What you say
No-one has reviewed The John Baker Tapes Volume 2 by John Baker yet.
What we say
 This record left our BRIAN D feeling happy.
John Baker eh? He sounds like he should be a friendly Uncle cum Gardener or newsreader in the wee hours on Radio Hartlepool. Instead, he was Delia Derbyshire's best electro-bud (or should that be bod?) and is credited with being one of the pioneering forefathers of electronic widdly business. The 2nd volume has landed (why on earth they didn't come out as one set i'll never know? The power of the tease maybe?) I feel this second disc is very different from the first, delving more into sprightly cocktail jazz, tribal surf oscillations, haunting minimal piano experiments, cheesy listening muzak, interplanetary ray-gun blooping....and a fantastic Omo power foam advert that is off it's trolley! It's the "electro" advert jingles that entertain the most, they're essential but not merely for the nostalgia element but more the startling alien, whirring, space invader sounds underpinning a cherry info-accent explaining how the fuck to use yr giro. Cool. Ladies & gentlemen, we are floating down the bookies....Yes, apart from the execrable poncey piano version of 'I Wanna hold your Hand', this is a very entertaining 39 snippets of retro futurist madness & aural ephemera that'll make you smile, wince & frown in frustration trying to recall where you've heard that addictive little tune before. If you dug vol.1 then you need his little sister, she's sick mama.
What the label says:
It’s important to note this is not a reissue, as none of this rare material has been released until now. As part two of the John Baker 2 CD set, this groundbreaking release also represents the first major retrospective of any BBC Radiophonic composer.
5/5 REVIEW IN RECORD COLLECTOR: "WITH OVER SIX BAKER’S DOZENS IN CUES (THAT’S 88) ACROSS TWO DISCS, IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO DO THEIR BREADTH AND GENIUS JUSTICE."
4/5 REVIEW IN UNCUT :"TWO-VOLUME TREASURE TROVE OF RADIOPHONIC WORKOUTS."
Coincidentally it is 50 years since the legendary BBC Radiophonic Workshop was started. By the early 1960s John Baker has become permanent Radiophonic staff, and one third of the holy trinity of composers (the other two being Delia Derbyshire and David Cain) working there throughout the golden 1960s and early 1970s.
The 39 cues on Volume Two represent the major body of important work he produced while moonlighting for other companies (under a pseudonym) and most tracks until now have remained unissued. This CD brings together the most complete overview of his work outside of the BBC, his freaky library music, incredible electro-advertising commissions, rare soundtracks, and private home recordings, nearly all of which have also remained unissued.
This CD also includes the first ever release of the soundtrack to Boy On A Bicycle, the debut film by Ridley Scott. The album also comes with his test toneexperiments, feedback loops and the first ever recording made by John Baker (pressed originally on a 78 RPM record) from 1954. We also have the original obituary broadcast on BBC Radio 5 back in 1997. None of these recordings have been released until now. This is another essential release for followers of British electronic music and followers of the Workshop output.
PACKAGING INFO: The CD is full colour, comes with an eight page concertina booklet, complete with exceptional rare personal photos, workshop archive shots and more.
TRACKLISTING: There are too many to list here, however Volume 2 has 39.
|
|
Other customers buying this also bought:
Levy by The Rectifiers
(CD, £1.99)
Other items by John Baker:
|
