The Silver Apples
Encyclopedia
Silver Apples are an American
psychedelic
electronic music
duo from New York
, composed of Simeon Coxe III, who performs as Simeon, on a primitive synthesizer
of his own devising (also named The Simeon), and until his death in 2005, drummer Danny Taylor. The group was active between 1967 and 1969, before reforming in the mid 1990s. They were one of the first groups to employ electronic music techniques extensively within a rock
idiom, and their minimalistic style, with its pulsing, driving beat and frequently discordant modality
, anticipated not only the experimental
electronic music and krautrock
of the 1970s, but also underground dance music
and indie rock
of the 1990s.
. Simeon was the singer, but began to incorporate a 1940s vintage audio oscillator into the show, which alienated the other band members to the extent that the group was eventually reduced to the duo of Simeon and Taylor, at which point they renamed themselves The Silver Apples, after the William Butler Yeats
poem The Song of the Wandering Aengus. The arsenal of oscillators eventually grew (according to their first LP
liner notes) to include "nine audio oscillators piled on top of each other and eighty-six manual controls to control lead, rhythm and bass pulses with hands, feet and elbows". Simeon devised a system of telegraph keys and pedals to control tonality and chord changes, and reportedly never learned to play traditional piano
-styled keyboards or synthesizers.
They were signed to Kapp Records
and released their first record, Silver Apples
, in 1968, and from that released a single, "Oscillations," a song that Simeon has cited as the first song he had written. On the debut album, seven of the nine songs had lyrics by Stanley Warren (not Warren Stanley as incorrectly credited on the re-release of the 1997 MCA CD), including the group's signature song, "Oscillations." Warren, who subsequently became a published poet, met Simeon and Taylor at the Third Annual Avant Garde Arts Festival in 1968 in New York City, organized by Charlotte Moorman
, who was famous as the "topless cellist". Soon after, Simeon became acquainted with Warren's early work, and set a poem, "MJ", to music as "Seagreen Serenades." Inspired by Simeon's interest, in the next few months Warren wrote the remaining six songs used on the "Silver Apples" album. Another song, "Gypsy Love," was used in the second album, "Contact." In recent performances, Simeon still plays some of his and Warren's works from the early days of Silver Apples.
The following year, they released their second LP, Contact
and toured the United States. A third album was recorded in 1970, but Kapp was folded into MCA Records
, leaving the album unreleased, and the group defunct.
Simeon elaborates on the other reasons for Silver Apples disbanding and the record label's demise at his site.
with a new Silver Apples band, featuring multi-instrumentalist Xian Hawkins. Eventually, "after much searching", Danny Taylor was located, and a handful of reunion shows of the original lineup were performed. Taylor also had the tape of the unreleased third record, The Garden, in a box in his attic, and the record was finally released in 1998. In the ensuing years the Silver Apples released several albums of new material featuring the touring line-up of Simeon, Taylor and Hawkins: Decatur, Beacon, and A Lake of Teardrops.
In 1998, their tour van was forced off the road by an unknown driver, breaking Simeon's neck. As of 2004, Simeon was much recovered, but he was unable to play his instrument in the way he used to. He never fully recovered his hand movements, so his keyboard work is much more simple and direct now.
Since the accident, Silver Apples' activity has diminished. Simeon spends his time making new music, recuperating, and boating on the Gulf of Mexico
. Xian Hawkins has released three albums of solo material under the name Sybarite
. Danny Taylor died on March 10, 2005 in Kingston, New York
.
(Minehead, UK, December 2007); Electric Picnic
, Stradbally, Ireland (September 2008); All Tomorrow's Parties, Australia (January 2009), The Unit, Tokyo, (July 2009); Oscillations Music + Arts Festival, Belfast, Northern Ireland (September 2009); Austin Psych Fest 3, TX (April 2010); Albuquerque Experimental, Albuquerque, NM (October 2010), Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou (May 2011), London, England iTunes Festival (July 2011).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
duo from New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, composed of Simeon Coxe III, who performs as Simeon, on a primitive synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
of his own devising (also named The Simeon), and until his death in 2005, drummer Danny Taylor. The group was active between 1967 and 1969, before reforming in the mid 1990s. They were one of the first groups to employ electronic music techniques extensively within a rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
idiom, and their minimalistic style, with its pulsing, driving beat and frequently discordant modality
Musical mode
In the theory of Western music since the ninth century, mode generally refers to a type of scale. This usage, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the middle ages, itself inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music.The word encompasses several additional...
