, movies, television and live radio, and he's recorded in every format, from 78s to CD-ROMs. He's got a whole gamut of music genres covered, from Jazz and Blues to Classical to Pop and Electronic Psychedelia. Hyman is exceptionally renowned as a professional musician, and was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame in 1995. His articulate and wry anecdotes, commentary on the business, and techniques of making music have been published along with sheet music in a series of books. [2]



Beginning in the mid-1950s he started recording with his own name for MGM. His cover of "Moritat", on harpsichord with his trio, sold over a million copies in 1956 and was the most successful recording of the tune until Bobby Darin did it as "Mack the Knife". He was the musical director of The Arthur Godfrey Show from 1958 to 1961. He was an early staple of Enoch Light's Command label, for which he recorded light classical, swinging harpsichord, funky organ, and "now sound" combo albums. He also demonstrated his continuing interest in new keyboard instruments, releasing two of the earliest Moog albums. Hyman has stayed in demand as much as any musician around, working for TV, scoring film soundtracks for Woody Allen, and, more recently, as a jazz pianist and organist. [3]

Hyman is best remembered among the Spage Age Bachelor Pad Music aficionados for his 1963 album with Mary Mayo - who provided otherworldy wordless vocals - the aptly entitled "Moon Gas" masterpiece, which was already covered here on Stereo Candies both in mono and stereo. As promised long ago, now it's time to take care about "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman", recorded in late 1968 using mainly the Moog Modular, «a cult-classic and a standout in the infancy of synthesizer album recording in its sophistication and original composition for the instrument.» [2]

Sources:

[1] from Wikipedia

[2] from the introduction to an interview with Dick Hyman conducted by Michael David Toth, published on Cool and Strange Music!, issue #7, 1997

[3] from Space Age Pop Music

"Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" inner gatefold

The following liner notes are included in the inner gatefold of "Moog - The Electric Elclectics of Dick Hyman". They describe the Moog Modular synthesizer to the uninitiated and illustrate the way Hyman approached this work, highlighting a few technical and musical details.

«The Moog synthesizer is a musical instrument that is still so new that not even those who have developed it know what its full musical potential may be.

Synthesizers have been used in recording studios before this, of course. They have often added freaked out electronic sounds to whatever a musical group produces with its regular instruments. They have provided decoration, color and feeling.

But now Dick Hyman has harnessed these provocative electronic synthesizer sounds. He uses the Moog synthesizer as a musical instrument - a total musical instrument - playing it three ways: unaccompanied, with accompaniment from live musicians, and even with accompaniment from a robot instrument.

"My objective is to humanize electronic music," said Dick, "as well as to humorize it and to play it as a full performance instead of a collection of unearthly sounds."

"Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman", original inner sleeve shows Command goodies...

What is a Moog synthesizer?

To the non-technical eye it consists of two short organ-like keyboards, and three cabinets with panels which contain knobs and jacks similar to a telephone switchboard so that various elements in the synthesizer can be linked or "patched".

When he sat down to play the synthesizer, Dick Hyman says he felt as though he were inside an airplane cockpit.

His link with reality was the fact that he has played all sorts of keyboard instruments from the piano and the organ to the Ondioline and the Ondes Martenot. As a result, he not only had confidence in his approach to the two keyboards but he had some experience and knowledge of the kinds of sounds he wanted to produce, particularly from his experience with electronic organs.

"I had to approach it as an organist," he said. To me, the synthesizer is like a super-organ because it includes everything that the different kinds of electric organs can do. The difference is that it can produce only one note at a time."

Dick could work the keyboard - but that's only part of the operation of a synthesizer. It also has to be programmed - the linkages have to be made by patching to create the types of sounds that the performer wants. This requires someone skilled in the technical operation of the synthesizer.

So, while Dick Hyman manipulated the keyboard, Walter Sear, technical specialist in Moog equipment did the programming, or patching.

"I would suggest the sound that I wanted," Dick explained, "and Walter would set it. Or he'd suggest a sound that he thought would fit in with what I was trying to do. Sometimes we'd stumble on something interesting while we were on the way to something else.

...and more goodies on the back!

