Saturday, December 17, 2016

126. The Mystic Moods Orchestra - Emotions


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This work is purely cut and paste; nothing on the portion or whole of the album art that is part of the whole image has been hidden.
The idea is to create a symmetrical image of these parts which is just one of the many possible tweaks that can be made of the album art. 

The original album art already presents a threesome that is somewhat intriguing by itself - if one takes a quick look.
The clenched palms, of course, suggest intimacy without intention and the sprawling mane and the drawn out chin of reckless abandon.
The overlapping bodies then depict multiple intimacies and reckless abandon and my intention was to spread them out further on the sand and see what is left to be said of it. 

Or left to silent imagination.

Incidentally, there's a lot more for the imagination in the music beneath the cover.
The album begins with The Sound of Silence


The Mystic Moods Orchestra was a group known for mixing orchestral pop, environmental sounds, and pioneering recording techniques.
It was created by audiophile Brad Miller. The first Mystic Moods Orchestra album One Stormy Night, was released in 1965 through the label Philips.
Throughout the rest of the 1960s and 1970s, the group continued to release similar styled recordings and their recordings continued to be reissued throughout the 1980s and 1990s. 
wikipedia


Here is the original album cover art design.



Information wanted for photo credits. Album produced by Brad Miller. Bainbridge 1968.


Brad Miller was born in California and had developed an interest in railroading in his teens.
After a few years of hanging around rail yards and learning all the lore of steam and diesel engines,
he decided to record the sounds of some of the last steam locomotives operating on a major rail line.
Around 1958, he and his friend, Jim Connella, formed a company and started cutting records from these field recordings,
which they released through railroading magazines and model train shows.

Sound effects recording was quite the rage at the dawn of stereo, and one of these albums of train sounds was even reviewed favorably in High Fidelity magazine.
A few years later, Ernie McDaniel of San Francisco radio station KFOG decided to put one of Miller's albums, Steam Railroading Under Thundering Skies,
and an easy listening album, on separate turntables and broadcast them together.
His late-night stunt produced a barrage of listener phone calls (most of which were positive), much to his surprise.
He later related the episode to Miller, who was inspired by the idea.

While working with arranger Don Ralke, Miller recorded a series of tunes, most of them Ralke originals,
played by a string-laden orchestra, then mixed in a variety of environmental sounds he had collected.
He took several months fine-tuning the blend, then cut a deal with Philips to release it under the title of One Stormy Night,
credited to the Mystic Moods Orchestra.


With the help of producer Leo Kulka, Miller quickly developed a series of One Stormy Night clones.
The musical content shifted to mellow covers of current hits, and Warners modified the packaging of the albums to make sure
there was no mystery that these were records to serve as the preamble or accompaniment to getting it on. wikipedia


(A) The Sound of Silence - Do You Know the Way to San Jose - Eleanor Rigby - Sunny Goodge Steet - Trains and Boats and Planes

(B) Cloudy - Soldier in the Rain - Maman - Homeward Bound - Early Morning Rain - Listen to the Warm


"The Sound of Silence" from 77Fortran on YouTube




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