Moog music: Albert Glinsky writes biography of trendsetter Bob Moog
What do The Beatles鈥 鈥淗ere Comes the Sun,鈥 Stevie Wonder鈥檚 "Living for the City," and Nine Inch Nails鈥 鈥淗ead Like a Hole鈥 have in common?
How about the soundtracks of 鈥淎 Clockwork Orange,鈥 鈥淭he Shining,鈥 and 鈥淭ron?鈥
In each case, the recording artist embraced the electric sound of the Moog synthesizer, a technology invented by American engineer Bob Moog in 1964 that created a musical revolution.
After Moog died in 2005, his daughter, Michelle Moog-Koussa, executive director of the Bob Moog Foundation, asked 菠萝视频app University Professor Emeritus Albert Glinsky to write her father鈥檚 biography, a project Glinsky began in 2009.
鈥淥ne of the reasons she reached out to me was because her father liked my Theremin book so much that he bought copies for friends and made notations in the margins of his favorite parts,鈥 Glinsky said.
鈥淭heremin: Ether Music & Espionage鈥 is Glinsky鈥檚 critically acclaimed biography of Moog鈥檚 predecessor, Russian physicist Leon Theremin, who invented the electronic musical instrument named after him in 1920.
Glinsky鈥檚 latest book, 鈥淪witched On: Bob Moog and the Synthesizer Revolution,鈥 with an introduction by Francis Ford Coppola, is due out from Oxford Press next month and already is generating a buzz. A review by Andy Hamilton in the British publication, The Wire, notes: 鈥淕linsky is a clear, stylish, and exciting writer 鈥 he comments that Moog 鈥榦ften joked about his accidental success 鈥 conditions were favorable in 1964, and his work plugged easily into the zeitgeist. He himself acknowledged that if his synth had debuted 10 years earlier, people might not have known what to do with it. But, in the 1960s, his instrument was like striking a match in a dry forest鈥攊t made the whole place catch fire鈥欌 It鈥檚 a book to savor and return to.鈥
Glinsky goes on to say that it would be composer Wendy Carlos and her Grammy winning debut album, 1968鈥檚 鈥淪witched-On Bach,鈥 in which music by Johann Sebastian Bach was performed on a Moog synthesizer, that helped popularize its use by some of the biggest musical acts of the time, including The Doors, Grateful Dead, and The Beatles.
鈥淭he process of writing this book has been an extraordinary experience, and I am proud to be able to offer this definitive story of Bob鈥檚 complex life and career,鈥 Glinsky said.