klaatu
the most underrated 33 1/3 in history?
my vote is for all "Klaayu"! even the plug in the recent tas is way understated. it was the fact that they were thought to be the Beatles that did them in not what made them great. the world lost interest because they were not and wrote them off as copies, when infact the album rivaled the beatles best. i am a true Bealtes fan, they were/are the best most consistant group there ever was or probably ever will be. but, this does not mean no other band can be at any given time as good. here is where klaatu's defeat ocurred, because they were so great they had to be a beatles copy but when infact they were fantastic originals. while their following albums were not as great as their original self titled "Klaatu" their following albums "hope", "endaangered species", "sir army suit" and "raarities" are well worth the spin. do your self a great favor pick one up their albums and give them a spin and then wonder what may have been had they not been compared to/or mistaken for the Beatles? the art work alone is woth a look. long live KLAATU!
33 responses Add your response
the buzz created for klaatu's 'calling occupants...' was a hoax 'created' by a single dj, and then used by capitol records to hype a really good (but no beatles) canadian prog-rock band. people were so desparate for a beatles reunion, they were primed to believe anything. the carpenters did a great cover of 'calling occupants' as well.......'paul is dead' was another great hoax.....ps, the first klaatu lp is underrated for sure(better than most of the euro-prog of the day)...still no beatles. |
I like Klaatu a lot and yes they had a very Beatlesque sound and approach. The production on their first two albums perhaps even set a new bar at the time in terms of musical ambition and even results for their genre of music. They also had a knack for writing catchy lightweight pop-friendly tunes, which extended even to their later albums. The song "Hope" from that album, though a bit more substanntive lyrically than many of their pop tunes, is one example of Klaatu at their best. I agree also that their stuff is highly underrated, largely as a result of the fact that their first album was rumored to be the Beatles. People listened and heard enough to hang on to that "hope". Then when it became clear they were not, the band was doomed from there on despite the actual merits of their work which is certainly very capable of standing on its own. Also, there was so much production applied to their first two albums and the soundscapes so ambitious that they sound crappy on all but very good systems, on which you discover that they were actually extremely good. Audiphiles that are into that kind of pop/rock/prog music should definitely give Klaatu a listen. I'd love to hear a properly done digital remaster of these albums some day. |
what about california jam, true life hero, anus of uranus and sub rosa subway amongst the others. the album was not just calling occupants. the carpenters version was good but not as good as the original which is absolutely great. no need for a cd the vinyl versions are arguably some of the best sounding vinyl out there. in my opinion the band was and still is, even today, fantastic and way way under valued in pop music and to write them off as beatles copies or wantabee's or a hoax would be a great loss to music. so do your self a favor if you have it pull it out and give it another spin, if you don't find it and see what you have been missing. no they were not the beatles but who was/is? but they were great! |
Martha and the Muffins - This is the Ice Age One of my fav albums of all time. This album has everything. http://www.allmusic.com/album/this-is-the-ice-age-mw0000765009 From allmusic.com: It all came together on this album for Martha & the Muffins. Working with a new producer, a young Daniel Lanois, and a new bass player (Daniel's sister, Jocelyne), the band seemed to have the freedom to produce their sound their way. And it worked in a big way. From the first track, the incredible "Swimming," to the fantastic closer "Three Hundred Years/Chemistry," this album is a multi-layered, unforgettable experience. Mark Gane wrote the majority of the album, and he branches out both in his writing and his playing, while Martha Johnson produces one of her finest songs, the exquisite "One Day in Paris." The humor is still there, but now somewhat bittersweet, as evidenced in the wonderful "You Sold the Cottage," a wonderful companion piece to their single "Echo Beach" in that it showed just how much this band had grown in two years, and how much more mature their sound had become. A very strong album, one that would appeal to a great many tastes if given the chance; not instantly accessible, but well worth the effort of several listens. There are no real highlights, as the entire album is a standout, and also groundbreaking, with several production techniques still being used today. [A Canadian version of the CD was released in 2005.] |
The '70s and '80s analog-recorded Concord Jazz albums could all be considered audiophile recordings. Notable is "The L.A. Four Scores," a live recording so clean I would have thought it was studio except for audience interaction. The clarity, dynamics and detail are well beyond what's usually expected in a live recording, and the stereo image is a realistic 3-D soundstage with excellent imaging. Oh, and with Shelly Manne, Ray Brown, Laurinda Almeida, and Bud Shank, the music ain't too shabby either. |
This is a band that was penalized not because they were "Beatlesk" but because they were literly not the Beatles! The album had no name of the band or it's members on it. So the hype was that this was The Beatles. No proof, that I know of that this was intentional by the band. Once the truth came out instead of taking the album on face value it was disregarded as a copy and a fake. When in fact, in my view, it was a masterpiece. I have everything they have done as well and it is quite a great compilation of material. Their first album is one I can listen to over and over and never get bored. A true hidden Gem! I am just saying ✌️ |
As I recall, the hype about them being the Beatles when the first album was released was spontaneous and grew organically but was not initiated by teh group or Capital records. But once it achieved critical mass, capital chose to ride the wave of publicity and not offer up much information to set things straight. I bought the first record as a result of the publicity and wondered myself as did most others. Then by the time teh second lp Hope came out, which IMHO is a hugely unapprciated or underrated release,cApital and the group suffered the backlash as it became clear this was really not The BEatles. Then Klaatu descended further into obscurity over time as a result despite continuing to produce perhaps some of their most Beatleesque tunes ever on the later albums Sir Army Suit and Endangered Species. |
Capital learned their lesson about how to promote new groups in teh shadow of teh BEatles then when "Get The Knack" came out a few years later. Here it was clear the group, also very talented, was not The BEatles though teh album cover was based on the design of "Meet The BEatles" and again teh $$$ signs rolled at very high levels at least for that initial release by The Knack. |
Not a underrated Band, but maybe Album Little River Band – Backstage Pass Reminiscing ("Night And Day" Intro) absolute great live performed https://www.discogs.com/de/Little-River-Band-Backstage-Pass/release/2739079 |