Mort Garson - Journey To The Moon And Beyond (Mars Red Vinyl + Poster)

The crown jewel of the set is no doubt Garson’s soundtrack to the live broadcast of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, as first heard on CBS News. That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for Moogkind. But for decades, this audio was presumed lost, the only trace of it appearing to be from an old YouTube clip. Thankfully, diligent audio archivist Andy Zax came across a copy of the master tape while going through the massive Rod McKuen archive. So now we get to hear it in all its glory. Across six minutes, Garson conjures broad fantasias, whirring mooncraft sounds, zero-gravity squelches, and twinkling études. It showcases Mort’s many moods: sweet, exploratory, whimsical, a little bit corny, weaving it all together in a glorious whole.

Maybe at the time it scanned as crass and opportunistic for Garson to apply his keyboards to subjects like astrological signs, the occult, hippiedom, houseplants, or the moon landing. But more than most other electronic music pioneers of his ilk, Garson foresaw the integration of such electronics into our daily lives, how they would allow us to engage with the world.

TRACKLISTING
1 Zoos of The World
2 The Big Game Hunters See the Cheetah
3 Western Dragon (Pt 3)
4 Western Dragon (Pt 2)
5 Moon Journey
6 Music for Advertising #6
7 Black Eye (Main Theme)
8 Western Dragon (Pt 1)
9 Music for Advertising #7
10 Captain DJ Disco UFO (Pt II)
11 Three TV IDs
12 Music for Advertising #8
13 Love is a Garden
14 The D-Bee's Cat Boogie
15 Black Eye (End Credits)