(*But Were Afraid To Ask)
I always wanted to hear Ravel’s “Bolero” on the Moog. I’ve just been too afraid to ever ask anyone to play it. Luckily, my silent prayers were answered! This album features that piece, along with the “Habañera” and the “Introduction to Act I” (aka “Toreodor, don’t spit on the floor/use a cuspidor/that’s what it’s for”) from Carmen, Chabrier’s “España” and Lecuona’s “Malagueña” all performed by The Mighty Moog, “semi-conducted” by the frightfully witty Andrew Kazdin and Thomas Z. Shepard.
What could be more exciting than an album of Spanish music? (The consistency of our Spanish program, you will note, is marred only by the fact that Lecuona was not a French composer).
Hahaha! So witty! These droll gentlemen subject us to 14 minutes and 33 seconds of the Moog’s (“is there anybody still left who doesn’t know that “Moog” rhymes with “rogue?”) rendition of Ravel’s Bolero. For those of you not acquainted with Ravel’s oeuvre, “Bolero” had exactly one theme, which is repeated over and over on this album like an electronic mantra, leaving no brain cell undead. It’s Andrew Kazdin and Thomas Z. Shepard’s own “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida,” taking up one whole side of the record.
Thanks to this record inherited from my dad’s eclectic collection, I will no longer be afraid to ask for anything on the Moog. Except for Ravel, which I still fear greatly.
13 Comments
Good Lord, it took me two days before I got the “semi-conducted” joke! Har har.
i have that album, stunji! i had it on 8-track too. nothing to be afraid of from anyone named maurice.
oh wow… do you have the 8-track player to go with?
i have it as part of my 2XL.
I am desperately looking for a copy of this album, in vinyl or on cd. Can anyone out there help??
In http://mexicovers.blogspot.com/
(The Mighty Moog) is the name for the “spanish speaking” public.
The Track List:
Side A:
01- Espana
02- Malaguena
03- Carmen
Side B:
04- Bolero
Ursula,
I have a CD copy of “Everything You Always Wanted to Hear On The Moog”, transcribed and cleaned-up from a pristine LP.
Contact me on dfnojunk at optusnet dot com dot au.
Daniel
Nice. A friend gave this to me on vinyl about ten years ago. Unfortunately I don’t have a record player anymore. Gonna have to borrow one to transfer this… and my Knuckles O’Toole records.
I would really love to have a cd of thi album. Any leads would be appreciated.
Thanks to all.
Carol – a bloke by the name of synthbaron has gone to a lot of trouble to rip this wonderful album at cd quality. His source was a brand new sealed reel-to-reel copy, and he’s done a sterling job in digitising it. Along with the .aiff files, he also provides them in mp3 format, but for the cd quality this music deserves, burn the .aiff’s. Find them here: http://denonville.com/everything/
“Bolero”, while repetitious, is one theme and a variant but if you don’t like it, that information is of little comfort. I enjoy it and this rendition, for synthesizer LPs were rarities, but Maurice Ravel composed many other wonderful pieces, such as “La Valse”, and “Daphnis Et Chloe” which do not feature the repetition you so dislike.
To be fair, Moogs could not play more than one note at a time, were unwieldy, so this album was a triumph (good or bad) of a great deal of overdubbing. I gather that in the interest of time and budget, they did “Bolero” because that would be a bit simpler to record, because of the paucity of themes. They even state how hard it was to record in the liner notes. Nowadays, I gather this album could have been recorded in about a quarter of the time.
There were more experimental LPs out at the time, such as “Electronic Music” on Turnaround, but the average record buyer would probably not sought out or go around humming his/her fave Tzvi Avni piece. Being the age that I was, I found Dick Hyman’s “The Minotaur” endless at seven minutes (I appreciate it more, now).
Cue synthesized applause,
Brian
Thanks, for the info! It is fun to listen to it again!
Thaks, Carol