Browse by Artist: SCOTT, RAYMOND

Artist:	SCOTT, RAYMOND
Title:	Manhattan Research Inc.
Label:	BASTA (NETHERLANDS)
Format:	3LP
Price:	$46.00
Catalog #:	BASTA 9045

Repressed for the first time in a few years. Astounding triple LP version of this collection of unreleased electronic music from Raymond Scott's studio, from the 1950s & '60s. Previously issued as a double CD w/ book (BASTA 9078). This vinyl edition is presented as three LPs, each packaged and in its own full color gatefold jacket, all shrinkwrapped together (the LPs are not available individually). Contains all 69 tracks found on the CD version. "Over two hours of Raymond Scott's unreleased electronic recordings from the 1950s and '60s. In 1946, Scott formed Manhattan Research Inc. (MRI), billed as 'Designers and Manufacturers of Electronic Music and Musique Concrète Devices and Systems'. His colleague Robert Moog said, 'Scott was definitely in the forefront of developing electronic music technology and in the forefront of using it commercially as a musician.' Soothing Sounds For Baby was just a warm-up. With MRI, prepare yourself for something beyond the pleasant parameters of pop. Scott's electronic experiments took him to uncharted netherworlds. The results are intriguing, compelling, and occasionally diabolic. Where SSFB offers relaxing ambience, the grotesqueries of MRI promise a sonic excursion to the realms of weightlessness, moon-craters, and six-armed aliens with twittering antennae. The recordings range from detergent jingles to decidedly non-commercial -- uncommercial, even -- experimental adventures in sound sculpture."

Artist:	SCOTT, RAYMOND
Title:	Soothing Sounds For Baby Vol 1 (1 to 6 Months)
Label:	BASTA (NETHERLANDS)
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	BASTA 9064

Unbelievably great reissue of 3 LPs originally issued by Epic in 1963. Utilizing a proto-Electronium, oscillators, an Ondioline, tape echo and other primitive electronics, this is shockingly contemporary sounding and nothing like Scott's familiar cartoon-jazz and orchestral work. These CDs are legally licensed from Sony by the Dutch Basta label, sound stellar and are each packaged with a16 page booklet of notes & photographs. All three volumes are essential. "In retrospect, SSFB's simple, repetitive melodies and rhythms, intended to pacify infants, sound like--but pre-date--some of the gradually shifting, hypnotic dreamscapes composed by Phillip Glass and Terry Riley a few years later. They also foreshadow the 1970's electro-dance drones of Kraftwerk and Neu!.--Irwin Chusid. From the liner notes by Joachim Gurewitz: "Despite its title, Soothing Sounds for Baby isn't just for infants. When it was recorded by composer/electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott in 1962 or '63 it was intended for babies--but history has endowed this deceptively simple work with a broader significance. Had Scott known that this elemental music's appeal would continue as its target audience grew up, he might have entitled the series Sophisticated Sounds for Baby. Released on three long-playing records in conjunction with the Gesell Institute of Child Development, Inc., Soothing Sounds... was intended to serve as an 'aural toy' during the 'feeding, teething, play, sleep and fretful periods' of infants in three distinct age groups. The original album notes stressed that a young child's sense of hearing is better developed than many people realize. Besides soothing infants, these recordings were intended to be 'pleasantly stimulating.' Babies like 'new sights and new sounds,' explained a booklet slipped inside the LPs. Music consists of vibrations, which babies also like--'just vibrate baby's bed gently,' the booklet noted, and 'crying often stops.' By approximating 'the rhythmic tinkle of a music box' and 'a ticking watch held close to [the] ear,' SSFB provided a 'quieting' atmosphere of relaxation, warmth, and contentment. Ironically, these same qualities were embodied in a type of adult music that evolved in the 1970s and '80s. Brian Eno's 1975 album Discreet Music is often cited as the first deliberate attempt at 'ambient music' (though Eno cited No Pussyfooting, a 1973 collaboration with guitarist Robert Fripp, as a forerunner). This music, intended to pacify and mesmerize, later mixed with dance beats into such styles as ambient house, trance, techno, and trip-hop. Echoes can be heard in the recordings of Aphex Twin, The Orb, and Stereolab, among countless others. By Eno's definition of ambient, SSFB qualifies, while pre-dating Discreet Music by over a decade. This reissue re-introduces Scott's seminal work to new generations of fans, whether their listening is active or passive--and regardless of the age of those particular generations. In fact, since the original releases had such limited circulation, it could be claimed that this reissue is actually 'introducing' this music to the world. It was easy to overlook the first time around -- it doesn't scream for attention. So, relax. Listen closely. Or don't. In a world fraught with tension and insecurity, we trust you'll find Raymond Scott's gentle melodies and childlike rhythms to be soothing companions."

