Anyone Here Have the First Four Wendy/Walter Carlos Albums on CD?

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dmbaer
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2015/01/26 18:40:04 (permalink)

Anyone Here Have the First Four Wendy/Walter Carlos Albums on CD?

The subject says it all.  I had these on LP back in the day.  I always intended to pick them up on CD.  When I got around to actually doing that, they were no long available new, and paid downloads are not an option anywhere. 
 
You can find the CDs used for anywhere between $50 and $125 bucks - forget that!  It looks like Ms. Carlos's and Columbia Records' spat about copyrights will forever keep these historically important recordings from us. 
 
I'm pretty annoyed!  When I had the LPs, I knew nothing about synthesis other than I totally dug the sound.  Now I know rather a lot but have no way of going back to revisit the music after having gained that knowledge.
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    Jeff Evans
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    Re: Anyone Here Have the First Four Wendy/Walter Carlos Albums on CD? 2015/01/26 18:56:49 (permalink)
    I have 'Switched On Bach' by Walter Carlos on vinyl. It is a pristine copy as well only ever played on the finest turntable/pickup/arm combination so it sounds stellar.
     
    What are the other three? I would be interested to know what other Walter Carlos albums there are.

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    drewfx1
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    Re: Anyone Here Have the First Four Wendy/Walter Carlos Albums on CD? 2015/01/26 20:06:28 (permalink)
    I'm not sure which four you mean.
     
    Of the older ones, I have these on CD:
     
    The Well-Tempered Synthesizer 
    Clockwork Orange
    Switched-On Brandenburgs Vol. I
    Switched-On Brandenburgs Vol. II
    [EDIT: On further review, these two discs contain everything that was on "Switched-On Bach II" along with the complete set of Brandenburg concertos and the "LITTLE FUGUE IN G MINOR" from the "By Request" album]
     
    From http://www.wendycarlos.com/discs.html
     

    Note: Due to major changes in the music business, we unexpectedly lost our ESD distrubution, leaving us stranded with few good options. We expect to have news on a new set of releases of Wendy's albums, plus a return to regular additions on the site as soon as possible. Until our new arrangements are complete, we're leaving this page with the last updated links, which can still find copies (where available) through various sources. Meanwhile, thank you sincerely for your many concerned inquiries and patience, good friends.

     
     
    [EDIT: She has a great and interesting web site]
    post edited by drewfx1 - 2015/01/26 20:25:25

     In order, then, to discover the limit of deepest tones, it is necessary not only to produce very violent agitations in the air but to give these the form of simple pendular vibrations. - Hermann von Helmholtz, predicting the role of the electric bassist in 1877.
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    Mesh
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    Re: Anyone Here Have the First Four Wendy/Walter Carlos Albums on CD? 2015/01/27 09:42:18 (permalink)
    I know I have a couple of CD's of W. Carlos (Switched on Bach and another one....can't remember the name.....possibly, Beauty in the Beast). I can't believe these CD's are so expensive........
     
    Reminds me of a similar artist, Don Dorsey, who added electronic drums to Bach's music (Bachbusters.....another CD I have). Interestingly, this was my first CD that I had which was all done digitally (DDD). :)   

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    dmbaer
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    Re: Anyone Here Have the First Four Wendy/Walter Carlos Albums on CD? 2015/01/27 17:31:24 (permalink)
    drewfx1
     
    From http://www.wendycarlos.com/discs.html
     

    Note: Due to major changes in the music business, we unexpectedly lost our ESD distrubution, leaving us stranded with few good options. We expect to have news on a new set of releases of Wendy's albums, plus a return to regular additions on the site as soon as possible. Until our new arrangements are complete, we're leaving this page with the last updated links, which can still find copies (where available) through various sources. Meanwhile, thank you sincerely for your many concerned inquiries and patience, good friends.

     



    That message has been in place literally for years, if I'm not mistaken.  The links to buy a CD take you directly to amazon.com where the prices on the early out-of-print stuff are astronomical.  It's maddening that in this modern world of high-quality digital downloads that these gems are off-limits, presumably due to a copyright dispute between the artist and the label.
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    dmbaer
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    Re: Anyone Here Have the First Four Wendy/Walter Carlos Albums on CD? 2015/01/27 17:37:28 (permalink)
    Mesh
    I know I have a couple of CD's of W. Carlos (Switched on Bach and another one....can't remember the name.....possibly, Beauty in the Beast). I can't believe these CD's are so expensive........
     
    Reminds me of a similar artist, Don Dorsey, who added electronic drums to Bach's music (Bachbusters.....another CD I have). Interestingly, this was my first CD that I had which was all done digitally (DDD). :)   




    The Don Dorsey Bach record is a blast.  He only added drums to one track, which gives the performance somewhat of a disco vibe.  The rest are less modernized performances, except for the choice of instrument, of course.  I'm not sure what happened to Mr. Dorsey.  He went on to do a pretty decent successor to Bachbusters using Beethoven's music, and another compilation album a few years later.  Nothing since.  I'd certainly be one of the first people in line if he started releasing albums again.
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    bitflipper
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    Re: Anyone Here Have the First Four Wendy/Walter Carlos Albums on CD? 2015/01/27 17:46:39 (permalink)
    I have three of the four - on cassette!
     
