Moog Synthesizer
The Google Doodle which celebrated what would have been Dr. Robert Moog's 78th birthday (woud that be a Moogle?), made me wanna make a list of all classic recordings which feature his revolutionary synthesizer. By clicking on the titles, you will be redirected to YouTube clips of the songs, which are more or less in chronological order. These clips might not be the actual studio version of the track - I'm pretty sure that if you ended up on this page, you'll probably already have those somewhere in you record collection or iPod anyway.
Diana Ross & The Supremes - Reflections
Probably the first hit single to feature a Moog synthesizer, Diana Ross and the Supremes tried to cash in on the psychedelic sounds of 1967 with the release of this single in July. Apparently, Motown was one of the first ten clients to buy a Moog synthesizer. |
The Doors - Strange Days
Said to be the first rock album to feature a Moog synthesizer, engineer Bruce Botnick told Sound On Sound that Jim Morrison himself played the instrument on the title track, using it to alter the sound of his voice. |
The Monkees - Daily Nightly
Monkee Micky Dolenz was the third owner of a Moog, which is used extensively on this track from their November 1967 album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. You should definitely check out the videoclip, with the Monkees proudly hurrled around their impressive sci-fi instrument. |
Zodiac - Aries - The Fire-Fighter
The opening cut on Cosmic Sounds features jazz musician and electronic instrument collector Paul Beaver on Moog. As he was one of only few people who could play the instrument at the time, he also played Moog on albums by the Monkees and the Byrds. Top studio musicians Carol Kaye (bass) and Hal Blaine (drum) made up the rhythm section, with folk musician Cyrus Faryar reciting the album's narrative over the experimental backing music. |
The Byrds - Moog Raga
As it's title indicates, this outtake from the January 1968 Notorious Byrd Brothers album features the Moog recreating - quite succesfully - the then very popular Indian sitar and percussion music. Space Odyssey, the closing track of the LP, makes use of the Moog in quite the same manner, this time played by Roger McGuinn. |
Simon & Garfunkel - Save The Life Of My Child
A horrible cut in my honourable opinion but notable since the Moog was set up by Bob Moog himself, who, according to Art Garfunkel, was "having courses, in New York, for those who wanted to learn about it. We didn't know how to use it, it could do so many different things. We said 'let's use it as a bass instrument, let it be a pretend electric bass, a synthesised bass'." |
The Beatles - Here Comes The Sun
It was George Harrison who introduced the Moog to the Fab Four so it only seemed appropiate to choose a track which he wrote and on which he played the instrument. The Moog was also used on the Abbey Road tracks Because (the French horn sound), Maxwell's Silver Hammer (the solo), Mean Mr. Mustard (as a complement to McCartney's bass guitar) and I Want You (She's So Heavy) (the white noise during the outro). Harrison had used a Moog earlier in 1969 to record his second solo album, the instrumental Electronic Sound. |
Emerson Lake & Palmer - Lucky Man
When Keith Emerson experienced troubles with his newly acquired Moog, he enlisted the help of Bob Moog himself. This collaboration led to Emerson playing a custom Moog Modular System, which can be heard at the end of Lucky Man, the hitsingle form Emerson Lake & Palmer's eponymous album. MTV's Kurt Loder said "it demonstrated for delighted keyboard players everywhere that it was at last possible for them to blow amp-shredding lead guitarists right off the stage, if they so chose". Funny story: Emerson improvised the solo at the end and was devastated to learn he couldn't try another take since all tracks were filled. Later on, he forgot how to play the solo altogether: "So I actually called up Keyboard Magazine, I knew they'd done a transcription of it. 'Do you think I could have a copy of the solo from Lucky Man?' They said 'What? Keith Emerson wants a copy of...' They managed to transcribe it pretty accurately. So that was it. Thank you Keyboard Magazine and Dominic Milano, I think." |
Led Zeppelin - Friends
Legend has it that when a young engineer found out he screwed up the ending of one of Led Zeppelin's new tracks, he fled the studio, fearing for his life. Something had to be done so bass- and keyboardplayer John Paul Jones dug up a Moog synthesizer and used one droning note to connect the Indian sounding Friends to the hard rocking Celebration Day on Led Zeppelin III. |
Leon Russell - Stranger In A Strange Land
This is the opening cut from Leon Russell And The Shelter People (1971), the second solo record by multi-instrumentalist Leon Russell, who previously had played piano with Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs And Englishmen. Russell enlisted engineer Terry Manning to program the Moog for this cut. A year before, Manning had released a solo album of his own, Home Sweet Home, featuring a Moog synthesizer programmed by Bob Moog. |
Bee Gees - Sweet Song Of Summer
Closing their October 1972 To Whom It May Concern album, the Bee Gees' Sweet Song Of Summer is a psychedelich yet melancholic tune with a Moog solo by Maurice Gibb, who also played mandolin, piano and bass on the record. |
Stevie Wonder - Superstitious
Stevie Wonder started using the TONTO polyphonic analog synthesizer, based on the Moog Series III, and the original Moog for bass parts on his March 1972 Music Of My Mind album but his new music came to full fruition with October's Talking Book and the hitsingle Superstition. Wonder performed all instruments except the horns, including the characteristic drum beat, the iconic clavinet riff and the Moog bass. The funky experiment continued with 1973's Innervisions (with Living For The City and Higher Ground) and 1974's Fulfillingness' First Finale (with Boogie On Reggae Woman). |
Hot Butter - Popcorn
Although it was originally composed and recorded by Gershon Kingsley in 1969 for his album Music To Moog By, Popcorn reached the top of the charts in 1972. It was rerecorded by Hot Butter, the band of Stan Free, who was previously a member of Kingsley's band First Moog Quartet. Apparently, the title refers to the shart staccato 'popping' melody. Another story has a studio technician saying it was pop music and corny - which makes popcorn. |
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Probably one of the first succesfull bands which used electronic instruments almost exclusively, Kraftwerk scored an unexpected 'hit' with their 3:27 radio edit of Autobahn, the 22 minutes long title track from their fourth studio record. The song, which tried to capture the feel of driving on a highway, was the band's first to feature vocals. The bass was played using a Moog synth and some analogue echo. |
Donna Summer - I Feel Love
This song concluded Donna Summer's 1977 concept album I Remember Yesterday, where each song represented one decade. Quite unsurprisingly, I Feel Love represented the future, as noted by Brian Eno, who excitedly exclaimed to David Bowie upon first hearing the song: "This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years". Producer Pete Bellotte told Sound On Sound about him and Giorgio Morodor experimenting with the Moog: "We had entered another world! But engineer Robbie Wedel was the true innovator, and he deserves so much credit." |
[Type your name and song here]
Marc Doty, hailed on the Bob Moog Foundation's website as their "resident synth guru", posted a YouTube tutorial on how to play the Moogle - and, by extension, any other synthesizer. Off you go!