Some of the pieces Dick played were composed before he reached the studio. On these set pieces, he used live musicians along with the Moog - Art Ryerson and Jay Berliner on guitars, Chet Amsterdam on Fender bass, and Buddy Salzman, drums, with Dick on honky-tonk piano.

Other selections were improvised in the studio. Dick constructed his improvisations from the sounds of the synthesizer, just as a sculptor might be inspired in his creation by the texture of the stone he was working with.

"I found," said Dick, "that it was much more interesting to create freely on the synthesizer in this fashion than to bend the machine to any preconceived ideas I might have had. In playing my prepared compositions, I had more control over the final result than in any other recording situation I've been in but because the instrument is so new and so unexplored, the final results were more unrelated to what I started out with than anything I've done before. The pieces that were developed in the studio, when I just went ahead and explored the instrument, went much more quickly. I'd say to Walter Sear, 'Surprise me with some sounds.' And he'd patch in something and I'd start to play whatever it suggested. That was the most fun."

In addition to the Moog synthesizer, Dick also used another electronic instrument on some pieces: a Maestro Rhythm Unit, a robot drummer that is normally used by organists in cocktail lounges to provide accompaniment. It is an electronic box decorated with push buttons marked "samba", "rhumba", "tango", "foxtrot", "rock and roll", "go-go", "boogaloo", ad infinitum. You push the button to get the desired rhythm and then adjust the machine to the specific tempo you want. The rhythm unit can be fed directly into the Moog synthesizer so that the unit's rhythmic aspects can be turned into tonal aspects.»

Dick Hyman, 1969

"Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" contains the following tracks:

01. Topless Dancers of Corfu (3:03)
02. The Legend of Johnny Pot (2:01)
03. The Moog and Me (3:03)
04. Tap Dance in the Memory Banks (2:34)
05. Four Duets in Odd Meter (4:32)
06. The Minotaur (8:33)
07. Total Bells and Tony (2:03)
08. Improvisation in Fourths (2:26)
09. Evening Thoughts (3:25)

The following bonus track is taken from the promotional 7" single issued for radio stations, Command-ABC Records RS 45-7499 / RS 45-4126, pictured below:

10. The Minotaur (Short Version, Mono) (3:32)

All tracks were remastered in December 2017 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.

As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download links.



Here's the complete credits and personnel list of the album:

Dick Hyman - Moog Modular synthesizer, Lowrey organ, Honky-Tonk upright piano, Maestro rhythm unit, Echoplex tape delay unit, whistling
Art Ryerson - guitar
Jay Berliner - guitar
Chet Amsterdam - bass
Buddy Salzman - drums

All titles composed by Dick Hyman and published by Eastlake Music, Inc. (ASCAP).

Produced by Dick Hyman.

Associate Producer: John Turner

Synthesizer Programming: Walter Sear

Mastering: George Piros

Cover and liner design: Byron Goto and Henry Epstein

Recorded towards the end of 1968, "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" was released by Command-ABC Records sometimes in early 1969 with catalogue number 938-S. A few sites mention a January release, and as a matter of fact, the album entered the Billboard Top 200 LP Chart on April the 19th. At the same time it was also released as an 8-track tape with catalogue number 803-938.

"Topless Dancers of Corfu" was chosen for single release, backed with "The Minotaur". This was the very first single featuring a Moog synthesizer to chart, reaching #27 on the Billboard R&B Singles and #38 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The public elected "The Minotaur" as their most favourite track, and a special single aimed at radio stations containing both an edited and a full version was also released. In some countries "Topless Dancers of Corfu" was confined to the flipside, replaced by the full version of "The Minotaur".

Subsequent pressings of the LP also included a «Featuring the Full Lenght Version of THE MINOTAUR» hype-box on the front cover. Driven by the appeal of this track, the album peaked at # 4 on the Billboard Jazz Chart and #30 on the Billboard Top 200 LP Chart.

Hyman's memories about the recording of "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" and the subsequent "The Age of Electronicus" are available in a great piece written by Thom Holme for the Bob Moog Foundation website. Pictures of a Moog Modular system very similar to the one used on these albums are available here.

The following track-by-track commentary is a slightly edited version of the original liner notes included in the inner gatefold of the album.



