As a follow-up to my death of Robert Moog post, I purchased “Switched-On Bach” by Wendy Carlos today on vinyl (original pressing) for $1.99 from the Princeton Record Exchange. Here’s what wikipedia has to say about the influential album:

Switched-On Bach is a 1968 album by Wendy Carlos on CBS Records . It was the first record to popularise music performed on synthesizers, and resulted in a huge increase in interest in synthesizers, particularly Moog synthesizers. The album was the first classical album to go platinum. It went quickly to the Top 10 in Billboard’s pop Top 200 and stayed on the chart for more than a year. In the 1970 Grammy awards, the album took three prizes: Best Classical Album, Best Classical Music Performance, Instrumental Soloist(s) (With or Without Orchestra) and Best Classical Engineered Recording.

The album consists of a selection of pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed on a Moog Modular synthesizer system (one can be seen at the back of the room on the album cover). Switched-On Bach, or S-OB as Carlos referred to it, was recorded on an 8 track Ampex tape recorder using numerous takes and overdubs. This was long before the days of MIDI sequencers and recording the album was a tedious and time-consuming process.

Remarkable! I also added some of my other purchases from today’s trip into Rooter, including a new split with Kevin Drumm. You may or may not have noticed that I’m very slowly getting my collection organized and cataloged with help from my friend Rooter. He’s not so much a friend, as he is software I wrote that runs on a remote web server. The process is kind of a pain, but I think it’ll be worth it in the end. I also hope to put some finishing touches on the software and get a formal sourceforge project rolling. Finally, while I have your attention, be sure to check out my photo gallery soon – I’ll upload pictures from my recent trip to Philly.