Customer Reviews

Moog Cookbook

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This is like nothing you've heard before. This album is so funny that you can't believe that you're actually listening to it. It is a great collection of modern rock classics played on a Moog Synthesizer. My favorite is "Black Hole Sun". You will definitely get a kick out of this. It's good to have for novelty purposes.

To appreciate this album, you must understand it was done tongue and cheek. Great vintage synths humourously cover 90's modern rock classics (and Neil Young's "Rockin In The Free World"). This is for any fan of vintage electronic music like Kraftwerk, Human League, Jan Hammer, Tangerine Dream and Soft Cell. Sort of a 90's "Stars on 45" idea.

This album features all-moog versions of your favorite rock hits of the mid-'90s. It's a lot of fun to hear these songs in this way. Goofy, silly fun that is not meant to be taken seriously. Not everybody will like it, but if you enjoy weird interpretations of popular songs, you should check it out.

How do you describe this music? "Retro lounge space robot analog synth novelty pop covers." Think Martin Denny meets Giorgio Moroder meets Spike Jones meets 90s cover band and that'll give you a start.

Regardless of what you call it, Moog Cookbook is awesome. These guys have imagination, a sense of humor, a huge musical vocabulary, real-deal old-school analog synthesizers, and they know how to use them.

While this CD may not be for everyone, if you like lounge or novelty or want to hear some of your favorite rock and pop hits done with a crazy twist it's doubtful you will be disappointed by Moog Cookbook. If you're a fan of analog synthesizers, this is a must-buy.

They have another CD out, Ye Olde Space Band: Plays Classic Rock Hits, but this one is my favorite of the two (by a slim margin). If you're new to Moog Cookbook, definitely start here first.

Attention Moog Cookbook guys: Please give us more!!!

I have always been an electronic music fan. White Noise is one of my all-time favorites. Anyway, this CD is really funny and dancy too. I've never been a huge rock fan, but I think this version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is the best ever!

Enjoy it for what it is - silly.

the first of two cds produced for the scandalous and shortlived(?) restless records. manning is a geniuous. his work with jellyfish (spilt milk), shows his musical range and knowlege and committment to melody. he also tours or toured with beck on keyboards. this album is a tribute to the moog/pop tradition. many of the sounds and phrasing are reminiscent of classic moog artists like hugo montenegro (moog power) and perrey kingsly. the hits are funny and the album, although tongue in cheek, can hold its own in any party setting.. use discretion. if you like moog music, you need this and their second ye olde. the second record covers kiss and some boston. by the way, it is moe-guh with a long o. named after bob moog, the inventor of the machine. he will tell you himself. "not moooooog"

Brian Kehew and Roger Manning attempted to produce something that was scarcely tried by anyone previously; recreate some of the most popular songs of their day using solely Moog synthesizers. The Moog synthesizer, although revolutionary for its day, is seen as past its prime technologically. Popularized in the 1960s this synthesizer was one of the first to incorporate a transistor allowing to make it more portable than its vacuum tube predecessors. The Moog Cookbook in their self-titled album used this historical instrument not to show any up and coming technological advances, but rather focused on celebrating the instrument by pushing its limits while making subtle commentary on contemporary rock music.
Allow me to first qualify this album by saying that the artists likely did not aim for their songs to be taken entirely seriously. The producers of these songs probably intended for this music to represent something that was diametrically opposed to contemporary rock music. Some critics of rock music felt that in the late 80s and early 90s artists began to take themselves too seriously. A couple things spawned from these critiques. One obvious movement is "punk" and shifting towards the complete opposite end of the spectrum we have a more light hearted side such as The Moog Cookbook. Kehew and Manning took the seriousness out of rock by using upbeat springy sounds complete with space-like themes. I am inclined to believe after watching some live videos that Kehew and Manning wanted to stay close to the Moog synthesizer's portable/performative heritage since their commentary shines through more clearly dancing around with their spaceman attire. That being said, it is not too difficult to decipher The Moog Cookbook's musical intent paying close attention to the songs they select to cover as well as the upbeat timbre.
To better understand why this albums objective it is necessary to delve more deeply into specific songs. One of the biggest hurdles with creating music generated completely with synthesizers is how to represent the lyrical aspect of the song. The Moog Cookbook does this mainly by using sounds most accurately described as a "synthesized humming along" to the words. The Weezer "Buddy Holly" cover does this especially well, using a rich variety of sounds to cover the dynamic pitches of the original. However, in their "Free Fallin" version they attempt a computer generated voice that would no doubt make Max Matthews proud, but in my opinion the voice detracts from the overall fluidity of the piece and would be better left out. A good example of The Moog Cookbook completely changing a songs tone from depressed to cheerful exists in their cover of Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun". This song undoubtedly sets the tone for the rest of the album in what they are trying to convey about rock music.
Those who would write this album off as uncreative should pay closer attention to the more subtle sampling. For example, again in their "Buddy Holly" cover they sample "What a Fool Believes" by the Doobie Brothers. This sample and others add depth to their music that only a well versed scholar of music would notice. Besides their playful poke at rock music, The Moog Cookbook definitely pushes the limits of the Moog synthesizer. One piece that particularly caught my attention with this purpose was their version of "Hotel California" which has a complicated guitar solo. Their solo impressively mimics the original with surprising simplicity. Staying simplistic allows Kehew and Manning to not stray too far from the modern approaches of computer music that sometimes simple is better, especially if it allows for a greater appreciation for the sound itself. By and large this album seems to be a celebration of electronic music's origins, takes a fun approach to popularized music of the 90s, and seeks to expand the audience of the sampled original.

