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Newly Remastered Electronic Organ & Keyboard Recordings for Sale

Posted: Thursday 24th September

A review by Michael Wooldridge of this new release on USB from the September/October Issue of Keyboard Cavalcade Magazine - Visit Keyboard Cavalcade Website to subscribe (opens in new tab)

This new release is from a top player who may not be known to many readers, Dorian Collins.   Back in the 1980s and 90s, alongside organ club concerts, festival appearances and live cabaret work, he was a pioneer at making stunning orchestral arrangements, layering up multiple tracks using a wide array of what was then the latest equipment, and leading the way in what was possible with technology, but then changes in life meant that, in more recent times, he has only been playing a select number of theatre organ concerts.

He has recently digitised some of his recordings from that pioneering time and has released the first album of them for sale, unusually, and in keeping with his cutting edge thinking, on a USB Stick, so you can easily play the recordings in the car or on a computer.

I have to say, the album is staggeringly good, and whilst I well remember Dorian being an amazing player at the time, I had perhaps not recalled just how brilliant his arrangements were and how superb his playing is.  Most importantly, the arrangements and sounds are as fresh as if they were made today on the very latest instruments money can buy and there is nothing that in any way hints at their age.

Dorian Collins and his digital Orchestra "Archive Collection" 1987-2000 has 12 tracks, all great, mostly light orchestral favourites:- Portrait of a Flirt, Tritsch Tratsch Polka, Grasshoppers Dance, The Theme to TV’s Howards Way, A Musical Joke, Star Trek the Menagerie Suite, Thunderbirds, Geronimo, Perpetuum Mobile, Pepe, Its Not Unusual, and Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1.

Favourites of these for me include Geronimo, which I used to play when I was working in The Fabulous Shadows Tribute Band, and Dorian has really captured the essence of it here, the Theme to TV’s Howards Way and, of course, Thunderbirds!

Dorian used a massive array of instruments to create the most authentic sounds possible, and these tracks  still sound like they are being played by orchestras and guitarists and drummers, not keyboards and sequencers!  All of these play some part here:- Korg M1R ex / Yamaha HS6 - HS7- MR700 Electones / Yamaha DX7 / Emu Proteus / Roland R5 - TR505 - Alesis HR16 - Yamaha RX11 Drum Machines / Elka MK55 / Musicman / Westone /  Basses / Clarrisa Acoustic Guitar / Yamaha QX3 / Technics PX7 / Hammond A100 / Kawai 100P / Ensoniq Mirage - Akai samplers /  Various Percussions.

Here is a little of Dorian’s background:- Dorian began studying Classical Piano aged eight, graduating to the Classical Pipe Organ aged 16 at Malvern Priory, where he studied Performance, Harmony and Counterpoint.  Although classically trained, his love of light orchestral music and jazz was to bring him into contact with the electronic organ, the instrument with which he became so strongly associated.  In addition to keyboards and organ, he also plays Bass and Rhythm Guitars, Drums and Trumpet, some of which can also be heard on these recordings.

To order your copy, send a cheque for £12.50 (including p&p) payable to ‘Mr Dorian J Collins’ to D. J. Collins, 275 Henwick Road, St. John’s, WORCESTER, WR2 5PG.  If you would prefer to pay by bank transfer, drop him an email to dorianfkab@gmail.com

The photo is a more recent one of him, when playing a concert on the COS Fentham Hall Compton.

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