KLAATU
Klaatu was a Canadian progressive rock group formed in 1973 by the duo of John Woloschuk and Dee Long. They named themselves after the extraterrestrial character Klaatu in the film The Day the Earth Stood Still. In Canada, the band is remembered for several hits, including “California Jam” (1974), “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft” (1977) and “Knee Deep In Love” (1980). In the U.S. “Calling Occupants” b/w “Sub-Rosa Subway” was a minor double-sided hit and their only chart entry, peaking at No. 62 in 1977. The band is also remembered internationally for rumors that they were the Beatles recording under a pseudonym. Klaatu themselves did not start these rumors and always flatly denied them, and indeed no Beatle was ever involved in the writing, recording or production of any Klaatu material. (More from Wikipedia)
Other Canadian rockers include Bryan Adams, k.d. lang, Rush, Loverboy, Klaatu, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and so many more. Anna McGarrigle wrote the title song “Heart Like a Wheel” on Linda Ronstadt’s 1974 breakthrough album, Heart Like a Wheel that was later used as the name of a 1983 film also called Heart Like a Wheel about drag racer Shirley Muldowney; while Kate McGarrigle was married to Chapel Hill-born singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III whose union resulted in the birth of two more musicians, Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright. I have a CD somewhere that features the whole family if I remember right.
(April 2013)
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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)
