Jean Jacques Perrey Forum

Jean Jacques Perrey

Forum

Jean-Jacques Perrey is a wonderful, friendly, humorous and witty guy!
He has created some of the most wonderful electronic/moog sounds of
our time.

My oldest album by Mr. Perrey is "Musique Electronique du Cosmos"
(circa '62). It is a pure outer space musique concept album with some
fantastic early electronic sounds and a great other-worldy atmosphere.
It's eerie, mysterious, serene and strange. I give it 8-stars.

My first Jean-Jacques Perrey LP was "The In Sound from Way Out" which I heard playing inside a record shop. I couldn't help smiling and
laughing when I heard it! It was a combo of funny songs and cheery
melodic pop tunes. I couldn't resist the music and bought a copy.

My favorite songs are: "Unidentified Flying Object", "The Little Man from
Mars", "Cosmic Ballad", Barnyard in Orbit", Spooks in Space, Girl from
Venus" and "Computer in Love".

This '66 LP contains no moog! What you do hear is the Jenny Ondioline,
Martenot Waves and musique concrete, which was made with recorded
sound tape manipulation and much splicing of hundreds of audio
snippets. Much patience was required on this LP collaboration with
Gershon Kingsley, and 275 hours were spent in the laboratory. There's
an emphasis on fun and non-stop silly sounds on this LP. I give this LP
8-stars out of 10. Most all the songs are original and great!

For their second LP "Kaleidoscopic Vibrations" released in '67, they
added the moog synthesizer which had only debuted in October '64.
These 2-LP's basically sound about the same, but I thought the inclusion
of the moog added a richer sound. This LP has more serious pop
tracks, most of which are electronic versions of well known tunes which
bored me a bit.

I prefer Perrey's own fresh new pop creations because they're musically
better suited for his signature fun pop sound. The songs don't flow together nearly as well on this album.

My favorite tracks are: "The Savers", "One Note Samba/Spanish Flea",
"Third Man Theme" and "Toy Balloons". I give the album 6-stars.

For '68 Perrey went solo on his "The Amazing New Electronic Pop Sound of Jean Jacques Perrey" release. This record was full of very
enjoyable and melodic original electo-pop tunes. Each tune is so warm,
happy and catchy that they don't tire as much as "Kaleidoscopic Vibrations". Many of the familiar sounds heard on "The In Sound..." are revisited here. Again, I like most of the songs on this one, and I give
it 8-stars.

For '69 Perrey teamed up with Harry Breuer on "The Happy Moog!" for an exciting step forward in sounds. The sound here is even fuller and complex. The moog is utilized in a wonderful way, and it's warm pulsing mid-range sounds with low bass and high end accompaniment are a real treat! Here again are original compositions just full of melodic beauty, and more new sound effects. The recorded fun sounds however, do not dominate, but rather let the bouncy, throaty moog tunes dominate. The tunes here convey the sound and feel of other cultures. This is a standout album, so I give it 9-stars.

Perrey was solo again in '70 for his "Moog Indigo" release. This LP
explores funk & soul, which was in vogue at that time. The song flow
is a mixed bag of sounds and ideas that clash somewhat in the way of
a smooth-flow listening experience. This album does have some
great songs but not enough of them are great, and some just so, so.
Several songs along with "E.V.A" and it's catchy break-beats, make it
a worthwhile addition to your Perrey archives though. I was a bit
disappointed with "Moog Indigo" after "The Happy Moog" in '69, so I
give this album 7-stars.

The Canadian release: "Dynamoog" in '71 is a hard one to locate. I
have yet to hear it.

Perrey released 6-LP in France on the Montparnasse LIbrary label from
about 1972-74. Of these releases I own "Moog Sensations" (circa '72),
which was the first Montparnasse 2000 release of the series (#MP-25).

This is a great listen! There's a technological advancement in the sound.
The goofy sound clips are no longer present on "Sensations". Many of
the songs are shorter, with some much longer. The music is more
sophisticated and spacey sounding, with space sounds utilized in place
of silly sound effects....though there are a few! The album music was designed for tv & radio commercials and it sounds like it....great stuff!

The song titles are mostly exotique and in French, titles like: "Aerolithe
Alpha", "Coeur Synthetique", "Ballet Intersideral", "Pizzicato Pour Venus"
"Indicatif Spatial" and "Berceuse pour un Bebe Robot".

Side 1 of this LP is my favorite. I imagine this LP is representative of
what is to be heard on the other 5-releases in the series. I give this LP
9-stars.

No other pop artist has offered so many "HAPPY" moog sounds than
the talented Jean-Jacques Perrey and he remains on of my all-time
favorite moog artists!

For more great moog sounds try Richard Hayman's "Geniune Latin Love
Machine", Dick Hyman's "Moog: The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman",
"The Age of Electronicus", Hot Butter's "Hot Butter", The Electric Hair's
"Electric Hair", Gershon Kingsley's "First Moog Quartet", Emil Richard's
"Stones" (funky) and for some spacey scary stuff check out Mort Garson's
"Electronic Hair Pieces" or as (aka) Lucifer "Black Mass" , (aka) Ataraxia "The Unexplained". For groovy sounds with spoken word try
Mort Garson & Jacques Wilson "The Zodiac Cosmic Sounds"!

Happy Listening!
Cosmo

>>By cosmo (Monday, 2 Dec 2002 10:01)

Hi ---

I enjoyed your comments about Jean Jacques Perrey's music. Later this year, I will be begin a book on his life and his music. More info can be found at www.danacountryman.com

About "THE HAPPY MOOG," are you sure it's from 1969? Even Jean Jacques doesn't remember when it was recorded, but I'd be curious to know if you definitely remember it coming out during 1969.

"THE HAPPY MOOG" is one of my favorite albums, and I've been known to play it nearly every day! I love the wild mix of outer-space sounds with ragtime --- an unlikely combination that I can't recall anyone else ever doing! And they're all original melodies - very strong and memorable. I'd love to see a legitimate release of this on CD someday...

Take Care!

- Dana Countryman
www.danacountryman.com

>>By happymoogman (Sunday, 12 Jan 2003 11:11)

Merci mon Ami .
JJ

>>By jjperrey (Saturday, 18 Jan 2003 20:33)

The discussion board is currently closed.