Raymond Scott’s 1963 triple album of pioneering electronic music is an iconic thing. So you might think that for Dylan Henner to cover half a dozen tracks from it is brave, proud, foolish, or some combination of all those things (even if he was, apparently, motivated by wanting to have a more up-to-date version to play to his own sprog). Well, perhaps so, but I’m happy to say that it’s also a remarkable success.
The originals had a naivety and a lightly tripping quality that was utterly engaging. These tunes combine that with a lushness which would have been unachievable with Scott’s technology. The effect is kind of magical. It does what all cover versions do, and renders the question of whether it’s ‘better’ than the original seem irrelevant, because it’s simply different. With sixty years between them, the context is utterly different, anyway.
Taken purely on its own merits, it is a charming album of new-age-tinged electronic ambient loveliness, and any smile or recognition its genesis produces is a bonus.
I bought this from Boomkat. They call it Modern Classical / Ambient.
dogrando writes about some records 