Switched-On Rock
| Switched-On Rock | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio albumby the Moog Machine | ||||
| Released | 1969 | |||
| Genre | Electronic rock | |||
| Length | 29:47 | |||
| Label | Columbia Records | |||
| Producer | Norman Dolph | |||
| The Moog Machine chronology | ||||
| ||||
Switched-On Rockis an album by the Moog Machine, released in 1969 onColumbia Records.It comprises instrumentalcoversof popular songs from the 1960s, performed on theMoog synthesizer.It was one of a spate of albums capitalizing on the success ofSwitched-On Bach(1968), an album ofBachpieces performed on the Moog byWendy Carlos.
Switched-On Rockwas produced byNorman Dolph,who also wrote the liner notes. Dolph worked in the studio with colleaguesKenny Ascherand Alan Foust; they billed themselves as the Moog Machine for this and one more project. The album reached number 170 on theBillboard Top 200and stayed on the chart for eight weeks.[1]
Background
[edit]Norman DolphjoinedColumbia Recordsin 1964. As a marketing executive, he focused on recording projects aimed at the youth market. In 1967 he paid for the recording session of the albumThe Velvet Underground & Nico,and he helped engineer it.[2]
After the 1968 albumSwitched-On Bachwas seen to sell 500,000 copies, a number of albums were made to satisfy this new demand for synthesizer music.Wendy Carlosfollowed upSwitched-On BachwithThe Well-Tempered Synthesizerin theclassical musiccategory. Popular albums such asSwitched On Bacharach,Switched-On Country,Switched-On Santa,Switched-On Gershwin,Moog PowerandMusic to Moog Bywere produced by others.[3][4][5]
Production
[edit]The idea forSwitched-On Rockwas conceived by Columbia Records marketing executive Russell "Russ" Barnard. Barnard assigned the project to three men: Dolph supervised the album and he tuned theMoog modular synthesizer,and his associates jazz pianistKenneth "Kenny" Ascherand arrangerAlan Foustplayed the keyboards and wrote the song arrangements, respectively. An attempt was made to synthesize drum sounds for the songs, but Dolph felt that the results sounded "kind of mechanical and ricky-tick." Instead, a rockdrum kitwas played by session drummer Leon Rix.[6]
The Moog synthesizer was difficult to work with, as it is a very complex device with many knobs, and a slight movement of any knob could radically change the sound. It also tended to drift inmusical pitchsuch that Dolph determined to tune it every 15 minutes.[6]Finally, the Moog wasmonophonic,meaning that only one note could be played at a time. If a chord was fingered on the Moog's keyboard, only the lowest note would sound; chords heard on the album were built up over severaltakes,or they were synthesized on a chordal device called the "protorooter".[6]
The songs werearrangedby Foust as if any conceivable texture was available; following his charts, the Moog was tuned to synthesize each imagined texture. Some of the sounds heard on the album were discovered by "auspicious" accident while working toward something else. Using a 16-channel tape recorder, all ten songs were built up track-by-track in parallel; once a certain basic Moog sound was achieved, it could be used as appropriate for each song, with slight adjustments. Approximately 150 different textures were synthesized on the Moog for the album. In addition to the drum kit there was one other non-Moog instrument; in the liner notes Dolph challenged the listener to identify this instrument.[6]
Dolph said that the production team coined new words for some of the Moog textures, for instance they decided the word "gwiping" would describe "the act of sweeping a filter with a high regeneration setting... from top to bottom." Accordingly, a basic Moog organ sound which was "gwiped" became a "gworgan". They also coined "pagwipe" (a leaky bagpipe), "jivehive" (many bees swarming on the same pitch) and the "sweetswoop" (the roaring of a jet with harmonics).[6]
Critical reception
[edit]Switched-On Rockwas not praised by critics: at theLos Angeles Times,Robert Hilburnsaid, "rarely has rock music sounded so bad," while the UK'sMelody Makercalled it boring and "an artistic failure."[7]
