“Over the years, the debates have continued about the pros and cons of music machines, the impact of their existence on the habit patterns of society,…. their influence for good and evil on taste… As for taste, it has been driven to the wall, and all but through it, by exploitation of the music machines’ potential for serving the lowest common denominator. Whether in records, or in radio’s reliance on the Top Forty -those loudest, hardest, often cheapest appeals to the beetle-browed- selectivity has since foundered on the rock of commercialism.”
Jesus Irving. Don’t mince words buddy. Tell us how you really feel. Note how he allusively slips ‘Be(e/a)tle’ and ‘Rock’ in there. Nice one. ANYhow. Reactionary sentiments asides, HOMM is basically a chronological series of photos with explanatory captions. I find it interesting because it does not attempt to parse recording devices, electric instuments, synthesizers, amplification equipment, choosing instead to include all of these very different (in my mind, at least) type of equipment into the totality of ‘music machines.’ This suggests the view point that music is either made ‘by man alone’ or somehow made ‘by machine.’ It’s an interesting idea. A very outmoded binary opposition, certainly. Here are some highlights.
(footnote: a nod to EKL, originator of the ‘out-of-print-book-report’ in her PARFAIT series)
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I saw this at the Smithsonian in 1970 and they had quite a collection on display. I do remember them having an Ampex AG440 on display, a machine that was still in production back than and used in many studios.
The editor was Cintha A. Hoover. I did a historical research paper on this volume.