Mort Garson

you might wanna look into the works of bruce haack if you haven't already.

He also did a occult-themed album called Atatarxia in '75 that I've been trying to download for my CDR GO! thing.

He wrote "Our Day Will Come," too.

also check out Dick Hyman and Tonto's Expanding Headband. the latter played moog on all sorts of 70s pop records (stevie wonder & todd rundgren)

Garson's Black Mass album (as Lucifer) is evil brilliance. It's a serious influence on Alec Empire's freakier solo LPs and Nic Endo's excellent Cold Metal Perfection.

http://www.art-ificial.com/soularfone/images/a_psych04.jpg

and non krauts: Wendy/walter Carlos, Jean Michel Jarre, Tomita, etc

also search: Emil Richards' Stones New Sound Element. That's the one early Moog record that transcends all kitsch, it's truly bizarre, completely fucked masterpiece. Search the mono mix, which places the Moog lead louder in the mix than the stereo version.

Paul Beaver was the Moog player on many of these records (including Cosmic Sounds).

rest of the lp isnt as good, i think

Aargh. Of all of the acts mentioned above, T.O.N.T.O. were the least susceptible to the malign virus of psychedelia - a musical movement which held that any pretentious, half-assed nonsense you concocted in the studio was worthy of release, as long as the final mix had been fed through a flanger.
Of all of the acts mentioned above, T.O.N.T.O. were by far the most consistently melodic, and their compositions were all carefully constructed and arranged. In other words, they wrote some really nice tunes. If you stuck some modern beats under It's About Time, you could easily imagine you were listening to an Orbital album. By contrast, records by the likes of Garson are instantly identifiable as artifacts of a bygone era, and would (fairly or not) be derided as "hippy rubbish" by 99% of modern listeners.
That said, I do have a soft spot for the cherishably loony Bruce Haack, who had a robot singing the lead vocal on his songs four years before Autobahn, and who was building his own electronic instruments twenty years before the Aphex Twin. (The interested but uninitiated are directed to 1979's Electric Lucifer: Book II, a much less self-conciously avant garde effort than its 1970 precursor, and much the better listen for it.)

it sounds like a) you don't like the term 'psychedelia', and b) i think you like Tonto. so from this i gather that c) a band you like can't be psychedelic? i mean what the fuck kind of logic is this? and can psychedelic music not be melodic.

the one record i have (i forget the title because i'm at work right now - and the gatefold opens up to that image i posted up thread) is completely, over the top psychedelic.

I have no opinion on the term "psychedelia". It's a word, that's all.

>from this i gather that a band you like can't be psychedelic?

No, and I have no idea how you came to that conclusion. Is English not your first language?

> mean what the fuck kind of logic is this?

Your logic, not mine, so you explain.

>can psychedelic music not be melodic

Again, I never said it couldn't be.

>the one record i have is completely, over the top psychedelic.

No it isn't. They made two records, and neither are what an informed listener would term "psychedelic".

come on dude, you wrote this, not me

another reason why they are good and not psychedlic

No, and I have no idea how you came to that conclusion. Is English not your first language?

a musical movement which held that any pretentious, half-assed nonsense you concocted in the studio was worthy of release, as long as the final mix had been fed through a flanger.

uh, i'm just feeding back what you wrote

1. Most (although not all) of the records that fall in to the genre known as "psychedelic" are really terrible.
2. In any case, T.O.N.T.O.'s music can not be described as "psychedelic" (even if the sleeve art can).

Which is exactly why we love it - except the above is a more accurate description of Krautrock... which we love even more

Actually, I quite like much of Karoli's contribution to Can. When I refer to "half-assed psychedelia", I'm talking about dire poetry by Tolkien obsessives, interminable feedback experiments, and recordings of acid casualties groaning wordlessly into echo machines while accomplices pluck at untuned sitars.
It's everybody else's prerogative to love that kind of stuff, just as it is mine to describe it as "terrible". All I originally came here to say was that I strongly disagreed with the characterisation of T.O.N.T.O. as "psychedelic music".

Those all sound good to me

That's okay. Am I allowed to say they don't sound good to me?

you're right, i should be cool like you and make unsupportable arguments about music i have very little knowledge of. and i'm not the one who thinks he's being pithy or intelligent here.

[...]shut up.

no.

Actually, you're right, and I want to apologise.

I expressed myself poorly to begin with and then kept digging. What I was really trying to say was that I had observed that a lot of music produced under the banner of psychedelia was the product of charlatans and bandwagon-hoppers. But of course, that's true of any genre of music, and to have suggested that insincerity and incompetence are the defining characteristics of psychedelia was completely unfair. Lots of it is very fine: I love stuff like Arnold Layne and In the Court of the Crimson King.

