Electroacoustic Music History CD 17: 1964 1966 – Mikrophonie Telemusik

Free covermount CD with the October 2005 issue of Uncut magazine, issued September 2005. While every effort has been made to restore these original recordings, such is the random source of these 40-year-old press conferences, backstage encounters and on-the-spot news reports that, inevitably, there are bound to be variations in sound quality.

From Real Gone Music comes a discovery that already has the collector community buzzing, and especially those collectors in search of previously unheard stereo–20 tracks discovered deep in the vaults of the Red Bird label, every one of which makes its true stereo debut right here! Founded in 1964 by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, and run by George Goldner, Red Bird is considered to this day as the girl group label of the '60s, and this collection produced by long-time archivist and engineer Ron Furmanek together with Ash Wells and annotated by James Moniz features the biggest stars on the label roster, and sources its first-time stereo mixes straight from the original master tapes. Among the most notable tracks are Call Me His, a totally unknown and unreleased recording from the great Ellie Greenwich written by a neophyte songwriter named Neil Diamond; an early, unreleased version of The Boy from New York City, recorded by the Ad-Libs back when they were known as The Cheerio's; Go Now by Bessie Banks, a song that became a big hit for The Moody Blues a year later, and I Can t Let Go by Evie Sands, which, similarly, became a hit for the Hollies; I Wanna Love Him So Bad by The Jelly Beans featuring a rare lead vocal from Alma Brewer, and The Young Generation's The Hideaway featuring a very young Janis Siegel before she became a superstar with Manhattan Transfer. Meticulously documented inside a 16-page booklet boasting copious photos and interviews with Siegel, Sands and songwriter/producer Brooks Arthur among many others, The Red Bird Girls Very First Time in True Stereo sheds a new light on the genius artists, songwriters and producers that recorded for the Red Bird label, and displays their work in all its sonic stereo glory.

In that enticing, enthralling school of 1960s “girls with guitars”, Goldie & the Gingerbreads are top of the class. Self-contained and accomplished as instrumentalists, with an eminently soulful vocal prowess, the Gingerbreads remain true pioneers of women in rock’n’roll, and with a fascinating history to boot. Born in the discotheques of Gotham, Goldie & the Gingerbreads were a popular club act with a handful of recordings under their belt when an admiring Animals caught them on a NYC visit in late 1964. “Imported” into the UK, the group scored a hit with ‘Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat’ and went on to tour with the Rolling Stones, Kinks and others, as well as maintaining a high visibility in the UK on their own. They made several more worthy if unsuccessful discs with producer Shel Talmy before splitting in 1967.

There is a long tradition of Electroacoustic music in Finland beginning in the 1950’s with the experimentation of tape music. Finland’s first electronic musical instrument the "Sähkövalopiano" or "Electric Light Piano" was built before this in 1894. It was constructed in the Polytechnic Institute (now Aalto University) in Helsinki. Finland also has a tradition of blending archaic traditional music in the contemporary music scene. The Kalevala tradition for example dates back centuries before today and the instruments associated with it were used to accompany shepherds on their lonely watches, or village dance parties bringing joy and sense of belonging to communities. These musical traditions have been revitalised by being used in a modern context. Even with the emerging of new technologies to open new horizons for composing music, the avant garde movement and a plethora of new and continuously evolving music genres, the very root of Finnish Kalevala tradition has stayed alive and has been brought to the present, not only in its original form, but also being integrated into electroacoustic realm by the musicians willing to experiment.