Because we are dedicated to honest customer opinions Dr Who At The Radiophonic Workshop Vol. 1: The Early Years 1963-1969 (Various Artists) (Audio CD), we have also included Amazon's customer reviews for this item (of which 6 are displayed below). Amazon customers have given Dr Who At The Radiophonic Workshop Vol. 1: The Early Years 1963-1969 (Various Artists) an average rating of 4.0/5.
Top Amazon Review
It's been so easy to sympathetically think back on the series as budget-challenged chintz. Contemporary technology is like a comfort zone of superiority against TV of the past; what really mustn't be forgotten is how appreciated Dr. Who was in its day for technical innovation. And that's where this first volume comes in: the Hartnell and Troughton years-apart from being blessed with Ron Grainer's immortal theme--were often tracked with sourced library cues. The majority of playtime is thereby made up by the unique sound designers then resident at the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop (principally Brian Hodgson, Delia Derbyshire, and Dick Mills). While this hardly makes for any sort of light musical experience, it is nonetheless a fascinating record of electronic sound at its genesis. Twenty-two episodes are covered in various fashions, there's the old-piano-and-a-key "Original TARDIS Effect", but most importantly a chronicling of each stage of the Grainer theme. Preparing for the continuation on Volume Two is a final, unused rendition.
Customer Review 1
"Jarvis in a Dream State". Overall this has very little music, but it's a fascinating listening experience nonetheless. You might have to skip past the theme tune, because you've heard it before, and it's on the record three times (four if you count the end theme). The rest is a mixture of unsettling ambient drones, disturbing space atmospheres, and cold, dispiriting pings and whooshes.
My favourite track is "Cybermats attracted to Wheel". It's a boing noise that repeats a few times, but it's a lovely boing noise, and I love the way it repeats. The selection from The Wheel in Space, which makes up tracks 37 - 51, is like a miniature early Tangerine Dream record, or a more peaceful Stockhausen. It is my favourite part of the album. "Floating Through Space" is sinister, "Interior Rocket (Suspense Music)" is menacing, and "Jarvis in a Dream State" is perturbing. Listening to the music without watching the show, I am left with a mental impression of avant-garde experimental black and white horror cinema. I have a mental impression of some very clever people in a stark, abandoned school hall, carefully preparing tapes and oscilloscopes. It's all very reminiscent of Gil Mellé's music from The Andromeda Strain.
I say "music", but this album often blurs the boundaries between noise and music, and indeed many of the tracks were commissioned as background atmospheres. Several of the consist of a single albeit often complicated effect, e.g. the various noises that accompany functions of the Tardis, whereas "Galaxy Atmosphere" is an evolving noise layered on top of itself. Other highlights of the record include "Machine and City Theme", which has an ominous, grinding feel; the peaceful, ambient "Musak", which should have been released as a single; and "White Void", which is cold, so cold, like the universe itself. Track 29, "Chromophone Band", is a relatively conventional tune with a melody and a beat. It sounds like the work of Joe Meek. It was written by Dudley Simpson, and arranged in typically inventive style by Delia Derbyshire. The "Chumbley" tracks are cute, and it's a shame that Chumbley has to die (with an electronic death gasp!).
As the title of the record states, this music was made between 1963 and 1969. It sounds timeless, as if from another universe where time does not exist.
It's worth looking on Google for Mark Ayres' website; he compiled the record, and on his website he writes about the tracks, telling us that e.g. "Cyber Invasion" was originally eight minutes long (it is a whooshing noise, the audio equivalent of a barber's pole, and it would be horrible to listen to for eight minutes).
Customer Review 2
The real deal. Listening to the original Dr Who theme on this compilation as originally intended by Delia Derbyshire et al made me realise why I do not like the present version of Who. New iWho s facile and flashy...too smooth and mechanical, whereas old Who was very organic....it was genuinely scarey & Delia's theme reflects this, the new synthed up theme is just plain awful. Buying this CD lead me further down the rabbit hole that is Delia's life...fascinating!
Customer Review 3
Interesting.... It should be called a sound effects CD as there are only a few pieces of music, and mostly the Who theme from the two different Doctors of the time. The real meat of this package is the sound effects, and these are particularly great if you happen to be a Who fanatic who dabbles in home movies. The background Dalek spacecraft sounds are excellent, as are much of the 'stingers', bleeps, heartbeats and other random bits of sound that you'll remember from the episodes in question. A particular highlight of mine is the painful Cyberman invasion signal from 'The Invasion'. It is a haunting piece and guaranteed to invoke insanity after prolonged listening. The only reason this doesn't reach 4 or 5 stars is that it isn't a musical score as aforementioned, but a sound effect collection. Don't let that out you off, however, as the sounds are spot on.
Customer Review 4
Hold on for an Audio Adventure in Space and Time!. This is a brilliant selection of many of the unearthly sound effects which were so essential to the success of the 60s Doctor Who adventures.Highlights must be the superb swirling Dalek City sounds, the full TARDIS take-off and the various versions of the original "Who" theme tune, but there are countless other atmospheric tracks. Radiophonic Workshop "guardian" Mark Ayres has done a fantastic job in finding and restoring these cues to their present quality. There are also a few tantalizing segments of Dudley Simpson's early incidental music using the BBC's electronic organ and synthesizers. Forget the repetitive and unimaginative sounds of Star Trek: The Next Money Grabbing Franchise, these are truly the most original and otherworldly special sounds you are likey to hear.I highly recommend this release, and also its sequel, volume 2!
Customer Review 5
Sound effects and theme music. Musician Mark Ayres has been working with the BBC on remastering a number of audio releases, as well as researching and cataloguing the output of the Radiophonic Workshop. There's little in the way of actual music by the Workshop from this time though Ayres has unearthered different and unreleased, albeit similar, variants on the theme music and a large number of background sound effects - some familiar, others less so. How about recreating a Dalek control room in your own bedroom - or perhaps a very unusual dinner party ambience!
