John Baker.
Fifty years ago in 2008, the legendary BBC Radiophonic Workshop was founded. The best news concerning this anniversary didn’t arrive until the end of that year. Unknown tapes by Delia Derbyshire – by far the most remarkable person to ever have worked at the Workshop – were found, filled with unreleased material. High time for personal compilations of people who worked at the Radiophonic Workshop? Yes, sure, but the first one actually already exists! In 2008, out of nowhere the ‘John Baker Tapes’ were released: two compilations by John Baker. Another big name from the BBC bunch. The ingredients are, incidentally, the same: only recently retrieved tapes with unreleased material filled with early electronica. All of it made somewhere between 1954 and 1985. In the written supplement of these compilations, it also became clear how difficult John Baker’s personal life was: chainsmoker, (at that time forbidden) homosexuality, depressions, and excessive drinking. John Baker died in 1997.
In this hour of PopArt you will hear a selection from these compilations of the ‘silent second’ of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
1. Woman’s Hour (Reading Your Letters)
2. 20th Century Focus
3. Dial M For Murder
4. Au Printemps
5. Codename
6. Heavy Plant Crossing
7. COI Technology Pavillion
8. Many A Slip
9. PM – Computers In Business
10. Submarines
11. Diary Of A Madman
12. JB Dubs
13. Feedback MQ LP48/3
14. Electro-Weird MQ LP19/2
15. Electro-Suspense MQ LP1/2
16. Electro-Rhythm MQ LP1/3
17. Electro-Slow MQ LP1/4
18. Jazz Advert
19. Omo and Giro Adverts
20. Banshee Boogie MQ LP48/2
21. Pots ‘n’ Pans MQ LP48/2
22. Space Workshop MQ LP48/4
23. Requioso – PIL 9011
24. Piano Concrete MQ LP48/5
