Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Klaatu - Calling Occupants of Interstellar Craft

One of my favorite prog songs is this one, Calling Occupants of Intersteller Craft by Klaatu:



This song feels like such a clear connection the band's name - as if calling out to the pilot of the spacecraft from The Day the Earth Stood Still.


I first encountered this song as a cover on The Langley Schools Music Project. Next I heard the Klaatu version, and then finally the version by The Carpenters.

The Carpenters:

The Langley Schools Music Project

Oh, and trivia - the owl sound at the beginning is one of the band members blowing across a half-empty Labatt 50 shortie's open top.

5 comments:

  1. I tend to think of this in the same space as "In the Year 2525" and Donovan's "Atlantis" for some reason.

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  2. Oh, and then there's this gem, which also seems to be related, conceptually.

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    Replies
    1. I've never heard of that . . . although, based on the comments, I should have. I caught some of Allison "the Nightbird" Steele's show back in the day on WNEW and WXRK in New York City.

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    2. I first heard about it in a book talking about incredibly strange music. I don't think it was the Re/Search volume on the subject, but it might have been, and I can't think of what other book it might be. It was included, obviously, due to the hypnosis-style induction that begins the track. The band name (after the band's theremin, named Lothar) was a bonus to that.

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