[sdiy] Essential listening?

[Tim Parkhurst]

Okay, since nobody asked, here's my two cents...  ;)

Tomita - The Planets
Tomita - The Firebird
Kraft & Alexander - 1812 Overture / Nutcraker
Larry Fast - Sequencer

What can you say about Tomita? Definitely required listening for any synth
freak, and "Mars" from Planets is amazing. The Firebird Suite is another
favorite, partially because I'm so impressed by Tomita's synth abilities,
and partially because I really like Stravinsky. 

The Kraft & Alexander is a very rare thing. The 1812 side is pretty much a
throwaway, but the Nutcracker side is nothing short of amazing. A few too
many high resonance "squishy" sounds for my taste, but the layering and
orchestration is breathtaking. The bell sounds in 'Dance of the Sugar Plum
Fairy' work perfectly and are played just right. The whole mess was done
with a 2600, an Odyssey, a Little Brother, a Pro Soloist, a String Ensemble
and a TON of overdubs. Definitely a must for ARP freaks, but I don't even
know if it's in print anymore (haven't really looked, although I'd love to
find it on CD since my only copy is 20+ year old vinyl).

The reason I like Fast's "Sequencer" so much is that it sounds like
something that you might actually be able to do yourself. I mean, yes, it's
impressive and I'm sure a ton of work went into it, but it seems more
'accessible' than things like Carlos or even Fast's later, denser work with
poly synths.


Tim Servo
"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein


**************************************

> -----Original Message-----
> From: synth at charlielamm.com [mailto:synth at charlielamm.com]
> Sent: Friday, January 02, 2004 7:21 AM
> To: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
> Subject: [sdiy] Essential listening?
> 
> If someone asked me what the essential CDs and albums are for
> blues guitar, I could answer with a bit of confidence (eg: Robert Johnson
> "King of the Delta Blues"; Muddy Waters "The Chess Box Set"; etc
> etc etc.
> 
> However, I am not well versed on essential CD's for synthesizer.  Since
> I am building these now, maybe I'd better get up to speed.  Can anyone
> offer his or her opinions?
> 
> There are obviously no right or wrong answers.  My goal is to get ideas
> for doing recordings and demos and what not.
> 
> What I am looking for is an synthesizer-based recordings, as opposed to
> bands that have a few synthesizer solos on their albums or whatever.
> EG:
> 
> Wendy Carlos "Switched on Bach"
> Jean Michelle Jarre "Oxygene"
> 
> I am sure the list goes on and on....can anyone help out?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> --CL



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