www.weirdomusic.com/reviews/mysticmoodsorchestra/onesto -
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Last Visited: 9/29/2009
Like John Travolta's character Jack in the movie Blowout, Brad Miller was infatuated with sounds and spent many hours capturing various live audio samples with directional microphones pointed towards everything from ancient steam locomotives to the bustling crowds in Mexico's Toluca market.
For his troubles, Jack got himself involved in mystery and intrigue when he discovers a governmental assassination attempt thanks to a gunshot he inadvertently captures late one night while out recording ambient sounds for a local film production.
Miller's adventures in recording were a little less dangerous, though no less interesting as he began a journey through the world of commercial recording studios and marketing hyperbole, which in turn, allowed him to bring his cherished personal recordings to a larger listening audience.
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The success of these releases allowed Brad Miller to continue his more eccentric recording projects as he continued to produce "specialty" LP's containing nothing more than the sounds of various endangered steam locomotives still operating commercially before eventually being "retired" to make way for newer models.
Some of Miller's enthusiasm for old locomotives is apparent in the Mexican Trip liner notes, which mentions that the three-minute sound recording called Queretaro-Tula Fast Freight is a "short excerpt (of) the best of one hour (!) of recording of this famous, nearly extinct locomotive which will be scrapped in 1968.
Likewise, Local Freight, a track included on One Stormy Night is a lengthy five-minute sound clip of a locomotive approaching Brad's microphones and exiting with mighty blows of its whistle.
One Stormy Night utilizes the sound of an approaching rainstorm recorded by Brad Miller, to underscore Don Ralke's musical arrangements to create what the album describes as "…a time of soft and glowing sentimentality when the drops tapped out their special message on the window pane.
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This "audio sex" angle was emphasized even more when Brad Miller signed with Warner Brothers, who concentrated on arrangements of current hit songs showcased in album titles such as Love the One You're With and Erogenous.
These albums featured graphics such as a nude couple in soft focus or even a surprise gift in the form of a pair of women's panties.
Miller continued to release new ambient inspired works as well as his own back-catalog of Mystic Moods recordings under his own Soundbird label well into the nineties until his death in 1999.
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