Wozo ‎– Hydro-Electric

Wozo - Hydro-Electric (Music De Wolfe DWLP 3412 Power Source) 1980 

Cosmic library music at its best. Although I guess by the title of this track they were going for more of an environmental industrial engineering vibe. I mean it's all about the futuristic science and optimism of mankind so it all works well. 

In the mid/late 00s I thought those early records by neo-kosmische acts like Oneohtrix Point Never, Emeralds etc. sounded much closer to this kind of gear than say they did with Tangerine Dream.  

This track was used in the NASA documentary Space Shuttle: A Remarkable Flying Machine (1981) at the end when space shuttle Challenger was coming in for landing. Then used in the follow up doc STS-2 The Second Flight (1981) in the opening scene which is a flashback to the first flight's landing. 

Even as a 9 year old I used to think "Sure this is cool and all but it's not better than going to the moon is it? Why aren't they going beyond the moon?"

Anyway getting back to this 1980 Music De Wolfe LP Power Source, it's one of the great cosmic electronic library records. Every track is a little gem and thematically cohesive so it works like a cosmic-synth or sci-fi soundtrack record. You can just imagine all these tunes as part of an early 80s science documentary series or space age exhibit at the planetarium. 

Power Source is a classic instrumental synth album. On the back cover it states Unusual, atmospheric and futuristic moods played on electronic keyboards. I'd place it as one of the top British electronic LPs of 1980, vying for top spot with John Foxx's Metamatic. I don't recall this record being mentioned on that Synth Britannia documentary but perhaps it should have been.

Wozo info (and music uploads) on the interwebs is pretty scarce. The main guy behind this project is English fella John Hynde who also goes by the name of James Harrington and/or John Saunders. Saunders is also the man behind prolific production/library music act Astral Sounds who released over 20 LPs between 1977 & 1986 on labels like Music De Wolfe, Rouge and Hudson Music Company.  

You can listen to DWLP 3412 Power Source here