In his latest video, synthesist Alex Ball takes an in-depth look at the Moog Liberation and the rise of the keytar.
Ball discusses keytar history, the precursors to the keytar and offers a lot of musical demonstrations of the Liberation. Ball argues that the keytar is in equal parts “intriguing and silly”, and that’s definitely true. But the physicality and performance technique of the keytar is arguably an important part of the music, too.
In the early ’70s, there was a lot of interest in this, and in turning the synthesizer into a live performance instrument. Check out this 1973 performance of Frankenstein, by The Edgar Winter Group:
With Frankenstein, Winter singlehandedly turned the synth into a live performance instrument that could hold its own as part of a rock band.
Check out the videos and share your thoughts on the Moog Liberation and the keytar in the comments!
It sounded great, except it had that one small issue: it was so heavy, you needed to tour with a chiropractor. I think it did interested players one major service, because every keytar that came afterwards was NOT affixed to a dense chunk of wood. Yamaha was also bad about that. The infamous CS-80 and several of their early EPs were hernias looking for a place to happen. 😛
well, we had just exited the golden age of furniture movers with the Hammod B3 with Leslie, so anything was an improvement then.
First time I saw one was at Howard Jones’ World Dream Tour in 1985.
I thought. ‘I have to get myself one of those.’
I still haven’t.
Just did not have the funds.
You are a budding musician at school but your parents are broke.
Yet I can still write music, rapidly approaching my 7th decade.
I am self-taught in everything, having got expelled from school at 15 years old.
I thought. ‘I will teach myself computer languages, engineering and everything else.’
Well, if it makes you feel better, you can always get a Radio Shack MG-1, which is largely the same thing minus the fancy left-hand controls. I DID own an MG-1 (and still do) in 1985, when my dad wouldn’t take me to the Howard Jones show, because he didn’t like him.