Lost/Forgotten Album #197

Yup, still wiki-free!

Yet some are still drawn to Wikipedia, one such person claiming that they visited that site in order to find out who the produced a specific album. Know what I did? I looked at the booklet included with this week's featured album and imagine my "surprise" when I found that information without having to resort to Wikipedia. I even think that some albums have that information on the back of the CD case.

Obviously Wikipedia is like a drug to some. They claim they won't rely on it except for a little tidbit of information. Of course that leads to relying on it for even more information and then it's full-blown trust in Wikipedia. Some people just refuse to learn, I guess.

This week's album is 3:47 EST (aka Klaatu) from Klaatu (aka the Beatles*) released in 1976. For more on this album, let's grab some hand-picked information from allmusic.com:

"3:47 EST surfaces as an entertaining debut album made up of light, harmonic pop songs which harbor a little bit of a progressive rock feel in a few spots. Klaatu's "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" became a Top 40 hit for the Carpenters in 1977, but the other tracks from the band's debut are just as congenial if not more compelling. Composed of poppy horn work and inventive instrumentation, tracks like "California Jam" and the quaint- sounding "Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby" (which sounds like an early Genesis title) offer up a unique blend of bright, glistening strings and placid vocals. The lengthy and progressively cosmic "Little Neutrino" is an entertaining instrumental stew that beautifully wanders about in almost free-formed style. While 3:47 EST is Klaatu's strongest release from nearly every aspect, their second album, entitled Hope, contains less of a pop-infused recipe but has greater progressive depth and leans toward more of an experimental sound, especially where the instruments are concerned."

So, what about the actual group?

*"In August of 1976, the self-titled debut album by an unknown group called Klaatu was released on Capitol Records to little notice. The following February Steve Smith, a writer for the Providence Journal in Rhode Island, wrote an article titled "Could Klaatu Be the Beatles? Mystery Is a Magical Mystery Tour." The article began the rumor that Klaatu was "more than likely either in part or in whole the Beatles." These conjectures, fueled by a series of articles in trade magazines like Billboard created a huge amount of hype and Capitol did nothing to deny or confirm the rumors. Throughout 1977, record sales soared and radio stations ran "Is Klaatu the Beatles?" promotions. Reportedly, some of the "clues" as to whether or not Klaatu were the Beatles included backward messages, Morse code, references to the group's identities in the song lyrics, and the word "Beatles" hidden in various places on the record jacket. After several months of conjecture, the group's identity was revealed at the end of year -- it wasn't the Beatles after all, it was Terry Draper (songwriter, vocalist, drummer), John Woloschuck, and Dee Long. Immediately, their record sales declined, and due to a backlash generated by the Beatles hoax their four subsequent albums failed to sell. The group broke up in 1981."**

And there you have it!

3:47 EST

1. Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft
2. California Jam
3. Anus Of Uranus
4. Sub-Rosa Subway
5. True Life Hero
6. Doctor Marvello
7. Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby III
8. Little Neutrino

Availability: The BGO remaster which also includes Klaatu's second album, can be had for around $15. Or you can get this album by itself for around $10, but the sound quality is not the greatest from what I've read (not on Wikipedia).

**from allmusic.com