just picked up a copy of 'An Electric Strom' by White Noise. (Island
Records,
PHCR-4856; Japanese Import)
1.) Love Without Sound (2:57)
2.) My Game of Loving (3:38)
3.) Here Comes The Fleas (2:31)
4.) Firebird (2:43)
5.) Your Hidden Dreams (4:25)
6.) The Visitation (11:45)
7.) Black Mass : [Electric Storm In Hell] (7:04)
production co-ordinator - david vorhaus
electronic sound realisation - delia derbyshire, brian hodgson
percussion - paul lytton
vocals - john whitman, annie bird, val shaw
special stereo effects devised by david vorhaus bsc.dip.elec
sound base transfer co-ordinator: trevor wyatt
the description and notes within the CD sleeve / booklet are excellent,
so i'll simply reprint them verbatim..
white noise was really one david vorhaus (b.sc, dep. elec) american
born, son of a black-listed film director. he avoided the draft by
coming to the u.k. later he became a post graduate doing an electronics
degree at the northern poly whilst studying classical music playing the
double bass. after having attended a lecture by the group unit delta
plus, vorhaus was compelled to combine his love of music with his
scientific background and start making his own music. at the time unit
delta plus were brian hodgson and delia derbyshire who were persuaded to
collaborate with vorhaus on his early jobs at the bbc's radio phonic
workshop, birthplace of the famous dr who theme. after recording two
tracks on a six-revox set up all synchronised by one remote control,
(i.e. the mains on/off switch), vorhaus found himself introduced by
chance to island records' chris blackwell. chris was so captivated by
the white noise experience that he shunned their appeal for a one-off
singles deal and demanded that they do a whole album of material. an
instant cheque for 3000 (pounds) quenched their fears about not earning
a quick buck through a hit single and our band of merry pranksters set
about building their own sonic laboratory in london's camden town out of
'borrowed' gear, home made gizmos and equipment more associated with a
science lab than a recording studio. 'songs' took ages to build, each
note being a compilation of various tape edits painstakingly stuck
together. after a year island records became nervous and demanded a
conclusion in a matter of days which, luckily, white noise managed to
pull off. the album was released in a total vacuum. vorhaus played no
gigs and did no interviews. word of mouth over many years caused this
album to sell tens of thousands of records. like stablemates art and
nirvana, this album remained on catalogue deep into the seventies and
became the hit of many a bedroom and sixth form commonroom...
the 1968 'white noise - an electric storm' lp became the holy grail
amongst collectors of 'science dimension' music, a staple ingredient for
lovers of cosmic electronic space-rock.
sorry if the 'review' is a bit lengthy, but a release like this deserves
some headroom. (it's a brilliant album and definitely worth the
cash...$17.99) if you have it, hope you enjoy. if you don't, take this
into consideration as one of your next purchases..
g'night,
christian
--
" Easy to assemble. "
ICQ# 15688864