Browse by Artist: HAACK, BRUCE

Artist:	HAACK, BRUCE
Title:	Electronic Record For Children
Label:	KING (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.00
Catalog #:	KICP 2633CD

Originally released in 1969 on Dimension 5. First time on CD. "1969's The Electronic Record for Children adds more freaked-out fun to the basic menu of electronic-based story and activity songs shared by all the Dimension 5 releases. This time, Bruce Haack and Esther Nelson pretend they are on a spaceship orbiting the earth, and this theme plays out in their between-song banter as well as on songs like 'Mara's Moon' and 'Clapping with Katy,' where the duo calls a friend on earth to play a clapping game with her. Includes a trip to the planet of the singing mice and a choir of Greek children."

Artist:	HAACK, BRUCE
Title:	The King of Techno
Label:	KOCH
Format:	DVD
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KOC 6282DVD

"Bruce Haack was one of the most musically and lyrically inventive, but unknown artists in American history. Despite --or perhaps because of -- his audience, his music was unusually expressive, combining homemade analog synths, classical, country, pop and acid rock elements with surreal lyrics. His music evolved from his passion and creation of numerous children's albums but today his work has inspired the likes of world renowned musicians such as Beck and Beastie Boys' Money Mark. One can only wish they had a mentor like Bruce Haack, a dude so cool his swan song was a rap collaboration with hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons. Packed with mind-blowing visuals, wild music and far out stories, Haack follows the King of Techno as he drops in on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and golden game show host Garry Moore." NTSC format DVD video, Running time: 70 minutes. Audio: Dolby Digital; Aspect Ratio: 4 x 3; 5.1 surround sound. New lower price.

Artist:	HAACK, BRUCE
Title:	The Electric Lucifer
Label:	OMNI RECORDING COMPANY (AUSTRALIA)
Format:	CD
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	OMNI 110CD

"Bruce Haack's The Electric Lucifer is rightly considered one of the masterworks of 20th century electronic music. Originally recorded in 1968-69 (released in 1970), it's an eminently listenable work where pop-psychedelia and Moog/musique concrete sounds coalesce. Acclaimed upon its original release (one of Rolling Stone's favorite albums of 1970) yet unavailable for over three decades, The Electric Lucifer is presented here for the first time on CD. Remastered and restored from the original master tapes and featuring two previously unreleased bonus tracks. Deluxe packaging, 24-page full-color booklet with exclusive notes, rare photos and interviews."

Artist:	HAACK, BRUCE
Title:	Haackula
Label:	OMNI RECORDING COMPANY (AUSTRALIA)
Format:	CD
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	OMNI 117CD

"Deemed to be too dark and offensive for release when it was recorded in 1978 and bootlegged ever since, this is the first official release of Haackula. Haack's anger with society is palpable as he hisses and cusses his way over elastic electronic backings. Imagine a very, very bummed-out Kraftwerk scowling as they play childlike melodies and sing under their breath of fear and abandonment. Also included for the first time is Haack's extraordinary 1982 collaboration with Russell Simmons on the track 'Party Machine' and the incredible 32-minute soundscape of 'Icarus' from 1979. All tracks make their first official release here and are lovingly remastered from the original tapes. Includes liner notes, photos and full lyrics."

Artist:	HAACK, BRUCE
Title:	Hush Little Robot
Label:	QDK MEDIA (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	QDK 032CD

Originally released in 1998, this collection of the very best of Canadian electronic composer Bruce Haack's eccentric and unsettlingly eclectic career, spanning from 1968-1974 -- from children's songs to The Electric Lucifer -- is repressed and finally available again. Created and performed on electronic instruments he invented and built entirely by himself, Haack's music is an otherworldly mixture of twisted psychedelic Moog, surrealist collage, acid-tinged pop, droning keyboards, lighthearted lyrics and offbeat, outsider sincerity, all presented with astoundingly innovative production techniques from one of electronic music's singularly quirky pioneers. Most of the music on this album was programmed on a polyphonic music computer built by Haack from surplus parts furnished by Ver-Tech Radio Philadelphia. The machine was made in 18 months without diagrams or plans (Haack never studied electronics), and produced up to twelve simultaneous voices in sequence via a memory holding over 4,000 bits of information. Featured here are songs like "Electric To Me Turn" and "Song Of The Death Machine," originally released on The Electric Lucifer, Haack's legendary major-label debut, originally released on Columbia in 1970; "School For Robots" from The Way-Out Record For Children, originally released on Haack's own label, Dimension 5, in 1968; and "Thank You," a special message to the listener from the composer. Also included are two college radio interviews with Haack. An insightful, if not essential overview of a truly unique musician that serves as, to quote the liner notes, "an electronic musical-poetic treat for children and high school-people revealing more wonders of our earth-ship."

