Talk:Switched-On Bach

Untitled

"the album took three prizes: Best Classical Album, Best Classical Music Performance, Instrumental Soloist(s) (With or Without Orchestra) and Best Classical Engineered Recording." That's four. Is the one of the awards wrong or is the number?

It struck me that way as well on first reading, but the comma usage here is misleading; if you hover your mouse pointer over the links, you will find that "Best Classical Music Performance, Instrumental Soloist(s) (With or Without Orchestra)" is one award, not two as it appears to be. :-) BTW, you forgot to sign your post. — Korax1214 (talk) 10:59, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

Alternative Cover

It appears that the alternative cover to Switched-On Bach is long forgotten? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.109.73.82 (talk) 21:11, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

The alternative cover is now in the article.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 12:57, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

The article wording has been tweaked to avoid a debate over which was the "official" cover. Albums are released in different countries, and there may have been some differences in the choice of cover. For example, this 1968 Canadian pressing currently on eBay [1] uses the standing up version. Rather than argue over which was the official version, the article wording has been changed. Over the years, the standing up version seems to have been more common, and was used on the 2001 remastered edition.[2]--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 21:23, 23 April 2010 (UTC)

I bought the album in Australia in 1977 with the seated cover - David Gerard (talk) 10:49, 8 July 2013 (UTC)

Track Listing

The track listing here differs from Amazon's <http://www.amazon.com/Switched-On-Bach/dp/B00005ORCV/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1233383570&sr=8-1>. Here it states that the last 3 tracks are the Adagio, but on Amazon it lists only track 10 as Adagio, then 11 as "Initial Experiments." Amazon lists only 11 tracks, rather than the 12 here. I have the album in my possession (sans track titles), boasting 12 tracks. In this way it seems to resemble this article's track list, but the final 3 tracks are far from seemless and definitely do not belong to the same composition, which harkens to Amazon's track listing. Paralysisordeath (talk) 06:37, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

The Amazon version mentioned above is a remastered edition with an additional track called "Initial Experiments" composed by Wendy Carlos. The track listing in the article is an accurate version of the original LP, although the numbers do not correspond exactly with the ones given by Amazon.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 11:01, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

Dead external links to Allmusic website – January 2011

Since Allmusic have changed the syntax of their URLs, 1 link(s) used in the article do not work anymore and can't be migrated automatically. Please use the search option on http://www.allmusic.com to find the new location of the linked Allmusic article(s) and fix the link(s) accordingly, prefereably by using the {{Allmusic}} template. If a new location cannot be found, the link(s) should be removed. This applies to the following external links:

• http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Ayhjv7i6og76r

--CactusBot (talk) 10:46, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Book about the record

There is a book coming out about the record:

Wendy Carlos's Switched-On Bach by Roshanak Kheshti

ISBN-13: 9781501320286
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date: 10/31/2019
Series: 33 1/3 Series , #141
Pages: 117
Product dimensions: 4.75(w) x 6.50(h) x (d)

Blurb:

So much, popular and scholarly, has been written about the synthesizer, Bob Moog and his brand-name instrument, and even Wendy Carlos, the musician who made this instrument famous. No one, however, has examined the importance of spy technology, the Cold War and Carlos's gender to this critically important innovation.

Through a postcolonial lens of feminist science and technology studies, Roshanak Kheshti engages in a reading of Carlos's music within this gendered context. By focusing on Switched-On Bach (the highest selling classical music recording of all time), this book explores the significance of gender to the album's--and, as a result, the Moog synthesizer's--phenomenal success.

[available from the usual places]
173.228.123.207 (talk) 07:11, 2 August 2019 (UTC)

Available from the usual places such as Amazon:) [3] Roshanak Kheshti is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at University of California, San Diego.[4]--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 16:41, 2 August 2019 (UTC)

Yes I know about that site but I didn't want to put in a shopping link, figuring people interested in the book know how to find it. 173.228.123.207 (talk) 05:13, 4 August 2019 (UTC)

Switched-On Bach was created on the first commercially available Moog modular synthesizer

While some people believe that Carlos used a prototype Moog, that is not the case. It is true that throughout the 60's Bob Moog made constant improvements to the Moog modular synthesizer. it is true that most early Moogs were pretty much customized, and it is true that Moog listened to suggestions and feedback from customers such as The Beach Boys (Good Vibrations, 1966), The Doors (Strange Days, 1967) The Monkees (Daily Nightly and Star Collector, 1967) The Byrds (The Notorious Byrd Brothers, 1968), Simon and Garfunkel (Bookends, 1968) Wendy Carlos (Switched-on Bach, 1968) The Beatles (Abbey Road 1969), Bread (Bread, 1969) Dick Hyman (Moog: The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman, 1969) and Gershon Kingsley (Popcorn, 1969), but Carlos, like the other earl customers, bought whatever version of the Moog Modular Synthesizer was commercially available at the time of purchase, and waited while it was built to order.

Wendy Carlos did purchased the very first Moog modular synthesizer, and her input certainly influenced the design of the upgrades, but -- like the other high-end customers -- she started by choosing from whatever options were commercially available at the time. Unlike the case with, say, guitars or violins, The Moog modular synthesizer was new to musicians, and they really had to own and play one before they could make any intelligent suggestions for future models.

