Wendy Carlos' music from "A Clockwork Orange" has the best effect any film music can have: when you hear it, you remember exactly when in the film it was playing, and you can definitely remember whether or not you felt it all over again. I did with this disc. Although I haven't seen "A Clockwork Orange" in at least eight years, every creepy feeling came back to me. The milk bar, the rape, the Gene Kelly number, the prison, the torture... Jesus. I'm a happy guy.

Wendy Carlos got the job and pretty much just recycled the concept of her best- selling Switched on Bach album. Most of the music here is a Moog reading of such classic works as the "William Tell Overture" and "The Thieving Magpie." It's a kick to hear all of these "futuristic" fugues, but the real prize here may be the opening "Timesteps." When it originally appeared on the original "Clockwork Orange" soundtrack (this disc only compiles Carlos' tracks, thus Gene Kelly and that "Lighthouse Keeper" bullshit are MIA), it was a slim four- minute piece. You may remember its hollow, lost- in- space- with- a- big- ass- gong sounds. But you've never heard the full- on fourteen minute epic, a shifting headscratcher that wanders around like Yanni's left nut. And yeah, I mean that in a good way.

Aside from a cut cue, "Biblical Daydreams," the rest of Carlos' stuff is here in its extended glory, tickling the ears and bringing back a whole lotta nightmares I thought I'd gotten over. Its retro- futuristic glow is a bit grating at times, but for folks who like this patch of backwater-- and I'm calling out to you, Synergy fans-- this disc has... a peel. (Groan now.)

-Jason Josephes

"March From 'A Clockwork Orange'"

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