Raymond Scott - C or D?

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Dud, sez I. Scott's orchestras seem bullied into having fun by Mr. Neurotic, who seems like Ricky Gervais in 'The Office'. You know, somebody who laughs really loudly to cover up his short fuse. Not alot of detail in the arrangements either. I prefer Bungle.

― dave q, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Even worse is Don Byron, who produces records of such staggering inconsequentiality that even Primus would object.

― dave q, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Haven't heard enough of his big band stuff to comment on that (don't really like wacky orchestral stuff anyways so no to Esquivel as well) but the home built electronic stuff is totally amazing. I like obsessive genius types and he fits the bill. Manhattan Research is essential, the Soothing sounds for babies is generally worth having and I can barely wait for the release of the Electronium years set.....so yeah I say total classic.

― David, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Gosh, Q. You must really plotz yourself over Don Byron's _Bug Music_, which features him covering some Scott compositions. I like it, personally - non-committal olde tyme jazz. But nothing, I mean NOTHING, compares to Scott as interpreted by those fine folks scoring Bugs Bunny cartoons. (What was the name of that orchestra?) Haven't heard Scott hisself, tho.

And I'd like to mention that Soul Coughing sampled Scott TWICE in their oh-too-short recording career.

― David Raposa, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

that would be the carl stalling orchestra. who's recordings i enjoy far more than scott's own. (of the jazzbo stuff.) manhattan research and soothing sounds are essential. to say the least.

― jess, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

The output of the Raymond Scott Quintette was pure genius, full stop. The Hal Willner compilation Reckless Nights and Turkish Twilights is absolutely amazing. Sure, you could complain that the guy took jazz instruments and then orchestrated it to the millisecond, something that goes against the nature of a jazz combo, but so what? Some of the pieces that Scott put together with the Quintette sounded so timeless and amazing that it's easy to mistake them for classical music favourites (witness "In a 18th Century Drawing Room"). When Bungle can accomplish that, then I'd take any attempt to compare them more seriously.

I definitely concur on Scott's electronic output. Manhattan Research Inc. is a wonderful release for a few reasons, including hearing his original instruments, but also as a neat time capsule of the age. I'm not so thrilled with Soothing Sounds for Baby, which tend to be repetitive and occasionally annoying, but you can still certainly hear the beginnings of ambient and electronic music there.

― Sean Carruthers, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

6 months pass...

Yeah, the electronic stuff is so way beyond it's years, we have still not cought up. The mad scientist aspect of Scott is the real meat of him, I believe. He kept stiving for more, for sounds that did not exist, for music that could not be made. The Manhattan Research and Baby Sounds CD's are a must. The think I like best is how he used those crazy contraptions. Everytime I search out an ondioline recording or theremin or glass harmonica, etc...the music is usually really dumb or goofy or just not worth of the sounds that are making it. I think Scott not only pulled amazing sounds from the either, i think he used them for good, not evil. He made records and music WORTHY of existing beyond the vehicles for those instruments. I wish Bruce Haack did the same. Or Enoch Light or even Esquivel. I find myself paining through those recordings to just hear the parts rather than the whole. Not so with Scott. He is on a short list of people making music first (Oskar Sasa, Clara Rockmore, Brian

― Mark, Sunday, 21 April 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

I like the idea of a universal 'Brian' is that is a music genius.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 21 April 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

Eno or Wilson, you be the judge.

I fail to see how he isn't a household name, but even if just for his electronic music: incredible classic. Plus, who among us knew that Jim Henson was so far ahead of the curve?

― dleone (dleone), Saturday, 14 September 2002 14:40 (10 years ago) Permalink

9 months pass...

Soul Coughing acutally released THREE tracks w/ Raymond Scott samples!

All U need to know about Raymond Scott: http://RaymondScott.com

― , Saturday, 12 July 2003 14:10 (9 years ago) Permalink

4 years pass...

wow... wow.

― poortheatre, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 11:56 (5 years ago) Permalink

i'm listening to the first disc of the manhattan research, inc. for the first time and i really feel like doing a back-flip or something.

― poortheatre, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 12:03 (5 years ago) Permalink

Seriously. In my book, anyone who duds Raymond Scott really needs to have their ears recalled by the manufacturer and replaced with a working pair.

