Space
Age Sounds: A Trek through Space
Pop of the 1950's & 1960s...
.. Fantastica: Music from Outer Space
Circa 1958
Compositions, arrangements, electronics and conducting
by Russ Garcia.
Plus the "ethereal voice effects" of Marni
Nixon. Titles: Into Space, Nova (Exploding Star),
Lost Souls of Saturn, Monsters of Jupiter,
Water Creatures of Astra, Venus, Red Sands of Mars,
Goofy Peepl of Phobos,
Volcanoes of Mercury, Birth of A Planet, Frozen Neptune,
Moon Rise.
Welcome to this brief introduction
to space influenced music of the Space Age. We
will visit the lesser known musical styles of the period,
leaving rock
'n' roll space music and more mainstream
genres to separate pages.
Below are listed various sites
and articles with more information and music
listings of music of the Space Age. See also
the HobbySpace
section on space music of the Folk
Revival, which took place during
this period.
Jack Diamond Music - out of action
as of 2008. Offered original LP's and CD reissues
of music from the Space Age Pop era. The site
also provided background info and MP3 samples
for many of the recordings.
Space
Capades -at Vik's
Lounge. Space Capades is the Space Pop volume
3 from the more than two dozen Capitol Records
Ultra-Lounge
compiliations of early 60's style light jazz
and "Bachelor Pad" exotica from many
different performers.
features music from pioneering electronic
composer Fred Judd, Canadian pop-psych
group The Sugar Shoppe and British jazz
artist Bob Downes amongst further library
mood music, spaced out rock and electronics.
Photo courtesy Jack Diamond Moon Gas Dick
Hyman with Mary Mayo Circa 1963
Tracks : Moon Gas, Maid of The Moon, Isn't It
Odd ?, Stella by Starlight, Imagination,
Space Reflex (Blues in 5/4) Bye Bye Blues, They
Can't Take That Away From Me,
For All We Know, Desafinado (Slightly Out Of Tune),
I'm Glad There- Is You,
Star Eyes.
..
Here is a list of albums that fit
the Space Age Pop category, at least as
defined by HobbySpace:
Space Age Pop
- music from the late 1940's to mid-1960's
that attempted to convey an impression of
space travel and exploration and often employed
exotic and unusual sounds generated by electronic
instruments, wordless vocals, and studio effects.
Follow the links to find album covers and more
information.
1940's
Music
Out of the Moon (late 1940s - Capitol)
Les Baxter conductor and arranger of compositions
by Harry Revel with conventional instruments
and Dr. Samuel Hoffmann on Theremin.
Destination
Moon (Columbia, circa 1950)
by Leith Stevens; movie soundtrack album.
Day
The Earth Stood Still (1951) Conducted
by Bernard Herrmann, Lionel Newman and Alfred
Newman and features Theremins by Dr. Samuel
J. Hoffman.
Impressions
of Outer Space (1953 - Brunswick)
by Larry Elgart with ensemble of saxophones,
trombones, piano, string bass and percussion.
The eight works include Airless Moon,
Gravitational Whirlpool and Space
Intoxication.
Exploring the Unknown (1955 on
RCA) Composed/conducted and arranged by
Leith
Stevens and features the wordless vocals
of the Walter Schumann Voices and Paul Frees
as narrator.
Tracks: Preparation and Blast Off,
Trajectory, Space Station, New Frontiers,
Arrival At Venus-New Sensations, Welcoming
Processional, Teleportation, Great Distances,
Regions of The Other Suns, The Comets,
The Heavens, Look Up.
Photo courtesy Jack Diamond Fantastica: Music from Outer Space
Circa 1958
Fantastica: Music from Outer Space
(1958 - Liberty) Compositions, arrangements,
electronics and conducting by Russ Garcia.
Plus "ethereal voice effects" of
Marni Nixon.
Tracks: Into Space, Nova (Exploding Star),
Lost Souls of Saturn, Monsters of Jupiter,
Water Creatures of Astra, Venus, Red Sands
of Mars, Goofy Peepl of Phobos, Volcanoes
of Mercury, Birth of A Planet, Frozen Neptune,
Moon Rise
Music
in Orbit (1958 - Capitol) Ron Goodwin
with a large orchestra
Countdown (? - Imperial) Jimmie
Haskell with rock 'n' roll band and electronic
effects.
Tracks: Blast Off!, Weightless Blues
Rockin' In The Orbit, Starlight, Hydrazine,
Moon Mist, We Get Messages, We Get Messages
(Stereo), Moonlight Cha Cha Cha, Astrosonic,
Astrosonic (Stereo), Venus, Asteroid Hop,
Asteroid Hop (Stereo), Homeward Earth.
Photo courtesy Jack Diamond Fantasy in Orbit An astronauts musical impression while
orbiting the Earth.
Electronic Musical Compositions of Thomas Dissevelt.
