An Electric Storm

An Electric Storm
Studio album by White Noise
Released	June 1969
Recorded	1968
Genre	Electronic [1] avant-pop [2] psychedelic pop [1] experimental pop [3]
Length	35:06
Label	Island
Producer	A Kaleidophon Production David Vorhaus (production coordinator)
White Noise chronology
An Electric Storm (1969) White Noise 2 - Concerto for Synthesizer (1974)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Pitchfork	8.6/10 [5]

An Electric Storm is the debut album by the electronic music group White Noise. The idea for the album began with the American bassist sound engineer David Vorhaus, who, inspired by the English musician and composer Delia Derbyshire's breakthrough work in creating early electronic music sounds and synthasizers for the pinoreering BBC Radiophonic Workshop, colloberated with Derbyshire and the English composer Brian Hodgson to marry electronic sounds with contemporary late 1960s pop music rhythms and melodies. ^[5]

Although not a commercial success on release, it has since become a cult favourite and has been especially influential on electronic musicians. ^[6]

Background

The band recorded the first two tracks with the intention of producing a single only but were then persuaded by Chris Blackwell of Island Records to create an entire album. At this point the group had established the Kaleidophon Studio in a flat in Camden Town, London, and spent a year creating the next four tracks. ^[7] The last track was put together in one day when Island demanded the completion of the album. ^[8]

Influence

Although not very successful on its initial release, the album is now considered an important and influential album in the development of electronic music. ^{[7] [9]} Chris Carter of Throbbing Gristle has called it "the most groundbreaking yet completely underrated electronic record of the 20th century". ^[10]

A brief extract from the track "Black Mass: An Electric Storm in Hell" can be heard in the Hammer Film Productions film Dracula AD 1972 .

Track listing

Phase-In

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Love without Sound"	Delia Derbyshire David Vorhaus	3:07
2.	"My Game of Loving"	Georgina Duncan Vorhaus	4:10
3.	"Here Come the Fleas"	John McDonald Vorhaus	2:15
4.	"Firebird"	Derbyshire Vorhaus	3:05
5.	"Your Hidden Dreams"	McDonald Vorhaus	4:58

Phase-Out

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
6.	"The Visitation"	McDonald Vorhaus	11:14
7.	"Black Mass: An Electric Storm in Hell"	Duncan Derbyshire Vorhaus Paul Lytton Brian Hodgson [11]	7:22

Personnel

The following people contributed to An Electric Storm: ^[12]

• Kaleidophon – production
• David Vorhaus – production co-ordinator
• Delia Derbyshire, Brian Hodgson – electronic sound realisation
• Paul Lytton – percussion
• John Whitman, Annie Bird, Val Shaw – vocals

Releases

• June 1969 - LP, Island Records, catalogue number ILPS 9099
• 27 March 1995^{[ citation needed ]}
• 9 July 2007^{[ citation needed ]}

References

1. Morpurgo, Jason (29 May 2014). "The greatest electronic albums of the 1950s and 1960s". FACT. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
2. McNamee, David (19 January 2009). "The Best of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop on One Side of a C90". The Quietus .
3. Simpson, Paul. "Delia Derbyshire Appreciation Society Review by Paul Simpson". AllMusic. Retrieved 16 May 2022. However, the DDAS moniker is somewhat misleading, as the pair's debut album isn't nearly as eerie or playful as Derbyshire's work, and definitely nowhere near as weird as An Electric Storm by White Noise, an absolutely brilliant experimental pop album from the late '60s that Derbyshire played a major part in creating.
4. https://www.allmusic.com/album/r52534
5. Murphy, Matthew. "An Electric Storm: White Noise". Pitchfork , 2007. Retrieved 31 October 2025
6. Taylor, Tom. "". Far Out Magazine, 1 February 2024. Retrieved 31 October 2025
7. 1 2 Pattison, Louis (2007). "White Noise - An Electric Storm". BBC.
8. An Electric Storm, sleeve notes, 1995 CD version, 3DCID 1001, Island Records
9. "The 50 Most Influential Dance Music Albums of All Time". mixmag.net. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
10. Quietus, The (4 August 2021). "I Hear New Worlds: Chris Carter's Favourite Albums | Page 10 of 14". The Quietus. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
11. White Noise: An Electric Storm (Island, 2007)
12. An Electric Storm - Credits. AllMusic. Retrieved 27 June 2011

External links

• Head Heritage Review by Julian Cope