Dual Planet to release incidental music by Eric Siday and Don Harper

The Ultra Sonic Perception
Eric Siday

A compilation of electro-acoustic and early electronic music. Compiled from series of rare electronic 78rpm 10”s, featuring music used in the 1960s Doctor Who TV Series.

Considered to be one of the pioneers of Psychoacoustics, Eric Siday is also acknowledged as a key name in the growth of 20th century electronic music. An important figure in the development of the Moog Synthesizer, Siday’s compositions were a testing ground for Bob Moog ideas, in turn shaping the technical advancement of the instrument. An early experimenter of Musique Concrete and extended technique he inaugurated these concepts into the world of television scoring and advertising. Slightly pre-dating Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire’s ground-breaking composition for the Doctor Who theme, he begun experimenting with electronics in soundtracks as early as 1960 carrying through to the 1970s where he created inspired electronic ‘sound logos’ for various entertainment companies such as CBS, ABC and Columbia.

Pulling together a clutch of eerie atomic-age miniatures drawn from a series of rare 10” 78rpm library discs, this compilation explores Siday’s scientific study of sound, a concept he branded ‘The Ultra Sonic Perception’. Partially used as the soundtrack to the early 1960s Doctor Who TV series, this document is an amazing insight into the early electronic music used in television as well as a showcase of the pioneering techniques used by this forward thinking composer.

Cold Worlds
Don Harper

A previously unreleased Doctor Who score mastered from the original tapes. Includes additional electronic tracks from Don Harper’s catalogue and music featured in George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead.

A collection of Horror-Electronics, supernatural soundscapes and sinister library muzak from Australian composer Don Harper. Centring on a previously unreleased score for the 1968 Doctor Who series The Invasion (a dark otherworldly sci-fi jazz suite) Cold Worlds is also a focus on the electronic music of this largely unsung composer. Like many Australian film composers (Ron Grainer, Dudley Simpson, Don Banks) Don Harper based himself in the UK during the 1960s and subsequently found employment at the BBC and other British film and library companies.

Probably best known for his BBC scores for World of Sport, Sexton Blake and The inside Man, Harper also immersed himself in the world of electronics. Acknowledged as a virtuoso jazz violinist, he notably produced a 1974 electronic/altered jazz session for Lansdowne Studios titled Homo Electronicus (featuring Norma Winstone and other progressive UK jazz musicians). In addition to cutting a number of library sessions for Joseph Weinburger’s Impress label, in which several tracks were later famously sampled by MF Doom, he also co-wrote the music (alongside Delia Derbyshire and David Vorhaus) for the essential Radiophonic KPM recording Electrosonic. Also, featured on this compilation are his nightmarish cues used in George Romero’s cult zombie classic Dawn of the Dead.


Note: the tracks are a re-recording of the score made by Harper for the de Wolfe music library. Aside from the Doctor Who theme, the tracks from The Invasion included on this album are separate cues to those included in Silva Screen's 50th Anniversary Collection.

Name a Doctor Who story which features music from Eric Siday’s "Ultra Sonic Perception".