Pop Culture Safari!

Out July 28.

At the dawn of the space age, with man standing on the threshold on conquering realms hitherto only realised in his wildest dreams, it is only natural that the prospect of interplanetary travel should begin to influence various aspects of our everyday lives. No longer are such events the figment of a riotous imagination, confined within the paper covers of a science-fiction novel. The conquest of space has already begun - and the effect of it's impact is being reflected in many different ways, and expressed in a variety of media.
'Man's magnificent triumph is particularly suited to musical adaptation. For, in the very concept of a voyage into the unknown, the composer is presented with a vast tableau, as infinite as space itself, embodying every possible mood, colour and sensation.'

The launch of Sputnik 1 by the U.S.S.R in 1957, and Explorer 1 a year later by America captured the public imagination and space exploration became one of the dominant themes in popular entertainment.

Here then, powered up by the Spotnicks, is a celebration of Space Exotica involving three very different but equally singular musical views of the heavens

The Spotnicks were in the vanguard of 'Space Age Pop'; in both conception and sound. They donned their space suits to celebrate interplanetary mystique with an exciting style that deployed sound effects and heavily reverbed electric guitars. For Japanese teenagers, it was the Spotnicks who most successfully captured the mood of the era and the group enjoyed two successive number 1 single hits in Ajomies and Karelia.

Ron Goodwin is probably best known for his mid-sixties scores for Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines, 633 Squadron, The Battle of Britain, Where Eagles Dare, along with his skilfully nuanced lighter work like the wonderful Margaret Rutherford Miss Marple films. His George Martin produced Out Of This World (titled 'Music In Orbit' in America) was his inspired response to the growing interest in Exotica and Space Age Pop and, in particular - it has been speculated - to Russ Garcia's Fantastica, the album with which Out Of This World is twinned as the definitive works of the genre.

Goodwin's musical look at the Universe includes a comic strip conception of Martians, scoring a marimba and male voice choir to depict the rings around Saturn and articulating Mercury's mythology with a phrase based on the Morse S.O.S. signal; an action which the composer described as "jazz in the classical form'

Russ Garcia's Fantastica remains the gold standard by which all outer space exotica records are judged. The album is a marvel of sound and structure, so far ahead of its time that it would still be considered innovative even by today's standards. Garcia evokes the music of the cosmos via revolutionary studio techniques, cinematic arrangements, innovative electronic elements and the adept use of the "ethereal voce effects" on the track, The Volcanoes of Mercury, provided by the world-famous soprano, Marni Nixon.

THE SPOTNICKS

ROCKET MAN
MOONSHOT
TELSTAR

RON GOODWIN: OUT OF THIS WORLD!
DEPARTURE
THE MOON
SALLY THE SATELLITE
THE VENUS WALTZ
MERCURY GETS THE MESSAGE
THE SUN
JUMPING JUPITER
MARTIANS ON PARADE
THE MILKY WAY
THE RINGS AROUND SATURN
PLAYTIME ON PLUTO
RETURN MY LOVE

RUSS GARCIA:

FANTASTICA - MUSIC FROM OUTER SPACE
INTO SPACE
NOVA (EXPLODING STAR)
LOST SOULS OF SATURN
MONSTERS OF JUPITER
WATER CREATURES OF ASTRA
VENUS
RED SAND OF MARS
GOOFY PEEPL OF PHOBOS
VOLCANOES OF MERCURY
BIRTH OF A PLANET
FROZEN NEPTUNE
MOON RISE

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A symphonic version of the Who's "Quadrophenia" released by Pete Townshend isn't "classical" enough to top the classical charts in Britain.

...the orchestral record has not been accepted into the Classical Chart, due to the fact that the original material is rock music.

On discovering his exclusion ... Townshend expressed his disappointment:
“So musical snobbery in the “classical” elite is still alive & kicking then? F**k ’em. There’s a huge team behind this album, entirely rooted in the practical world of recorded classical music, who deserve better than this petty slap-down. I know I’m a rock dinosaur and I’m happy to be one, but the team on Classic Quadrophenia are all young, creative and brilliant.”

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Head's up, Chris Pratt: Spider-Man was fighting genetically engineered dinosaurs back in the 1970s.