Mother Earth's Plantasia is an electronic album by Mort Garson released in 1976.
| Mother Earth's Plantasia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Studio album by | |
| Released | 1976 |
| Studio | Patchcord Productions, Hollywood, California[1] |
| Genre | Space age pop |
| Length | 30:55 |
| Label | Homewood Records, Sacred Bones |
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 78/100[2] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| Pitchfork | 7.2/10[4] |
| The Quietus | [5] |
Background
editThe music on it was composed specifically for plants to listen to.[6] Garson was inspired by his wife, who grew many plants in their home.[7] Garson used a Moog synthesizer to compose the album, the first album on the West Coast composed entirely on the Moog synthesizer.[7]
The album had a very limited distribution upon release, only being available to people who bought a houseplant from a store called Mother Earth on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles or those who purchased a Simmons mattress from a Sears outlet, both of which came with the record.[6] As a result, the album failed to attain widespread popularity around the time of its release. However, it has since gained a cult following as an early work of electronic music.[8]
Legacy
editThe album also gained popularity on YouTube, with the full album (uploaded without permission) gaining millions of views and thousands of comments spread over multiple different bootleg uploads.[9]
A cover of "Plantasia" was produced by Griffin McElroy for use in a 2017 episode of The Adventure Zone.[10]
In March 2019, Sacred Bones Records announced that they were officially reissuing Mother Earth's Plantasia.[8] The reissue is available on music streaming services and was released on vinyl, CD and cassette on June 21, 2019.[6] Angie Martoccio, writing for Rolling Stone in 2019, described Mother Earth's Plantasia as Garson's magnum opus.[11] Stephen M. Deusner, writing for Pitchfork, described it as perhaps Garson's "most beloved album, at least among crate-diggers and record collectors."[4]
For the 2023 tax season, Intuit used the opening track "Plantasia" on a TurboTax advertisement.[12]
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Plantasia" | 3:21 |
| 2. | "Symphony for a Spider Plant" | 2:41 |
| 3. | "Baby's Tears Blues" | 3:03 |
| 4. | "Ode to an African Violet" | 4:03 |
| 5. | "Concerto for Philodendron & Pothos" | 3:09 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 6. | "Rhapsody in Green" | 3:28 |
| 7. | "Swingin' Spathiphyllums" | 2:59 |
| 8. | "You Don't Have to Walk a Begonia" | 2:31 |
| 9. | "A Mellow Mood for Maidenhair" | 2:17 |
| 10. | "Music to Soothe the Savage Snake Plant" | 3:23 |
Personnel
edit- Mort Garson – score, electronics
- Eugene L. Hamblin III – electronic engineering
- Sam Nicholson – art direction
- Marvin Rubin – illustrations
Charts
edit| Chart (2019) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Independent Albums (Billboard)[13] | 6
|
| US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[14] | 8
|
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Mother Earth's Plantasia (back cover of LP), Hollywood, CA: Homewood Records, 1976
- ^ "Metacritic Review". Metacritic. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
- ^ Phares, Heather. "AllMusic Review". AllMusic. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
- ^ a b Deusner, Stephen (July 6, 2019). "Pitchfork Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
- ^ Coney, Brian (June 26, 2019). "The Quietus Review". The Quietus. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
- ^ a b c "Mort Garson: Mother Earth's Plantasia". Sacred Bones Records. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
- ^ a b "Celebrating Plantasia". Moog Music. Retrieved 2023-10-15.
- ^ a b "Mother Earth's Plantasia Gets First Official Vinyl Reissue". Pitchfork. Condé Nast. 22 March 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
- ^ Petridis, Alexis (2019-07-09). "Mother Earth's Plantasia: the cult album you should play to your plants". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
- ^ "Journey's End: Music from The Adventure Zone, by Griffin McElroy". Griffin McElroy.
- ^ Martoccio, Angie (2019-12-12). "Revisiting the Weird World of Seventies Plant Music". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2021-05-18. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
- ^ "TurboTax Not Taxes 2023 Commercial Song". Commercial Song. January 2023. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
- ^ "Independent Albums". Billboard. July 6, 2019. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
- ^ "EDM Music & Dance Albums Chart". Billboard. July 6, 2019. Retrieved July 13, 2019.