― Oilyrags, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 12:03 (5 years ago) Permalink

at the flatbush frolic this local jam band covered "powerhouse"

― impudent harlot, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 12:42 (5 years ago) Permalink

That sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. RS music needs to be tight, and that's not what jam-bands typically excel at. Sloppy has its rewards, but not for this material, I think.

― Oilyrags, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 13:11 (5 years ago) Permalink

_Microphone Music_ is a worthy companion to _Reckless Nights_. Fantastic stuff that taps into the inner child of anyone who watched Looney Tunes as a kid. Or still does as an adult.

― Mr. Odd, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 15:02 (5 years ago) Permalink

don byron's 'bug music' is a fantastic record.

― deej, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 18:33 (5 years ago) Permalink

― and what, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 18:36 (5 years ago) Permalink

this is really like a holy grail for me. tracks like "Portofino #1" are what I always wanted Zuckerzeit to sound like.. i am a sucker for anything that reminds me of 8-bit MIDI games, though. i can sit through funerals unperturbed, but if I hear the final credits music for Mega-Man II i melt like a cake in macarthur park.

― poortheatre, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 22:57 (5 years ago) Permalink

11 months pass...

― Ward Fowler, Sunday, 14 September 2008 18:48 (4 years ago) Permalink

bah

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8ysPLV_AwpY/SMqRrXMgyeI/AAAAAAAAAfE/LB4OOxQ2bME/s1600-h/Raymond+Scott-DF-100.jpg

― Ward Fowler, Sunday, 14 September 2008 18:49 (4 years ago) Permalink

Even worse is Don Byron, who produces records of such staggering inconsequentiality that even Primus would object.
― dave q, Sunday, October 7, 2001 7:00 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

rongest thing ever

― Patrick Leahy, (D)-VT (deej), Sunday, 14 September 2008 18:53 (4 years ago) Permalink

Since this was re-activated, this might as good a place as any to note that the ringtone on my iPhone is Raymond Scott's "Melonball Bounce". He was even ahead of the curve on ringtones!

― Sean Carruthers, Monday, 15 September 2008 12:45 (4 years ago) Permalink

4 weeks pass...

i cant post on nb but no hurting that is not a truth bomb

― joe 40oz (deej), Tuesday, 14 October 2008 04:22 (4 years ago) Permalink

Seriously. In my book, anyone who duds Raymond Scott really needs to have their ears recalled by the manufacturer and replaced with a working pair.

― Oilyrags, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 12:03 (1 year ago)

― abusive comments (PappaWheelie V), Tuesday, 14 October 2008 04:26 (4 years ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

i'm listening to the first disc of the manhattan research, inc. for the first time and i really feel like doing a back-flip or something.

― poortheatre, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 12:03 (1 year ago)

― Joe Bob 1 Tooth (Hurting 2), Sunday, 25 January 2009 04:30 (4 years ago) Permalink

that

― Joe Bob 1 Tooth (Hurting 2), Sunday, 25 January 2009 04:30 (4 years ago) Permalink

Beginning in the 1950s, Raymond Scott designed and built the first of many very different versions of THE RAYMOND SCOTT ELECTRONIUM, a keyboard-less, automatic composition and performance machine. This invention engaged the attention of Berry Gordy, who hired Scott as Motown's Director of Electronic Research and Development.

WHERE IS IT NOW-?
The version of THE ELECTRONIUM pictured above is now owned by MARK MOTHERSBAUGH, a Raymond Scott Archive Board Member, who plans to restore it. The Electronium's new home is Mr. Mothersbaugh's Mutato Muzika Studios, which serves as headquarters for Devo, and his many other music, film, and television projects.

― c?ke (PappaWheelie V), Sunday, 25 January 2009 04:40 (4 years ago) Permalink

Also,

― c?ke (PappaWheelie V), Sunday, 25 January 2009 04:40 (4 years ago) Permalink

1959

― c?ke (PappaWheelie V), Sunday, 25 January 2009 04:41 (4 years ago) Permalink

The Electronium, As it remains in non working order in the Basement of Mark Motherbaugh's Mutato Music Offices in Hollywood, CA courtesy of http://absurdity.biz 's circuit bending documentary

― c?ke (PappaWheelie V), Sunday, 25 January 2009 04:44 (4 years ago) Permalink

"Cindy Electronium" is one of those "holy shit" tracks that seems like it was/should've been highly influential--but most likely, nobody ever really heard it, right? You could argue the second part especially is almost a template for electronic-pop music that was ahead of its time seventeen years later, but I doubt say Kraftwerk had ever heard of the man. Anyone know differently?

