Digital Moonscapes

Digital Moonscapes

<I>Digital Moonscapes</I> was originally released in 1984. Reissued in tandem with <I>Beauty in the Beast</I>, these two albums present the extremes of Wendy Carlos. <I>Beauty in the Beast</I> is a work of rare originality and synthesis, both electronically and through its musicology. Fourteen years after its release, <I>Beauty</I> still sounds sonically rich and musically daring. <I>Digital Moonscapes</I>, however, sounded clumsy and contrived 16 years ago and little has changed. Carlos replicates an orchestra with her LSI Philharmonic (Large Scale Integration), but it sounds like a Tinkertoy with thin, whining timbres that wouldn't fool anyone as to their electronic origins. Yet, neither would the sounds of <I>Switched-on Bach</I>, but while <I>SOB</I> has attained a quaint charm, <I>Digital Moonscapes</I> just sounds dated. The LSI Philharmonic consistently sabotages her compositions, which are by turns portentous and playful, although sometimes just corny. Pieces like "I.C." beg for a sonic terrain of their own, but Carlos only provides an approximation. <I>--John Diliberto</I>