Thanks to Scott for throwing me a line. Some interesting-sounding suggestions from your contributors in there that I'll have a look for, although the list does go to show that one man's psychedelic freak-out can be another man's mildly-trippy rock anthem.

gareth, I'm telling, you: Emil Richards - Stones: New Sound Element

Touch is my favorite out of all his records. But all his records are great through the seventies: Cloudless Sulfur, 4 Butterflies, Until Spring.

i should check out more subotnick

not enough electronicy stuff is hippyish.

i dream of big sur, though, i think i dont like california so much, after all.

Joe Byrd & The Field Hippies were! They even said so. I consider both U.S.A. & White Noise pretty hippyish.

i just heard a few mp3s and tried to buy it on ebay for 10$ (GOT FUCKING SWIPED 5 SECONDS TILL THE END!!) but that record is fucking great. weird, hippy, pop songs over synth noise.

i was in jaXoNs house recently, i saw gal costa records, but not mort garson, were you hiding them?

i got into walter through cherrystones. he's in a band called PREY with barry 7 ... check out what he said about walter sear

It was madnesss recording an album in New York. We did it down at Walter Seer's studio and he is like an American version of Joe Meek. He recorded the Copper Plated Intergrated Circuit album. Walter is an absolute nut. He would tell us all these mad stories about the studio. He used to do the soundtracks from horror or mondo films from the 70s. The soundtracks were so demented. Very weird people. Walter and his secretary Roberta Finchley. Roberta used to direct all the porn films. She had these shoulders hunched up to her ears and always would greet me as Mr Godsey. Before we left they let us take all these porn movie posters with John Holmes on them and what not. It was great.

They said that the studio was haunted as well, that was one of the reasons we went there. It was the last studio that John Lennon was in before he was shot. And he told us some stories about Mobb Deep and D'Angelo that I really can't relate for legal reasons but they are amazing. Very weird and amazing experience.

http://members.aol.com/searsound/articles2.html

http://www.basichip.com/digitalgold/mp3002b/sear.jpg

http://www.basichip.com/digitalgold/mp3002b/mp3002b.htm

i'd like to hear this sears/circuit stuff, and i wont say no to any copies of anything!

there is a church in reno that has the most amazing church bells, i think i want a record of that more than anything. it was like a fake version of russian bells, but maybe it wasnt, it was its own thing. its the best sound ive heard since the train station tannoy in calais. have you been to reno?

i need to give costa a go. last time i played a lot of gal costa, i was all into marcos valle, and preferrred him, maybe i wont this time out

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i spent the day yesterday interviewing joey stec. i felt bad because i was really interested in curt boettcher.

Of the three tracks I've heard, I think Over The Rainbow is my favourite. Who is that singing?

i'm unfortunately not on soulseek (DAMN MACS). maybe when i get a new computer with more hardrive space i'll get off my lazy ass and try to figure out how to install it (doesn't it take days?)

and one more annoying ebay story. i just won the John Phillips Wolfking record and i paid by paypal. right after i submitted my payment i realized they had my old address. so i corrected it, contacted paypal and contacted the seller. and it still goes to the wrong address. luckily my old building had a front desk that held onto it and i was able to pick it up, but FUCK YOU EBAY

As you can imagine, it's trippy as fuck and recommended for anyone into Subotnick, Tonto's Expanding Head Band, or Garson.

what is it like? when is it from?

i put other stuff on slsk today

I bought a copy of the Lord of the ringts record for three bucks last year. Weird fun meandering psych. It totally isn't funky tho, it is more like proggy synth folk than anything really propulsive. I saw the cover, checked the copyright date, and read the words "moogs and organs" and I was sold. It turned out to be a decent record.

It is really odd that this thread came up today. I have a huge clutch of cassette tapes in the console of my car. I have not touched any of them in more than 18 months. I went through them last night and found a tape with nothing on it. I had no idea what it was, so I threw it in on the way home from the club for the hell of it. It was a copy of Lucifer Black Mass that a friend had made for me about two years ago that I had completely forgotten about. It was a pleasant suprise to hear that album coming out of the speakers after a really good night at the club.

http://www.dustygroove.com/images/products/h/hyman_dick~_moongasja_101b.jpg

i listened to the Mort Garson track you posted to the soft pop thread and it wasn't really what i was expecting. way more harmonized vocals than i expected. really nice

i saw it on a wall yesterday for 25$. i have garson's Electric Hair Pieces and one of the Zodiac records, but don't really care for either of them. too much kitchy, googly moog.

milton, i know you said you liked it, but you also said you liked the Emil Richards "Stones" record which i also felt was too silly (the wife asks, "why the fuck are you listening to this Disneyland Electric Light Parade music?")

and I uh also kinda _like_ “Main Street Electrical Parade” especially the original pre-Disney version -- don't you like Perrey & Kingsley?

