View Full Version : The in Sound from Way Out


targeteye
08-06-2009, 08:51 PM
Picked this up at the GW today. It doesn't look nm but its dead quiet! Recommended for anyone looking for something for a change of pace!!

http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/P/perrey_inf.jpg


The following cut from Wikipedia.

"The In Sound From Way Out! was the first collaboration between electronic musicians Perrey and Kingsley and considered to be the first-ever mainstream electronic music album. It was released in 1966 on Vanguard Records, an independent label in Santa Monica, California.

Perrey and Kingsley came together during Kingsley's stint as a staff arranger at Vanguard. At that time, Perrey was experimenting with tape loops, which he had been introduced to by the French avant-garde musician Pierre Schaeffer. Each loop was a laboriously hand-spliced assembledge of filtered sounds, pitch-manipulated sounds and sometimes even animal calls. The end result of their first collaborative effort in 1966 combined Perrey's tape loops, and his inventive melodies with Kingsley's complementary arrangements and instrumentation and their album was filled with tunes that sounded like an animated cartoon gone berserk. The result, titled The In Sound From Way Out! was released on Vanguard that same year. Since this was decades before the advent of widespread digital technology, each tune took weeks of painstaking editing and splicing to produce.

The twelve rather whimsical tracks bore names such as "Unidentified Flying Object" and "The Little Man From Mars" in an attempt to make electronic music more accessible. The offbeat titles and happy, upbeat melodies added a genuine sense of humor to the popular tunes. In fact, "Unidentified Flying Object" and another of the album's cuts, "Electronic Can-Can" became theme music for "Wonderama," a Metromedia Television children's program of the early 1970s. Though most of the melodies were original, two borrowed from the classics. "Swan's Splashdown" was based on Pyotr Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" while "Countdown At 6" borrowed from Amilcare Ponchielli's "Dance of the Hours," much as Allan Sherman did in 1963 with his hit recording, "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh." The last few bars of this track were also used on an animated Sesame Street segment several years later. The final cut on the album, "Visa To The Stars" is co-credited to "Andy Badale," who would go on to fame as Angelo Badalamenti, arranger of the music in many of David Lynch's movies. In contrast to the rest of the album, "Visa To The Stars" is a more serious gesture and lacks the unusual sound effects of the other eleven cuts. It is highly reminiscent of the style of Joe Meek and his hit, "Telstar" by The Tornados. Perrey's Ondioline carries the melody throughout.

In 1996, the title and cover art was referenced in the Beastie Boys release of the same name, while Smash Mouth (who didn't ask for permission) borrowed the opening riff from "Swan's Splashdown" for their 1997 hit, "Walkin' on the Sun".

Steve.

nitrous
08-06-2009, 08:53 PM
So, what's it sound like? Music from the "Outer Limits?"

targeteye
08-06-2009, 08:59 PM
I not sure I know how to describe it. A mixter between 60s techno - pop - avant garde with a smatter of of household sounds , all put together to some pretty catchy melody/beats.

Like nothing else I have in my collection for sure.

STeve

walkandtalk
08-06-2009, 09:00 PM
Awesome! I'll now have an OCD period where I just have to find a copy... I'm a big fan of that kind of sound experimentation ala Esquivel, and Stereolab (which some will begin to notice is my all-time favorite band) has used the "The In Sound from Way Out" as an impromptu logo on several occasions, as have the Beastie Boys.

This rates a few bananas:

:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:

BobHol
08-06-2009, 09:34 PM
I remember my Dad buying a copy. More of a novelty record than a music album.

KeninDC
08-07-2009, 08:12 AM
The Beastie Boys have an instrumental compilation with the same graphics and title.

Ken

Edit: I see the OP mentioned this. Sorry. I also just noticed the "Wonderama" reference. Now this is a "must have" for me.

Impedance
08-07-2009, 08:16 AM
I've been coveting that for a while... well, since I got the Beastie Boys album when it came out.. great find at a thrift!!

mhardy6647
08-07-2009, 09:56 AM
Wonderama and Bob McAllister... he had a kids' show in Baltimore when... well... when I was a kid, then went on to the "big time".

spideyjack
08-07-2009, 11:32 AM
Nice!

Sam Cogley
08-07-2009, 11:53 AM
Interesting find! I have a few interesting Vanguard discs hiding in my collection. The Joan Baez needs a good cleaning, though.

SpeakerLabFan
08-07-2009, 01:41 PM
Very nice thrift find! I've never heard of this one, but the Vanguard label would draw me in.