The Silver Apples..

Psychedelic pioneers of the Electronic Audio frontier.

So who are these Silver Apples dudes, and why are you writing about them then?

It was one of those random forum things (not any Atari forum, before you ask.) I don't even remember where I first heard about the Silver Apples, but someone mentioned them as playing a role in the very early development of electronic music. As I'd previously found examples of very early abstract attempts at composing 'computer music' going way back before the normal cursory 'birth-date' of the mid-seventies. Anyway this was something I hadn't found before and it needed further investigation.

Fortunately, the internet being a big place, has more than enough room for several mentions of the Silver Apples, plus an official website www.silverapples.com, not to mention a vast acreage of YouTube stuffed with many recordings of their material.

The Silver Apples were formed in 1967 out of the remnants of an earlier band as an electronic rock duo featuring Dan Taylor on drums and Simeon Coxe III, (performing as 'Simeon') on a homemade synthesiser consisting of 12 oscillators and an assortment of sound filters, telegraph keys, radio parts, laboratory gear and a variety of other second hand electronica. Simeon devised a system of telegraph keys and pedals to control tonality and chord changes, he reportedly never learned to play traditional piano-styled keyboards or synthesisers.

Their first full-length album, imaginatively titled 'Silver Apples', was released in 1968 on the Kapp Records label. The album rode the Billboard Magazine Top100 list for 10 weeks. 'Oscillations' was released as a single, and made the Top Ten list in numerous locations. One music critic was moved to write, "What's so amazing is that they make absolutely mind shattering music with all this junky equipment."

The second full length album was released in 1969 titled 'Contact'. There is an interesting story, not much discussed, apart from on the official website itself and with a little teasing out of the interwebs for the full story. Apparently the front cover featured the group members in the cockpit of a Pan-American plane with drug paraphernalia, with the rear cover featuring the 'aftermath' with both members playing banjo's in the wreckage of a plane crash. Intended as a joke perhaps, but Pam-Am had a complete sense of humour failure and launched a series of law-suits which caused the band to break up and the parent label, Kapp records, to fold as well.

A third album, 'The Garden' was recorded in 1969-70, but was stillborn because of the events above. Without a record label the band disbanded, and were not heard from again until 1994, when a German label named TRC re-released the first two albums in a double CD version.

Although this re-release had been done without permission, the renewed interest was sufficient to motivate Simeon to reactivate Silver Apples in 1996. He was recording and performing with various other musicians as the other member of the original duo, Danny Taylor, was not to hand. There was a new song called 'Fractal Flow' recorded and released.

In 1997, the band re-emerged in strength with a full American tour in that Spring, a six week tour of Europe followed in the Summer and in the Autumn the band played Japan. In all, Silver Apples played over one hundred concerts in 1997 and 1998.

A new album was released in late 1997 called 'Beacon'. This secured world wide distribution and attracted favourable reviews.

"A peculiarly pastoral version of cybernetic music, a hissing machine-in-the-garden driven by Simeon's fey vocals, piping and fluting like an Elizabethan troubadour at the Court of the Crimson King" (Spin Magazine)

1998 was turning out to be a very significant year for the Silver Apples. Two more new albums 'Decatur' and 'A Lake of Teardrops' were released. Better still,the 'missing' third original album, 'The Garden' was found again and finally released in 1998. The other missing thing dear to the hears of Silver Apples fans, was the original drummer, Danny Taylor, who reappeared in 1998 and rejoined the band.

Things were going well, perhaps too much so as a major reversal of fortune followed. Simeon and Danny were performing their reunion concerts in the New York area, and it was after one of these, that their van was forced off the road by another driver, causing a crash that broke Simeon's neck. After a long period of therapy, Simeon recovered, although there are still residual effects from his injuries.

Silver Apples activities and collaborations with other artists continued, but at a lower rate of activity than the 1996-98 period. On March 10th 2005, the original drummer Danny Taylor passed away from a heart attack. He was only 56 years old.