The Mook Cookbook is an album, created by the band of the same name, containing an interesting and eclectic collection of popular music from the 1990s covered on analog synthesizers, primarily the Moog Synthesizer.

The Moog Synthesizer was constructed by Robert Moog in 1964. Moog took interest in complex electronic music in the early 1960s, after his building and selling vacuum-tube Theremins while in school during the 1950s.

The Moog Synthesizer was voltage controlled, meaning that the voltage when a key was pushed directly corresponded to the frequency output of the synthesizer. The signal generator could then process the sound and apply many different effects to it, such as oscillators and ring modulators. A sequencer was also a key component of the Moog Synthesizer. The user interface was a traditional keyboard layout.

The use of the Moog Synthesizer was popularized by performers, such as Wendy Carlos, who used the Moog Synthesizer to perform very technical pieces. Many other performers began using the Moog in their music because of its very complex sounds.

This album serves as a kind of tribute to this time of the high point of the Moog's popularity in everyday music. The band manages to take popular music of the 1990s and reinterpret on the Moog Synthesizer. According to the band, all the music is performed by hand, rather than being sequenced.

The album begins with a cover of Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun." If there is one word to describe the cover of this song, it would be "elevator music." The darker tone of the song is completely gone and replaced by a much more cheerful tone which can be attributed to the bright sound of the synthesizer, even with the melody staying very true to the original. The guitar solo is a very interesting part to listen to as they attempt to imitate the guitar precisely.

Another song of note on the album is Offspring's "Come Out and Play." One of the unique characteristics of this song is the use of synthesizers to create pseudo vocals. This is a very ingenious way to use the synthesizer. It is very reminiscent of Max Mathews' "Daisy Bell" from 1961 where he created the first instance of speech synthesis on a computer. This effect also appeared in "2001: A Space Odyssey." Even though this technique has been used many times, the novelty of it does not wear off in "Come Out and Play." Another reference to "2001: A Space Odyssey" can be found near the end of the song where the intro theme to the movie is apparent. Another interesting aspect of this song is the atonal nature of the melody when the band is covering the singing. It gives the song a very unique flair not found in the original song.

Overall, this album is a great collection of songs, all of which have been re-imagined to give them a new sound and feel. The use of the Moog Synthesizer is a novel way to achieve this effect. Knowing the history to this instrument allows one to enjoy this album so much more, through understanding the Moog's rich history and prominence in electronic music, from the early 1960s to today.

Moog Cookbook's self-titled album brings tons of wacky fun with synthesizer remixes of some of the world's popular rock and pop anthems. Each track gives the listener an exciting look at all of the incredible sounds that the synthesizer can produce. The group consists of two members, Brian Kehew and Roger Joseph Manning Jr. The duo stretches the limits of the analog synthesizer, the instrument-of-choice for this album, as the analog synthesizer is the only instrument used throughout the entire album. Kehew and Manning use no MIDI software instruments in this album, attempting to, as the members proclaim, to base their music on a period in time when the synthesizer was new and strange. The duo has most definitely succeeded in creating a new, strange, and exciting vibe with their self-titled record.

The album opens with Sungarden's "Black Hole Sun". The track gives the song a type of "festive" feel that provides a light-hearted, fun opening for their album. The album really kicks things off, however, with the second track - a remix of Weezer's "Buddy Holly". Moog Cookbook makes this song their own, adding a synthetic "swing bass" that acts as the backbone of the track. This song introduces a type of telharmonium tone to take the place of the vocal melody. This provides a really fun type of "hum-along". From the opening that sounds like the hum of the THX logo, through the epic introduction that sounds like the beginning of a broadway dance number, on through to when the hums fade out, and head-bobbing melody kicks in, "Buddy Holly" is easily a highlight of the entire album. Some of the album's other very strong points are the remix of Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'", which combines a high-pitched synthesizer melody with static-infested, muffled spoken word. The synthesizer does the "singing", while the spoken voice nearly inaudibly quotes the lyrics. The song continues in a very light-hearted, fun manner, until near the end, when the sound of erupting thunder claps, and the key of the song shifting to a dark, desperate mood. The relaxing-to-devastating mood of this track provides, in my opinion, the highlight of the record. The closing track of the album, a remix of Neil Young's "Rockin' In the Free World", is another one of the record's strong points. The remix gives the song a island feel with the use of tones that sound a lot like steel drums layered over each other in harmony. It sounds like the product of the Beach Boys being introduced to the moog analog synthesizer. The Moog Cookbook takes the rock anthem feel of the original Neil Young song, and, using the same melody, completely changes the vibe, creating the silly, original sound that The Moog Cookbook kept as a consistent theme throughout the entire record.

If taken seriously, The Moog Cookbook could be seen as a complete terror to many of the world's famous rock and pop songs, but the album itself is supposed to be fun. It's supposed to be a joke. That's what makes the Moog Cookbook so good. Sure, the duo are very talented, and show an immense amount of creativity, but this album's strongest quality lies in the fact that it is wacky, electronic fun. With influences ranging from Wendy Carlos to Billy Preston, the Moog Cookbook are an extremely interesting, extremely clever one-instrument cover band that unashamedly give their takes on many of the world's most popular rock and pop songs.

this is just as good as ye olde pace bande. this one is more of a............ i dont know how to put it.its great though definately worth buying (i especially like buddy holly on this cd)