Customer Reviews

THE UNUSUAL CLASSICAL SYNTHESIZER

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

 

 

Who is Mike Hankinson? Don't know much about him. Apparently he was born in England and residing in South Africa. I remember very well my dad buying a copy of this LP (which has been handed to me and still in my collection) back in 1979. I bet you he probably was getting this from the time ABC Records got bought out by MCA and so record stores were needing to get rid of the ABC Records inventory. Actually this album was released on ABC's Westminster Gold classical division, the copy I have (that my dad bought) is the later rainbow label. This album was first released in 1971 on the Ad-Rhythm label and titled simply "The Classical Synthesizer" with a completely different cover, and then ABC Westminster Gold released it in the States in 1972 (which I felt has a much better cover), and it's so obviously inspired by Switched-On Bach that you can't get around that! It fits nicely with your other classical Moog albums. The big exception: this was all performed on the EMS Putney VCS-3 synthesizer. The VCS-3 doesn't come with a keyboard, and is best for sound effects, but it's obvious that Mike Hankinson had a keyboard attached to it to play normal songs on it (like Todd Rundgren had did for his Something/Anything album released around the same time). Classical Moog synthesizer albums were no longer new by 1972 (everyone knows how the market was absolutely flooded with them by then, as well other novelty Moog albums, pop Moog, everything but the kitchen sink Moog, even country Moog, and people like Gershon Kingsley and Jean Jacques Perrey doing a little of everything), and so why not make a similar album on non-Moog equipment? Unlike Switched-On Bach, The Unusual Classical Synthesizer features songs from various other classical artists from the 17th and 18th century, like Mozart, Beethoven, Scarlatti, and so on (so if you're looking for Debussy, Holst, Stravinsky or Mussorgsky or anything else from the 19th and early 20th century, you'd have to look elsewhere). There is no doubt the highlight of the album is Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor". Hankinson really hits the low notes on one section, and there's even a warning in the album notes to be careful not to blow your speakers out. All the songs are pretty much straight adaptations of classical songs, meaning Hankinson wasn't trying to take creative routes as Tomita often did (like on Planets). Fans of classical Moog will certainly dig this album, you'll be surprised how such a small and portable synthesizer could do the job of what a big modular Moog can do. Certainly the VCS-3 doesn't have all the sound options of a modular Moog, but the fact it was just as effective.

You also have to dig the cover, showing an overloaded electrical socket, it could almost be used for a public service announcement warning you not to overload your sockets. Westminster Gold tended to like using weird parts from appliances, light bulbs, shower heads, and unidentifiable things for their album artwork around this time period. Kinda reminds me of the short-lived TV series Project UFO from 1978-79 where the producers used parts of shower heads, vacuum cleaners, appliances and so on to create the UFOs.

For fans of classical Moog who like to hear this kind of music played on a different synth, try this album!