Track listing
[edit]| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original performer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Spinning Wheel[6]" | David Clayton-Thomas | Blood, Sweat & Tears | 3:17 |
| 2. | "Jumpin' Jack Flash" | Jagger/Richards | The Rolling Stones | 3:17 |
| 3. | "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" | Paul Simon | Simon & Garfunkel | 2:39 |
| 4. | "Get Back" | Lennon–McCartney | The Beatles | 2:38 |
| 5. | "Yummy Yummy Yummy" | Arthur Resnick,Joey Levine | Ohio Express | 2:27 |
| 6. | "The Weight" | Robbie Robertson | The Band | 2:23 |
| 7. | "Time of the Season" | Rod Argent | The Zombies | 3:44 |
| 8. | "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" | James Rado,Gerome Ragni,Galt MacDermot | The 5th Dimension | 3:10 |
| 9. | "You Keep Me Hangin' On" | Holland–Dozier–Holland | The Supremes | 2:27 |
| 10. | "Hey Jude" | Lennon–McCartney | The Beatles | 3:45 |
| Total length: | 29:47 | |||
Personnel
[edit]- Kenny Ascher– keyboards[6]
- Alan Foust– arranger
- Norman Dolph– producer, tuner
- Leon Rix– drums
- Stew Romain– engineer
- Fred Plaut– engineer
- Frank Laico– engineer
- Art Kendy– engineer
- George Engfer– engineer
- George Knuerr– equipment
- Ron Pellegrino– production assistant
- Barney Beck– production assistant
- Russell Barnard– concept
- John McClure– executive producer
- Alan Kaplan– front cover image
Legacy
[edit]AfterSwitched-On Rockwas released, Dolph, Ascher and Foust quickly regrouped as the Moog Machine to create one more album, this time featuringChristmas songs.The albumChristmas Becomes Electricwas released in late 1969.
In 1972,Isao Tomitaproduced a similar album of rock covers using the Moog synthesizer for CBS/Sony, Japan and was originally titledSwitched On Hit & Rockwith no artist credited on the cover. In 1974 it was subsequently issued in the UK on CBS asElectric Samurai: Switched on Rock.Tomita also incorporated his experiments in voice synthesis.[8]
Switched-On Rockhas been sampled by a handful of artists. In 1994, theBeastie Boyssampled the Moog Machine's cover version of "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" for their song "Get It Together",using the sample prominently as a loop. In 2000the Avalanchesused several samples of "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" for the songs "Close to You" and "Diners Only" on their debut albumSince I Left You,an album which used approximately 3,500 samples from a wide range of vinyl pressings.[9]
References
[edit]- ^"Charts and Awards".AllMusic.RetrievedApril 14,2015.
- ^Harvard, Joe (2007) [2004].The Velvet Underground and Nico.33⅓. New York, NY:Continuum International Publishing Group.ISBN978-0-8264-1550-9.
- ^Brend, Mark (2012).The Sound of Tomorrow: How Electronic Music Was Smuggled into the Mainstream.A&C Black. p. 17.ISBN9781623565299.
- ^Pinch, Trevor J. (March 5, 2015)."Between Technology and Music: Distributed Creativity and Liminal Spaces in the Early History of Electronic Music Synthesizers".In Raghu Garud; Barbara Simpson; Ann Langley; Haridimos Tsoukas (eds.).The Emergence of Novelty in Organizations.Oxford University Press. p. 135.ISBN9780198728313.
- ^Pinch, Trevor J.; Trocco, Frank (June 30, 2009).Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer.Harvard University Press. pp. 166–7.ISBN9780674042162.
- ^abcdefgDolph, Norman;Ballard, Russ. (1969)Switched-On Rockliner notes. Partially reproduced in Mark Jenkins (2009),Analog Synthesizers: Understanding, Performing, Buying – From the Legacy of Moog to Software Synthesis.CRC Books,page 143.ISBN9781136122781
- ^Sewell, Amanda (2020).Wendy Carlos: A biography.Oxford University Press. p. 69.ISBN9780190053475.
- ^Jenkins, Mark(2007),Analog synthesizers: from the legacy of Moog to software synthesis,Elsevier,pp. 133–4,ISBN978-0-240-52072-8
- ^Pytlik, Mark (November 2002)."The Avalanches: The Avalanches Darren Seltmann & Robbie Chater".Sound on Sound.SOS Publications Group.Archivedfrom the original on December 25, 2011.RetrievedApril 14,2015.
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