Capitalizing on the early 70’s popularity of reinvented “Electronic” adaptations of Classical classics, Isao Tomita focuses on the 1874 suite by Russian composer, Modest Mussorgsky, titled, Pictures at an Exhibition. Isao Tamita creates a very dark and dreary wall of impending, electronic-doom-music… AND IT’S AWESOME!
70’s Electro was made famous in large part by Walter/Wendy Carlos’ invigorating take on the works of Ludwig van Beethoven in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. Although the back sleeve accurately indicates that (up to that time) electronic instruments had only been around for nearly 50 years (with the ethereal launch of Leon Theremin’s well, Theremin in 1927), there were only a small handful of “Electronic” albums obtainable by the social conscious. Four that I can think of are 1) the groundbreaking Soundtrack to Forbidden Planet in 1956, 2) George Harrison’s first studio album (yes, THAT George Harrison), 1969’s Electronic Sound, 3) Walter Carlos’ 1968 debut, Switched-On Bach, and 4) the 1966 release of The In Sound from Way Out! by Perrey and Kingsley.
Creating electrified modernizations of decades-old classics must have been difficult for some to digest in the mid 1970’s… boy were those narrow-minded purists in for a treat when Disco hit just a few short years later.
The late 60’s/early 70’s electronic movement is definitely something to explore. To say it is little more than a Classical suite or symphony with an electronic filter would completely sell this infant-like genre depressingly short. The guitar, invented in the 13th Century, didn’t get electrified until the 1930’s. Electronic music has yet to hit its centennial mark… imagine its overwhelming future. Isao Tomita did, and it’s evident by his work on Pictures at an Exhibition.
Today we take a look at the record; a 12” spherical disc, not only as a vehicle for music, but also as an interactive time capsule for important, historical milestones. Although it need not be stated that the contents of today’s post preceded 1974 by over three decades, the release of this record is significant because it offered, arguably, the most famous comedy routine ever to be recorded, to a legion of new listeners. I am, of course, referring to Bud Abbott & Lou Costello’s classic, Who’s on First?
Who’s on first? is as synonymous with Baseball as Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, and Rickey Henderson. And since the baseball season is underway (seems as though nobody informed the Milwaukee Brewers), I felt it appropriate to focus on this release from 1974 above all others.
This timeless compilation also offers a Moby Dick sketch, a Hertz U-Drive sketch and a complete broadcast of The Abbott & Costello Show, “exactly as heard on November 9, 1944.” A must for comedy and Baseball fans alike, Abbott & Costello’s Who’s on First? will forever live on wherever Baseball is played. Enjoy!