The Planets Isao Tomita "Mars..."

[volitronics]

I used to try to play along with this on my PAIA 4700 synth back in the day.

[robineva89]

I find that Tomita is a great companion when you are still, at 2AM, reading Cicero for an exam :). especially when the man is talking about how wonderful it would be to fly through space bodiless

[Perropery]

I have the old cassette of this. My mom didn't believe in mozart, she make heard this in my childhood

[weagley49]

GREAT!

[jonathan84ization]

wow. star foxxxxxxxxxx

[BaroqueTrancer]

Tomita is a great electronic classical composer. Many people think he is not gifted but a copycat. Regardless he just modernized this suite perfectly. I love all of Tomita's work. And yes he does have his own stuff which is also in my opinion just as good. hehe. Yeah great album. Bermuda Triangle is another one of my favorites.

[zappersding]

@BaroqueTrancer Does it really matter?, classical artist's build there entire careers on playing other peoples works and bearing in mind that most of the composers did not play the instruments and are now dead. Only in the last 50 years with the singer/song writers are the composers expected to perform. Tomita should be seen just like any other artist, just because he uses a synthesizer in place of traditional instruments does not and should not make any difference to his brilliance.

[pekothedog]

@BaroqueTrancer

> Many people think he is not gifted

I used to play the synthesizer but I don't think he could create his sound without gift.

Actually, as long as I remember, some Japanese musicians who respected Tomita tried to simulate his sound, but they said "It was impossible..". See liner notes in Tomita's "Kaze no Matasaburo".

He is genius.

[Keyboardman88]

@pekothedog The amazing thing about Tomita's earlier works..Planets and such..is that the Moog Synthesizers that he was using at the time were monophonic - you could only play one note at a time. Thusly, the orchestrations are multi tracked, one instrument at a time

[yamex5]

@Keyboardman88 Just to be fair, if you check the liner notes on the LP's, you'll see that he did use mellotrons and other polyphonic keyboards, but I'd say 2/3's of the instrumetation was done on his Moog. And some of the instruments are really multiple takes. Once again, if memory serves me right, some 'instruments' required up to 9 or 10 overdubs. It's also amazing how little hiss there is for all to overdubbing and bouncing of tracks, as there was only tape back then.

[Scifimaster92]

@yamex5 Precisely, because improper overdubbing can cause a piece to sound like the audio from "suicidemouse.avi."

(Just in case you don't know what that is, it was an experimental home-made horror film that appeared a few years ago, based around a distorted, looping clip of a sad-loking Mickey Mouse walking down a street.)

[1kte]

I used to have this in VHS when I was a kid!! My sister and I wore that tape out (we were so fascinated with the planets). Some time ago I found the music on iTunes and was so ecstatic I bought the album. That made me happy because I had been looking for the music for a while.

[GaryCancer]

King Crimson's version of this is crazy as hell!

[distortia47]

reminds me of the Bowser theme in Super Mario Bros @ 3:05 - 3:25

[sevenofnineok1]

I bought this album on vinyl in the 70's after seeing a laser light show at the planetarium in madame tussauds in london, where this was the accompanying music. I have never stopped playing it. One of the reasons I still have a record deck.

[duxberry1958]

this very very good indeed

[magnetodan]

I had The Planets on vinyl, run through a Marantz quad receiver. Phenomonal!

[sennadasliva1]

congrats on best tomita tribute

[tango990830]

muy bueno lo escucho desde que tenia como 18 años

[felipe2890]

yo tengo ese video xDDD

[radicalsystems]

apologies i meant hammersmith odeon in 1976...also in have his 'snowflakes are dancing' album in quadraphonic..the way it was originally intended...

[whpcguru]

WOW! I'm jealous. I was only three then but would give anything to have been there.

[radicalsystems]

I saw tomita at hmmermith odeon in 1976 the gig was in surround audio...daphnis and chloe in surround!!!

[knoxvilleguy2]

I had this on VHS, I'd LOVE to get it on DVD !! Wow!!

[Armando2012102]

I want it on MP4 so I can play it in my car, but yeah DVD will do.

[knoxvilleguy2]

I've got this on my computer. There are about 2 sites where you can download the whole suite in compressed form. Before DSL, this would've taken about a half hour or more, at least.

JPL's " Neptune at Night " ( Voyager II's last flyby ) programs in 1989 had Gustav Holst's Neptune theme at points in the show.

[Armando2012102]

What websites? Do you happen to know?

[knoxvilleguy2]

Armando2012102:

Gonna have to look them up ( the bookmarks ). I think there are even some screen savers that have Holst's music in the program.

[Armando2012102]

Cool, thanks.

[knoxvilleguy2]

Now if I can just recall the URL's.....

The computer remembers that stuff, so I don't have to !!

[radicalsystems]

yes i saw tomita at hammersmith odeon in 1976 with my father...the gig was in surround.speakers all around the auditorium ..daphnis and chloe in surround..btw i now have his 'snowflakes are dancing' album in quadraphonic...i thnk thats how it was meant to be heard...

[knoxvilleguy2]

I'm adding this to my Eclectic playlist, God knows I have a Mulligan's stew of music on there already....... !!

[radicalsystems]

yes 'snowflakes are dancing' in quadraphonic..sounds amazing..got it froom a site recently

[radicalsystems]

you can download 'snowflakes are dancing ' in quadraphonic' if you can play dts 96/24 or dvd audio and have 5.1 speakers..i saw tomita at hammermith odeon in 1976..and that was in surround too..

[dbbubba]

I listen to A LOT of 20th century orchestral music and I have to say that Tomita's realizations are EXTREMELY good re-orchestrations of almost every piece he tackles.

I like Tomita's version equally as well as well as Holst's original score.

There are electronic music and mixing/production aspects of Tomita;s version that Are absolutely astouding.

That Tomita can be so different sounding yet still keep the piece in the mood/realm of the original score is amazing!

[silverstartrucker]

I bought this original album before Holst's Daughter got a court injunction to get it banned, she said that Tomita had destroyed her Father's music. The young man in the record shop said he was sorry but he couldn't find anything by any group called Tomato? I said Tomita you c--t. He looked shocked needless to say.

[knoxvilleguy2]

silverstartrucker:

He thought you said " Tomato "?

SHEEESHHHH.....

Mindless Philistine..... !!

Props for the way you responded to him..... ;-)

[A440Hzzz]

Morse code, eh? He's spelling H-I-S if so

[evillttlimp]

haha tomita is so damn trippy

I love his pictures at an exhibition

[col968]

Tripped to this tune about 20 years ago, the twiddly bits really mess with your head.

Love the morse code at about 2:00, and it starts getting pretty evil around 3:00 :-)

[hexus358]

This is originally an orchestral piece by Gustav Holst.

[Skorpio420]

I have this on VHS!

[worldwidevitamin]

I have a torrent containing 23 CD's By tomita!

Recently i had an error on one of my drives and I lost a few songs!!! I can't believe how furious I was when it happened.. Does any one have or know where I can obtain his discography via torrent or??

The torrent I downloaded it from was "Isao Tomita 23 cd's" BUT i can no longer locate the torrent on isoH. CAn any one help a dear old Tomita fan!!

Let me know...

[warlordwhyaye]

Tomita's planets of the Live at Lintz version is one to look for too. He had a helicopter suspend speakers and the rotar blades are integral to the music to stuning effect. Terrific and thanks for posting Tomita !