Circa 1967
Tracks: Ignition, Atlantic, Spearhead, Zanzi,
Anchor Chains, Tropicolors,
Gamelan, Woomerangs, Waltzing Mathilda, Pacific
Dawn,
Gold and Lead, Mexican Mirror, Seconds To Eternity,
Re-Entry
.. Welcome to Tomorrow from Man in Space
With Sounds (1962 - Worlds Fair Records)
by Attileo Mineo. Electronic and orchestra.
1960's
Music for Heavenly Bodies (1960
-Omega) Andre Montero & his Orchestra with
Paul Tanner on electro-theremin.
Tracks: Up to Jupiter, Misty Moon
Blues, Midnight Sun, Lost in the Stars,
20th Centry Venus,, I Wished on the
Moon, Sunrise Serenade, Moonlight Serenade,
The Red Sea of Mars, Holiday on Saturn,
Over the Rainbow, Out of this World,
The Story of a Starry Night.
I
Hear a New World: An Outer Space Music Fantasy(1960) Joe Meek & the Blue Men
Tracks: I Hear a New World, Orbit
Around the Moon, Entry of the Globbots,
The Bublight, March of the Dribcots,.
Love Dance of the Saroos, Glob Waterfall,
Magnetic Field,. Valley of the Saroos,
Dribcots Space Boat,. Disc Dance of
the Globbots, Valley of No Return
Project Comstock--Music from Outer
Space (1962 - Warner Bros) Frank Comstock
with orchestra and electro-theremin and
electric violin.
Tracks: Out of This World, Stella
By Starlight, A Journey To A Star, Deep
Night, From Another World, Galaxy, Out
of Space, On The Dark Side Of The Moon,
When You Wish Upon A Star, Journey To
Infinity, Stairway To The Stars, The
Moon Is Blue.
Man in Space With Sounds (1962
- Worlds Fair Records) by Attileo Mineo.
Electronic and orchestra. Reissue on CD.
Tracks: Welcome To Tomorrow 2. Gayway
To Heaven 3. Soaring Science 4. Mile-A-Minute
Monorail 5. Around The World 6. Century
21 7. Man In Art 8. The Queen City 9.
Man Seeks The Future 10. Boeing Spacearium
11. Science Of Tomorrow 12. Space Age
World's Fair
Moon Gas (1962 - MGM) by Dick Hyman
and Mary Mayo. Orchestra and vocal.
Tracks : Moon Gas, Maid of The Moon,
Isn't It Odd ?, Stella by Starlight,
Imagination, Space Reflex (Blues in
5/4) Bye Bye Blues, They Can't Take
That Away From Me, For All We Know,
Desafinado (Slightly Out Of Tune), I'm
Glad There- Is You, Star Eyes.
See the Ventures
entry in the Rock
Space Music section where the
albums The Ventures Play Telstar
(1962) + Ventures in Space (1963)
are discussed.
Fantasy in Orbit - ( 1967
- Philips)Tom Dissevelt. Electronic
compositions thtat convey an astronauts
impression while orbiting the Earth. Reissue
FWM Music, Italian Import, 2001.
Space Songs (1959 - Library of
Science) by Tom Glazer, Dottie Evans, and
Tony Mottola.
Space Stories and Sounds (circa
late 1950's - Lion) Bill Stern narrator
with Aerodynamic Music. Music by Bill Simon.
Stories adapted from Classics Illustrated.
The
Simonsound - Simon James and Matt Simons
produced an album in 2009 that
offers an intriguing variety
of sounds, including what the duo describe
as ’50s and ’60s-inspired space music,
mood music for film and TV, haunting vocal
tracks inspired by the windswept beauty
of their home town, and switched-on cover
versions of ’70s funk classics realised
on the Moog synthesiser.
features music from pioneering
electronic composer Fred Judd, Canadian
pop-psych group The Sugar Shoppe
and British jazz artist Bob Downes
amongst further library mood music,
spaced out rock and electronics.
Space Music - Things Seen in The Skies
by Simon James & Ken Hollings. A streamed
program at totallyradio
/ totallyword. Includes music and readings
from an article written by Ken Hollings
for the July issue of The
Wire magazine. Available in the archive
but paid membership required.
Spaced
Out: The Final Frontier in Album Covers
- An exhibition sponsored by the Experience
Music Project (EMP)/Science Fiction Museum
& Hall of Fame (SFM) in Seattle, Washington
in 2009.
The show
presents 117 spaced-themed record
album covers released between the 1940s
and 1969—the dawn of the space age. In
the post-war years, humanity seemed on
the verge of taking a giant leap into
space. Futuristic themes filled popular
culture. Space was the place, and everyone
wanted to be there. Musicians thronged
to the fad, and space themes invaded album
covers of every genre including pop, jazz,
folk and classical. These album covers
embody the fantasy and mystery of space—what
we imagined it to be, what we hoped it
would be.
