Customer Reviews

Nonesuch Guide to Electronic Music

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If you are interested in the building blocks of analog synthesis, this is an essential tool. Even if you are into digital synthesis, it is a great primer for the fundamentals of electronic music. The record begins with a short, pleasant piece and then proceeds to sonically illustrate what sounds are and what they sound like. To some, once they get past the full piece, the rest will be tedious. To others, the rest will be like being taught the ABCs and will become a point of departure for conscious and knowing listening and composition. Like the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" boxed set, you hear the finished product, and then you get to hear it deconstructed and put together. Hopefully the CD will have the book that accompanied the record. It augments visually what the record demonstrates aurally. Originally an LP-based boxed set released by Nonesuch when it was a leading edge budget label headed by the honorable Teresa Stern and when synthesizers were still exotic, mine is a worn, battered and valued part of my record collection.

There is no disputing the historical importance of this album, but it isn't something that you'll listen to very often either unless you enjoy listening to raw bits of modular synthesis ( a square wave, a triangle wave, etc...). The cd doesn't come with the booklet included with the original LP, but you can download it. The only problem is the type is microscopic and too much of a struggle for me to bother with trying to decipher. The guide only has one real music piece "Peace Three" which is repeated twice. My advice is listen to the 28 second sample tracks (many of the tracks are about that long anyway) and if it sounds like it's worth dropping $13 go for it. If you enjoy this you might want to check out the book Analog Synthesizers by Mark Jenkins which comes with a cd of various synthesizer sounds made on a variety of synthesizers instead of just a Moog modular.