Side A opens with "Topless Dancers of Corfu". Greek music, which, along with Indian music, were two of the influences on Dick Hyman's musical creativity at the time the album was recorded, is the basis for this piece. This is one of the selections that Dick composed in advance, one on which he used a live rhythm section. Because the Moog Modular synthesizer can play only one note at a time and has only two keyboards, overdubbing was necessary to create fully harmonized melodies. ln the overdubbing process, Dick threw in some double speeded effects which reproduce as a high, bird-like sound. The sudden, rising, whistling sounds are unique to the synthesizer. "When you play the synthesizer keyboard as though it were a piano or organ, funny things happen," Dick said. "On a piano or an organ, if you're playing staccato and you hold a note for a second, it will fade away downward. But if you play a note in the same fashion on the synthesizer, it goes up. It's weird."

On "The Legend of Johnny Pot" Dick Hyman plays Lowrey organ as well as the synthesizer, backed by the live rhythm section on this bi-tonal and bi-rhythmic piece. The second tonality and the second rhythm were created when the Lowrey organ (the xylophone effect) was dubbed over the Moog synthesizer which produces the bell effect, the flying saucer sound and the bass line. The title comes from the whimsical but actual news report about a traveling adventurer who planted marijuana in fields all across the country and then sent letters to his friends telling them where he had planted it so that they could harvest it when it had grown.

Years ago, Dick Hyman established himself as a whistler when he made the first hit recording of "Mack the Knife". The tune then was still known by its original title, "Moritat", and Dick's whistling gave it a fascinatingly, exotically lonely feeling. On "The Moog and Me", a track that comes right halfway the first side of the album, he whistles and plays both piano and the synthesizer, accompanied by the Maestro Rhythm unit. "This," he said, "is the ultimate attempt to humanize the Moog." Notice the series of timbre changes he achieves in the synthesizer, somewhat similar to the effect that Jimi Hendrix used to get by using the wah-wah pedal on his guitar. And listen, too, to the breaks that Dick takes by turning off his rhythm unit briefly. This is done with a foot pedal. "With the Rhythm Unit you get perfect time," Dick commented, "but it has no initiative. Of course, this has its advantages. It doesn't talk back to you and it doesn't insist on having its own solos." Some elements from this track, most notably the whistle that serves as the lead-in, were sampled by Beck for the song "Sissyneck" on his 1996 album "Odelay".

Advertisement for the album taken from a 1969 issue of Billboard magazine

For "Tap Dance in the Memory Banks" Hyman turns to improvisation - something created by sitting down at the keyboard of the Moog synthesizer and composing with the materials at hand. The materials in this case include, in addition to the synthesizer, the Maestro Rhythm Unit. In feeling his way toward the finished composition and performance, Dick used the rhythm unit with the knobs turned so as to filter out certain elements. When he added a brass sound to this, he stumbled on the idea of turning the piece into a tap dance. "One of the early titles for the piece was 'Fred Astaire Meets Hal', the computer in the film 2001," Dick explained. "The rhythm unit is set on 'tango' with most of the elements filtered out. This dancer, however, is no Astaire. He sounds a little bit klutzy."

"Four Duets in Odd Meter" is made of four brief selections that were developed from a book written by Hyman, entitled "Duets in Odd Meter and Far Out Rhythms". Each duet is separated by four portentous strokes on a gong. In the second duet, Dick uses the 'instant atonality' that is possible on a Moog synthesizer. "Because the Moog can divide the keyboard into any units you want, not just the usual half tones," Dick explained, "the entire system of musical values becomes mixed up. A diatonic composition automatically comes out atonal." The third duet is changed by adding reverberation to each note. And in the final duet, Dick uses an Echoplex, a tape loop machine which plays back a note within seconds after it has been played so that the performer can use a note he has already played as part of his immediate total sound.



Side B starts with "The Minotaur" which, as already pointed out, was successfully released as a single and helped to boost the album's sale. Four elements are involved in this remarkably rhythmic and melodic improvisation. First is the Maestro Rhythm Unit which, instead of being set for a single rhythm, is blending two: a bossa nova and a waltz ("It comes out as a sort of oriental ¾." Dick Hyman commented). To this is added a drone effect, like a tamboura, played by the synthesizer. Then a bass line is laid in, also on synthesizer. Finally, the synthesizer produces the melody line. The style is a mixture of Indian and Greek musical influences: the basic set-up is drawn from the Indian mode while the germ of the idea for the solo melody came from a Greek record in Dick's collection. Because the robot drummer can become monotonous, Hyman played his bass patterns in such a fashion that it sounds as though the drummer is picking up ideas from the bass (although, in actuality, Dick's bass line anticipates the drummer). When the various tapes involved were being mixed, Hyman established the rate at which the melody moves back and forth between the speakers by actually pacing back and forth in the studio while the engineer worked his pots.

