[.ca] Soothing Sounds for Baby, Vol. 3: 12 to 18 Months

From Amazon.com:
As promised, Scott has grown along with your child. His third and final volume of infant electronica brings together the sleepy melodies and repetitions of the first record with the absorbing rhythms of the second. The music is sophisticated and complete--active musical play perfect for a toddler struggling with the associative prelearning of childhood. Volume 3 also brings Scott full circle within his own musical progression, with the triumphant march of "Tin Soldier" suggesting a reduced reading of his much-loved standard "The Toy Trumpet." Ticklish "Little Miss Echo" is endlessly charming, exploring the rainbow of peculiar futuristic sounds at Scott's fingertips, while "The Playful Drummer" returns to the zany cartoon-jazz humor of his roots and looks toward the modern techno sounds of Scott's innumerable admirers and imitators. --Gil Gershman

World's 1st Ambient Electronic albums!?:
Composed & performed by RAYMOND SCOTT on primitive home-built electronic instruments which SCOTT began to design & build in the 1940s. As ambient electronic music, these albums predate -- yet are comparable to; BRIAN ENO/FRIPP, PHILIP GLASS, APHEX TWIN, & KRAFTWERK. The 3 vinyl albums were originally released by Epic & had been out-of-print for over 35 years!

Scott? Sounds like Brian Eno!!:
"Little miss echo" sounds as if it could have come off of one of Brian Eno's ambient albums. The same sensibility of slowly shifting synth tones is here. The pieces in this series vary from incredibly ahead of their time to witty (toy typewriter) to merely annoying. The fact that they were made in the early 60's shows what an original thinker Scott was. A tip: I first listened to this series on a small boombox. That was a mistake. When I played it on my main stereo system with my amps spread throughout my house, the effect was surrealistic and mindbending.

I'd like to see how the kids turn out:
I doubt you would really want to play this music for your infants, but then again- it would be a fun experiment. "The Toy Trumpet" will either annoy you, or, if you're like me, send you off squealing with childish delight. This is precocious, silly music for people with an affinity for cuteness. "Little Miss Echo," on the other hand, is a pretty, minimalist lullaby. Scott teases very relaxing, wave-like sounds from his machines for this one. The last track is a bit more of a mess...created with one of his contraptions that belts out sounds using a mathematical sequence...it comes off as very scattered and random. While I respect the concept, the result isn't so pleasing. Worth checking out, especially if you're a hardcore Raymond Scott fan, since there isn't a lot of his music available. Things are looking up, though, now that "Manhattan Research, Inc." has been released, and the "soothing sounds for baby" series is available again.

"Little Miss Echo" will cure insomnia.:
This is the third and final in the series, and the highlight is "Little Miss Echo". I've fallen into a relaxing sleep many times listening to the hypnotic repeating background and dreamy sounding melody of this spacious sounding song. It's even more relaxing than "Lullaby" from volume 1. The other songs are not bad but, "Little Miss Echo" is the real reason to own this. I purchased all three CDs and I love some of the tracks and I'm not so thrilled with others. I could definately take volumes 1, 2 and 3 and edit them into one very enjoyable CD.

• Tin Soldier
• Little Miss Echo
• Playful Drummer