Newsgroup: rec.music.newage
Date: Sat, 04 Jul 1998
From: David Hassell (davidlhsl@aol.com)
I'll focus primarily on electronic music, which I believe got its early beginnings from various experiments with the Moog synthesizer. Walter Carlos, who would later have a sex change operation and become Wendy Carlos (no, I did not make this up as a joke), was one of the very early pioneers with his "Switched On Bach" works, as well as doing the soundtrack for Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange." Tomita was another early pioneer who adapted works from Debussy and others. These very early works seemed to be attempting to try to find out how this newfangled instrument could be used to create music by determining if established classical music pieces could be adapted for electronic instruments, presumably for the purpose of an eventual goal of a "one person orchestra." Due to the "primitive" sounds of the instruments, which tended to be very harsh on the ears and had a tendency to sound like a child's instruments, these early works do not survive very well in this current day.
Enter Larry Fast, whose first release under the name Synergy -- "Electronic Realizations for Rock Orchestra" -- entered the scene. Rather than adapt conventional classical music to electronic instruments, Larry did something rather unique and composed original music (with composition structure familiar to classical music) that were designed to take advantage of the unique characteristics of the synthesizer. I know I'm not making sense here -- think of it as translating English poetry to French vs. writing an original poem in French. The sounds created, meticulously manipulated on tape, were far more pleasing to the ear, more varied, and lacked the "cheesy" quality of the earlier material. "Legacy," for example, is still a stunning work even by today's standards.
Tape editing and manipulation was an important use in electronic music that even was incorporated into acoustic recordings. Brian Eno was one such master of this process. Working with Robert Fripp, a process was created whereby Fripp's electric guitar would be recorded onto one tape, the tape looped to a second machine where it would be played back. This created a bizarre and alien sound featuring a near Mobieus-strip like effect. This process, by the way, is better known as "Frippertronics." Their 1975 collaboration "Evening Star" was a masterpiece, IMHO. Another example of the recording process being integral to musical composition is provided by Mike Oldfield, who single-handedly played an insane variety of musical instruments and merged these elements somehow into the influential "Tubular Bells."
The quote cited above references prog rock as a major influence, and that is correct as well, though its major impact would be felt in Europe. Confirmed by various interviews I have read, Pink Floyd was a major influence on artists such as Klaus Schulze and Manuel Gottsching, and the early works of these artists, as well as Tangerine Dream, Gong, Can, etc. reflect this. These works, in the beginning, sound more familiar as "grunge rock" then as electronic music, since they were primarily performed with electric guitar, electric bass, and drums. Tangerine Dream, beginning with their second album, began to expand on this by creating even more bizarre and alien sounds and effects. However, electronic instruments became the focal point of creativity beginning with "Phaedra" for Tangerine Dream, "Picture Music" for Klaus Schulze, and "New Age of Earth" for Ashra (Manuel Gottsching). "Phaedra" even made the charts, I believe, in the U.K. Klaus Schulze's "Timewind" won a prestigious award in France.
Klaus spread his influence to Japan, inspiring a young Kitaro through recordings under the group name Go. I also believe, based on an article by Klaus Mueller, that his popularity in France may have been an inspriration to Jean Michel-Jarre in that country. Klaus is also cited as a major influence on Steve Roach in the U.S.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., the electronic music done in Europe was largely kept unknown to most folks, but this would change thanks to movie soundtracks. Tangerine Dream's entry into the U.S. consciousness would've come with their soundtrack to William Friedkin's "Sorcerer" if anyone had actually seen that movie. But the movie bombed, and it wouldn't be until "Thief" starring James Caan when the group would be noticed. It's important to note that most of the film critic reviews of that film made a point to mention the quality of the music, which wasn't that common in film criticism (outside John Williams, of course). "Risky Business" would garner the group even more attention. Vangelis, meanwhile, outdid Tangerine Dream in film soundtrack success, with his incredible score for "Chariots of Fire," as well as his theme to Carl Sagan's popular PBS documentary "Cosmos."
Ironically, I think electronic music had a potential to be bigger here in the States than it did, as evidenced by the success of instrumental electronic chart-breakers such as "Frankenstein" by the Edgar Winter Group, "Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk" by Meco, and "I Robot" et al from the Alan Parsons Project. But purely instrumental albums of an electronic nature, outside Synergy, never seemed particulary successful or encouraged, except for the sci-fi fans. Anyone ever hear of Neil Norman? This was a sci-fi fan who published his own covers of the "futuristic" themes to some of his favorite sci-fi films and programs, such as "Dr. Who" and "Lost in Space." He would later release a compilation of electronic music under the title "Music From the 21st Century," and featured the entire second set of Tangerine Dream's "Tangram," as well as featuring entries from such important figures such as Richard Burmer, Michael Garrison, and a very young Steve Roach.
