• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Delia Derbyshire

A

Anonymous

Guest
You know...the woman who recorded the Dr. Who theme Music :rolleyes:

Anyway she was an early pioner of electronic music (in the presynth days) and here's a site from a theater company doing a play about her.

The site goes live in a few days when it will have music by the woman herself and new music comissoned for the show. In the meentime you can click on the link to deliaderbyshire.org or even...

http://www.delia-derbyshire.org/
 
oooooeeeeeooooooooooo oooooeeeoooo eeeoooeeeee eeeooeeeee

badadadum da badadadum da badadadum da badadadum da badadadum....
 
Ok, now I feel like a complete clown. Just went to the site to listen to her "OTHER" stuff, and it's really REALLY good. Makes me think this would make a great start for a "way ahead of their time" thread rather than the customary Leonardo De Vinci always kicking off the rounds...
 
Did you hear Dead Ringers last week when they had Robin Cook doing it?:rofl:

(Well an impression of Robin Cook)
 
Min Bannister said:
Did you hear Dead Ringers last week when they had Robin Cook doing it?:rofl:
Click to expand...
No WAY, really? Wasn't he a "who" fan or something?
 
Hook Innsmouth said:
oooooeeeeeooooooooooo oooooeeeoooo eeeoooeeeee eeeooeeeee

badadadum da badadadum da badadadum da badadadum da badadadum....
Click to expand...

yea that's the tune :)
 
Min Bannister said:
(Well an impression of Robin Cook)
Click to expand...

Oh, NOW you tell me.:rolleyes: paint it yellow, tell me it's an orange, I'll believe you.
 
Oops, sorry!:D I realised that would probably look misleading as soon as I posted it.

But that WOULD have been cool!
 
Hook Innsmouth said:
Ok, now I feel like a complete clown. Just went to the site to listen to her "OTHER" stuff, and it's really REALLY good. Makes me think this would make a great start for a "way ahead of their time" thread rather than the customary Leonardo De Vinci always kicking off the rounds...
Click to expand...

I'll forgive you :)

She was a bit of a pioner she was. Realy I just wanted to post about her, the Dr. Who thing was just a carrot on a stick :)

BTW: if anyone wants to see the show but lives outside Glasgow then sign up for updates on the origional page and tell them where you live. They're talking about touring with it but they don't know where.
 
This is a FUNtastic link, VQ, thanks!

EDIT to add a link to Wendy Carlos, another great electronic pioneer who does her own webpage!

http://www.wendycarlos.com/

(She did music in A Clockwork Orange, Tron, and The Shining, among others)
 
damn!

forgot the link to the page for the play with the free downloads!

:rolleyes:

I'll add it tomorow.
 
yay

This is so funny!
Last evening my husband and old college friend were hanging out here late playing the Dr.Who soundtrack cd over and over and talking about her and the show and having a ball!

That theme is amazing! It just makes you think of those oopening credits strobing on the tv........

I miss the old Dr.Who pinball machine at the movie theatre......it was the best!
 
I generally loathe sci-fi but this documentary (featuring Delia Derbyshire and the work of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop)was fascinating - Alchemists of Sound : those of you with digital TV should be able to catch a repeat in the near future.
 
Min Bannister said:
Did you hear Dead Ringers last week when they had Robin Cook doing it?:rofl:
Click to expand...

a 'vintage Robin Cook' if i remember corectly :)
 
dreemik: "That theme is amazing! It just makes you think of those opening credits
strobing on the tv........"

I hope it isn't just nostalgia but I always think the original b & w
titles and the original version of the music were much spookier than
the tidier later versions. They lost their baleful magic promise. :(
 
Nothing beats the Eric Winstone big band version of the Doctor Who theme. They should use that for the new series. Ahem.
 
Delia also co-wrote some of the songs on the White Noise album, as discussed in this article from Sound on Sound:

"There is a big difference between musicians who happen to use synthesizers and musicians who make electronic music. Although David Vorhaus started out as a classical bass player working with symphony orchestras, a chance encounter plus his background as a physics graduate and electronic engineer steered him inexorably in the direction of electronic music. "I guess it started around 30 years ago when I met Brian Hodgson and Delia Derbyshire, who were then in a band called Unit Delta Plus," he recalls. "I was on my way to an orchestral gig when the conductor told me that there was a lecture next door on the subject of electronic music. The lecture was fantastic and we got on like a house on fire, starting the Kaliedophon studio about a week later!"

Brian and Delia worked with David on his early recordings at the same time as they were working at the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop. David's introduction to commercial recording came about because Island Records' Chris Blackwell was so enthused by their approach to electronic music that he offered them an album deal with what was then a significant advance. In 1969, David released White Noise: An Electric Storm. This was followed by White Noise 2 in 1975 and White Noise 3 in 1980, and David has just released White Noise 5: Sound Mind. As well as being available in record shops, a library version is also available through Music House under the name Science Friction. Between albums, David has written a lot of music for TV and film: his music features on a number of high-profile TV commercials as well as on TV themes. David also plays live under the White Noise mantle."

According to one of my friends who's been into electronic music since god knows when, White Noise was originally Delia's project that Vorhaus was brought into for his engineering skills, then proceeded to take all the credit and waltzed the band name out from under her. No idea if there's anything to back up that theory.
 
There is a really good podcast about Delia Derbyshire available called Sculptress of Sound, its an episode of the Radio 4 on Music podcast and is available in all the usual places, well worth a listen!
 
If like me you love early experimental electronic music then pin back yer lugholes.

Delia produced in 1964 a piece called The Dreams, which matched recordings of contempories retelling dream sequences against frankly far ahead of its time droney electronics.

The whole thing is like a dream itself, and in places genuinely chilling to me.

Anyways having only ever hearing a pretty low quality mp3 copy (complete with radio interference and drop outs) I am beyond excited that a limited run repress on lovely purple vinyl has been issued. As my copy has been dispatched I can reveal its existence :p

https://boomkat.com/products/the-dreams-75c1e245-4fdc-485c-b7ad-35349de9c67a

You can listen online with that link too. Highly highly recommended.
 
My copy arrived. So weird not to have the whistles and crackles from the off air recordings. Lovely pressing and the purple vinyl is lucious.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top