MOTM

Hey all,

I posted this review to the dotcom group, and thought I'd post it 
here, as well:

<<Just saw the MOOG MOVIE documentary last night in Seattle.

It's about 70 minutes long,and mostly features Bob Moog
discussing his philosopy about electronic synthesis and his love
of instrument making. It is not an in-depth look at his life, but
merely focuses in on how the Moog (minimoog, in particular)
changed the face of pop music.

Rick Wakeman talks about the impact the instrument made, and
he's featured in a performance at last year's MoogFest in NYC.
Ditto for Keith Emerson, who doesn't speak, but plays his
massive modular at MoogFest.

Very interesting interviews with Bob talking to Gershon Kingsley
and Walter Sear, but NO chat with Wendy Carlos, at all. Which I
find a glaring omission. Just a brief mention of "Switched-On
Bach", actually.

Jean Jacques Perrey is seen briefly in concert with Luke Vibert in
London, and there's a healthy clip from a Stereolab concert, as
well.

The film really could have focused in more on WHY the classic
sythesizers (Moog clones and minimoogs) have made a huge
comeback at this point in time, and could have taken a more
detailed look at the various parts of the big modular.

Nevertheless, we get a brief look inside Moog Music, Inc. factory,
and actually get to watch a Voyager getting put together, which I
found really interesting.

I also got a copy of the CD soundtrack, which is not nearly as
interesting to me, and mostly features various modern artists
(most of whom I'd never heard of) noodling away at minimoogs,
via hip-hoppy sampled beats. Yawn.

It does come with a second bonus disc, which has some classic
Moog-rock recordings like ELP's "Lucky Man", and Jean
Jacques Perrey's "EVA". But including YES doing "Close To The
Edge" seems a bit out of place.

It's all redeemed (in my eyes) with a wonderful cover of "Baroque
Hoedown" by THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS.

So there you go.

Cheers,

- Dana Countryman
http://www.danacountryman.com