The Tony in "Total Bells and Tony" is Tony Scott, a jazz clarinetist, with whom Dick Hyman played on some of his earliest jazz jobs. The original idea for the piece was to base it on layer upon layer of bells - at least, bell sounds as created by the synthesizer. To give the bells a cascading effect, the Echoplex tape loop was used. Then Dick added a clarinet sound on the synthesizer. "When I heard it," he said, "it sounded rather like the way Tony Scott played, particularly when he made some recordings with Japanese musicians." In addition to playing three tracks of bells and one clarinet track, Dick also dubbed in a bass clarinet track which, like all the other tracks, was improvised on the synthesizer.

"The Minotaur / Topless Dancers of Corfu" single, French edition, front cover

The performance in "Improvisation in Fourths" is unique in that it is not only totally improvised but it was done with no overdubbing. This is the Moog synthesizer, pure and unaltered. The basis of the piece is the fact that a compound tone can be built on a Moog Modular somewhat in the same way as it is done on a Hammond organ. But while a Hammond can only be set for harmonic tones, the Moog can be set for any interval the performer desires. In this case, Dick Hyman set the synthesizer on fourths (but he did not use all the fourths because they did not all work as he had expected them to). The effect that is produced is very much like a flutter-tongue flute in jazz.

The original album ends with "Evening Thoughts", a mood piece where the Lowrey organ is mixed with the Moog synthesizer. "One of the problems of the synthesizer," Hyman pointed out, "is the difficulty of maintaining specific characteristics. A sound that is supposed to be wind sighing through the trees may turn into a storm and then into the sound of surf." This shifting of character can be heard in the decorative effects that accompany the melody, which is played first on the Lowrey organ and, in the middle, in theremin-like fashion on the Moog synthesizer. In back and through the melody glide the sounds of bird calls, a gentle tinkling and a 'white noise' that might be a breeze but which, as you listen to it, could just as well be surf. That's one of the chances you take with the music of tomorrow.

More information about Dick Hyman, "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" and the Moog Modular synthesizer is available here:

http://www.dickhyman.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Hyman

http://www.spaceagepop.com/hyman.htm

http://www.discogs.com/artist/15443-Dick-Hyman

http://moogfoundation.org/moog-a-history-in-recordings-dick-hyman-master-stylist-of-the-moog-modular/

http://tapeop.com/interviews/92/dick-hyman/

http://tapeop.com/articles/92/dick-hyman-bonus/

http://robertjaz.com/2014/06/happy-birthday-dick-hyman/

https://www.moogmusic.com/news/happy-birthday-dick-hyman-0

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/dick-hyman-the-beat-goes-on-dick-hyman-by-chris-m-slawecki.php?page=1

https://www.allmusic.com/album/moog-the-electric-eclectics-of-dick-hyman-mw0000097989

http://the-attic.net/reviews/1263/dick-hyman-_-moog-_-the-electric-eclectics-of-dick-hyman.html

https://consequenceofsound.net/2010/07/audio-archeology-moog-the-electric-eclectics-of-dick-hyman-1969/

https://www.tinymixtapes.com/delorean/dick-hyman-moog-electric-eclectics-dick-hyman

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2004/02/12/dick-hyman-moog-the-electric-eclectics-of-dick-hyman/

https://johnkatsmc5.blogspot.com/2016/09/dick-hyman-moog-electric-eclectics-of.html

https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/articles/2016/6/22/musician-dick-hyman-hip-hop

https://fontsinuse.com/uses/17022/moog-the-electric-eclectics-of-dick-hyman

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moog_modular_synthesizer

https://www.flickr.com/photos/matrixsynth/sets/72157602368600280/

If you have any other useful information about Dick Hyman and "Moog - The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" - especially corrections and improvements to this post - or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!