I’ve been dismayed to discover that no version of Wendy Carlos’ Switched-On Bach …the 1968 original or any of her later re-make/issues, appear in the expected places, e.g. iTunes, Amazon. My copy of the vinyl album was “lost” in 1969 when a Martha’s Vineyard landlord locked out his renters; putting most of our belongings out on the sidewalk. Hey! SOME of us WERE paying rent most weeks. Subsequently my wife and I owned the “album” on cassette, but the iron oxide has long ago flaked off.
WHERE can I buy a downloadable digital copy of Switched-On Bach? I would prefer relatively high quality files, but, truth be told, my 63 year-old ears have trouble telling the difference these days.
If you order from her site she might send you an autographed copy if you ask her, at best, she will respond to your email. I’m sure someone here has a downloaded version of it, though she woudl definitely frown on that.
I never got to hear her “Well Tempered Synthesizer.”
You should. It’s definitely a major step beyond S-OB. Tuning and intonation are much better, and she draws from a variety of composers-- Scarlatti and Handel are two. There’s also some early vocoder-- a taste of what was to come.
The disc is pricy, but well worth it.
Yes. And her 9 minutes exposé about her creations and evolution of her synthesizers on the bonus track “Well Tempered Experiments” of the 1999 CD version of this album is very interesting also.
And all her lesser known works like the music scores for films like Tron, A Clockwork Orange (my favourites are Timesteps and March From A Clockwork Orange featuring a very early Vocoder prototype* by Moog into which Rachel Elkind sings in German), The Shining, and many others of her own work on Moog and later Synergy synths.
(* not the Moog vocoder that was later sold which was a copy of a Bode vocoder)
Sonic Seasonings. Waay ahead of its time. Ambient years before Eno. If New Age had only continued on this track…
I still have the poster from my vinyl copy. Now if they could only figure out a way to stuff it into a CD jewel case.
SOB II is probably my favorite of the two - a lot more use of reverb for a sense of space. Got SOB I and II on vinyl, along with The Well-Tempered Synthesizer - the only way to listen! As far as I know, Wendy is very rigorous when it comes to keeping her music off the free d/l sites like Youtube, Pandora, etc. Can’t say I blame her.
As noted on her website, all her recordings went out of print when East Side Digital (ESD) went belly up a few years ago. Until she comes up with another distributor, you’re reduced to buying used CDs or vinyl.
I wish Wendy would make an official YouTube sampler of her albums, no more than 1 minute each from up to 3 pieces per each album. I’d do it, but i can’t afford to be sued!
