CALLING OCCUPANTS OF INTERPLANETARY CRAFT
“Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft” is a song by Klaatu, originally released in 1976 on their first album 3:47 EST. The song would open night transmission of the pirate radio station Radio Caroline. The year following its release, the Carpenters covered the song, using a crew of 160 musicians. The Carpenters version reached the top 10 in the UK and Canada. (More from Wikipedia)
My own theory is that Crystal Mansion suffers from the same “problem” as last month’s UARB, the Human Zoo: The band has real variety in its material and doesn’t sound the same all through the record. The Allmusic article on the band, by Lars Lovén, starts off: “The Crystal Mansion’s relatively short story is that of a white R&B band moving towards groovy psychedelic rock in the ’70s.” Joe Viglione writing for Allmusic grudgingly acknowledges this about the final track: “‘Earth People’ is reminiscent of ‘Calling Occupants’, the hit for the Carpenters and Klaatu. It is the highlight of the album. Let’s call it Crystal Mansion’s ‘I’m Your Captain / Closer to Home’.” The reference of course is to the closing song on the Grand Funk Railroad breakthrough album, Closer to Home (1970), “I’m Your Captain”, although Crystal Mansion was able to craft their memorable song in barely one third the playing time of the Grand Funk track.
(August 2015)
