Set up in 1958 by the BBC to provide incidental music of a new kind for its radio and television programs across the UK, the then futuristic sounding Radiophonic Workshop provided an unlikely forum for musicians to develop new ways of creating musical pieces. The rudimentary equipment put at the disposition of the musicians pushed them to use a wide range of sonic sources more related to garden shed as Richard D James put it recently, than to hi-tech studios. The first of two reissues, Radiophonic Music, originally released to celebrate ten years of Workshop music, is entirely dedicated to the work of David Cain, John Baker and Delia Derbyshire, who was responsible, with Ron Grainer, for the Dr Who theme tune. This album, which doesn?t include any Dr Who related material, demonstrates the vivid creativity of the Radiophonic Workshop, from the metallic percussions of the Radio Sheffield jingle which opens the album, to the doorbells and knocks of Factors and the cash register of Christmas Commercial.
It speaks volumes for music trends that where once something regarded as primitive and irrelevant can now be deemed as an influential benchmark for the music makers of today. Take the BBC's own Radiophonic Workshop as an example; a group of boffins whose main aim was to provide incidental music for the programmes of the day. This 1968 album is packed with short signature tunes and fascinating little curios which frequently surprise; John Baker's version of 'O Come All Ye Faithful' using checkout tills can definitely be referred to as ground-breaking and 'Structures' is built entirely from electronic oscillators making it a kind of British answer to the Silver Apples. Yet the real meat at the centre of the album of predominantly short clips is Delia Derbyshire's more drawn-out material such as the haunting 'Pot Au Feu' and the Dr. Who-comissioned 'Blue Veils And Golden Sands' and 'The Delian Mode' which capture an undeniably sinister mood that sounds more effective on record away from the rather crude visual effects of the original programme. Were it not for the likes of King Of Woolworths or Boards Of Canada people would probably say "They don't make 'em like that anymore".
Review by John Bush
A treasured LP for fans of early electronic music, 1968's BBC Radiophonic Music compiles a series of short works composed as intros or occasionally, complete soundtracks, for various radio or television programs, representing hours of work by three of the Maida Vale facility's most enterprising minds: John Baker, David Cain, and Delia Derbyshire. The three, along with innumerable engineers and studio technicians, helped bring electronic music to a wide audience during the '60s, much as Raymond Scott had been doing in America. On the scale of early electronic music, these come halfway between the ditty pop flair of Scott and the more consciously composed symphonies of Tod Dockstader. Since most of these were show themes -- for BBC affiliates in Sheffield and Nottingham and programs aimed at everything from farmers to domestic audiences -- there isn't a great deal of experimentation. Unsurprisingly, it's only with a pair of science-fiction themes (Derbyshire's "Ziwzih Ziwzih Oo-Oo-Oo" and Cain's "War of the Worlds") that this collections offers a degree of stylistic experimentation to match the technological sophistication on display. (A bonus track on the CD reissue, "Time to Go," is also a bit abstract.) Still, BBC Radiophonic Music is practically unmatched for pure marvel at the hours of work involved in this pioneering field.
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