@leejohnson actually Ron Grainer wasn't in the Workshop at all! At the time when Delia arranged the Who tune the Workshop's remit was purely to do "special sound" - ie. sound effects. I think various complicated union rules prevented them from being credited as musicians.
@leejohnson I'm not sure I agree, actually, I've watched lots of documentaries and read lots of books and articles about Delia, but know absolutely nothing about Ron Grainer. Certainly it was Delia - and also Brian Hodgson - that made the piece so otherworldly, futuristic and generally flippin ace, but I'd quite like to hear about the composer sometime also, particularly interested to hear how he envisioned the piece when he wrote it, as he found the Workshop's arrangement v unexpected!
@bluetapes You are joking? At the time of the TV series first coming out in the 1960s, it was "Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop", and that's all you ever heard. No credit for Delia, no credit for Brian, nor Desmond Briscoe and the founder Daphne Oram - nothing at all about them, on the face of it. Grainer, as composer, was publicised as BEING the Radiophonic Workshop. And that's my point. He was given undue prominence in it all - at the time. We know better in hindsight.
@leejohnson Daphne Oram was actually only in the Workshop briefly, pre-Who, although she was one of the founders. Her lovely old Oramics machine was on display at the Science Museum a while ago.
It was only when Paddy Kingsland took over the reins that you got a sense of exactly who the Workshop actually were - and (IMO) you got much more "crafted" stuff coming out of it too.
@leejohnson Yeah, they'd discovered synths by that time and the BBC had started letting them class themselves as musicians, plus work on their own projects using BBC resources.
15 Comments (since 21 Mar 2014)
leejohnson
Credit where it's due. There was always too much for Ron Grainer, I thought. You would have thought he was the only one in the Radiophonic Workshop!
bluetapes
@leejohnson actually Ron Grainer wasn't in the Workshop at all! At the time when Delia arranged the Who tune the Workshop's remit was purely to do "special sound" - ie. sound effects. I think various complicated union rules prevented them from being credited as musicians.
bluetapes
Also this is my favourite Delia piece
leejohnson
@bluetapes Well, well. Ron gets even more credit generally than he should do then! 8o
bluetapes
@leejohnson I'm not sure I agree, actually, I've watched lots of documentaries and read lots of books and articles about Delia, but know absolutely nothing about Ron Grainer. Certainly it was Delia - and also Brian Hodgson - that made the piece so otherworldly, futuristic and generally flippin ace, but I'd quite like to hear about the composer sometime also, particularly interested to hear how he envisioned the piece when he wrote it, as he found the Workshop's arrangement v unexpected!
leejohnson
@bluetapes You are joking? At the time of the TV series first coming out in the 1960s, it was "Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop", and that's all you ever heard. No credit for Delia, no credit for Brian, nor Desmond Briscoe and the founder Daphne Oram - nothing at all about them, on the face of it. Grainer, as composer, was publicised as BEING the Radiophonic Workshop. And that's my point. He was given undue prominence in it all - at the time. We know better in hindsight.
leejohnson
P.S. 1960s - "I was there." 9 years old at the time. ;)
bluetapes
@leejohnson Fair enough, I only discovered this lot in early 00s, by which time the focus was tilted the other way!
bluetapes
@leejohnson Daphne Oram was actually only in the Workshop briefly, pre-Who, although she was one of the founders. Her lovely old Oramics machine was on display at the Science Museum a while ago.
leejohnson
:) Wikipedia tells you this about Ron, who actually hated the public perception that he only ever did "Dr Who". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Grainer
bluetapes
@leejohnson ah well he did do The Prisoner theme as well! which is great. But nothing the grade of An Electric Storm!
leejohnson
It was only when Paddy Kingsland took over the reins that you got a sense of exactly who the Workshop actually were - and (IMO) you got much more "crafted" stuff coming out of it too.
bluetapes
@leejohnson Yeah, they'd discovered synths by that time and the BBC had started letting them class themselves as musicians, plus work on their own projects using BBC resources.
bluetapes
@leejohnson Just found out the Workshop have cancelled their current tour because Dick Mills is ill :(
potatoskin
@leejohnson @bluetapes I enjoyed your conversation about the wonderful Delia and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Interesting stuff.