Douglas Leedy - A Very Merry Electric Christmas To You

Several weeks ago, I posted a yuleblog entry about electronic music, the theremin, and the Moog. To quote from that entry:

"Any other Christmas Moog albums out there that I missed? I know of one which I found sealed in a Chicago record store that I'm planning on sharing next month..."

Well, here it is. My final offering for my Christmas in July celebration. Guess I saved the best for last.

There's not much out there on Douglas Leedy. According to a rather meandering Wikipedia entry, he was born in 1938, studied many varied styles of music all over the world, and has been composing and conducting music for most of his life.

He eventually ended up in Brentwood, California at UCLA. It was here that he founded UCLA's electronic music studio and specialized in the Moog and Buchla synthesizers and an electronic gizmo named the Ognob Generator:

(Click on image to enlarge)

Being so close to Hollywood, the good folks at Capitol Records soon came calling and asked Leedy in 1968 to record some albums. Right out of the box, he recorded an original TRIPLE album of synth music entitled "Entropical Paradise". Some of this music from the album ended up in the 1972 adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five".

In 1969, Leedy released "Zodiac", another original album of synth music. Two years later, Leedy and Capitol released the album you see here.

It's an aptly named album. If you love Moog / electronic music, then this is right up your street. Add Christmas and you're really in for a treat. Leedy's take on Christmas music is quite unique - several tracks are ethereal at the start, then a subtle Christmas melody takes over. Quite the rush.

Some of the ten tracks (which leaves you wanting more) sweep from channel to channel and can cause dizziness when operating heavy machinery as well. It's a trip and a half.


UPDATE: This album is now available to download online at emusic.com for the amazingly low price of 49 cents a track or $4.40 for the full album!  I'm getting my copy now before the Christmas rush - follow my lead and click the link.

This means this album is no longer available to download here at the yuleblog.  It also means one less LP to remaster down the road!


Capt