Moog (2004)

Director:

Hans Fjellestad

Genre:

Documentary | History | Music

Plot:

Bob Moog shaped musical culture with some of the most inspiring electronic instruments ever created...

Plot Keywords:

Electronic Music | Rock Band | Concert Footage | New York City | Archive Footage

Cast

Charlie Clouser	...	Himself
Herbert Deutsch	...	Himself
Keith Emerson	...	Himself
Edd Kalehoff	...	Himself (archive footage)
Gershon Kingsley	...	Himself
Pamelia Kurstin	...	Herself
DJ Logic	...	Himself
Money Mark	...	Himself
Mix Master Mike	...	Himself
Robert Moog	...	Himself
Jean-Jacques Perrey	...	Himself
Walter E. Sear	...	Himself
DJ Spooky	...	Himself
Luke Vibert	...	Himself
Rick Wakeman	...	Himself
Bernie Worrell	...	Himself

Runtime:

USA:72 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Asheville, North Carolina, USA

Company:

ZU33

Soundtrack:

Paris

Repeats Itself and Misses Crucial Bits Out!

The film was reasonably well filmed and reasonably edited and it's great that there is now a film out there about a synth pioneer.

However my first thoughts on watching this film are: It repeats itself far too many times. It only needed to mention that Moog synths were first used for experimental music and adverts once. It only needed to show Bob Moog with his garden once! And there only needed to be one section on his philosophies on life and synthesisers.

There were massive sections of the Moog story missing. What about the first fall of Moog Music in the early 80s and the Moog Liberation (the first guitar synth - only problem was it was too heavy to hold!) He only touched on his feelings about digital synthesisers. What about the 80s and the DX7 and Moog synths falling massively out of favour. What about the comeback in the 90s - initially selling his analogue circuit designs to other companies, who produced synths like the MIDI Moog and the SE ATC1. What about his FX pedals?

Finally the soundtrack left much to be desired. All the live performances were badly recorded, the synths were far too loud compared to the backing. I know the synth was the instrument being demonstrated, but I found it uncomfortable to listen to. The content of the music was nearly all progressive rock musicians and various lesser known modern electro acts (bar stereo-lab and DJ spooky). He only mentioned Walter/Wendy Carlos in passing, he/she was the most important thing to happen to him and there was no interview or audio clip!! What about electropop, which was founded on the early affordable synths like the Moog Prodigy? These are just the first 2 genres that spring to mind that were missing - I could go on! So all in all - it's great that there is now a film about this fascinating guy. But...Hans Fjellestad should have got all the raw materials together before doing it. Get interviews with ALL the relevant people and use a soundtrack that is more diverse.