This compilation of jazz bandleader / electronic pioneer Raymond Scott first surfaced in 2000 on the Dutch Basta label as both a 2xCD with hardback book and 3 separate LPs in gatefold sleeves. It’s now getting a new reissue as a triple set with booklet and coloured vinyl in a slipcase at a very affordable price by Music On Vinyl. To say that this is an essential release is an understatement, Scott was a pioneer and, along with the Louis and Bebe Barron‘s Forbidden Planet soundtrack, one of the first people to place electronic music in the commercial sphere outside of the avant garde. Composing for adverts, short films and working with Jim Henson prior to the Muppets, this collection is a treasure trove of tones, collages, early electronic compositions, sometimes in an array of versions. J Dilla famously sampled a track from this on Donuts (“The name of the game is Lightworks”) and the vinyl has become expensive now.
Another recent reissue saw Scott’s triple LP ‘Soothing Sounds For Baby’ set get a silver vinyl repress and while not as essential is an intriguing listen given that it was supposed to be an ambient record for newborns when it’s actually quite unsettling in places and far from what I’d term soothing. But as an extended work of electronic music from the early 60’s it’s often overlooked because of its novelty nature. BUT! Continuing the triple album theme, this was just posted on the Raymond Scott website:
“The long awaited second collection of Raymond Scott electronica is finished. The album, titled Three Willow Park: Electronic Music from Inner Space, 1961-1971, will feature over 60 previously unreleased recordings by Scott from the decade before he left to work for Motown in L.A. Most of the tracks were recorded on devices he invented, and the Motown Electronium will be heard for the first time on disc. The 3-LP set, which serves as a companion to the Y2K 2-cd set Manhattan Research, Inc., is scheduled for release in 2017 on Basta, and will include a 20-page LP-sized booklet and a 300-page downloadable pdf of archival artifacts.”
Just take my money… follow @_Raymond_Scott_ on Twitter for forthcoming info