IN MEMORY OF DR. ROBERT A. MOOG

One of the pioneers of our field of electronic music, Dr. Robert Moog, passed away on August 21, 2005. Bob and his family had posted a website to keep interested friends and supporters up to date during his illness. It contains many memorable comments and tributes. Please consider making a donation to CaringBridge which is sponsoring the site. Click here for one of my pictures of Bob from a few years ago.

NEKTAR REISSUE: MAGIC IS A CHILD

The last of the Nektar reissues "Magic Is A Child" is out. I helped in the remastering and mixed a rediscovered Robert Fripp Frippertronics loops part that wasn't used on the original LP in 1977. It's back as one of several bonus tracks on the CD. More info at the official Nektar site.

BILLY SHERWOOD: BACK AGAINST THE WALL

Hear some Synergy electronic production on the tribute album of Pink Floyd's The Wall called Back Against The Wall produced by Billy Sherwood (formerly of Yes). Click here for more information on Billy's site. Work is now proceeding on the followup; tribute versions of the music ofDark Side of the Moon. I'll be contributing a track to the project.

INTERVIEW WITH INNERVIEWS

There is an informative interview posted at INNERVIEWS (www.innerviews.org/inner/fast.html) with a lot of good background on the SYNERGY CD releases through the years.

SYNERGY CD AVAILABILITY - REISSUES ON VOICEPRINT RECORDINGS

Since 1998, the original nine Synergy CDs on our Third Contact label have been manufactured and distributed by the Chronicles label, originally part of PolyGram and later a part of the Universal Music Group. That distribution arrangement has now ended. It is getting increasingly difficult to find the Chronicles CDs online through US retailers like Amazon.com. A great source of any remaining inventory is The Artist Shop.

However, in an almost seamless transition, the nine original CDs and the latest "Reconstructed Artifacts" are being released through the Voiceprint Recordings label in the UK. The first four ("Electronic Realizations", "Sequencer", "Cords" and "Games") and "Reconstructed Artifacts" are already available. The rest of the titles will become available through Voiceprint in the coming months. These are the same digitally remastered transfers from the original analog masters that were out on UMG/Chronicles.

The best part is that each of the first Voiceprint reissues has a bonus track, some never before heard. "Electronic Realizations" has an earlier version of Classical Gas exactly as it was on the non-US versions of the original LP. "Sequencer" has an early demo of Sequence 14, "Cords" has radio edit of Phobos, and "Games" has some early digital synthesizer parts created at Bell Laboratories in 1978-79.

All of the Synergy CDs can be ordered directly from Voiceprint and shipped worldwide (that includes to the US and Canada). The Artist Shop has the imports from Voiceprint at reasonable prices for US buyers. And the Voiceprint imports are beginning to show up at online retailers like Amazon for US buyers, but they are a little pricey for now (sorry we don't control that). Check out our How To Get CDs page for additional information.

With Voiceprint distributing everywhere outside of the US and Canada, and their imports from England picking up the slack in North America for now, we're in the process of deciding what makes the most sense for the future in the US and Canada. Options include placing Third Contact with a different distributor, distributing ourselves, or extending Voiceprint's territory to formally include North America. Electronic downloads are going to be a part of this, too. We'll keep you updated as things evolve in the coming months.

RECONSTRUCTED ARTIFACTS - LATEST SYNERGY CD

In case you missed it on the home page, the latest SYNERGY CD is "Reconstructed Artifacts". All new recordings, but familiar Synergy material. Click here to get the whole story. Reconstructed Artifacts is available now through The Artist Shop and CD Baby in North America and through Voiceprint Recordings (UK) for Europe and Asia.

LATEST SYNERGY ARTICLES

The Nov/Dec 2003 issue of Tape Op magazine issue #38 has an extensive interview by Roman Sokal about all things Synergy starting on page 28. It's definitely worth checking out.

Progression Magazine issue #44 Winter 2003/Spring 2004 has a cover story about Tony Levin with a nice sidebar story about Synergy. Also well worth reading.