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| From | "Sager, Greg" <greg.sager@bankofamerica.com> |
| Subject | Calling Occupants Of Intracontinental Songs |
| Date | Mon, 13 Jun 2005 05:55:13 -0500 |
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Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 12:46:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: kcronin <fiatluxury@yahoo.com>
To: audities@smoe.org
Subject: Re: OK, I watched it
Message-ID: <20050610194612.21660.qmail@web50401.mail.yahoo.com>
--- "Sager, Greg" <greg.sager@bankofamerica.com>
And a lot of
> *them* are probably only in the "heard of them"
> category rather than the "heard them" category,
> thanks to the "Is Klaatu the Beatles in disguise?"
> rumor surrounding the band, circa 1977.
full&extra=audities>
>
Don't forget the Carpenters cover of "calling
occupants"!
How could I? (heh, heh)
Actually, their cover of "Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft" isn't really germane to the subject of whether or not Americans are/were aware of Klaatu. It was a pretty minor hit, released well into Richard's and Karen's decline in popularity, and I doubt that a lot of American DJs introduced it on the radio by saying, "... and now, here's the new Carpenters' single, which is their version of a song originally recorded by a Canadian band called Klaatu ...".
But, yeah, as Jaimie said, the Carpenters' take on "Calling Occupants" was not one of the more memorable moments of pop music in the seventies by any standard -- artistic *or* economic.
(Looking up this song on allmusic.com reminded me that I was once forced to sit through a listen of the Carpenters album from which it was taken, *Passage*. Just seeing the track listing brought back some horribly painful teenage memories ... not the wistful kind, but the cringing kind. That album's cover versions of the infamous Rice/Webber weepie from *Evita*, "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina", and the Harry Belafonte calypso standard, "Man Smart (Woman Smarter)", were transcendent in their awfulness. I can honestly say that if I was forced to listen to that album more than once it would've undoubtedly caused chromosome damage. The only defense I can offer on my behalf for sitting through *Passage* even that one time was that the female who was playing it for me was very attractive.)
Gregory Sager
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