Once again, Brian Eno would have a major impact on the direction of electronic music, this time by pioneering a then-unknown concept of "ambient" music on his seminal "Music For Airports." Steve Roach would do his own experiments with this style beginning with "Structures From Silence."
Steve Roach would become a major influence of his own when he journeyed to Australia to work on a score to a documentary on the aboriginal culture in that country, and that experience resulted in the introduction of the tribal style of music on the double-CD "Dreamtime Return."
Meanwhile, we shift back to Germany for another influential style that I haven't covered yet, the pioneering group Kraftwerk, who pioneered techno long before techno would even become a term. I remember reading an interview with Neil Young (of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young and Crazy Horse fame) cited this group as influence on his album "Trans." (I have not heard this album, BTW.). Kraftwerk would become an influence on the "New Wave" scene, spawning groups such as Devo.
Oddly enough, many of the electronic music pioneers never dealt exclusively with electronic instruments. Acoustic instruments such as the widely used cello were integrated into the works of Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream. Schulze employed non-electronic drumming in his music (though he would later employ computers and drum machines in the more recent years). Manuel Gottsching (Ashra) never abandoned his electric guitar (thank heavens for this, as he's brilliant on this instrument). And Mike Oldfield is commonly thought of as a electronic musician, despite the fact that his works are predominately acoustic!
But one non-electronic experiment that many attempted never quite gained popularity with their fans -- vocals. Klaus Schulze worked with Arthur Brown, whose scream during a song's climax would bring the Fear of God into anyone (examples of this on "The Jubilee Edition"). The "scream" didn't make the published albums ("Dune" and "...live..."), though. Tangerine Dream briefly tried vocals with Steve Jolliffe on "Cyclone" and immediately abandoned that afterwards. However, vocals would begin to mark their influence via groups such as The Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, and Enya.
Eventually, acoustic instrumental works would become popularized by the Windham Hill label, resulting in the phenomena known as "New Age" (though I don't think they were responsible for coining the term). I'm not sure how electronic music became incorporated into this grouping, but it may have to do with Kitaro and Yanni being viewed as being thematically compatible with this style, so all other electronic music got sucked in as well.
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998
From: winds@sprynet.com (Wind)
Maintainer's note: This article was inspired by the Orinoco Flow lyrics "Turn it up....Turn it up....."
It *IS* a throwaway lyric, I totally agree! But I think I know where it came from. Yes. On their album entitled Yessongs from 1973 (a LIVE! album), Jon Anderson sang something related at the beginning of "The Fish" that sounds like what Enya herself sings. This was a very influencial album of the time, or of any time, and everyone should buy this one. Of all the singers I would like Enya to do an album with, it is Jon Anderson of Yes. Musically, they are husband and wife. She's obviously studied Yes like no other Rock band, and it is this element in her music which distinguishes her as more of a Rock/Pop artist, and less of a New Age artist, in my book. But that is fine with me, as I hear Led Zeppelin in her music as well. [For those over-anxious to refute this, please study Led Zeppelin's music seriously before making yourself look ignorant. I have studied them, I and know this connection, celtic thogh it may be.] New Age is not an apt description either as it was originally meant to be used for deep relaxation and not for artistic purposes. Enya is pure art. But as a great musician, she transcends. The music though is not specifically intended for deep relaxation as it is highly emotionally charged. For anyone in doubt of what I am talking about here, please pick up Stephen Halpern's work. He invented New Age music as well as the term and is still proactive in teaching this special music to musicians. Most of what I've said is my opinion but some is documented fact. Please take this post in the spirit given, for making some inner connections. I consider her music a form of Progressive Rock (A.K.A. Artrock), albeit Transcendent Tribal as in the Celtic tribe. Though the song form she uses is very folk-like, it lacks many other folk elements which would make it easy to just say it is Celtic music. Jon Anderson's first and most influential album, Olias of Sunhillow, seems to be the blueprint for where Enya is coming from. I am not saying her music is derivative at all, but that there is the same epic quality to her whole sound and a depth of grandeur (while retaining the immediacy) that only she and maybe Yes have acheived in song form. Of course there are elements taken from other influences (Phil Spector?) but she and Yes do appear to have something in common.