Soothing Sounds for Baby LP Vol.2 - Raymond Scott Electronic Music from 1964
  $   53

 


$ 53 Sold For
Mar 18, 2013 Sold Date
Mar 8, 2013 Start Date
$   35 Start price
2   Number Of Bids
  USA Country Of Seller
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Description

LP Vinyl Record:  Raymond Scott - Soothing Sounds for Baby: -Volume 2: 6-12 Months.  Composed and performed by Raymond Scott, for, and in consultation with  the Gesell Institute of Child Development (see more historic background  info below). These electronic pieces ostensibly were intended to implement aspects of "theories" from the time, as to infant brain development and the impact of rhythmic, repetitive aural stimulation. (A more apt title might be something like: "Amusing Sounds for Stoned Adults"....   but that's strictly impressionistic.) While warm and fuzzy it isn't, it has a kind of charm to be sure, if not somewhat cold and mechanical. Seen, in retrospect as a kind of progenitor of the "Motorik" expressions that emerged from Germany in the early 70's from the likes of ensembles such as Neu, Kraftwerk, and Tangerine Dream.
If you're interested in acquiring a complete set of all Three LP Volumes, please note that I have also posted volumes I and III presently, as well. Each in a separate listing.  After some deliberation, on whether or not to offer this as a full set (or not),I thought it best to post them individually.They were acquired separately and each differ in condition. Two off them are white label "promotional" copies for radio station play. (yikes, just Imagine!!... to have heard these sounds coming across an AM radio in 1964!!!)   LP Vinyl. On Epic.  This is an original Issue from 1964. This single LP is Volume 2.  (of a 3-LP Series issued in 1964).   Quite Rare. 


- Vinyl: VG+

 Of the three volumes I have posted (each are posted for bid separately) this one, 

Volume 2, is by far the best and cleanest copy of the three. 

White label - Marked "FOR RADIO STATION PLAY"

- Sleeve: VG to VG+ (please see photos on jacket condition)

 NO insert.

From Wikipedia:

Soothing Sounds for Baby (1964) is a three-volume set of ambient electronic music by American composer, musician, and inventor Raymond Scott. Scott originally intended to lull infants to sleep with the music, but later generations have found value in the music for its minimalist aspects, often comparing it to the works of Brian Eno, Kraftwerk andTangerine Dream despite having predated such artists by more than a decade.

Originally released in collaboration with the Gesell Institute of Human Development,[1] the volumes are split up into three age groups: Volume 1 is 1 to 6 months; Volume 2 is 6 to 12 months; and Volume 3 is 12 to 18 months. The music gets more complex with each volume. Scott created much of the music on the albums with instruments he created, such as the Electronium and the Clavivox. "Particularly on Soothing Sounds for Baby, Scott proved to be one of the first composers to merge the Brave New World of electronic sounds with a rhythmic pop sensibility."[2

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From Raymond Scott's site:

 - Released on three long-playing records in conjunction with the Gesell Institute of Child Development, Inc., Soothing Sounds... was intended to serve as an "aural toy" during the "feeding, teething, play, sleep and fretful periods" of infants in three distinct age groups. The original album notes stressed that a young child's sense of hearing is better developed than many people realize. Besides soothing infants, these recordings were intended to be "pleasantly stimulating." Babies like "new sights and new sounds," explained a booklet slipped inside the LPs. Music consists of vibrations, which babies also like -- "just vibrate baby's bed gently," the booklet noted, and "crying often stops." By approximating "the rhythmic tinkle of a music box" and "a ticking watch held close to [the] ear," Soothing Sounds for Baby provided a "quieting" atmosphere of relaxation, warmth, and contentment.

- - Ironically, these same qualities were embodied in a type of adult music that evolved in the 1970s and '80s. Brian Eno's 1975 album Discreet Music is often cited as the first deliberate attempt at "ambient music" (though Eno cited No Pussyfooting, a 1973 collaboration with guitarist Robert Fripp, as a forerunner). In his book A Year With Swollen Appendices, Eno stated, "Ambient Music is intended to induce calm and a space to think. [It] must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting." His subsequent albums On Land, Music for Airports, Thinking Music, and Thursday Afternoon, along with Fripp's solo Frippertronics and Soundscapes, defined a genre of music that could justifiably be termed Easy Listening for the avant-garde. (For a complete history of sonic sedatives, read Joseph Lanza's Elevator Music, published by Quartet Books, UK.) This music, intended to pacify and mesmerize, later mixed with dance beats into such styles as ambient house, trance, techno, and trip-hop. Echoes can be heard in the recordings of Aphex Twin, The Orb, and Stereolab, among countless others.

- - By Eno's definition of ambient, Soothing Sounds for Baby qualifies, while pre-dating Discreet Music by over a decade. There's another parallel: Discreet Music was used to facilitate childbirth. Eno provided extended versions to hospitals when his recordings were found to have a calming effect on a mother's breathing. Soothing Sounds for Baby would have been useful after these mothers brought their newborns home from the hospital.

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Notes: US Buyers: $4:00 for 1st LP; +$2.00 for ea. additional LP, by US Media Mail.

    NOTE:  BUYERS OUTSIDE THE U.S. CONTACT ME FOR SHIPPING RATES, PRIOR TO BIDDING. PLEASE KNOW THAT INTERNATIONAL POSTAL RATES JUMPED UP SIGNIFICANTLY ON FEB.1ST.



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