Re: Alchemical matters

[arc!ken@apple.com (Ken Stuart)]

In article <8905111249.AA01380@GAFFA.MIT.EDU> you write:
>Really-From: Doug Alan <nessus@athena.mit.edu>
>
>Most often throughout the history of recorded music, production
>techniques in the studio have been used to add something to already
>existing music.  Most often this studio production has been used to
>smooth and polish the music; to remove rough edges and turn the music
>into a glossy commercial product.  Sometimes it has been used to add
>embelishments to the music.  And sometimes the studio has been used
>itself as a primary artistic tool.  In recent years, we have seen
>music that could not exist without the studio -- music, where the
>studio production is so integral to the music that if you removed the
>studio production, there would not be enough left to stand on its own.
>This is not a bad thing -- in fact it is a quite good thing, because
>it's a whole new art form.  Groups like Tackhead and M|A|R|S come to
>mind.
>
>  [some elided]
>
>What about *The Dreaming*?  Could *The Dreaming* exist in any
>recognizable form with the massive studio effort that was put into it?
>Without samplers, and overdubbing, and all the weird little sound
>effects, sound processing, and sounds?  I don't think so.  There are a
>couple of songs which might be recognizable in an unproduced form,
>played on more convential instruments, but for the most part, the
>"instrument" the songs were played on is the studio.  *The Dreaming*
>would not of, could not of existed without the studio.  *The Dreaming*
>is the first album of music (as opposed to sound collages) which took
>studio production to the maximal artistic extreme, and thus it
>deserves a place in history just for this (not to mention for also
>being the greatest album ever recorded).
>

	I still say "Tangerine Dream" in response to this (ie in
response to "first").  Yes, TD tours live, but if you look at their
equipment on stage, it could outfit a couple of studios.  (95% of the
music does not use any 'conventional instruments').  And, of course,
PG tours live with his Fairlight, and I see rumours of a KB tour.
Also, Todd Rundgren's "Todd" and Brian Eno's "Another Green World"
could not have been done without the studio - and both of them are
noted as producers/engineers.

        And what about Stockhausen in the 50's?  That falls into
"sound collages", but I am not sure I'm willing to distinguish that
from music.  Otherwise, your criteria are that there are notes, but
that they are not played on conventional instruments - which seems
narrow and arbitrary.

	"Maximal artistic extreme" makes me uneasy as well, in the
sense that the airplane "was" the 'maximal velocity extreme' to some
people. :-)

        By the way, I am interested in seeing these KB videos.  I
think that her art would be best served by being completely
audio-visual.  When I listen to "The Dreaming", I always have the
feeling that I am in a theatre with my eyes closed, attending a
musical-stage-play and that if I open my eyes, I will see the drama -
but of course it's not there.

        Certain music shouldn't have images (King Crimson or Genesis
w/PG's "Foxtrot"), other music calls up images but could also
effectively have the images presented by the artist visually ("The
Lamia" in Genesis w/PG's "Lamb lies down on Broadway").  I think "The
Dreaming" falls into the latter category.  The "Shock the Monkey"
video is, I think, the best example of this (I haven't seen any of
KB's).
-- 
                                      - Ken
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