Apollo 100 - Joy

[TheLoony]

The first time I ever heard this was in the documentary One Day In September. A rather good doc on a rather awful event. Great tune that gets overshadowed in the documentary by the use of Deep Purple's Child In time, which is used to rather gruesome yet truthful and fitting way.

Yet, this song has stuck with me and now it's being recycled as a Miller light commercial. That doesn't ruin the song for me it just made me want to talk to you'se guys about it, or for that matter, any other song that you found in a weird way that you really like. Crikey, I've found great music in the most odd ways so I'd really dig to hear your stories of songs like this. You may not have bought it, wanted to own it (almost a out dated concept) but yet it creeps into your life.

And who the hell is Tom Parker, anyway? Matters little. But Bach never sounded so good in the modern context.

[bob_32_116]

I had long forgotten about this single. I dare say some Bach purists would be horrified, but it's good for what it is.

I think there was a plague of this kind of thing when synthesisers first appeared on the scene - someone did one of Mozart's Sinfonias as well. Later of course a certain prog band, one whose name consists of three surnames, jumped on the bandwagon.

[WytchCrypt]

And who the hell is Tom Parker, anyway? Matters little. But Bach never sounded so good in the modern context.

I guess the Tom Parker they're referring to is "The Colonel"...Elvis' manager

[SteveSly]

My dad owned this album when I was a kid and I remember kind of digging it. In fact it may have been partially responsible for me moving in a progressive rock direction when I got older.

[Tangram]

I was a kid when this was released. Loved it. Didn't know anything about Bach, it just clicked. Somewhere I have an album, a double if I remember correctly, that's all instrumentals. I picked it up because of this song.

[rcarlberg]

I guess the Tom Parker they're referring to is "The Colonel"...Elvis' manager

Wrong.

There were a number of albums released in the immediate aftermath of Wendy Carlos' "Switched-On Bach" where classical pieces were rocked up, jazzed up or snazzed up with synthesizer. Apollo 100 was one of the catchier ones but by no means unique.

"My dad owned this album when I was a kid" -- "I was a kid when this was released" -- yeah go ahead, make me feel old.

[Tangram]

Wrong.

There were a number of albums released in the immediate aftermath of Wendy Carlos' "Switched-On Bach" where classical pieces were rocked up, jazzed up or snazzed up with synthesizer. Apollo 100 was one of the catchier ones but by no means unique.

"My dad owned this album when I was a kid" -- "I was a kid when this was released" -- yeah go ahead, make me feel old.

I'm on a quest now. I know I have it on a couple of albums or CDs, I have found it on Rock Instrument Classics of the 70's, I remember it being on another cd somewhere and I have to find that double album.

And about being a few years younger, well I had 2 swollen ankles in a bucket of very cold water today after playing a very easy game of basketball with my daughters. Not feeling too young today.

[Vic2012]

I was in Jr. Highschool when this song was a hit. It was a pretty huge hit. It was everywhere. It's a cool little instrumental pop song. Never thought of buying it though. Nice song, hearing for the first time in 40 years or so.

[rcarlberg]

They did at least two LPs of rocked-up classical music, I probably have them around here someplace. "Joy" was their best track.

[TheLoony]

Thanks again, guys. Nice to hear from people that were there at the time, as I wasn't.

[rcarlberg]

I remember my favorite rock-classical fusion album, in those days of The Nice and Ekseption, was something called "In A Covent Garden" by Electrophon.

[No Pride]

I think there was a plague of this kind of thing when synthesisers first appeared on the scene - someone did one of Mozart's Sinfonias as well. Later of course a certain prog band, one whose name consists of three surnames, jumped on the bandwagon.

... and one of those surnames delved into it even more frequently with the band he was previously in. Remember "Brandenburger?" Poor Bach, rolling over in his grave...

[Rarebird]

Chris Hinze also did some nice stuff with Bach. Alas I can't find anything from the album I own on youtube, so instead something else.

[Progbear]

The Apollo 100 albums are as close as we came to “prog-sploitation” apart from the Pink Mice albums (the guys from Lucifer’s Friend moonlighting for an extra paycheck, incidentally) and maybe the un-promisingly named Benninghoff’s Bad Rock Blues Band (as close as you’ll get to prog from the Nashville scene).

I remember my favorite rock-classical fusion album, in those days of The Nice and Ekseption, was something called "In A Covent Garden" by Electrophon.

Electrophon was Brian Hodgson and Dudley Simpson, both formerly of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Simpson composed the iconic theme music for Doctor Who and Hodgson was responsible for a lot of the sound effects (notably: the Dalek voices). After leaving the Workshop, Hodgson founded Electrophon Studios, based around his custom modular Electrophon Synthesizer (roughly the UK equivalent of TONTO, built upon an EMS Synthi 100 rather than a Moog). The duo recorded three albums under the Electrophon moniker, Zygoat and Further Thoughts on the Classics being the other two. Hodgson also collaborated with John Lewis under the name Wavemaker. The debut Wavemaker LP, Where Are We Captain?, gets my vote as one of the best albums of synth music produced in the UK. That fuzz-synth lead on “Double Helix” never fails to get the blood pumping. The follow-up, New Atlantis, was predictably disappointing (less hard-edged, more Muzak-y).