Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer (review)
- Trevor Pinch and Frank Trocco: Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer
Having gained back the right to commercial use of his own name, 2002 seems to have launched something of a rejuvenation in the professional life of Robert Moog. [Editor's note: Robert Moog passed away 21 August 2005, after this review was written. An obituary will appear in the next issue.] In addition to this book, Analog Days, by academics Trevor Pinch (Cornell University) and Frank Trocco (Lesley University), Hans Fjellestad's film, Moog, has recently been released (reviewed elsewhere in this issue). Although the book doesn't take note (the film does), there is perhaps more interest now in the Moog synthesizer, the Theremin, and related technology, than there has been for decades. There is, additionally, increased attention being paid to the history of electronic music, and this book, which goes way beyond the scope of its subtitle, "The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer," contributes substantially to the elucidation of this field. With the Moog synthesizer as the focus, the book is more a general history of the analog synthesizer.
The writing is informal for the most part, aimed at non-academic readers. Much information is based on extensive interviews, so there is much anecdotal discussion, but this does not detract from the presentation. The authors have taken good care to ensure that the chapters retain their particular focus, and that the overall trajectory remains clear. In trying to tell the story of the Moog synthesizer, they have found it necessary [End Page 82] to explore related technology, other inventors, cultural phenomena. To me, this makes good sense.
To justify their approach, the authors' explain:
The paradox of history is that significant events are often recognized long after they occur, when it may be too late to recapture what went on and why . . . We try to avoid hindsight. By tracking down and interviewing the early pioneers—engineers, musicians, and other users—we have tried to recreate the enthusiasm and uncertainties of what is was like back then . . . We see our own task in writing this history as being akin to the practice of analog synthesis. Our sources of sound are the stories we recorded and discovered in texts. We have filtered the stories to bring out certain themes and have muted others. We have shaped our account, giving it narrative structure, in the way that synthesists shaped sound. We have, on occasions, fed the stories back to the participants and hence produced yet new version of the events. Sometimes when stories do not match up, rather than get rid of the inconsistencies, we have allowed the discordances to remain. If we had chosen another configuration of quotes, we are quite sure we could have produced a rather different history.
(p. 11)
In addition to an introduction ("Sculpting Sound") and conclusion ("Performance"), there are 14 chapters, each divided into sections often given picturesque titles; colorful quotations from songs or texts head up each chapter. The introduction, for example, is led off by two quotes: "An examination of more recent phenomena shows a strong trend toward spray cheese, stretch denim and Moog synthesizers" (Fran Lebowitz, Metropolitan Life); "Holidays & Salad Days, and Days of Moldy Mayonnaise" (Frank Zappa, "Electric Aunt Jemina" from Uncle Meat).
Chapter one, "Subterranean Homesick Blues," outlines the early days of Mr. Moog's life and the early days of developing the synthesizer and beginning to promote it.
Chapter two, "Buchla's Box," looks sideways to the parallel development of...