Working as a solo performer, with Danny's drum sounds recreated posthumously by electronic means, Simeon has continued the Silver Apples with live concerts including performances at festivals in England and in Australia. Also he has been to the Electric Picnic Festival in Ireland, the Aula Cultura CAM Festival in Spain, the Netmage Festival in Italy, the Aurora Festival in Houston and other concerts throughout Europe, America and Japan.

Currently Simeon is still recording and performing as a solo artist. The website shows recent tours including a just-completed (as of June 2011) tour of China and a forthcoming tour of Europe later in 2011.

Why are they cool?

They managed to defy all conventional labels of fame and fortune. Also they came back from the dead in a satisfactory manner, so they add up to considerably more than one of those really weird sixties legends. There is a Silver Apples presence still going today.

Also there is the uber-cool DIY aspect to Simeon building his own instrument which gains maximum respect from any techie, hippy or non-hippy alike. Like many early pioneers, he had major issues maintaining consistent operation and the 'Simeon' apparently never sounded the same between two different performances.

In fact, I can't really emphasise that aspect of the Silver Apples enough. Consider that they were electronic music pioneers in an era BEFORE any of our precious retro fuji hardware was even thought of, when floppy disks were as big as dustbins and held the same amount of data as an anguished ransom note. In my idle downtime moments, my brain speculated that Simeon and a young William Gates were fighting each other on the same junk-pile for the same parts. Simeon would have won and Bill Gates got a chinese burn with a lifelong hatred of electronic music pioneers. Which might explain a lot about his subsequent life and career.

Their musical style might not be to everyone's taste, but it is unique and stripped down, which would not be incompatible with many chiptune artistes for example. There are a lot of tracks out there, so even the most sceptical listener can find something that appeals to them.

Finally, they had a session with Jimi Hendrix! Simeon was called "Mr Apple" by Jimi, which is ultimate coolness!

Track reviews

Finally, here are some brief track reviews, cultivated from a round-up of the YouTube beast.

Oscillations - One of the first songs on the first album, this enjoys a trippy beat with "Oscillations, electronic evocations." A celebration of waveforms in music, with flowers in its hair. This tune could not have been made at any other time or in any other place. The oscillations of the title are very prominent throughout and this is one of the major tracks that has given the Silver Apples their electronic music pioneer label. If you are looking for a single 'signature' track to define their style, this could well be it. At the same time, you might enjoy the follow-on 'Green Sea Serenades' in a very similar vein. Here, Simeon's distinctive and mannered vocals are a bigger part of the tune.

Ruby - From the second album 'Contact'. This is a maniacally cheerful tune, featuring such novelty instruments as 'acid banjo's' (the only way to really attempt to describe the sound). There is an insistent drumbeat throughout, with distant and strained vocals articulating 'Ruby'.

The Owl - The Owl is a distorted jolly fairground ride of a tune. It starts with an ominous cricket-like scraping merging into a sinister humming and a steadymedium tempo drumbeat picks up. The main melody and vocals tell the story of that well-known nocturnal hunting bird and throws in a few facts that we didn't know before. "He thinks all night and he sleeps all day." This tune came from the very delayed third album 'The Garden'.

Mustang Sally - A more conventional track from 'The Garden', not so obviously inspired by the summer of love but with enough to tell it apart as a Silver Apples track from the common herd. A cover of the song Mustang Sally which has a a slightly bleepy rinky-dink riff.

A more modern tune needs to be compared, these are harder to find on Youtube. mixed up with a lost of re-releases and resurrected lost material from the original recordings. However, I think this next one will suffice.

I don't know - From 2007. This is an example of his more recent work, You get a spoken word over a heavy swirling soundscape. This is much more 'modern' and ambient in feeling. This would be probably one of the more accessible tracks for a modern audience.

CiH Sept 2011. - Used in Mag 2012

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