Artist:	SCOTT, RAYMOND
Title:	Reckless Nights And Turkish Delights
Label:	BASTA (NETHERLANDS)
Format:	CD
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	BASTA 9073

"A New & Improved remastered edition of the landmark 1992 Raymond Scott album Reckless Nights And Turkish Twilights. This 22-track CD includes the original Columbia Records 78 rpm tracks by the Raymond Scott Quintette, including all the major RSQ titles (esp. those used in WB cartoons) such as 'Powerhouse,' 'The Toy Trumpet,' 'The Penguin,' 'In an 18th Century Drawing Room,' 'Twilight in Turkey, etc. The album was produced by Irwin Chusid, with Hal Willner as Executive Producer. For the new version, all tracks were 24-bit remastered at Sony Studios, NYC (i.e., the latest technology was used to extract better sound from the original 1937-40 metal master discs); two tracks ('Oil Gusher' and 'At An Arabian House Party') have been replaced by different, newly-discovered -- and better -- performances; the liner notes have been corrected, updated, and expanded."

Artist:	SCOTT, RAYMOND
Title:	Manhattan Research Inc.
Label:	BASTA (NETHERLANDS)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$28.00
Catalog #:	BASTA 9078

"Basta Records unveils Manhattan Research, Inc., a 2 CD, 69 track edition of over two hours of Raymond Scott's unreleased electronic recordings from the 1950s and 60s. These works feature such homebuilt Scott music machines as the Electronium, Clavivox, Circle Machine (early sequencer), Bandito the Bongo Artist, and more. The album includes maverick (and decidedly 'non-kiddie') collaborative works with pre-Muppet-era Jim Henson, and comes packaged in a 144-page, full-color, hard-bound book. The text features interviews with those who knew and worked with Scott (e.g., synthesizer pioneer Robert Moog, wife Mitzi Scott, electronic music authority Tom Rhea), along with countless previously unseen photos, lab notes, US patents, and scrapbook items. In 1946, Scott formed Manhattan Research Inc. (MRI), billed as 'Designers and Manufacturers of Electronic Music and Musique Concrète Devices and Systems'. His colleague Robert Moog said, 'Scott was definitely in the forefront of developing electronic music technology and in the forefront of using it commercially as a musician.' Soothing Sounds For Baby was just a warm-up. With MRI, prepare yourself for something beyond the pleasant parameters of pop. Scott's electronic experiments took him to uncharted netherworlds. The results are intriguing, compelling, and occasionally diabolic. Where SSFB offers relaxing ambience, the grotesqueries of MRI promise a sonic excursion to the realms of weightlessness, moon-craters, and six-armed aliens with twittering antennae. The 'personnel' on MRI consists of such Scott inventions as the Clavivox, a keyboard theremin that was later modified to produce an array of sounds similar to a synthesizer; the Electronium, an instantaneous composition-performance console (conceived in the '50s, developed in the '60s, used at Motown in the '70s); polyphonic sequencers, including his 'Circle Machine"; the Rhythm Modulator; and the Bass Line Generator; along with existing sound devices (e.g., the Ondioline and tone generators). The recordings range from detergent jingles to decidedly non-commercial -- uncommercial, even -- experimental adventures in sound sculpture. Aside from several samples of Scott re-tooling old titles (e.g., 1937's "The Toy Trumpet" and "Twilight in Turkey"), the remainder is new material. Also included, for the first time in commercial release, are several mid-1960s film soundtrack collaborations between Scott and Jim Henson."

Artist:	SCOTT, RAYMOND
Title:	The Chesterfield Arrangements
Label:	BASTA (NETHERLANDS)
Format:	CD
Price:	$19.00
Catalog #:	BASTA 9097

"Collection of originally unrecorded orchestral arrangements of classic Raymond Scott charts (newly recorded here by the 60-piece Metropole Orchestra featuring the Beau Hunks Saxtette) commissioned by Paul Whiteman from his orchestrating staff between 1937 & 1938. Scott-quintet Chestnuts such as 'Powerhouse' (two separate versions), 'Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals', 'The Toy Trumpet', 'Twilight in Turkey', and 'Reckless Night on Board an Ocean Liner' here get recontextualized into denser, sophisticated takes on the now-familiar themes & variations. Things get pretty 'lush' after a few tracks, but if you've waded in this deep into the Raymond Scott (kiddie) pool, you might as well touch the other end." -- Hrvatski.

Artist:	SCOTT, RAYMOND
Title:	Kodachrome: Compositions For Orchestra By Raymond Scott
Label:	BASTA (NETHERLANDS)
Format:	CD
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	BASTA 9118

"Kodachrome is a sparkling collection of Raymond Scott's idiosyncratic orchestral music, performed by the 60-piece Metropole Orchestra. All compositions make their CD debut here. With Kodachrome, the Raymond Scott legacy grows yet again. After Scott disbanded his legendary 'Quintet' in 1939, he formed the first of his many orchestras. Scott continued to compose, this time for a larger canvas, and some of his more historically fascinating work often went commercially unrecorded, performed only on radio (and preserved on transcription discs made by Scott himself). Kodachrome was produced by Beau Hunks leader Gert-Jan Blom, and features exceptional cover artwork by Kellie Strøm, and liner notes by illustrious author and jazz historian Will Friedwald."

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