By ShivSidecar
We’re used to space now; astronauts and cosmonauts apparently shuffle back and forth to space stations with no visible effort, and probes have covered unimaginable distances to leave our comfortable solar system far behind. Routine now, but some of those early launches during the 1950s and 60s (watched on black-and-white TVs, in Britain at least) were heart-in-mouth affairs. No disrespect to The Byrds, but their early tribute to the Apollo 11 astronauts “Armstrong, Aldrin And Collins” is overwhelmed by that introductory launch sequence.
Meanwhile the Russian space program was putting the fear of annihilation into Western nations – Ray Anderson & The Home Folks give us the perspective from West Virginia in “Sputniks And Mutniks”, conjuring up images of atomic missiles and “Russian canines” raining down on American soil. Those “mutniks” were the imagined successors to the doomed Russian space dog Laika.
Now it’s time to leave the capsule if you dare. Spacewalking from a vehicle in lunar orbit was an essential skill for astronauts, but surely dangerous, if not suicidal? One of Public Service Broadcasting’s many musical documentary pieces “EVA” (Extra Vehicular Activity) brilliantly reconstructs the drama. You can dance to it too, but not while you’re weightless.
We’re about to set off on the journey of a lifetime! But somebody disagrees – “Space Travel Is Boring” squeak Modest Mouse. “I’m shot to the moon. Been there half an hour, I wanna come home soon”. Others disagree: Labrinth wants to take his lady on a trip – to the clouds, to another planet – “you should climb on board”.
In-flight music? Space is a natural inspiration for extended instrumental workouts, where boundaries are meaningless and materialism has been left behind. The best of this music encourages spiritual reflection and even bodily detachment. From a large field of nominations, Pharoah Sanders’ “Astral Travelling” is jazz at its most absorbing and engaging. The individualistic singer Judee Sill also found spiritual comfort in the universe. In her marvellously titled “Lopin’ Along Thru The Cosmos” she sees a silver chariot soaring through mercury ripples of sky, and hopes for a kiss from God. (Eat your heart out, Kate Bush). Judee Sill died in 1979, and hopefully she’s still out there, still lopin’.
It’s doubtful whether anybody needs an introduction to Elton John’s “Rocket Man”, but it fully deserves to be here; a classy pop song which poses questions about the need for human involvement beyond our planet. Still sounds fresh, too. Elton was only peripherally linked to the glam rock boom of the early 70s, but he and David Bowie did provoke a strong interest in space amongst the glitter kids. Try Brett Smiley’s “Space Ace”, a full-on glam epic. “I’m on the wrong planet, so out of place… hats off, head to Mars”.
Space seems as though it should be a place of infinite possibilities – many space songs are based on interplanetary science fiction, which was enjoying a(nother) Golden Age in the 1950s. An unlikely peephole in to the visions of that period comes from “The Space Girl’s Song”, written by the normally stern traditionalist Ewan MacColl for a BBC Radio Ballad. The lyrics offer us rockets, robots, bug-eyed monsters and time warps. The Imagined Village’s contemporary interpretation brings out the fun, and has a cute video to enjoy. Its vision of space as a holiday resort for humans has a contemporary echo in Hen Ogledd’s slightly whimsical “Crimson Star” – “I was a singer in a band aboard the first of the big cruise ships, touring the seven planets and their moons”. The descriptions of translucent flowers and ruby meadows is also informed by traditional science fiction, and psychedelia.
Whoops, I said the P word. 1967 saw a sudden growth in space as a location for far-out, trippy songs. Brian Jones somehow diverted even The Rolling Stones into space, flying further away from Earth in each verse of “2000 Light Years From Home”, a song which the Stones have unexpectedly revisited throughout their career. Unrepresentative? Yes. Groovy? Yes. Side 1 Track 1 of Pink Floyd’s debut LP sets out their stall for the next few years by taking us out into deep space (well, Neptune). Old hat now, but some of those effects were alternatively head-scratching and mind-blowing at the time. Who needed drugs with this aural chemistry?
This is a two-way process – we go into space, and the residents of space come to us. Radiohead know that, up above us, aliens are making home movies of our lives. Is this sinister? Or are they just recording their holidays for the aliens back home? Or perhaps this whole space travel malarkey is just a con, and Laika died in vain? The Mekons have seen “The Ghosts Of American Astronauts” floating over the hills above Bradford, but perhaps they’ve just been faking moon landing films? “A flag flying free in a vacuum” Explain that!
A final cautionary tale, from The Honeymoon Killers. Space makes you crave love. It also sends you mad. Let’s be careful out there
Astral A-list Playlist:
The Byrds – Armstrong, Aldrin & Collins
Ray Anderson & The Home Folks – Sputniks and Mutniks
Public Service Broadcasting – EVA
Modest Mouse – Space Travel Is Boring
Labrinth – Climb On Board
Pharoah Sanders – Astral Travelling
Judee Sill – Lopin’ Along Thru The Cosmos
Elton John – Rocket Man
Brett Smiley – Space Ace
The Imagined Village – Space Girl
Hen Ogledd – Crimson Star
The Rolling Stones – 2000 Light Years From Home
Pink Floyd – Astronomy Domine
Radiohead – Subterranean Homesick Alien
The Mekons – The Ghosts Of American Astronauts
The Honeymoon Killers – A Deep Space Romance (Ariane)
Blast Into The Beyond B-List Playlist:
The Blue Men – I Hear A New World
Chris Kenner – Rocket To The Moon
Spiritualized – Ladies And Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space
Broadcast – Arc Of A Journey
Lothar & The Hand People – Space Hymn
Weather Report – Mysterious Traveller
Janelle Monae – Sally Ride
Peter Gabriel – Down To Earth
Shudder To Think – The Ballad Of Maxwell Demon
Automatic Man – I.T.D. (Interstellar Tracking Device)
Fu Manchu – Saturn III
Blink 182 – Aliens Exist
Teenage Fanclub – Sparky’s Dream
Chungking – We Travel Fast
Pearls Before Swine – Rocket Man
Curt Boettcher – Astral Cowboy
Wonky Alice – Astronauts
Children Collide – Farewell Rocketship
Soundhog – Goldfrapp vs.Edwyn Collins (mashup)
T.P. Orchestre Poly Rhythmo De Colonou - Les Djos
Wild Space Z-List Playlist:
Oddities I might have nominated in other circumstances…
Rezillos – Destination Venus
PJ Harvey – Yuri-G
XTC – Another Satellite (BBC session)
Amon Duul II – Surrounded by the Stars
Kendra Smith – Moon Boat
Game Theory – Nine Lives To Rigel Five
Kaleidoscope – A Beacon From Mars
…. Brooke Bond space-themed collectable tea cards
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations from last week's topic: To infinity and beyond: songs about space flight. The next topic will launch on Thursday at 1pm UK time.
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