See:

• Sonic History of Moog Instruments: Early recordings "Wendy Carlos purchased the first Moog modular synthesizer and recorded Switched-on Bach, which was recorded entirely of hand created voices one track at a time."
• Bob Moog -- R.I.P. "In keeping with this page about Bob Moog's earliest modular synths, let's take a look at a few vintage pages from the first two synthesizer catalogs I ever saw from the R. A. Moog Company, in 1965 and 1967. The idea was to present the musician with essential information to assemble a collection of modules appropriate to the needs and budget. The first catalog was especially aimed at custom installations. So the descriptions were intended to guide one through what each 'magic box and panel' did, and how much it cost"
• Switched-On Bach: How a transgender synth pioneer changed music "Like Switched-On Bach, all the instrumental elements of [Donna Summers'] I Feel Love were performed on a Moog modular synthesiser."
• Hey, what's that sound: Moog synthesisers "In 1964 [Moog] debuted his first Moog modular synthesiser. Massive, fragile and impossible to tune, the modulars were designed and built to order in consultation with high-end consumers, but synthesisers at this point were far out of the price range (and comprehension) of the average musician."

--Guy Macon (talk) 08:03, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

• Dr Robert & His Modular Moogs is an excellent article, and the photo of Eric Siday, who is largely forgotten today, says "Eric Siday bought the second ever Moog synth, according to Moog himself." It's somewhat misleading to imply that the Moog modular appeared out of nowhere on SOB in 1968, because it had been under development in some form since at least 1964.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 09:49, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

This was published by WALTER Carlos... I have a first printing.

This was published by Wendy Carlos when she was known as Walter Carlos. I'm not one to push names on anyone who wants to be any other name... except in the case... when they are well known by their original name. And this is one of those rare cases. Wendy Carlos was well known as Walter Carlos for about 10 years before transitioning and changing her name to Wendy. She was on a number of high profile television shows and there are a number of very popular albums with Walter Carlos as the composer. I think that should be at least mentioned. Again, this is not a political stance, but I own a number of WALTER Carlos' albums, and this could be confusing to people in years hence. I think it should be, at the very least, addressed. I understand the issue and the reasons for not including previous names. But in this specific case, I think it's warranted. What you guys think? Bzzzing (talk) 23:23, 23 March 2023 (UTC)

It is addressed in the very first sentence of the article. --JBL (talk) 23:59, 23 March 2023 (UTC)

Carlos wanted the early albums to be released under the name of Wendy Carlos, but CBS insisted on Walter Carlos, so all of the albums up to and including By Request in 1975 were originally released under the name of Walter Carlos. This should not be hidden in the article, but the albums have since been re-released (if you can find copies of them today) under the name of Wendy Carlos.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 08:34, 24 March 2023 (UTC)

No, it isn't. Bzzzing (talk) 04:13, 10 September 2023 (UTC)

This July 2023 edit [5] removed the mention in the first sentence and gives an explanation that "Corrected false statement that "SOB" was released under the name Walter Carlos. In fact, Carlos's name was not mentioned on the front cover." That explanation is incorrect; while Carlos is not credited on the first version of the cover (although there are credits on inserts and on the vinyl), the second version of the cover does credit them as Walter Carlos (in addition to the same credits on inserts and on the vinyl as before). It's non-obvious to me if the effects of the edit need to be completely undone, though, as there is currently a portion in the introduction that "After Carlos came out as a transgender woman in 1979, reissues of Switched-On Bach amended the artist credit to reflect her name, as was the case with the rest of her discography up to that point." The only thing I'd offer is that without a source to confirm that's why the credit changed, the statement's a bit WP:SYNTHish. AVNOJ1989 (talk) 02:59, 21 July 2024 (UTC)

The original 1968 cover with the seated and outraged looking Bach (which Carlos disliked) does not credit Carlos by name on the front cover, but does have the name on the vinyl record. Also, I found this version of the front cover with the standing up Bach from a 1960s pressing and it does not name Carlos. This cassette version does not have Carlos' name either.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 07:34, 21 July 2024 (UTC)

Rather than arbitrarily picking through the 100+ releases of Switched-On Bach and omitting context, Discogs [6]. Assuming the version you've linked is this 1968 version [7], then its vinyl label does also credit the performer as Walter Carlos [8]. Likewise, Discogs identifies the version of the cassette you've linked to as being released in 1985 [9]. With earlier cassette releases, such as a 1968 release [10], you'd find the same language as on the early vinyl labels – "realized and performed by Walter Carlos with the assistance of Benjamin Folkman". (You'd also find that same language on an 8-track released the same year [11].) In the most interesting example for the purposes of this conversation, Switched-On Bach was actually renamed for the South African market in 1979, to "The Walter Carlos Collection" [12].

That the name Walter Carlos is not on the front cover of early releases does not preclude the fact that these early versions of the album were released under the name of Walter Carlos. The July 2023 edit gave an incorrect statement as rationale for removing a factual statement from the first sentence of the article. AVNOJ1989 (talk) 16:19, 21 July 2024 (UTC)

If anyone ends up wanting to follow up on this – it's important to note that Discogs is not considered a reliable source (see WP:DISCOGS) so the database and links I've provided cannot be used as citations for statements either way. 122141510 (talk) 02:11, 27 July 2024 (UTC)