Journey to the Moon and Beyond by Mort Garson is a collection of largely unreleased and unheard material from the Patch Cord Productions archives, to be released July 20th via Sacred Bones.
The release date was selected because of its proximity to another very important date - July 20th marks the 54th anniversary of the moon landing and happens to be Mort's 99th birthday! The compilation includes Mort's music from the soundtrack to the 1970 National Geographic special and the live broadcast of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, as first heard on CBS News.
Mort Garson was a pioneer in electronic music - and if you're an avid reader of Synth History's Instagram posts, I'm sure you've heard of him before. You've likely heard of Plantasia, his 1976 record subtitled "warm earth music for plants and the people who love them". Originally released on Homewood Records, over the years it grew a cult following and has become a classic record for synth aficionados, gardeners, and music lovers alike. When it was first released, you couldn’t get it just anywhere. You had to either buy a houseplant from a store called Mother Earth on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles (see the photos) or purchase a Simmons mattress from Sears. Plantasia would be reissued years later by Sacred Bones - good news for vinyl collectors, as an original pressing today can cost upwards of $270 on Discogs.
There are so many things Mort was involved in, from writing the score for Mel Brooks' and Carl Reiner's 1975 animated television special The 2000 Year Old Man, to supplying the music that played during the television transmissions of the Apollo 11 manned moon landing (featured on Journey to the Moon and Beyond). He’s truly legend - one of the first to bring synths to the spotlight - and I'm excited for this record.
Make sure to to pre-order it here.
By Danz.