, anticipated not only the experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
electronic music and krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
of the 1970s, but also underground dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
and indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
of the 1990s.
The 1960s
The group grew out of a traditional rock band called The Overland Stage Electric Band, working regularly in the East VillageEast Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
. Simeon was the singer, but began to incorporate a 1940s vintage audio oscillator into the show, which alienated the other band members to the extent that the group was eventually reduced to the duo of Simeon and Taylor, at which point they renamed themselves The Silver Apples, after the William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
poem The Song of the Wandering Aengus. The arsenal of oscillators eventually grew (according to their first LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
liner notes) to include "nine audio oscillators piled on top of each other and eighty-six manual controls to control lead, rhythm and bass pulses with hands, feet and elbows". Simeon devised a system of telegraph keys and pedals to control tonality and chord changes, and reportedly never learned to play traditional piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
-styled keyboards or synthesizers.
They were signed to Kapp Records
Kapp Records
Kapp Records was an independent record label started in 1954 by David Kapp, brother of Jack Kapp . David Kapp founded his own label after stints with Decca Records and RCA Victor Records. Kapp licensed its records to London Records for release in the UK.In 1967, David Kapp sold his label to MCA Inc...
and released their first record, Silver Apples
Silver Apples (album)
Silver Apples is the debut album by the band of the same name. It was the most successful original album by the band, reaching 193 on the Billboard 200. The album was re-released in 1997 by MCA Records...
, in 1968, and from that released a single, "Oscillations," a song that Simeon has cited as the first song he had written. On the debut album, seven of the nine songs had lyrics by Stanley Warren (not Warren Stanley as incorrectly credited on the re-release of the 1997 MCA CD), including the group's signature song, "Oscillations." Warren, who subsequently became a published poet, met Simeon and Taylor at the Third Annual Avant Garde Arts Festival in 1968 in New York City, organized by Charlotte Moorman
Charlotte Moorman
Madeline Charlotte Moorman Garside was an American cellist and performance artist.She was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. She studied cello from age ten and won a scholarship to Centenary College where she took her B.A. in music in 1955. She received her M.A...
, who was famous as the "topless cellist". Soon after, Simeon became acquainted with Warren's early work, and set a poem, "MJ", to music as "Seagreen Serenades." Inspired by Simeon's interest, in the next few months Warren wrote the remaining six songs used on the "Silver Apples" album. Another song, "Gypsy Love," was used in the second album, "Contact." In recent performances, Simeon still plays some of his and Warren's works from the early days of Silver Apples.
The following year, they released their second LP, Contact
Contact (Silver Apples album)
Contact is the second album by Silver Apples. The cover and inner artwork generated a lawsuit from Pan Am Airlines. The cover features the Silver Apples in a plane cockpit with drug paraphernalia and the inner artwork showed the band amongst plane wreckage playing banjos...
and toured the United States. A third album was recorded in 1970, but Kapp was folded into MCA Records
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
, leaving the album unreleased, and the group defunct.
Simeon elaborates on the other reasons for Silver Apples disbanding and the record label's demise at his site.
Nineties revival
In 1994, the German label TRC released a bootleg CD of both records, and the interest provoked by this release prompted Simeon to reform the Silver Apples in 1996. The first two records were re-released as official records from the master tapes, and Simeon began a tour of the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with a new Silver Apples band, featuring multi-instrumentalist Xian Hawkins. Eventually, "after much searching", Danny Taylor was located, and a handful of reunion shows of the original lineup were performed. Taylor also had the tape of the unreleased third record, The Garden, in a box in his attic, and the record was finally released in 1998. In the ensuing years the Silver Apples released several albums of new material featuring the touring line-up of Simeon, Taylor and Hawkins: Decatur, Beacon, and A Lake of Teardrops.
