{"id":22516,"date":"2022-03-10T05:30:19","date_gmt":"2022-03-10T10:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=22516"},"modified":"2025-11-06T07:38:48","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T12:38:48","slug":"march-through-time-klaatu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/10\/march-through-time-klaatu\/","title":{"rendered":"March Through Time: Klaatu"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-22517\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_klaatu.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_klaatu.jpg 1200w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_klaatu-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_klaatu-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_klaatu-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_klaatu-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>Klaatu may have benefited to some degree by the rumors of them being the Beatles-in-disguise, but the backlash to the hype ultimately did them no favors. Try, if you can, to forget the hype. The group released five albums between 1976 and 1981, and four of them are very, very good indeed.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"western\"><i><b>Klaatu<\/b><\/i> aka <i><b>3:47 EST<\/b><\/i> (1976) \u2013 The album from which which the Beatles ruse drew its inspiration, <i>3:47 EST<\/i> is a classic. The original recording of \u201cCalling Occupants\u201d is a lovely hybrid of soft-pop, rock and a bit of prog and space rock. Come to think of it, the whole album fits that description. And \u201cSub-Rosa Subway\u201d is one of the greatest <em>Magical Mystery Tour<\/em>-era pastiches you\u2019ll ever encounter.<\/li>\n<li class=\"western\"><i><b>Hope<\/b><\/i> (1977) \u2013 Even more ambitious than the debut, <i>Hope<\/i> featured the London Symphony Orchestra to great effect. Side Two\u2019s majestic must-hear track \u201cPrelude\u201d handily beats ELO at their own game. The tunes are strong, the production and arrangement lush and finely wrought. A triumph.<\/li>\n<li class=\"western\"><i><b>Sir Army Suit<\/b><\/i> (1978) \u2013 Perhaps the Beatleisms were too on-the-nose here, but the music was still excellent. The entirety of Side One is superb, as is most of the second side. Only the space-filling \u201cSilly Boys\u201d is a misstep. Highly recommended.<\/li>\n<li class=\"western\"><i><b>Endangered Species<\/b><\/i> (1980) \u2013 Even at the time, to the ears of this then sixteen-year-old \u2013 something about this record wasn\u2019t right. The unique qualities of the group were gone; the songs felt faceless, and the sharp hooks had vanished. The involvement of studio musicians didn\u2019t help. Not worth seeking out, this one.<\/li>\n<li class=\"western\"><i><b>Magentalane<\/b><\/i> (1981) \u2013 Klaatu rallied for their final release, though by that time few were listening. I wasn\u2019t even aware of this record\u2019s existence until the 21<sup>st<\/sup> century. Released only in the band\u2019s native Canada, it\u2019s a worthy companion to the early records, worth acquiring and hearing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Klaatu may have benefited to some degree by the rumors of them being the Beatles-in-disguise, but the backlash to the hype ultimately did them no favors. Try, if you can, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22517,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,65],"tags":[2594],"class_list":["post-22516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","category-review","tag-klaatu","cat-27-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22516"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30330,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22516\/revisions\/30330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}