Who are... ; Klaatu ?

Now that we've established 'Essential albums' as a feature, here comes the next one! the 'Who are/Who is..' feature, detailing bands you should definetly hear! First in line to have the investigative light shined upon them: Klaatu!

Who
The band Klaatu was formed in Canada in 1973 by guitarist and bass-player John Woloschuck and guitarist/keyboarder Dee Long, and were soon joined by drummer and trombone player Terry Draper. As is often the case with great bands of the 70's, everyone sang. They took the name from an alien appearing in the movie 'The day the earth stood still'. At first, they played the sort of pop-rock hybrid you'd often find in the 70's, but leaned mostly towards pop with their inventive choruses and often memorable hooks.

Releases of note
3:47 EST (1975) (also called simply 'Klaatu' in some countries)
Hope (1977)
Sir army suit (1978)
Endangered Species (1980)
Magentalane (1981)
Sun Set (2005, rarities compilation)

A few other compilations and some singles were also released.

After a few obscure single releases, the band managed to catch a major label's attention in 1975, and were signed to Capitol Records in the US. So far, so good. What happened next came as quite a surprise, not least to the band themselves. To fully appreciate what happened next, one needs to know something about The Beatles. At one point, the preliminary recordings for a Beatles album had been stolen and were not recovered. This was coupled with silly rumours about Paul McCartney having died at various points. When Klaatu released their first album 3:47 EST, without liner notes indicating who had played what on the record, their sound was so close to the Liverpool heroes that a huge number of people thought this record was recorded by and released by the Beatles under a new name! Of course, the Beatles had not been together since 1970. But nonetheless, Klaatu's first album became a huge seller in the US on the back of this rumour and of course the music on display, which mixed proggy rock with pop hooks and catchy choruses. Several songs ARE uncannily similar to the 'fab four', which no doubt helped fuel the rumours. The album's first song, 'Calling occupants of interplanetary craft' became Klaatu's most famous song, not least when it was later covered by The Carpenters in 1977.

Their second album 'Hope' from 1977 was recorded in part with the London Symphony orchestra, and featured a similar rock/pop style. After this, the band's next two releases would lean more towards pop than rock, not least with the great opening track on third album 'Sir army suit', called 'A routine day'.

The fifth album 'Magentalane' fell victim to record company problems and was initially only released in Canada. All their albums have since been reissued on CD in remastered sound quality. The band subsequently broke up, reuniting briefly in 1988 to record an atrocious single called 'Woman' (good luck finding that one though, as it's rarer than snow in Sahara) and then disappearing again. Following the release of the rarities compilation 'Sun Set' in 2005, the band got together and played a few acoustic performances at Klaatu-fanclub conventions.
And there ends the story of Klaatu for now.

Best and worst
Klaatu were undoubtedly best on their first 2 albums, which had a slight prog leaning and some interesting lyrics. If I have to choose a worst, I would say the compilation 'Raarities', which was only released on vinyl in 2005, and features slightly different versions of existing tracks. You'd have to be a super-duper-Klaatu fan to spot the difference between those versions and those released on their albums. One for completists only! For a good starting point, I would recommend buying the '2 for 1' pack of their first two albums, which is available at mid-price from several online stores. If you like Beatles-y pop-rock, and have an inclination towards slightly silly lyrics, this band is for you! Enjoy!