Silva Screen have announced that the 1983 album The Soundhouse, featuring music by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, will be re-released on CD on 7th October with a vinyl pressing to follow on 4th November:

In 1979 the Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) was launched, the year that the BBC Radiophonic Workshop celebrated its 21st birthday . At the price of a house (approx £30,000) this state of the art piece of equipment was embedded with an 8 bit digital sampling synthesizer capable of emulating acoustic instruments and orchestras alongside the manipulation of sound effects. For the BRW this was a major game changer, where previously, composers would spend weeks editing small pieces of tape together to create sounds. Ingenuity and creativity in music and sound was still at the forefront for Workshop members but suddenly made a whole lot easier. This 1983 collection (a first time re-release here of the complete album) celebrated these new found freedoms most notably on the opening track where five Radiophonic composers combined to add their own musical identity to a rhythmic percussive sequence from the Fairlight. Highlights include music from the radio production of The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy and Fancy Fish based on Saint-Saen’s Carnival Of The Animals which was the first BRW project to utilise the Fairlight.

TRACK LISTING

12″ VINYL ALBUM (SILLP1511)

1. Peter Howell – Radiophonic Rock
2. Peter Howell – Lascaux
3. Jonathan Gibbs – Computers in the Real World
4. Dick Mills – Seascape
5. Paddy Kingsland – The Whale
6. Roger Limb – Ralleyman
7. Dick Mills – Catch the Wind
8. Malcolm Clarke – Believe It or Not
9. Elizabeth Parker – Planet Earth
10. Jonathan Gibbs – Dawn
11. Peter Howell – Mainstream
12. Malcolm Clarke – The Unseeing Eye
13. Peter Howell – Fancy Fish (“Aquarium”)
14. Paddy Kingsland – Brighton Pier
15. Dick Mills – Armagiddean War Games
16. Roger Limb – Yellow Moon
17. Elizabeth Parker – Radio Blackburn
18. Dick Mills – Macrocosm
19. Peter Howell – Land and People
20. Jonathan Gibbs – Houdin’s Musical Box
21. Roger Limb – Ghost in the Water
22. Malcolm Clarke – The Milonga

CD ALBUM (SILCD1511)

1. Peter Howell – Radiophonic Rock
2. Peter Howell – Lascaux
3. Jonathan Gibbs – Computers in the Real World
4. Dick Mills – Seascape
5. Paddy Kingsland – The Whale
6. Roger Limb – Ralleyman
7. Dick Mills – Catch the Wind
8. Malcolm Clarke – Believe It or Not
9. Elizabeth Parker – Planet Earth
10. Jonathan Gibbs – Dawn
11. Peter Howell – Mainstream
12. Malcolm Clarke – The Unseeing Eye
13. Peter Howell – Fancy Fish (“Aquarium”)
14. Paddy Kingsland – Brighton Pier
15. Dick Mills – Armagiddean War Games
16. Roger Limb – Yellow Moon
17. Elizabeth Parker – Radio Blackburn
18. Dick Mills – Macrocosm
19. Peter Howell – Land and People
20. Jonathan Gibbs – Houdin’s Musical Box
21. Roger Limb – Ghost in the Water
22. Malcolm Clarke – The Milonga