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From the swelling synths of Depeche Mode to the dance-friendly grooves of Thomas Dolby, and from the power ballads of Journey to the New Power Generation of Prince, the music of the ’80s was infused with the sound of keyboards. You’ll learn:
• How technological developments in keyboards helped artists such as Erasure, Human League, Peter Gabriel, Kraftwerk, Bruce Hornsby, Frank Zappa, and Jam and Lewis create entirely new sounds – and how their production tricks can help you make great music today.
• How to recreate the sounds of the ’80s using the soft synths and recording software you already have on your computer.
• The breakdowns of the piano and keyboard parts for stadium rockers by Night Ranger, Journey, and Bon Jovi.
Our Top Reviews
Reviewer: Cameron Hughes
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: but otherwise good material, good interviews
Review: As with Synth Gods , I wish the pictures in this book were in color, but otherwise good material, good interviews, if you’re into the synth thing, this is a good book to have.
Reviewer: Raymond Brian Fuller
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: I’m a synth nut so this book was right up …
Review: I’m a synth nut so this book was right up my alley…Get Mitchell Sigman’s Make This Sound Book as well it’s killer too!!!!
Reviewer: Rick
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good book
Review: They just forgot – Ricky Starbuster who got Debut of Year in Polyphony Magazine in 1983 (now Electronic Musician)
Reviewer: Too many manga
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: All nostalgia, no inspiration
Review: I don’t really need to know what Devo or anyone else mentioned in the book was using for equipment back in the 1980s. Most of that is long gone by now, or reegineered into something more interesting. I’ve got a mobile app that can do almost everything those overpriced antique boxes could.The interviews are with a lot of keyboardists or multiple-instrument musicians (I play several myself), although some of the choices for inclusion strike me as odd, like why Frank Zappa? I don’t recall him making much of an impression during the 1980s; he was more interesting during the 1970s.The 1980s addition of synth music into pop should’ve led to instruments becoming less and less expensive, but controllers, synth programs, and so on are still extremely expensive. Compare that to how inexpensive guitars have become, and you’ll agree that the only thing holding back a complete takeover by synth music is the ridiculously high price tag, with only a very few exceptions.I did hope that some of the keyboard work from that decade would be included, at least in score form, but sadly, all the book included were lists of albums with the various artists playing something in one or more songs. Some of these fellows have long since disappeared into obscurity.I guess I liked the book, but not enough to rave about it. Many of the discussions were about things that might have mattered during the interviews, but are irrelevant now. It was a bit of nostalgia, but I’m a person who likes to look forward, only looking back for inspiration. Sadly, I found none of that in this book.
Reviewer: Myzer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great book..
Review: Informative …………..exactly what’s expected from the pages of keyboard magazine…Great vintage photos …….excellent addition to any music library ……..thanks keyboard
Reviewer: Wolverine Fan For Life
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good book!
Review: Great book…heard most of the songs by these artists, will never stop listening!
Reviewer: armand lotman
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
Title: I was very disappointed to find not one mention of the electronic music …
Review: I was hoping for more electronic bands to be included. I was very disappointed to find not one mention of the electronic music pioneer Gary Numan. I can’t believe this book includes musicians like Jam & Lewis, Frank Zappa, Larry Fast and David Foster, what did they contribute to New wave music of the 80s? Not very informative. Don’t waste your money.
Reviewer: Pierre Fontaine
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great trip back in time
Review: If you grew up in the 1980’s and lived through the technical revolution that MIDI created, then this book is for you! These are reprints of articles from Keyboard magazine from the 1980’s with bands that were on the cutting edge of music technology. There’s more here then just dance music though. The interviews with Peter Gabriel and Frank Zappa are wonderful, in-depth explorations into these artist’s creative process.If you are looking for non-technical interviews with the bands represented here then I suggest you look someplace else. These interviews go into gear, recording process and touring issues. Given that much of this technology is somewhat out of date makes reading the articles a bit difficult. If you are interested in more of the overall history of electronic music, another Keyboard publication would be a better bet. “The Art Of Electronic Music” is an earlier book and has some of the same interviews that this book contains. However, there are some wonderful articles in the earlier book about electronic music before the days of MIDI, even going back to experiments in electronic music from the first half of the 20th century.This book is definitely a great resource for anyone who enjoyed 1980’s synth-pop but I was hoping for something just a little bit deeper!
Reviewer: Eriberto DE MUNARI
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: se negli anni 80 non leggevate Keyboard ma vi piacciono i sintetizzatori, questo è il vostro libro. fa una carrellata su un periodo usando gli articoli della nota rivista.
Reviewer: Honor H.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Exactly what I expected
Reviewer: Riroi
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: En mi opinión no vale mucho la pena este libro, ya que son entrevistas realizadas a teclistas y que se pueden encontrar fácilmente en internet. Prescindible.
Reviewer: Slyder07
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: As an 80’s keyboard player this book is great for filling in the gaps of some of the most influential players of that time. A great read!
Reviewer: Mike Harley
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This is basically a collection of interviews from past editions of keyboard magazine assembled together in book form.It gives an interesting insight into the techniques and equipment used by the most popular keyboard/synth players from the 1980’s although many of those featured are well known from beyond that decade.There are a few names that I was not familiar with prior to reading this book such as Larry Fast,David Foster, Jam & Lewis etc but their contributions to that era are well documented.At the end of every chapter there is a brief discography of the artists output and a website address for further info.It was interesting to read about the equipment each artist is “Currently using” from a retrospective point of view and easy to forget that these articles were originally produced circa 35 years ago, hence the references to DX7’S, Fairlights,Minimoogs, Jupiter 8’s etc all pretty much favoured gear at the time.If you have even the faintest interest in the golden age of the synthesizer and it’s major exponents such as Kraftwerk, Devo, Depeche Mode, Howard Jones,OMD etc than it is a worthwhile purchase. Each interview is approx three to four pages long and best digested in stages but some die hard synth fans will plough through it in a day or two.For the most part it’s an easy read but some of the questions posed elicit a response from the artist that goes beyond the superficial that some might prefer to just give a cursory glance to whilst others who are more interested in technique might appreciate.
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