[CP 077 CD] Emerson Meyers; Provocative Electronics, Electronic Constructions On Traditional Forms+

2021 reédition of this canonic early-mid-period Creel Pone stunner, now including both of the only other (to our knowledge) pieces of Emerson Meyers' music issued commercially: " Rhapsodie Fantastique (1974)" & "Marches Militaires Metaphoriquement", each as the introductory pieces of a pair of Opus One compilations (Numbers 33 & 40, respectively)!

Creel Pone treatment of this 1970 hidden jewel in the Westminster Gold catalogue (an imprint enjoying something of a cult following amongst record collectors due to their amazing & often ridiculous cover designs; not sure how marketing Wagner / Opera recordings via Psychedelic-era cheesecake sensibilities was deemed “Viable” by the ABC-Dunhill bigwigs, but then again there are scads of things about the late-60s / early-70s that I don’t, and most likely won’t ever, get) featuring music largely composed by Professor Emerson Meyers, with scattered pieces by Haig Mardirosian & Frank Heintz, all composed & executed at the “Electronic(s) Music Laboratory” at (wait for it...) the Catholic University of America.

That there even was an “Electronic(s) Music Laboratory” at the Catholic University of America (instigated in 1961, no less) comes as something of a surprise; that it yielded this fine collection of lo-fi zonked / distorted Moogknuckelry (pretty much all of the Emerson Meyers material), homemade Musique Concrète (Frank Heintz’s synth-less “Fanfare & Raga for Bassoon & Tape,” working a combination of snaking lines, extended-breathing technique drones & instrument-body percussion noises), and even a set of Ruth White-esque possessed vocal-overdub clusters (Meyers & Katherine Hansel’s “Im Memoriam for Soprano & Tape”) is proof that Early Electronic music knew few barriers  (well, outside of the Academic / Economic / Gender ones, natch).

A really, really great set of pieces; misfiring Moog blasts & noise/tape-hiss abound; a must for any fan of Early Synthesizer Weirdness & I don’t see why this shouldn’t appeal to the same folks who convulse over all that Xian-Psych Private-Press gold.