Walter Carlos: Switched On Bach

The 1968 Walter (later 'Wendy') Carlos album 'Switched On Bach' album is the rather interesting Classical / Experimental music curio which introduced a great many to the Moog Synthesizer, paving the way for the slew of 70's acts to use the machine as their primary instrument. The album also marks its place in history as a breakthrough electronic album which will forever be one of the first classical music based albums to achieve platinum status.

The albums track listing contains, as the title suggests, a series of performances of Bach works, including a remarkable performance of the Brandenburg Symphony and three of Bach's Two-part Inventions. Most listeners unfamiliar with classical music will probably at least recognise Carlos' performance of Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring.

When one considers the album's advanced years, there is a truly remarkable attention paid to mixing the album - each of the tracks sound crisp with fantastic attention to articulations and dynamics, rather than a flat compressed amplitude, and Carlos' use of the stereo field puts the album far ahead of its time in this regard.

While the album has been very carefully mixed, all performances featured on the album have clearly been subject to great care, with impressive variety of timbre and expression. Every track contains a multitude of synthetic instrumentation and shows Carlos' expertise with their craft, not to mention the versatility of the Moog system. This album is without doubt one of the best exposition of the great variety possible with a synthesiser, given a skilled operator with the know-how and imagination to pull off such a feat as Walter Carlos.

Unsurprisingly, following the great success of 'Switched On Bach,' Carlos continued with a variety of projects including several follow up albums and soundtrack credits including 'Tron' and 'A Clockwork Orange.' For a review of the 1969 release 'The Well Tempered Synthesizer,' click here.

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Depeche Mode: Tour Of The Universe

'Tour Of The Universe' is a live album/DVD release recorded during synth pop group Depeche Mode's most recent tour in 2009. While the tour was largely supporting the group's 12th studio release, 'Sounds Of The Universe,' the set list contains material which goes back as far as the group's 1986 'Black Celebration' album.

Among the credits to the album is its chart performance, in fact going platinum in Germany and becoming the first live album to top the German music charts in a period of two years. The album also exhibits the group's praiseworthy musicianship, a notable virtue given the band's 31 years in the industry.

The album begins with 'In Chains,' 'Wrong' and 'Hole To Feed,' all from the group's 'Sounds Of The Universe' album, before revisiting tracks from their wide and varied musical past. Among the highlights of the album are 'Enjoy The Silence' and 'Personal Jesus,' in addition to several of the band's classic played toward the finale of the set. The band's energy sustains a listener's interest through the 2 hour long album and indeed the new arrangements to their older material allow Depeche Mode to showcase their formidable talent.

The album is clearly crafted with great precision to sustain their audience's attention, seen particularly in the juxtopposition between the energy of 'Personal Jesus' and sobering finale of 'Waiting For The Night.' While the audio CDs' are mixed with loving care, the DVD performance certainly adds even more to this fantastic live album.

For the review of the band's 1990 release 'Violator,' from which several tracks in the set list are taken, including 'Personal Jesus' and 'Waiting For The Night,' click here.

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Royksopp: Melody A.M.

Royksopp are an Electronica duo which hail from Tromsø, Norway. The album here featured, 'Melody A.M.,' released in 2001, is the duo's critically acclaimed debut. Containing 14 tracks and a healthy 1:08 runtime [the US special edition is reviewed here], the album produces some memorable material, so much so that 'Eple' (meaning 'Apple') was even licensed by Apple Corp for the welcome music to OSX Panther.

One of the most interesting aspects of the album is the composer's ability to combine downbeat electronica which saw a great rise in popularity during the early 00's, with etherial electronic soundscapes. The textural complexity seen throughout the album also illustrates a high degree of compositional awareness from the duo not commonly seen so early in an acts' career.

The album from the very first track, 'So Easy,' exhibits an affinity with beat based electronica but the sombre string pad atmospheres seen in later material such as 'In Space' adds a further dimension to the album stylistically. In terms of the album's instrumentation and construction, there is a clear influence from the French duo Air (see the 'Love 2' review here) but further developing their sound with a catchier edge which has been met with popularity in the cases of 'Remind Me' and 'So Easy' to name just two examples.

Having extolled the virtues of the bands stylistic prowess, the final track, '40 Years Back/Come' presents a disjointed retrospect in two parts, ultimately concluding the album with a mysterious soundscape more common in Ambient music.

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Global Communication: '76:14'

While many readers may be unfamiliar with Global Communication, an ambient duo based in the UK, their debut album, simply entitled '76:14,' has received wide-spread critical acclaim. Frankly, for anyone with a Penchant for ambient music or downtempo soothing electronica, it's clear to see why this album received such praise.

The album begins with the brooding synthetic introduction portrayed by the first track, 4:02. This continues to build until a climactic conclusion at which point the haunting grand father clock crossfades in from the next track, '14:31.' The true strength of the album becomes clear from having listened to very little of the material on offer: Global Communication have an uncanny ability to give ambient music great interest for the attentive listener through their arrangements and choice of material.

The dysphoric introduction to the third track, '2:25' slowly evolves to incorporate a heavy beat which given the ambient beginnings to the album initially seems out of place, but it integrated well into the piece and contrasts well with the next track which seems to even draw inspiration weakly from Enigma and similar acts through it's use of a faux-New Age vibe which is also seen more overtly later in '5:23,' whose sequencer based synthetic rhythms and filtered white noise draw an instant comparison to 'Love on a Real Train' by Tangerine Dream.

This album is unashamedely a great ambient work, all the more due to the variety afforded the the expert use of material. The album takes the listener on a musical journey and serves as a brilliant musical backdrop to the daily grind. When one considers that this album was made in 1994, it's longevity and sustained relevance is a great credit to the English duo.

