Not a well-known record but it ought to be. Is anyone other than me surprised at the many albums from this period, from all over the world, that turn out to be hugely enjoyable? Was there something supernatural or psychedelic going on in the creative acoustic areas of the brains of artists who lived in the era from the sixties to the eighties?
The last track features a wonderful little duet between an acoustic piano and vibes that really gives you a taste for the period when people cared about music being simply beautiful, not weighed down with labels like cool, danceable, million-dollar hit, etc. It's called Jewels, divided into adagio and allegro:
And what about tribbles-- who remembers the trouble with tribbles?
When I was a child my brother and I grew up on Star Trek episodes, the old ones of course, with William Shatner.
"There's a place somewhere in space where the creatures known as tribbles grow
Furry funky creatures that are a friend to everyone I know
But there's only one thing you will notice you don't have to wait
Tribbles have a habit of reproducing at outstanding rates
Tribbles here tribble there i don't know how they grow..."
Wow, how it takes me back to childhood!
Of course when we were young we despised the slightly childish themes of Star Trek and preferred the more adult-oriented Space 1999 which had more mature themes woven in and for that reason was hated by critics and the average TV viewer. These were more involved in the big ideas of death, of civilization, much more intelligent ideas than Star Trek, and once in a while a main character would even die in an episode-- absolutely unheard of back then on TV. The idea of the moon travelling alone through space was so bizarrely lonely it was hard for the creators I guess not to highlight the terrible suffering of the humans left on space base alpha, disconnected from the earth.
But it was all a joke of course, the obsession with space travel in the seventies, there was no hope for humans to leave their planet, and I don't think there ever will be. We will live and die with the planet we are currently wrecking. No chance to ruin another. Reality TV has made the mission to Mars a joke before it even begins. What do you think is the chance a TV show will send people on a one-way suicide trip, televised? Last time I checked, we don't yet have 'actual suicide' or deaths televised live, nor is it likely, since it's horribly against all human principles. Well, the ancient Romans had no problems with it. But they were less queasy than our current civilization obviously.
By 1999, we thought, there would be a base on the moon. That's now 14 years ago! instead, we have the news of China putting up the Chinese flag to stake a claim on the moon... wonderful
And just like the best music in my opinion is from this golden age, so it was that the golden age was the only time successful moon missions took place too.
Now hear Squash tell it:
More (scant) information here and here.