Re: Wendy Carlos albums

>I got a rude awakening this weekend when I discovered that Wendy Carlos
>has another CD out that I was not aware of: "Tales of Heaven and Hell," I
>believe was the title. Obviously I've had my head a bit too buried in work
>and in my saxophonics. When did it come out? The copyright date is 1998.

TH&H was released along with the complete soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange and Sonic Seasonings in late September.

Clockwork is good, of course, but probably not worth the money if you already have the original version (as I did). Sonic Seasonings is a classic (so I'm told), but one that I don't really care for.

There's nothing really bad about TH&H, but nothing really good either. She's gone over to sampling, and the music is forced and fragmented. Tuning is used from a sound POV rather than a conceptual POV. All in all, I wouldn't recommend it.

Although Wendy herself doesn't agree, Digital Moonscapes is her best album, musically, and sound-wise. In fact, I submit it as the best solo synthesis ever done. Beauty in the Beast isn't far behind, and has the benefit of some wild tuning.

It hardly surprises me anymore that these two are still out of print, while others get remastered. BitB is presumably coming out soon, in 20bit, but I'm not aware of plans for DM.

-C.