― Soundslike, Sunday, 25 January 2009 07:54 (4 years ago) Permalink

Egad I love those tap dancers in their buckskins and war bonnets.

― Dear Tacos, how are you? I am fine. The weather is nice. I miss yo (Oilyrags), Sunday, 25 January 2009 08:04 (4 years ago) Permalink

Can someone explain to me what the deal is with Don't Beat Your Wife Every Night? Is that a bunch of unrelated promo spots that were recorded successively on the same tape or is it supposed to be a single piece?

― Joe Bob 1 Tooth (Hurting 2), Monday, 26 January 2009 04:21 (4 years ago) Permalink

10 months pass...

Guys, "Powerhouse"!

― just a moonful of sugar (Abbott), Wednesday, 16 December 2009 19:47 (3 years ago) Permalink

Also, to answer Hurting's question, here's from the Manhattan Research Project liner notes:

The sounds on this track are not fragments of musical compositions – they are "strings" and accents created in Manhattan Research Inc.'s electronic music studio.
Scott explained: "After we put together the tape, we called in an announcer-friend of ours, 'Bucky' Coslow. We said: 'Listen to these electronic effects, we'll play them one at a time and whatever they make you think of – commercial-style – say it real spontaneous-like. We'll record them, then later, we'll have a mix and see what happens.' We did just that, but with one difference: The announce tape was edited but before we got a chance to sync it with the effects tape, it was run purely by accident at random against the effects tape. The effect was startling. Words and phrases that had no business showing up where they did against certain electronical effects took on a wonderfully convincing and attractive quality and seemed to indicate that electronic music for this purpose may turn out to have unusual vitality conviction and atmosphere plus a rather shocking flexibility."

― just a moonful of sugar (Abbott), Wednesday, 16 December 2009 19:53 (3 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

really digging the "Soothing Sounds" albums - I cannot believe this came out about a decade BEFORE Zuckerzeit!

― frogbs, Tuesday, 16 August 2011 19:36 (1 year ago) Permalink

warning: does not actually soothe babies

― that mellow wash of meh (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 16 August 2011 20:29 (1 year ago) Permalink

10 months pass...

New documentary film by his son.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/deconstructing-dad/6386

― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Friday, 13 July 2012 16:22 (10 months ago) Permalink

That film is great! Deeply moving by the end of it. The emotionally distant technician father who ends up having expressed all his feelings for his children through his music.

And there's a few sections where they show people at the console of the Electronium; each note of the scale has a hard switch, and when thrown it begins randomly injecting that note into the arpeggio. a step beyond the sequencer, more like an arpeggiator but with rests & much more musical logic. Sounds a great deal like Max Mathews' GROOVE Box developed 10-15 years later.

Basta promised a 2 CD set followup to Manhattan Research based entirely on tapes of Electronium improvisations. That is going to be one important release when we finally get to hear it.

― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 25 July 2012 22:23 (10 months ago) Permalink

& of course

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/07/raymond-scott-deconstructing-dad/

― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 25 July 2012 22:24 (10 months ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

I'm surprised we haven't had a dedicated thread on Mahattan Research. I reckon they bother most of you but these old ads are great. You hear them parodied so many times. Also, like Reckless Nights and Turkish Twilights, the sheer amount of times this thing has been sampled is a point of interest in itself.

― frogbs, Friday, 19 October 2012 16:03 (7 months ago) Permalink

oh wow u-ziq quoted a bit of "Space Mystery" didnt he. bet he thought he'd get away with it too

― frogbs, Friday, 19 October 2012 16:40 (7 months ago) Permalink

― Brakhage, Saturday, 20 October 2012 17:32 (7 months ago) Permalink

― Brakhage, Saturday, 20 October 2012 17:37 (7 months ago) Permalink

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