Artist:	HAACK, BRUCE
Title:	Hush Little Robot
Label:	QDK MEDIA (GERMANY)
Format:	LP
Price:	$16.50
Catalog #:	QDK 032LP

2009 repress. Deluxe full color gatefold 180 gram vinyl version. Originally released in 1998, this collection of the very best of Canadian electronic composer Bruce Haack's eccentric and unsettlingly eclectic career, spanning from 1968-1974 -- from children's songs to The Electric Lucifer -- is repressed and finally available again. Created and performed on electronic instruments he invented and built entirely by himself, Haack's music is an otherworldly mixture of twisted psychedelic Moog, surrealist collage, acid-tinged pop, droning keyboards, lighthearted lyrics and offbeat, outsider sincerity, all presented with astoundingly innovative production techniques from one of electronic music's singularly quirky pioneers.

Artist:	HAACK, BRUCE
Title:	Electric Lucifer Book 2
Label:	QDK MEDIA (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	QDK 037CD

2001 release, repressed. "Bruce Haack is perhaps best known for his innovative and engaging (and extremely hard to find) electronic records for children made from the mid/late 60's through the 70's and even into the 80's. Current 'electronic' acts and collectors seek these albums out for their exciting use of homemade synthesizers (homemade because it was difficult to find much else in the mid 60's), all built by Bruce himself to enhance his and his musical cohorts' (dance instructor Esther Nelson, pianist Praxiteles Pandel and numerous children) fun and instructional songs in which the children lucky enough to hear them were invited to participate, learn, dance and sing. Many of the songs on these albums gave hints of Bruce's intellectual side, but it was his one major label release, The Electric Lucifer, put out by Columbia in 1970 (all other albums were released on Bruce and friends' own label, Dimension 5), that better showed just what Bruce was capable of: a groundbreaking mixture of contemporary rock, futuristic electronic sounds, and high-concept philosophic poetry. To quote Bruce from the liner notes of that album, 'I have unblocked a few media -- both philosophical and technical -- this is a good age of unblocking.' Musically, it was sort of a blend of the Moody Blues and Kraftwerk, four years before the latter would even begin to create the sounds for which they would best be remembered. The album explored the war between Heaven and Hell, with Earth being caught in the middle, and asserted that even Lucifer could be forgiven if only there was enough love in the world. This may have been too much for the mainstream to handle, unsurprisingly, so Bruce continued recording and releasing great albums on Dimension 5. In 1979, however, he would revisit his earlier hallowed ground and record The Electric Lucifer Book 2, which remained unreleased in Bruce's lifetime (he died in 1988), but now, finally, the rest of the world will be able to hear the fabulous sequel, as Bruce intended it to be heard. The context of the sequel is one in which Satan, fancying himself a 'mean ole devil,' tries to tempt a young Jesus by telling him about all the hurt and betrayals he will go through in life before his dramatic death. There are tender moments, funny moments, and frightening moments, but all moments end up catchy or moving or both. The album is no more 'religious' than works by Dante or Milton; Bruce merely uses well-known mythologies and icons to explore his own ideas about a universe that is bigger than anything anyone could say about it -- a universe made smaller by words themselves. And behind the ideas is the best damn electronic album you never heard! While Book One involved 'professional' singers and friends being brought in to sing along with Bruce's homemade electronic voice, which he called 'Farad,' Book 2 is purely Bruce. The entire album is sung using his somehow very moving robot/vocoder vocals. The music is more Kraftwerk this time than Moody Blues -- imagine that the Residents made an album about works by Dante or Milton, and then for some reason had Kraftwerk re-record the whole thing and you will begin to describe the wondrously strange beauty that dominates this album. Bruce was always somewhat prophetic in his works and in predictions to friends (he once described a future age in which all music would be shared by everyone -- though who could have predicted Metallica), and the highly insightful lyrics on this album will give plenty of philosophic fodder to be discussed 'round the ole jukebox, while the music coming from it will set your soul a-tappin'." --Eric Carlson

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