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Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0021561813625 Format: Soundtrack Label: East Side Digital Manufacturer: East Side Digital Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: East Side Digital Release Date: September 03, 2004 Studio: East Side Digital Sales Rank: 33521
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Amazon.co.uk Review: One of the most satisfying soundtrack "companion" pieces ever released, this collaboration between synthesist Wendy Carlos and producer Rachel Elkind manages to both logically extend and credibly expand on director Stanley Kubrick's masterfully conceived Clockwork Orange musical ethos. That shouldn't be surprising, as the pair was largely responsible for initiating those concepts with the music they'd begun as a follow-up to their successful, synthesizer-pioneering Switched on Bach collection. "Timesteps", a rich, wildly evocative, 13+ minute electronic sound and music collage, was based on impressions gleaned from Anthony Burgess's original novel (excerpts of it are liberally scattered throughout the film), while an abridged version of the fourth movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was an early experiment in vocal synthesis that ended up as one of the film's key motifs. Also featured here are synthesized versions of music Kubrick ultimately chose to use in orchestral form (Rossini's "The Thieving Magpie") as well as original Carlos/Elkind electronic compositions ("Orange Minuet", "Biblical Daydreams", and "Country Lane") that ended up on the cutting-room floor. Composed on primitive, monophonic analogue instruments (which could play only one at a time!) long supplanted by generations of digital revolution, this work has a brooding otherworldly quality all its own. As our favourite Droog would say: "It was like a bird of rarest spun metal, or like silvery wine flowing in a space ship, gravity all nonsense now." --Jerry McCulley
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - This complete electronic score is Carlos' best work.
The album was first released by CBS in 1972, shortly after Warner's official soundtrack album. The electronic-only offering contained two tracks not featured on the soundtrack and the only complete version of "Timesteps". The sound quality was also superior, particularly at the low-end of the audio spectrum.
In 1998 Carlos remastered her electronic score for CD. New to this release are two bonus tracks - charming but slight- that could not be included on the original vinyl release due ... Read More
Rating: - Work Carlos produced for Kubrick that s/he wanted Kubrick to use in the film
This is largely the collection of work Carlos produced for Kubrick that s/he wanted Kubrick to use in the film. In the event Kubrick used some whole, some in part, and some orchestrally played originals instead of the synth versions Carlos came up with. I imagine the synth versions were of titles suggested by Kubrick. I have this on LP with artwork of an orange on the cover, bought contemporanesously with the film in the early 70s, though I was too young to see it, it was banned in the UK, and later ... Read More
Rating: - Truly the Original Synth.
I bought this album when it came out on vinyl, oh so many years ago, and played it until it was worn out. Like another reviewer, I bought the CD version a few years ago only to find that Wendy Carlos' contributions were cut right back and many other contributers took their place.
Buy this version. It is far superior and shows Carlos to be the most innovative electronic musician of the age. When this was recorded synthesisers were mostly if not completely monophonic instruments. Therefore ... Read More
Rating: - A Clockwork Orange and more
Walter Carlos collaborated with Stanley Kubrick on his films for many years. Carlos had become huge with his ground-breaking "Switched on Bach" albums. It was this revolutionary space age synth sound that Kubrick wanted for a Clockwork Orange.
Carlos had already written the atmospheric "Timesteps" (the first track on the album) when Kubrick called him about the film. It became the music for Alex's mind altering therapy sessions. The other music was based on ideas from Carlos and Kubrick ... Read More
Rating: - A London Labyrinth favourite
If your curiosity has brought you as far as considering buying this album, there are good reasons to go ahead but be aware of the Warner Brothers 'Clockwork Orange Soundtrack' which I would recommend first. If you have arrived here via the book or the film you may find this music bewildering. If you want a token Carlos album for your collection, Switched On Bach was the biggie and effectively year zero for electronica as a music category in popular culture. Like much of the music here, however, it ... Read More