“The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was a public-funded bunker dedicated to envisioning sounds that no one had ever heard before, and infecting them into the most mainstream of all culture like a strange, beautiful dream. It makes me wrenchingly sad that this will never, ever happen again.” - The Quietus
First released in 1973 on the BBC Records label, Fourth Dimension showcases Paddy Kingsland’s signature tunes and incidental music for various BBC Radio and Television programmes. Originally planned as an album to be used as test-card, BBC Records wanted the Radiophonic Workshop to provide the music, having already released the Pink Album in 1968 to mark the Workshop’s 10th anniversary. Gradually, the “test card” idea went away and so the title changed to Fourth Dimension, with a sleeve to match designed by Andrew Prewett.
The recordings feature a rock-style backing band and synthesizers including the VCS 3 and “Delaware” Synthi 100, and the track “Reg” from the album was also released as the B side to the 1973 single release of the iconic Doctor Who theme tune.
“the beauty is enhanced by the oddity of the synthesizers. Even a full forty years afterwards, something like "Vespucci" still sounds futuristic, like the love theme for a romance in outer space. …the glorious "Kaleidoscope," which sounds like "Greensleeves" by way of the Star Trek theme – which is to say, glorious… (The record is) full and crisp, with none of the tinniness one associates with '70s synthesizer music. The warmth of those analogue synths comes through fully.” – Starburst Magazine 5*
Paddy Kingsland was the first Radiophonic composer to see a solo release of his compositions. He remained at the workshop for 21 years, leaving in 1981, during which time he composed music for much loved TV shows The Changes, Doctor Who and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy among others.
Jeremy [Six Strings]
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