Re-releases
The album has been released with two different covers. The most-common one shows a photograph of a man dressed as Johann Sebastian Bach standing in front of a Moog modular synthesizer. The very first pressing however showed Bach seated. Carlos (and producer Rachel Elkind) objected to the original cover and had it replaced, noting it "was a clownish, trivializing image of a mugging Bach, supposedly hearing some absurd sound from his earphones. That these were plugged into the input, not output, of a 914 Filter module, which in turn was connected to nothing, assured that silence is all that would have greeted Johann Sebastian's ears."
Carlos released Switched-On Bach 2000 in 1992 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the original album's release. It is essentially a remake of the original LP — not a re-release — using state-of-the-art (as of 1992) digital synthesizers and computer-assisted recording. Although the CD contains the same track listing as the original, with the additional inclusion of a) a brief, introductory original composition styled as a birthday fanfare for the project and b) Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 at the close of the album, the new digital synth sounds, in period tunings, are radically different in feeling, prompting some criticism from disappointed fans.
In 1999, Carlos released the Switched-On Boxed Set, a lavishly produced 4-CD boxset comprising the following albums in their original form:
- Switched-On Bach
- The Well-Tempered Synthesizer
- Switched-On Bach II
- Switched-On Brandenburgs
The albums have been remastered by Carlos and include some bonus tracks. The boxset also includes a 150 page booklet with photos, production notes, digital links to her website, etc.
Read more about this topic: Switched-On Bach