Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer

I'm from the tiny little town of Jacksonville NY and attended school in nearby Trumansburg, a sleepy little podunk town about 20 miles from Cornell University. Unbeknown to me at that young age, a former resident from Queens named Robert Moog (rhymes with 'rogue' not with 'fugue') had established a shop on main street "T-burg" building theremin kits, all while pursing a doctorate in engineering physics at Cornell. A musical revolution was in progress just minutes away from where I was growing up. At last I've found a very accessible & informative account of just what the luminaries of the R.A. Moog Co were up to.As a composer using modern modular synths derived from the designs both of Moog and his hippie doppelganger Don Buchla, I'm grateful for the time travel opportunity, to get a taste of that rarified atmosphere of innocence and innovation, a hopeful time when anything seemed possible.Interesting anecdotes include Keith Emerson's surprising personal dissatisfaction with his ground-breaking 1970 'Lucky Man' solo, and the tragedy of Walter Carlos losing extraordinary performance opportunities after releasing the seminal & Grammy winning "Switched On Bach", the first classical recording ever to go Platinum, because of various complications associated with her recent gender transformation. There's also an amusing description of David Borden of "Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company", an otherwise forgettable composer, who as studio klutz became an indispensable part of Moog's quality control process as 'idiot-proofer.'The parallel American bi-coastal developments which gave rise to the Buchla vs Moog "East/West coast synthesis" debate is amply discussed - was the modern synthesizer meant to be a keyboard driven instrument in vein of S.O.B that emulated familiar instruments, or was it meant to be a kind of spaceship into a universe of unheard sound and new emotional territories? There's also a good coverage of ARP and EMS, but it's the personal portrait of Moog in particular which carries the day here - an engineer hours late to his PH. D defense because he trapped himself in an elevator after an ill-advised jumping experiment trying to establish the resonant frequency of the elevator car.

From the first moment I heard Switched-On Bach, I was hooked. I loved the sounds, the technology, the possibilities of electronic music. I even saved up and bought a Minimoog when I was thirteen; no greater love have I ever had. The early days of electronics shook many people like it did me. The synthesizer was not just a collection of dials and patch cords, but a way into a sonic universe.Trever Pinch and Frank Trocco's new book, ANALOG DAYS, recaptures that feeling of celestial expectancy. Describing the development of the Moog synthesizer from kit-built theremins to the ubiquitous and glorious Minimoog, the book mainly concentrates on pre-polyphonic modalur synths and how the world embraced them, and then turned them into cheese-making devices a-la "Switched-On Whatever" albums.Pinch and Trocco give us other ways to look at synths: they discuss women synthesists like Suzanne Ciani who never are mentioned in other histories even though Ms. Ciani's synthesized commercial work is probably the heard electronic music ever. Though Moog-centric, the book gives us the background of the Buchla box, a sort of sprout-and-wheat-germ rival to the Moog modulars. While Moog turned the synthesizer into a keyboard instruments, Buchla kept his machines free of established interfaces, and established musical norms.As a sythn-freak, I couldn't put this book down, even though much the material is duplicated in Mark Vail's Vintage Synths. Vail, however, choose to be only a technical historian, while Pinch and Trocco aim for a more cultural view of the events surrounding the shifting of musical boundaries.All your favorites are here; the unexpectedly successful Dr. Moog; the victorious but hubristic ARP company; the offhand eccentricities of EMS and their wonderful VCS3 named by Tristam Cary, son of Joyce Cary, the novelist. Don Buchla haunts the pages too, half Kesian merry-maker, half NASA sub-contractor with his silver, red and blue synths bleeping in the Haight. And good old Keith Emerson's here too, flailing his ribbon controller across the arenas of America.I recommend this book to anyone interested in electronic music, anyone interested in why their microwave talks to them, anyone interested in the history of 1960's.Analog Days also has a really cool cover.

Historically and technically informative, an interesting read for anyone who's into synths to find out how it all got started. Not just about Robert Moog, but others before him, those working simultaneously, and those that followed who explored new ways to express oneself musically using technology. The adventures of these people as they got the new instruments to the public and into the artistic domain were also of note, as they showed how synths were influencing new music and media. I think that more could have been mentioned about Dave Smith's contributions to musical technology in the latter chapters, though. Still, another great addition to my growing synth book collection!

An informative and entertaining read but I couldn't give it 5 stars due to the various moments where (and I realise that this is a book that is focused on Moog) the prose seems to become somewhat mumbled, presumably because the authors tongues were at that point so far up Bob Moog's backside as to become incoherent.

Very readable. Spent a lot of time cross-checking album references with youtube.

A very interesting and well researched book full of detail about the eary years of Dr Moog and the development of electronic music in general. Some nice pictures of people and machines which I had not seen before.Well worth the money.Paul Bates

I brought this for my husband and he loves it. I would recommend it to all people who like moog music and how it was all made.

Great book, I really enjoyed it.