Kosmik Radiation Radio - Jun 20, 2014 Playlist

Klaatu "3:47 EST" (a/k/a "Klaatu") 1976 (Canada)

Klaatu is an enigmatic art-pop group from Toronto that recorded five albums and a handful of singles during the years 1973-1981. A silly rumour about the band being a secret Beatles reunion turned out to cause more problems than help their career in the long run; the deliberate obscurity that surrounded the group was both a blessing and a curse. For you see, the first three LPs released by the group provided absolutely no information as to who was in the group: not their names, no pictures, nor even a sense of how many people were in the band. In fact, they were a trio of brilliant studio production engineers (John Woloschuk, Dee Long & Terry Draper) who labored intensely to come up with their immaculate sound which strongly recalls not just Beatles but also Pink Floyd and The Moody Blues. I believe they kept their image so mysterious so that they would be judged solely on their music and not their "presentation" (they were shy guys who probably would not have looked so hot disco dancing in tight trousers). The first Klaatu LP (this week's classic) is the one that is best-remembered, producing the unlikeliest hit single in The Carpenter's discography when that group covered "Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft", and the flipside "Sub-Rosa Subway" which really does sound like something Paul McCartney & Wings might have done (Woloschuck has a remarkable ability to sound like Paul, John and George at various times . . . though the other songwriter Dee Long's material is groovy hard rock that sounds nothing like any Beatle!)

Black Flag "Slip It In" 1984 (USA)

A second bonus classic album is my birthday gift to you! I have a theory that almost every hip kid goes through a "punk phase" and everyone has a different favorite punk band that speaks to them more than any other. Well with the fullness of time, my favorite probably has to be Black Flag (even more than Sex Pistols and Stooges, whom I also loved as a snotty youth . . .) The Flag's earliest records took the punk aesthetic as far as it could go - literally nobody could play shorter, tighter, faster, more stright-to-the-point and in-your-face anthems than the sixty-second ditties on their first handful of 7" EP's from the late 1970's. Then Hank Rollins joined, and their first full-length LP Damaged set a new standard in teeth-gnashing, fist-in-the-face angsty bad feelings punk. Not being done yet, My War followed with a revamped heavy metal sound that paved the path that leads directly to "grunge rock". But my favorite of all their albums is the one that came next after that, this week's bonus CAOTW. With a brilliant batch of hard-rocking riff songs running up to six or seven minutes in length and drenched in epic jazz-skronk guitar solos inspired by Mahavishnu Orchestra (!!! and Greg Ginn was also a major Deadhead and even Genesis fan!), there is simply nothing like it in the world of punk. For sheer sweaty musicianship and striving forward against the trends and currents: Black Flag rules!

(N) = New Release
(K) = live radio Kosmik remix

Artist	Song	Album	Year (label)	Country
The Royal Guardsmen	Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron	A-side 7" single	1966	USA
The Monkees	Circle Sky	Head	1968	USA/UK
Black Oak Arkansas	Dancing In The Street (Martha & The Vandellas)	Street Party	1974	USA
Dr. John	Mess Around (Ray Charles)	Dr. John's Gumbo	1972	USA
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band	Bad Dancer	Take Me To The Land Of Hell (N)	2013 (LAB 344)	Japan/USA
Tom Jones	Thunderball	A-Tom-ic Jones	1966	UK (Wales)
Jack Jones	Sweet Gingerbread Man	All To Yourself: 20 Golden Greats	c. 1972	USA
The Beatles	Penny Lane	Magical Mystery Tour	1967	UK
Chicago	Saturday In The Park	Chicago V	1972	USA

Klaatu	Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft	Klaatu (a/k/a 3:47 E.S.T.) CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK	1976	Canada
The Beatles	Across The Universe ("nature" version)	Rarities (originally released on No One's Gonna Change My World various artists compilation)	1969	UK
Klaatu	Little Neutrino	Klaatu (a/k/a 3:47 E.S.T.) CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK	1976	Canada
Klaatu	Older	Sir Army Suit	1978	Canada

Black Flag	The Bars	Slip It In 2nd BONUS CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK	1984	USA
OFF!	No Easy Escape	Wasted Years (N)	2014 (Vice)	USA
Slayer	Die By The Sword	Show No Mercy	1983	USA
Swans	Screen Shot	To Be Kind (N)	2014 (Mute)	USA
The Beatles	It's All Too Much	Yellow Submarine	1968	UK

Vosellglaas	Dreiii	Dreiii	2008	USA
The Sheep Fiends	The Weakest Selector	forthcoming album, title TBD (N)	2014 (Sheep Fiends)	USA
Dethkorpz	Tacocat	Apocalypse 1999:6661	2000	USA
Tacocat	Psychedelic Quinceañera	NVM (N)	2014 (Hardly Art)	USA
The Walking Faces	It Could Be Time	Rehearsal EP (N)	2014 (Cosmic Primitive)	USA
Dethkorpz	Photograph (Def Leppard)	unreleased rehearsal tape	c. 2001	USA
Steely Dan	Green Earrings	The Royal Scam	1976	USA
Hall & Oates	I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) (Kosmik Birthday remix)	Private Eyes	1981	USA
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti	Credit	Worn Copy	2005	USA

White Cloud (Dave 3000)	My Nation Underground	unreleased recording	2011	USA
The Fireman (Paul McCartney)	Auraveda	Rushes	1998	UK