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Billboard

February 16, 1974
How 'Switched-On' Was Turned On
By ROBERT SOBEL

NEW YORK-Walter Carlos' "Switched-on Bach II" has sold more than 70,000 in its first five weeks of release, a Columbia Masterworks spokesman stated recently. Although the sales figure is high, especially because it was achieved in such a brief span of time, it is hardly surprising.
Much of the credit for that extra pull needed to make the chart so quickly is apparent. The Bach name and, of course, the LP's identity in the title with "Switched-On Bach," the album which started the Carlos sales ball rolling, and which, according to Columbia's latest estimates, has reached 960,000 in sales. Not that the other four albums which followed from Carlos have been gathering sales dust. "The Well-Tempered Synthesizer" has sold some 200,000; "Sonic Seasonings" and "Clockwork Orange" some 100,000 each.
What is not apparent, however, is that much of the praise must also go to the producer of the Carlos records, Rachel Elkind, who began her professional relationship with Carlos some seven years ago shortly before recording the first "Switched-On" in their studio, the basement of a brownstone which they acquired on New York's West Side.
Carlos and Ms. Elkind found themselves in complete agreement as to repertoire and in the producing of the album which focuses on the Moog synthesizer. Thus was born "Switched-on Bach." Then came the process of selling the master, and here the credit, according to Ms. Elkind, must go to R. Peter Munves, then a classical executive at Columbia, and to Pierre Bourdain, present Columbia Masterworks promotion chief. In those days the Moog had not yet been commercially established and it required a bit of doing by both executives to sell the record to higher-ups. Sell it they did, however, and the success sales story followed but not in the slow tempo itusually takes to break a classical record.
Elkind and Carlos still record and produce at the brownstone studio, which now holds more sophisticated equipment. Four speakers for quadraphonic playback have recently been added. The new Bach, a natural for 4-channel sound, may be released on the SQ system, depending on whether an agreement between Columbia and Carlos can be reached regarding technical checks and balances. Elkind, who once worked as Goddard Lieherson's secretary, is still old-fashioned enough to believe in the values of the individual "before the conglomerates and the big business interests" took over. She is not one to compromise too easily. In this regard, she can work many months until the product bears the touch of the personal, a feeling she believes should be projected by the artist above the material itself.
Planned for Carlos is a potpourri album due for late spring release. Tentatively titled, "Walter Carlos by Request," it contains Joplin, more Bach, some Broadway material, among other works. Also projected is an album by the four B's (Bach, Bartok, Brahms, Beethoven), and an unusual album exploring the mysticism in religion.