Customer Reviews

The Out Sound From Way In!: The Complete Vanguard Recordings

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ever notice how things that were made specifically to appear futuristic(like any average episode of "Star trek" for instance)end up seeming a million times more dated than anything else from that particular era? Well add this album to the list.And thats not at all a bad thing...the irony of the whole thing is a work of art in itself.Such warm and fluffy feelings of nostalgia coming from music that upon its initial composition was intended to evoke visions of the future.Electronic music has come a long way since the days of Analog...but when you hear that opening synth riff from "The savers" you'll find it hard to believe it's over 30 years old (despite the "Georgy girl-ish" melody of the main body of the song).Sure there's some throwaway tracks here,but that's more of a complaint to be lodged against the original albums from which this compilation was made from...It's this compilation in fact,which inspired me to give it five stars, based on the music alone I still would have given it four stars.This compilation is incredibly economical being that it contains 4 original albums by Perrey and or Perrey and Kingsley! The remix stuff by Fat boy slim or whatever is pointless of course (as is 95 percent of that kind of dance junk anyway) but who cares? This album is for all those people who were born before the 1970s and are still asking the question "It's the 21st century already! So where are all the flying cars and robot maids?" And are just a little bummed about it.

Both this compilation and "The Essential Perrey & Kingsley" feature all the tracks from the 2 collaborative Perrey & Kingsley albums:

"The In Sound from Way Out!" and "Spotlight On The Moog (Kaleidoscopic Vibrations)".

But this one also features all the tracks from Jean-Jacques Perrey's solo album "Moog Indigo".

So if you were thinking of buying "Essential", "In Sound" or "Mood Indigo" don't spend so much money. All those tracks are here!

There are classic tracks of all 3 original albums compiled here, so they're a must-have if you like incredibly strange music or moog/electronic sounds.

Note though that not all these experiments in happy zing-boink grooviness work, but the ones that do will blow your head off!

Try it, you won't regret it.

I bought this collection, it's quite exhaustive and a good item for those who want to go back to this period from time to time. I do agree with the mention that it's gonna be tough to listen to it straight through. It's not that it's slow, I can listen to Music for Airports all day, it's that some of the structures become grating after a while.

Still, I recommend it, especially at this price.

One big disappointment is you're not going to get "Popcorn", by Kingsley. It was quite a hit in itself (although most are more used to the Hot Butter version), and it being missing here is disappointing. I guess it wasn't a Vanguard recording, as it isn't on any of the collections I can see.

My first exposure to the music of Perrey & Kingsley was when a friend turned me on to "The In Sound From Way Out" back in 1966.

I was blown away by what could be done with tape, synthesizers (then a very new concept), and this interesting little instrument called the Jenny Ondioline. It was this same instrument, by the way, that carried the melody in Kai Winding's version of "More", back in 1963. The early synthesizers could only produce one note at a time, and were incapable of producing the multi-layered sounds that today's instruments can. So you can imagine how painstaking the task of recording, assembling, and splicing everything together to produce these songs.

This set puts, in one place, all of the recordings Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley did for Vanguard Records. The first two albums, "In Sound" and "Spotlight On The Moog: Kaleidoscopic Vibrations", appear in their entirety on disc 1 of this three disc set. Both sound totally amazing here, the best I've ever heard them. In had a copy of "The Essential Perrey & Kingsley", but this blows that one away sonically. Also, the last track on "Kaleidoscopic Vibrations" was switched with something that had been previously unreleased. On this set, it's fully intact. All tracks, with two exceptions, are essentially novelty tunes. All the "beeps, pwaa-pwaas", and similar electronic effects, along with movement of sounds speaker to speaker, are there. The two exceptions take a more serious approach without all the fancy effects. Those tracks, "In Sound"'s "Visa To The Stars", and "Kaleidoscopic"'s "Pioneers Of The Stars" (the track that was replaced on "Essential"), are fitting end tracks for these albums. "Visa" is very reminiscent of the Kai Winding track mentioned above.

The second disc puts two solo albums by Perrey together for the first time. These albums, "The Amazing New Electronic Pop Sound of Jean-Jacques Perrey", and "Moog Indigo", follow in the tradition of the two albums collaborated with Kingsley. I'm not getting into track-by-track descriptions here, because you gotta hear 'em for yourself. The only one I'll mention is the final track from "Moog Indigo", which is called "Passport To The Future". This track, incidentally, was covered by The Ventures as "Skylab". This track is another fitting finale to the album, again more straightforward than the other tracks preceding it. In my earlier days, (Jeez, I'm making myself sound old), I used to send tapes to friends with music and narration on them, and the track I generally ended the tapes with was "Passport". It just worked!

The third disc in this set, which I must admit I haven't listened to, features remixes of several tracks by such "artists" as Fat Boy Slim and Eurotrash.

In summary, this is a set that you should listen to if you have a sense of humor and really want to hear what your stereo can do. Electronic music can really task a system's grasp on reality, since no one knows exactly what these sounds should sound like. But it's a fun listen, and I recommend it highly.

There is such a thing as "too much of a good thing"

You'll be ready to switch CDs about halfway through the first one.

The album is a quirky patchwork of pioneering moog work, though I wouldn't consider it 'listenable' for more than a track or two.

The music that's there is great, but it gets a bit painful after too long. Throw a couple tracks into your winamp playlist, but you probably won't want to listen to it all at once.