"Ataraxia" is definitely kitsch for me, lots of googly silly jazzy fills & straightforward moog sounds. don't pay $25, I've got a cdr you can rip

you know, maybe i just don't like pre-psychedelic moogy synthy stuff?

pulled out my Lothar & The Hand People cd the other day and giggled a bunch. some great tracks on there, but tons of crap.

I doubt it, though I can see why you'd speculate.

That self-titled Head LP by Raicevic on Buddah is crucial.

i have this 7-inch picture disc! the electric light parade music. it's awesome. great moog action. and the picture disc itself is heavenly looking. one of my favorite disney records.

Composer Mort Garson dies at 83
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117978685.html?categoryid=16&cs=1

Love his records. RIP.

I didn't know he'd gone. His records are pieces of wonder

I still haven't heard 'Didn't You Hear' ,or Madagascar though

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35PzjP4wgWs

Didn't You Hear?

I didn't know either. RIP.

It might not be cool or suitably appreciative of the man's diverse talent to single out the big weepy song, but Big Sur from the Wozard of Iz turns my nervous system inside out every time.

This is some great post-Exorcist shit right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ur4JFH-rJM

That self-titled Head LP by Raicevic on Buddah is crucial.
― Dave Segal (Da ve Segal)

Yes it is, and we have a reissue now.
https://www.discogs.com/107-34-8933-Numbers/master/544949

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umiE2B8ODYI

https://www.bbg.org/visit/event/plantasia
just came from this; was fun to listen to the album nice and crisp while walking inside a massive greenhouse.
Sacred Bones is aiming to release the complete Garson catalogue over the next few years; they're working with his family so it sounds like it might even happen!
https://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/collections/frontpage/products/sbr3030-mort-garson-mother-earths-plantasia

BK Botanic Garden had Garson's original moog on display
http://i.imgur.com/rSlyPJl.jpg

Ugggghhhh wish I knew about this

Been thinking his stuff badly needs re-issuing.

Imminent Plantasia reissue here: https://mortgarson.bandcamp.com/album/mother-earths-plantasia

I didn't really know much about this guy until hearing a few albums of his at work in the last year. We got the reissue of Plantasia in and I ended up picking it up. I can feel this album is going to be my new obsession.

Been thinking his stuff badly needs re-issuing.

Your wish is Sacred Bones's command:

https://mortgarson.bandcamp.com/album/didnt-you-hear

https://mortgarson.bandcamp.com/album/music-from-patch-cord-productions

This second one appears to be unreleased/little hard 70s recordings, the first is a straight up reissue of an obscure soundtrack "originally available only in the lobby of the theater at screenings of the movie in Seattle" per the liners.

Little heard not little hard but maybe both.

Also, apparently vinyl-only (maybe?) runs of Lucifer's Black Mass and Ataraxia's The Unexplained, though maybe other services/labels are handling digital.

https://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/products/sbr3033-lucifer-black-mass

https://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/products/sbr3034-ataraxia-the-unexplained

looks like these will be on spotify too!

oh man, this alternate take of "African Violet" - always one of my fave Garson tracks - is really everything
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLrnfsbpTH4

btw, this is prob worth buying
https://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/products/music-from-patch-cord-productions-t-shirt

Hadn't seen this thread before---speaking of Bernie Krause, he dispenses just enough shadowy particles all around ill wind guitar on The Link Wray Rumble, US issue
Polydor ‎– PD 6025: one of my all-time faves, never on legit CD, although some of it was reissued on the Link comp Guitar Preacher, and maybe all of it could be a YouTube playlist from time to time (found some in his remarkable archive.org stash too). Krause's moments def. quality over quantity.

Oh my god, this track is *incredible*. Breaking my heart at the moment, in the best way. Feels almost like if Mort Garson had collaborated with Paul Williams (if Paul Williams were a better singer).

https://mortgarson.bandcamp.com/track/didnt-you-hear

brewdog advert

New archival release!

https://mortgarson.bandcamp.com/album/journey-to-the-moon-and-beyond

And get this!

The crown jewel of the set is no doubt Garson’s soundtrack to the live broadcast of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, as first heard on CBS News. That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for Moogkind. But for decades, this audio was presumed lost, the only trace of it appearing to be from an old YouTube clip. Thankfully, diligent audio archivist Andy Zax came across a copy of the master tape while going through the massive Rod McKuen archive. So now we get to hear it in all its glory. Across six minutes, Garson conjures broad fantasias, whirring mooncraft sounds, zero-gravity squelches, and twinkling études. It showcases Mort’s many moods: sweet, exploratory, whimsical, a little bit corny, weaving it all together in a glorious whole.

I...did not expect this:

https://mortgarson.bandcamp.com/album/disco-ufo