    Amazon does list them, and although there is a $479 boxed set listed, most are under $20.


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    dmbaer
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    Re: Anyone Here Have the First Four Wendy/Walter Carlos Albums on CD? 2015/01/28 17:36:14 (permalink)
    bitflipper
    I have three of the four - on cassette!



    Ah, cassettes.  I actually finally got around to disposing of my entire cassette collection a few months ago.  I no longer have anything to play them on.  Even if I did, there's absolutely no time at which I'd opt for listening to a cassette rather than one of the several thousand CDs I own that are vastly superior sonically.  Still, I recall I time when I had my first car cassette player installed - man, that was traveling in high style!  Plus, you could drive under bridges without the sound going away!
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    Moshkito
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    Re: Anyone Here Have the First Four Wendy/Walter Carlos Albums on CD? 2015/01/30 22:55:54 (permalink)
    Hi,
     
    We have the LP's in Santa Barbara, the first two for sure, but I have to admit I was not exactly fond of them, and by that time, I had already heard other things done with the Moog that were more interesting and exciting like "Beaver and Krause" and a bit later "Terry Riley" (anyone hasn't?), although I thought that Terry's stuff was over rated tremendously.
     
    I am not sure that the album would have taken off as much as it did, if Stanley Kubrick had not made fun of it like he did. However, I'm probably in the minority in that view. I ended up enjoying the electronic thing that came a year later and gave rise to Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and so many others, that I thought were much nicer to listen to and were very "classical" in my mind, though some folks think that Klaus is all about the knobs. 
     
    I have not gotten those on CD's, and I am not sure if I will. I might sit and listen to them again to see if I can get a fresh appreciation for it, but I will not say that it was not a major influence in the life of synthesizers, because it was and then some!

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    dmbaer
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    Re: Anyone Here Have the First Four Wendy/Walter Carlos Albums on CD? 2015/01/31 17:24:41 (permalink)
    Moshkito
    I am not sure that the album would have taken off as much as it did, if Stanley Kubrick had not made fun of it like he did. However, I'm probably in the minority in that view. I ended up enjoying the electronic thing that came a year later and gave rise to Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and so many others, that I thought were much nicer to listen to and were very "classical" in my mind, though some folks think that Klaus is all about the knobs. 



    I may be misremembering ... it was a long time ago ... but if memory serves, Switched on Bach was the first "classical" album that went gold (or whatever metal they called a million copy sale back in those days).  The Kubrick/Carlos thing happened a few years after that.  Clockwork Orange was not what prompted the success of Switched on Bach.  On the other hand, that soundtrack did get a whole lot of listeners interested in Beethoven's ninth who never would have dreamed of listening to classical music otherwise.
     
    I'm interested in the early Carlos albums not because I think they'll make for pleasurable listening so much as that they'll make for interesting listening in light of what I now know about synthesis.  Back then, this music rocked my world, but that may have been as much due to some auxiliary mental enhancements that I regularly enjoyed at the time as much as anything else.    Irrespective of whether or not the early Carlos productions are great music, they most certainly are historically important ones.  That alone is sufficient reason for me to want to get my hands on them.
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    Mesh
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    Re: Anyone Here Have the First Four Wendy/Walter Carlos Albums on CD? 2015/02/02 09:09:13 (permalink)
    If you like Bach's chorales and want it in a VST form........checkout Cthulhu. I've been playing the Demo of this plugin and do like it a lot.........it's definitely on my to get list.
     
    Reviewed here: http://www.keyboardmag.com/effects-plug-ins/1213/xfer-records-cthulhu-chord-plug-in/29267
     
     
    http://xferrecords.com/products/cthulhu

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    dmbaer
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    Re: Anyone Here Have the First Four Wendy/Walter Carlos Albums on CD? 2015/02/02 18:22:06 (permalink)
    Mesh
    checkout Cthulhu. I've been playing the Demo of this plugin and do like it a lot



     
    Thanks.  This thing does look quite intriguing.  I'll definitely have to check it out when time permits.
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    Resonant Serpent
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    Re: Anyone Here Have the First Four Wendy/Walter Carlos Albums on CD? 2015/02/04 15:25:27 (permalink)
    I have the Switched On Box Set, and a copy of the first album on vinyl. It's a first pressing with the back label glued on. I can rip you copies of the cds if you'd like. Busy at work for a few days, but should have time this weekend.
     
    I had idea that the box had gone up that much... 
     
    I just checked my X-files box, and it's double the Carlos! Crazy!

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    dmbaer
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    Re: Anyone Here Have the First Four Wendy/Walter Carlos Albums on CD? 2015/02/04 17:39:09 (permalink)
    Resonant Serpent
    I have the Switched On Box Set, and a copy of the first album on vinyl. It's a first pressing with the back label glued on. I can rip you copies of the cds if you'd like.
     
     
    Very generous of you to offer, but I've already got my hands on them courtesy of another kind soul.
     
    Resonant Serpent
    I had idea that the box had gone up that much... 



    Yeah, we're talking about something that merits explicit mention in your will.    Of course, just because the going price for the four-disk boxed set is 400 bucks, that doesn't mean anyone is actually buying at that price.
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