F.C. Judd - Electronics Without Tears (CD)

Hats off to Public Information for their services to the electronic music community in issuing these almost forgotten works by early British electronic music pioneer Frederick Charles Judd (1914-1992). Frederick used engineering skills gained in the RAF during the second World War to experiment with electronic sounds in the mid 1950's, skills he would eventually utilise to create his own synthesizer in the early 60's. His legacy is impressive to say the least but somehow his name seems to have slipped into relative obscurity. I think with all of these type of collections it's very much worth bearing in mind that the audio was never conceived to be presented as an album, rather this is like a glimpse into an artists sketch book, full of works in progress, experiments and documents for reference. Hearing Fred's voice open the album is really very endearing and gives the notion that he was quite the tinkerer with cables and components cluttering a workspace that smelt of fresh solder. The sounds are to die for with all manner of strange alien oscillations, primitive sci-fi sounds, tape and concrète explorations and Fred's narrative of the working process. There are thirty five tracks in total, each giving a tiny glimpse into the mind of a true future thinker. It also includes tracks from the 3 EP's he released on Studio G in 1970. This is easily up there with the achievements of early Radiophonic Workshop material etc. Fantastic stuff that has really made my day and comes highly recommended.