Oh how we longed for a Beatles' reunion in the seventies .............. some of us at any rate.
And then we had it, we were told. We examined the album sleeve. No names! We listened to the songs. Yes, that's them!
Alas, it wasn't.
They were from Canada not Liverpool. But how should we take stock of them now? Anyone still giving their Klaatu lps a spin?
I always thought The Rutles were better.
It was fun while it lasted. The radio DJ polling the audience, " Is it the Beatles?" Kids arguing at school about which Beatle was the Best. The smart-ass kid claiming Peter Best. The Morse Code at the end of Sub-Rosa Subway. It was a hoot and an album I play a few times a year....
You had to be there
First two were brilliant 3rd and 4th release not so much..
Well I'd seen them mentioned on here but it was the Carpenters' cover of 'Calling Occupants...' which first made me aware of them. Richard Carpenter had heard the debut and liked that track so they covered it. Some of Klaatu actually appeared on a recent UK Carpenters documentary and showed a quirky note Karen had sent them with their cover of the song, something like 'we've been observing your group'.
I eventually heard their own version via their album and for me Klaatu are an interesting curiosity but of course, not Beatles-level material by any means! It was the fact they were on Capitol- The Beatles' US label- which was seen as another 'connection'.
I give a spin once in a blue moon, the first two anyway. "Calling Occupants" was how I became aware of them back in the day and I still like that track. If nothing else, it's very well produced stuff.
Just listened to the first album last week, also The Loneliest Lighthouse Keeper thing. Love it!
To me, the IDEA of it being The Beatles is what's just a footnote, because I wasn't aware of the band while it was around.
I'm just a couple of years too young to have participated in the whole Klaatu/Beatles speculation. I do remember seeing a lot of Klaatu records in used shops around 1980 when I started collecting records like a fanatic. I believe a record clerk told me about all the rumors, how some people were convinced it was the Beatles. Fast forward 38 years... Thanks to this thread I listened to Klaatu, for the first time ever, on YT. Listening to the debut right now.
First, I gotta say it's a nice album. Enjoying it.
Second, is it the Beatles? No one really believed that did they??! I could see that as a sort of fun collective joke to get involved in, but not for real. If someone told me this was a Wings album I might have not totally disbelieved it. But to imagine Lennon or Harrison doing anything like this is beyond silly.
Anyone who actually believed it wasn't listening very closely. Certainly not objectively.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Yeah, I remember the hype/rumor...Never bought into it at all. "Calling Occupants" was the first track that got a lot of FM play in Cleveland, and I hated it, so I never considered buying the debut. I don't remember airplay for later albums, but could just be forgetting.
I saw this LP at Charlemagne Records in Birmingham, AL almost 10 years ago, and now I wish I had picked it up. It didn't really sound all that much like The Beatles to me, but the mystery of its time made for an interesting bit of history.
My wife recently heard a cut come up on my itunes shuffle, and she asked if this was The Beatles.
Been listening to the first two albums for 40 years. Love them. Never cared for anthing else from the band, but the first two are WOW!
Absolutely love their first two albums (they're almost an integral part of me and my youth), and if the first had me wondering about The Beatles, that second album dispelled that very quickly and definitively(one would have to think more of Queen and 10 CC when hearing Hope).
Every track of 3;45 ESTYis a little gem in itself, but it's clearly the lengthier opening and closing tracks which are the highlights.
Hope has got one of my top 5 album artwork ever. I wiosh it was a gatefold with two more illustrations of that world.
Too bad it all went awry iwith TSA and the next two albums, though.
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Just checked and apparently Long and Draper have been fairly active since the mid-90's... anything worthy in their respective discography??
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Picked "Hope" in 1981, so I didn't associate them with the Beatles rumor thing. An excellent record, still on the occasional rotation.
The debut is also very good. Can't say the same for "Sir Army Suit" and the rest that followed.
I have them all. Remember the hype. Play them occasionally. The later ones aren't horrible, but not up to the standards of the original two.
I have 2 two on ones and I like them.
I like the "Sun Set: 1973-1981" which as some excellent demos and alternative mix's from the first two albums. Polizania orchestral mix is excellent, and some of the songs like Sir Bodsworth with original vocals instead of the goofy voicing.Originally Posted by Trane
Another vote for the first two being fantastic.
You say Mega Ultra Deluxe Special Limited Edition Extended Autographed 5-LP, 3-CD, 4-DVD, 2-BlueRay, 4-Cassette, five 8-Track, MP4 Download plus Demos, Outtakes, Booklet, T-Shirt and Guitar Pick Gold-Leafed Box Set Version like it's a bad thing...
It is interesting to read from the replies above that they are in general remembered with quite a lot of respect. I've owned their music for years but have only recently begun to listen to it again. Whilst its fun to think about the absence of photos and names on that first album and to try to spot the nods to the Beatles - such as three or four of the song titles on the debut - or Wings, what really needs to be said is that there is still a lot to enjoy on their albums. And I find that across all of them.
That set is essential purely based on CD 1 which has all the original versions of the songs that were released on single prior to their debut album. Almost all these songs were re-recorded / re-mixed for the album. And then it has what I call Symphonic Hope which is the entire Hope album in its original first version as delivered by the band to the label which had extensive orchestral parts. But then the label decided to postpone the release op Hope because the debut was still selling so well, the band took the tapes back into the studio and started replacing the orchestral parts with synths.
They were indeed a very good pop band. A fine fine sense of melody and songcraft. I do rather miss those days.
Jon
I distinctly remember being in High School and the local rock radio station played an hour-long "expose" on the band and dissected and examined the clues to determine if they were indeed The Beatles. There were many discussions around the lunch room table at the time leading up to the special, which aired on a Friday night. We all showed up at lunch the following Monday and dismissed the hype but then proceeded to debate it further. None of us changed our minds, but I like having that memory tucked away all the same.
Cool memory.
Jon
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