This vintage Polymoog promo film may just scare the **** out of you.
I don’t know if it’s the scary hand-held woodland footage, the cheesy horror-movie soundtrack, the woodland mimes (Shields & Yarnell?), the constant vuvuzela-esque hum, the diagonal knotty pine panelling, Mike Boddicker‘s awesome hair or the Polymoog’s 9 (nine!) presets.
Herbie Hancock, though, looks bad-ass as ever, like he could take on a bevy of ninjas with his left-hand alone.
The whole promo film is actually pretty awesome, both as a piece of electronic music history and as a window into the times.
Part 2 of this classic below.
Check it out and leave a comment with your thoughts!
The Moog Polymoog was made from 1975-1980.
Wow, I think somebody filmed the projector. You can hear the projector running. Still incredibly cool.
Mains hum?
But WTF with the mimes? When did mimes ever belong in a synth ad?
Between that and the Sequential Circuits ads with the Lord of the Rings Wizard guy, it makes me think that the whole synth industry must have been stoned through out the entire 70s.
This is not the least bit scary, it's funny, it's meant to be funny, does not take itself too seriously. But I guess whoever prefers to write a series of asterisks instead of a simple word or confuses power line hum with Vuvuzelas is easily frightened by anything that is not streamlined for easy digestability. 😉
This is not scary, this is funny, not meant to be taken too seriously. What's scary is that this website deletes comments on a seemingly random basis. Maybe asterisk is a bad word, or is was something else.
This is not scary, this is funny, not meant to be taken too seriously. What's scary is that this website deletes comments on a seemingly random basis.
This is not ****, this is funny, not meant to be taken too seriously.
So, it's official: The word sc_ary is not allowed. Someone's really frightened. 😉
I love the Patrick Moraz music during the mimes.
I laughed, I cried, I peed my pants. I give it one and a half thumbs up!
Let the nightmares commence.
Wow, that's scary.
totally dharma-esque style
This was shown during the NAMM show of 75/76 in which people were probably crapping themselves… "Holy F***! A Polyphonic synthesizer!!!!!"
Despite the Polymoog's reliability issues and not-so-sturdy construction, the sound was actually pretty good. It was unique in that it wasn't your typical "fat" Moog, it was thin and meant to compliment your Mini or Odyssey. When used as such, the Polymoog actually held its own pretty well, until synths like the CS-80 and Prophet-5 were released.
Your powers of deduction are impressive.
The videos have moved…
Pt 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_XE9HwPAgo
Pt 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqnq0qRc2oQ
Creep-licious!
Thanks – post updated!
The only thing that scared me were MIMES in the FOREST! YIKES!!
Once the speaking started, I felt like I was watching Faces Of Death.
Or, it might turn out to be yet another post with a retarded link bait title.
how I wish MOOG would make a new Polyphonic Moog..
Hello All, David Luce’s son here (Ben Luce). The projector sound is not on the original. I think someone filmed this anew while playing it back on a projector, and with crappy sound as well. So don’t get the wrong idea! The intro to this film is indeed kind of wild, and a little kid might find it scary. My Dad’s presentation though is straightforward I think, if a little awkward. He was not exactly used to appearing films! Boddicker’s presentation was excellent. And for those that like to say the Polymoog was thin sounding – hardly! It creates awesome, shimmering sound textures, fully polyphonically – as many notes sounding as you like – that is still largely unrivaled today. Listen to one of those textures on a Moog Synamp at 100 dB, and I don’t think you’d call it “thin.” That said, some players liked the thinness that certain voices could have, like the harpsichord, and the ability of that to cut through over guitars and such. But don’t let those voicings give you the wrong impression!