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Enigma: 'Love Sensuality Devotion - The Greatest Hits'

The Enigma Musical Project is estimated to have sold in excess of 50 million albums and this 2001 greatest hits compilation release 'Love Sensuality Devotion' certainly contains some noteworthy material. The musical project themselves, led by Michel Cretu, is known for the New Age music influenced writing which combines dance and traditional chant elements, a highly original premise at the time of the act's debut.

Enigma: Love Sensuality Devotion

The album begins with the brief reference to the 'Enigma horn' which has featured on every album previous, before introducing 'Turn Around,' which in typical Enigma style combines electronic textures and vocals with world instruments, a strong shuffle beat and not forgetting the use of gregorian chants - a stalwart of the Enigma sound.

The Album continues to include the expected hits such as 'Sadeness Part 1' which was almost a worldwide number 1, alongside some Enigma's lesser known output. The album does however give a clear sense of intelligent design through the 'flow' and continuity throughout. Most of the album fuses New Age elements with Dance music beats which fans will have grown to expect but tracks that veer away from the dance influence, such as 'Principals of Lust' and 'Return To Innocence,' prove to be some of the most rewarding musical experiences of the album, certainly worth of a listen.

For a review of Enigma's debut release, 'MCMXC A.D.,' click here.

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Kraftwerk: Minimum-Maximum

Having previously reviewed the first major Kraftwerk release, 'Autobahn,' Here, this review will feature their last commercial release, the 2005 live album 'Minimum-Maximum.'

Having only released a total of 7 albums from their success with 'Autobahn' and a compilation album, 'The Mix,' this live album adds no new material other than 'Planet Der Visionen' ('Planet of Visions') which is essentially a remix of their 'Expo 2000' single.

In terms of style, The album matches the heavily sequenced digital synth-driven sound seen in 'The Mix'. While the album is thin on new material, the new arrangements of Kraftwerk classics which total a shade over 2 hours of music in all do illustrate the versatility of the group and mastery of their kraft. Having said that, for those without an affinity to the highly polished electronic stylings which the band specialise in, a slight lack of variety and lengthy arrangements in the album may create mixed reactions.

The extracts from the group's 'Trans Europ Express' and 'Computer World' albums incorporated into the set really shine, being very well suited to the bands current performance style of 4 laptops on stage. While some tracks verge on monotony and the album as a whole lacks great variety, their reinvention of classic tracks bring their music to an increasingly modern audience and go to show that they've still got it.

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Air: Love 2

Air are a french electronica duo active since 1995 having released a total of 6 studio albums and 2 compilation albums. Their 2009 release, 'Love 2'crystalises their electronica style but interestingly adds a psychedelic influence which is seen from the very first track.

The pseudo-Title track 'Love' is a throwback to the early electronica stylings of Jean Michel Jarre, with a typical Air stamp on things through their more prominant use of lush vocoded vocals and non-synthetic instrumentation. Many media outlets have used Air's output through the years in TV ads, the downtempo feel in several of the Love 2 tracks such as 'So Light Is Her Footfall' and 'You Can Tell It To Everybody' give the tracks huge potential.

While a fairly unusual example of an electronic album due to Air's the extended use of world instruments, the album contains several highly interesting tracks, certainly worth a listen.

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Jean Michel Jarre: Oxygene

French composer Jean Michel Jarre, son of the famous film composer Maurice Jarre, celebrated breakthrough success in December 1976 with the release of his seminal first major album, 'Oxygene,' which has sold an estimated total of 12 million copies. This album became highly influential due to the combination of Jarre's grandiose french film music writing style with a strong electronica influence, realised with purely analog sysnthesisers. Jarre has released a total of 18 studio albums and sold an estimated 80 million units to date.

Jean Michel Jarre: Oxygene

The album contains a total of seven tracks labelled as 'Part I,' 'Part II,' Part III' and so forth. The most recognisable tracks, parts II and IV demonstrate early Trance music techniques through the form and instrumentation chosen, also creating the two most memorable melodies from the album.

While the later tracks don't quite hit the mark in the same way those mentioned above do, as a whole this album takes the listener on a remarkable musical journey that few albums since have rivalled. Jean Michel himself attempted this with the subsequent release of 'Oxygene 7-13,' which is reviewed here, however the slight naive charm of 'Oxygene' remains largely unmatched.

For the review to Jarre's 1978 follow up, 'Equinoxe,' click here.

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Kraftwerk: Autobahn

During November 1974, the German Krautrock outfit Kraftwerk released their fourth studio album, 'Autobahn.' This album saw a refinement to their more experimental previous sound and set the foundation for their definitive electronic music style. This is widely considered as the first major Kraftwerk release and their 'commercial breakthrough,' paving the way for a musical career that continues to this day and a further seven studio albums.

The title track, the 22-minute epic 'Autobahn' was edited into a single version which reached number 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 11 on the UK charts. This track epitomises the hypnotic atmospheres seen in many of Kraftwerk's output through the use of an extended arrangement with minimal instrumentation and material. The album continues with 'Kometenmelodie' ('Comet Melody'), 'Mitternachht' ('Midnight') and 'Morgenspaziergang' ('A Morning Stroll') which illustrate a more ambient style of writing.

This album represents a key milestone in the development of electronic music, Kraftwerk would later go on to refine their style and famously inspire a great number of synthpop acts from the late 70's and 80's, earning them the titles such as 'The Godfathers Of Electronic Music' and 'The Electronic Beatles'. No other act has been more influential on the development of today's pop music.

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