JOHN C. LILLY Sounds of the Bottle-Nose Dolphin LP FOLKWAYS 1973 Psych LSD EX

$

27

JOHN C. LILLY : Sounds And The Ultra-Sounds Of The Bottle-Nose Dolphin LP (Folkways [USA] FX 6132) 1973.

Record is excellent with light surface marks only. Cover is excellent with light staining/discoloration to the slick. With insert (slightly creased).

Nice original copy of this scarce Folkways Science Series LP, recorded by American neuroscientist John C. Lilly, best known for his work in the areas of consciousness research and psychedelic drugs, and for inventining the sensory-deprivation tank (his research was the basis of Paddy Chayefsky's novel Altered States, and Ken Russell's film adaptaion).

One of Lilly's other major areas of research was inter-species communication, and he conducted numerous experiments with dolphins (at times giving them LSD), some of which are documented here. The LP includes various natural dolphin sounds, at times slowed down, allowing the listener to hear frequencies that would otherwise be inaudible to humans and complexities that would otherwise be too fast for human perception. Also included are the sounds of dolphins interacting with one another, and non-natural airborne sounds induced by humans, including sounds copying human speech. Most extraordinary are the vocal interactions with humans, including interactions between Lilly's young assistant Margaret Howe and a dolphin named Peter during a 1965 experiment in the Virgin Islands, in which the two lived in isolation in a flooded house for ten weeks. The experiment has become infamous due to stories (confirmed in Howe's notes, published on Lilly's website -- link below) of the dolphin's sexual advances, to which Howe eventually capitulated ("with either my hand or my foot"). Needless to say, this information may affect the way you hear the two of them say "hello" to each other on the LP.

Apparently the funding (there was funding!) was eventually pulled from the project due to "ethical dilemmas", but Lilly continued trying to communicate with dolphins and giving them LSD. We don't know for sure what the dolphins are saying, but our guess is that they're probably talking about how excellent John C. Lilly is, and/or asking where to sign up for the next experiment.

See the Smithsonian Folkways website for sound samples.

See also:

http://www.johnclilly.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human%E2%80%93animal_communication

http://havealittletalk.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/there-really-was-an-amorous-dolphin-peter-more-on-easy-travel-to-other-planets/

http://www.psymon.com/psychedelia/articles/lilly.htm