So, stop me if you’ve heard this one already: three remix producers walk into a bar, suddenly gain access to the complete recorded works of the late big-band-leader and electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott, and go back to their studios to do their own thing. Actually, it’s not certain if there was a bar involved, but that minor detail aside, that’s how you get this album.
And what a fun album it is! From a near-nonsensical mash-up of Scott’s electronic music and his extensive work in the realm of commercial jingles (“The Night & Day Household Greyhound”) to a career-spanning mash-up that somehow manages to encapsulate everything Raymond Scott was about (“A Bigger, More Important Sound”) to truly tuneful remixes that almost transcend their source material (“Cindy Byrdsong”, “Hey Ray”), every approach from very light remixing to almost rewriting the DNA of the original music is tried out here. Piling the output of Scott’s legendary homemade analog synthesizer/sequencer, the Electronium, on top of most conventional acoustic sounds does wonders (“Very Very Very Pretty Petticoat”), but that’s no less enjoyable than a cut-and-splice treatment of Scott’s narrated notes on a new piece of recording gear (“Love Song To A Dynamic Ribbon Cardioid”). At the end of the album, it’s all hands on deck as all three producers pay tribute to Scott’s most enduring creation (thanks to its heavy use in Carl Stalling’s cartoon music), “Powerhouse”.
I can’t help but think that Raymond Scott would have approved. The man devised and implemented a new instrument combining the functions of analog synths and sequencers in one massive box, in a near-total vacuum of information as to how one would create such a beast, because these ideas were new to everyone at the time. (No less a later electronic music pioneer than Bob Moog himself would go on to say that Scott was a huge influence on him.) A mind that could jump from big band stylings to otherworldly sounds for which there was no frame of reference…one can’t help but think that, had he been born a bit later, Raymond Scott himself would be doing some remixes of his own.
- A Bigger, More Important Sound by Raymond Scott & The Evolution Control Committee (1:38)
- The Toy Penguin by Raymond Scott & The Bran Flakes (3:12)
- Cindy Byrdsong by Raymond Scott & Go Home Productions (4:09)
- Ripples on an Evaporated Lake by Raymond Scott & The Evolution Control Committee (4:10)
- Sleigh Ride To A Barn Dance in Sorrento by Raymond Scott & The Bran Flakes (2:01)
- The Night & Day Household Greyhound by Raymond Scott & Go Home Productions (2:50)
- Love Song To A Dynamic Ribbon Cardioid by Raymond Scott & The Evolution Control Committee (2:25)
- (Serenade On) Carribea Corner by Raymond Scott & The Bran Flakes (4:08)
- In An 18th Century Discotheque by Raymond Scott & The Evolution Control Committee (3:35)
- The Sleepwalking Tobacco Auctioneer by Raymond Scott & Go Home Productions (2:10)
- Very Very Very Pretty Petticoat by Raymond Scott & The Bran Flakes (2:22)
- Hillbilly Hostess In Haunted Harlem by Raymond Scott & The Evolution Control Committee (2:28)
- Good Duquesne Air by Raymond Scott & Go Home Productions (3:06)
- Hey Ray by Raymond Scott & The Bran Flakes (2:54)
- Mountain High, Valley Higher by Raymond Scott & Go Home Productions (3:35)
- Siberian Tiger On An Ocean Liner by Raymond Scott & The Evolution Control Committee (2:35)
- Shirley’s Temple Bells by Raymond Scott & The Bran Flakes (2:12)
- Tick Tock Cuckoo On Planet Mars by Raymond Scott & Go Home Productions (1:56)
- Powerhouse by Various Artists (3:29)
Released by: Basta
Release date: January 14, 2014
Total running time: 54:55
