“It has always been my dream and ambition… to be able to paint and sculpt sonic structures which could in fact be described as instant compositions.” That’s Patrick Moraz talking in the opening liner notes to Future Memories. Now, this is me talking: It has never been my dream or ambition to pay perfectly good money for sonic structures which could in fact be described as pulled out of somebody’s ass. But, since this is where we find ourselves tonight, let’s make the best of it. In November 1979, Swiss television broadcast Patrick Moraz spontaneously composing, on what I’m guessing could only have been a Wednesday. The very, very strange keyboardist surrounded himself with an arsenal of electronic keyboards and proceeded to “(organize) the conscience in order to convey and transcend the ideas into organized sonic architecture,” which I’m assuming involved a Coke can, a thumbtack and at least a quarter-ounce of really good Swiss pot. In its defense, Future Memories isn’t much worse than most of Moraz’ music, which always sounded suspiciously spontaneous to me. “Eastern Sundays” was mixed on the following day and thus is more polished than the side-long “Metamorphoses,” while “Black Silk” was recorded on the Bosendorfer and goes off without a hitch. Personally, I have no trouble filing this under E for Ephemera and getting on with my life. As a live exercise, Future Memories was a success… thirty years ago. Not everything needs to be preserved on plastic; as long as they’ve got a copy of this in the Library of Congress, I can sleep at night. In 1984, Patrick Moraz repeated the exercise on Swiss television. Apparently, the Swiss still hadn’t figured out that you could use old episodes of The Honeymooners to fill in dead air time.
Original LP Version
A1. Metamorphoses (18:50)
B1. Eastern Sundays (8:48)
B2. Black Silk (10:13)
All music by Patrick Moraz.
The Players
Patrick Moraz (Yamaha CS80, minimoog, Taurus bass pedal, Roland space echo (for Moog), Mellotron Mk IV, Oberheim 8 Voices with programmer, Hammond C3, clavinet, micromoog, Pro Soloist, double minimoog, Yamaha CP 70 with riser, Obie sequencer, Roland vocoder, Roland computa rhythm, Mellotron Mk II, Roland Jupiter, Oberheim 4 Voices, Clavitar, pedals, glass, bells, gongs, Paiste cymbals, Jupiter Compuphonic, Clavitar Duophonic, grand piano Bosendorfer Imperial, xternal compunoise, flandging devices, executive producer). Produced by Patrick Moraz; engineered & mixed by Jean Ristori. Executive producers: Patrick Moraz & Jean Ristori.
The Pictures
Photos by Monique Delley. Cover design by JP.
The Plastic
Released on elpee in 1979 in France (Carrere, 67.435) with gatefold cover & inner sleeve.
- Re-issued on elpee and cassette in 1984 in the US and Canada (PVC, PVC/PVCC-8922).
- Re-issued on compact disc on December 9, 2008 in the US (United States of Distribution, USDS-1113).
- Re-packaged with Future Memories II on 2-for-1 compact disc in 2007 (Time Wave, MVDA-1030917).
