Comments on: What Isao Tomita did before he was famous http://www.classitronic.net/2009/07/21/what-isaotomita-did-before-he-was-famous/ For fans and makers of classical synthesizer music Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:06:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: nick http://www.classitronic.net/2009/07/21/what-isaotomita-did-before-he-was-famous/comment-page-1/#comment-1081 nick Sun, 01 Aug 2010 08:02:04 +0000 http://www.classitronic.net/wp/?p=29#comment-1081 Electric Samurai was the name it was released under in the UK. I have 1974 as the UK release date so it could have been in response to "Snowflakes" though I've not verified that. The album came out in 1972 on Columbia Japan (Sony) with no featured artist's name with the title of "Switched On Hit & Rock" When I talked to him a decade ago he actually brought the album up. I was just vaguely familiar with it so I couldn't ask many detailed questions about it. One of the things he made very clear is the Japanese record industry did not consider Switched on Bach proper Classical music so they did not know where to file it in terms of genre. I don't believe it got a proper 1960s release in Japan, am I correct? So he was only introduced to it in 1969 at preparations for the Expo (Tomita composed for Toshiba's multimedia multichannel spectacle). The genre issue and disinterest in synth music definitely played a role when he wanted to produce albums. He had only known about electronic sounds for what he considered as sound effects use. He held Switched On Bach as proof of the potential to create new orchestral sounds. I wasn't able to verify this but since this album was released by Columbia Japan (Sony) I can see that firstly there wasn't a conflict with it being pop music and then the good timing that the Japanese release was in quad. My theory is Sony likely was looking to acquire material to release in quad given their drive to promote quad hardware. When trying get a release of "Snowflakes", this album didn't help other than surely gaining experience using his synth. He ran into the genre problem in Japan and was rejected by Japanese labels. He proposed his Debussy album to RCA in New York and they were happy to release it, so through the 80s his contract was with U.S. RCA though he did stay with BMG Japan after that until around 2000. Electric Samurai was the name it was released under in the UK. I have 1974 as the UK release date so it could have been in response to “Snowflakes” though I’ve not verified that.

The album came out in 1972 on Columbia Japan (Sony) with no featured artist’s name with the title of “Switched On Hit & Rock”

When I talked to him a decade ago he actually brought the album up. I was just vaguely familiar with it so I couldn’t ask many detailed questions about it. One of the things he made very clear is the Japanese record industry did not consider Switched on Bach proper Classical music so they did not know where to file it in terms of genre. I don’t believe it got a proper 1960s release in Japan, am I correct? So he was only introduced to it in 1969 at preparations for the Expo (Tomita composed for Toshiba’s multimedia multichannel spectacle). The genre issue and disinterest in synth music definitely played a role when he wanted to produce albums. He had only known about electronic sounds for what he considered as sound effects use. He held Switched On Bach as proof of the potential to create new orchestral sounds.

I wasn’t able to verify this but since this album was released by Columbia Japan (Sony) I can see that firstly there wasn’t a conflict with it being pop music and then the good timing that the Japanese release was in quad. My theory is Sony likely was looking to acquire material to release in quad given their drive to promote quad hardware.

When trying get a release of “Snowflakes”, this album didn’t help other than surely gaining experience using his synth. He ran into the genre problem in Japan and was rejected by Japanese labels. He proposed his Debussy album to RCA in New York and they were happy to release it, so through the 80s his contract was with U.S. RCA though he did stay with BMG Japan after that until around 2000.

]]>