Klaatu
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- Klaatu is also the name of a character in The Day the Earth Stood Still
Klaatu was a Canadian progressive rock band in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Their first album, 3:47 EST (named Klaatu in the US due to a misunderstanding), had a Beatlesque sound, particularly in the song "Sub-Rosa Subway", but contained no biographical details, thus inspiring a rumor that the album was an anonymous project by The Beatles.
The band takes its name from the name of Michael Rennie's character in the 1951 science fiction movie The Day the Earth Stood Still. The film in turn is based on the short story "Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates, which first featured the character named Klaatu.
Their most famous song, "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft", was covered by The Carpenters in 1977.
Their second album Hope included orchestral contributions by the London Symphony Orchestra, and is considered by most fans to be an equal, if not superior effort, compared to the first album.
Sir Army Suit, their third album, is notable for the track "Silly Boys", which contains the entire lyrical portion of Anus of Uranus--a song from their first album--Backwards-masked and interspersed between the song's normal lyrics.
Upon the release of their fourth studio album, Endangered Species, the band was eventually revealed to consist of Terry Draper, John Woloschuk and Dee Long, with no musical connection to any former Beatle.
After being dropped by Capital Records in the US, they released their final album, Magentalane, in Canada only.
Their albums were released on the CD format rather late, and up until the 2000s several companies including Capitol Records released the albums with low quality and in some cases incorrect track orders. Finally, Bullseye Records released the albums in their own original, high-quality form. Bullseye also released a tribute album to Klaatu, Around the Universe In Eighty Minutes.
Klaatu Discography
- 3:47 EST (1976)
- Hope (1977)
- Sir Army Suit (1978)
- Endangered Species (1980)
- Magentalane (1981)
- Klaasic Klaatu (1982)
- Klaatu Sampler
- Peaks (1993)
- Sun Set (2005)
- Raarities (2005)
External links
- Official Klaatu web site (http://www.klaatu.org/)
- More information on the Beatles rumors (http://www.klaatu.org/klaatu1.html)