Electronic Sound
George Harrison
Zapple ST-3358
1969
I don't think it is unfair to suggest that if George Harrison hadn't been a Beatle who happened to own his own record company, this recording would never have found its way onto vinyl. It consists of two side long recordings of experimental music performed on a Moog synthesizer. Side one is listed on my version of the album as "Under the Mersey Wall" but it is actually "No Time or Space" which was recorded in Los Angeles in 1968. Reportedly it is actually an edit of a demonstration of the Moog for Harrison by electronic music pioneer and Moog sales rep Bernard Krause who was upset that Harrison appropriated it without permission for his record. It begins with percussive bursts that sound like gunfire before some sci-fi style noodling emerges. They are punctuated by short blasts of white noise that sound like escaping air. Krause expands his palette of sounds in a variety of ways but the structure of short figures of melody interspersed with percussive sounds continues. It actually does sound like someone attempting to demonstrate all the capabilities of the instrument. It goes on for 25 minutes and I usually find it tedious to listen to but if I am feeling mellow I can make my way all the way through it and even appreciate some of it, particularly the sci-fi passages which have some psychedelic charm. There is an energetic section about two-thirds of the way into the recording which I find stimulating if I am in the right mood, it sounds like someone destroying a ship's horn while tap dancing on a synthesizer keyboard. If nothing else it does display Krause's impressive skill with the instrument. Krause was so miffed with Harrison that he chose not to share this skill with him which left Harrison at a disadvantage when he later recorded side two in England which he entitled "Under the Mersey Wall." This one is mercifully shorter clocking in at a mere 18 minutes. Harrison sounds like a guy who is learning a new instrument, he is far less dynamic and bold than Krause but he also has more of a pop sensibility so his noodling is more melodic. He is drawn to drones which is appealing to me and he is less inclined than Krause to deliver blasts of noise. He uses the Moog more like a conventional synthesizer. I would appreciate it if the recording was more structured and less tentative, but I do find it mostly pleasant and if I am in the right frame of mind, even engaging. On the rare occasions that I pull this off the shelf, I generally just listen to "Under the Mersey Wall." I can't say that I'm sorry that Harrison didn't pursue electronic music beyond this album, but I think he could have become pretty good at it. I generally would rather listen to "Under the Mersey Wall" than most of "Living in the Material World." Many Beatles fans dislike this record, but I respect it and admire Harrison's adventurous spirit in creating it. One could argue that it was a display of arrogant self-indulgence that Harrison believed his experiments were worthy of a public audience, but he did get a chump like me to fork over 15 bucks for a used copy of this album so I don't think he was wrong. I have no regrets about buying it and I listen to it more than John and Yoko's experimental records (although I think they are more interesting.) Recommended to people who think Eno is too pop-oriented.
