“This album is Delia Derbyshire’s New Adventures in Hi-Fi following her departure from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. It’s a curious beast, a collaboration between her and David Vorhaus. Her one-time compatriot Brian Hodgson also appears, assisting with the electronic knob-twiddling on the last track, along with vocals from John Whitman, Annie Bird, Val Shaw and the jazz percussionist Paul Lytton on drums. . It’s considered to be one of the first albums to synthesize (see what I did there?) electronically-produced music with contemporary pop. It was recorded in 1968 and was well before the Moog synth became commonly available and a popular addition to progressive rock bands. However, whether they genuinely expected it to score well in the hit parade is uncertain. The first side contains a lot of groovy tunes, and songs such as Firebird could, at first hearing, be by any late 60s group dabbling in psychedelia. My Game of Loving sounds hilariously dated, the sort of thing the United States of America would have been experimenting with. . However, its on side two that things really start to get interesting. The 11+ minute The Visitation is a film in a song, employing spooky electronic ghostly waves, a screeching of tyres, kaleidoscopic fairground melodies and a curious set of lyrics which seems to be about the dead narrator trying to cross over to the ‘other side’ to see his lover once more. The pleading voice of “Please don’t go” towards the end is genuinely unnerving. . How to top that? Well, with the final track called Black Mass: An Electric Storm in Hell. Just the title makes me want to listen to it. A cross between Diamanda Galas and Nick Mason of Pink Floyd’s solo tracks. Drums and screams. And Delia on machines. As the album sleeve notes describe: “Many sounds have never been heard – by humans: some sound waves you don’t hear – but they reach you. ‘Storm Stereo’ techniques combine singers, instrumentalists and complex electronic sounds. The emotional intensity is at a maximum.” . #deliaderbyshire #davidvorhaus #whitenoise #anelectricstorm #anelectricstorminhell @theradiophonicworkshop #electronicmusic #vinyl #recordcollection #nowplaying #randomrecordreview https://www.instagram.com/p/B-U1aVFpLGW/?igshid=1rokwvj3yx3ui