In 1998, their tour van was forced off the road by an unknown driver, breaking Simeon's neck. As of 2004, Simeon was much recovered, but he was unable to play his instrument in the way he used to. He never fully recovered his hand movements, so his keyboard work is much more simple and direct now.
Since the accident, Silver Apples' activity has diminished. Simeon spends his time making new music, recuperating, and boating on the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
. Xian Hawkins has released three albums of solo material under the name Sybarite
Sybarite (musician)
Sybarite is the solo project of musician Xian Hawkins, who played with the Silver Apples for a number of years in the 1990s. Sybarite produces abstract midtempo electronica, but also contains elements of jazz and classical music...
. Danny Taylor died on March 10, 2005 in Kingston, New York
Kingston, New York
Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, USA. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. It became New York's first capital in 1777, and was burned by the British Oct. 16, 1777, after the Battles of Saratoga...
.
Recent concerts and festivals
In September 2007 Simeon went on tour for the first time in years, performing as a solo version of the Silver Apples. Silver Apples / Simeon performed at, among others, All Tomorrow's PartiesAll Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....
(Minehead, UK, December 2007); Electric Picnic
Electric Picnic
The 2005 festival took place on Saturday 3 September and Sunday 4 September. It is best remembered for Arcade Fire's performance which came before their subsequent mainstream success...
, Stradbally, Ireland (September 2008); All Tomorrow's Parties, Australia (January 2009), The Unit, Tokyo, (July 2009); Oscillations Music + Arts Festival, Belfast, Northern Ireland (September 2009); Austin Psych Fest 3, TX (April 2010); Albuquerque Experimental, Albuquerque, NM (October 2010), Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou (May 2011), London, England iTunes Festival (July 2011).
Studio albums
- Silver ApplesSilver Apples (album)Silver Apples is the debut album by the band of the same name. It was the most successful original album by the band, reaching 193 on the Billboard 200. The album was re-released in 1997 by MCA Records...
(1968, Kapp RecordsKapp RecordsKapp Records was an independent record label started in 1954 by David Kapp, brother of Jack Kapp . David Kapp founded his own label after stints with Decca Records and RCA Victor Records. Kapp licensed its records to London Records for release in the UK.In 1967, David Kapp sold his label to MCA Inc...
) U.S. No. 193 - ContactContact (Silver Apples album)Contact is the second album by Silver Apples. The cover and inner artwork generated a lawsuit from Pan Am Airlines. The cover features the Silver Apples in a plane cockpit with drug paraphernalia and the inner artwork showed the band amongst plane wreckage playing banjos...
(1969, Kapp) - Beacon (1998, Whirlybird)
- The Garden (1998, Whirlybird)
- Decatur (1998, Whirlybird)
Singles and EPs
- "Oscillations"/"Misty Mountain" (1968, KAPP Records, 7" single)
- "You & I"/"Confusion" (1969, KAPP Records, 7" Single)
- "Fractal Flow"/"Lovefingers" (1996, Enraptured 45's, 7"Single)
- "Fractal Flow"/"Lovefingers" (1997, Whirlybird Records, CD)
- "I Don't Know" (2007, Gifted Children Records, 7" Split Single (with One Cut Kill))
- Gremlins (2008, Gifted Children Records, CD-R EP)
Compilations
- Silver Apples (1997, MCA, CD)
- (re-release of first and second records)
- Selections From The Early Sessions (2008, ChickenCoop Recordings)
- (It features recorded versions (not from live shows) of eleven of the early songs that Simeon performs in live concert plus a bonus track recorded in 1969 of an impromptu session in NY with Jimi HendrixJimi HendrixJames Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
.)
- (It features recorded versions (not from live shows) of eleven of the early songs that Simeon performs in live concert plus a bonus track recorded in 1969 of an impromptu session in NY with Jimi Hendrix