Mort Garson: Journey To The Moon And Beyond

When Sacred Bones launched its Mort Garson reissue project in 2019 with a proper re-release of *Plantasia*, the Garson renaissance really took off. Before long, Mort Garson and his Moogs could be heard on TV shows, in documentaries, on podcasts, in hip-hop tracks, and everywhere else—the man had once again become a cultural phenomenon. Like a perennial that returns with every new spring, Mort Garson’s archives have produced yet another impressive bloom. “Journey to the Moon and Beyond” reveals even more new facets of this man’s sound. The soundtrack to the 1974 Blaxploitation film “Black Eye” (starring Fred Williamson) is featured, as is newly discovered advertising music. Equally magnificent is “Zoos of the World,” in which Garson sets to music the wild, preening, and slumbering animals from a 1970 National Geographic special of the same name. One wonders which project such a dazzling track as “Western Dragon” might have come from, but these three excerpts were found on tapes in the archive, with no further information. The highlight of the set is undoubtedly Garson’s soundtrack for the live broadcast of the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, which was first heard on the CBS News. One small step for man, one giant leap for Moog. Yet for decades, this soundtrack was considered lost, and the only trace of it seemed to be an old YouTube clip. Fortunately, while sifting through the extensive Rod McKuen archive, the diligent audio archivist Andy Zax stumbled upon a copy of the master tape. Now we can hear it in all its glory. In six minutes, Garson conjures up expansive fantasies, whirring Mooncraft sounds, weightlessness, and sparkling etudes. It showcases Mort’s many moods: sweet, exploratory, whimsical, a bit kitschy—all woven together into a glorious whole. Perhaps it was considered outlandish and opportunistic back then when Garson applied his keyboards to themes such as astrological signs, the occult, the hippie lifestyle, houseplants, or the moon landing. But more than most other pioneers of electronic music of his kind, Garson foresaw the integration of such electronics into our daily lives—a development that would allow us to engage with the world. /// Pridajte tento výnimočný kúsok do svojej audio zbierky. V Hummel Music veríme, že hudba si zaslúži ten najlepší formát. Už roky prinášame pre hudobných fajnšmekrov vzácne LP platne, CD, noty a knihy, ktoré inde nenájdete. Či už hľadáte vrcholné diela klasickej hudby, podmanivý jazz, alebo nezávislú alternatívnu scénu a rock pop, u nás ste na správnom mieste. Nakúpte pohodlne online na www.hummelmusic.sk alebo nás navštívte osobne v našej bratislavskej predajni pri Pamätnom dome J. N. Hummela. Ponúkame odborné poradenstvo, priateľský prístup a aj LP bazár.