Customer Reviews

Peaks

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Klaatu's first album hit #1 because of the rumors of them being the Beatles secretly back together. This made a lot of people, including myself, buy their first album. What many people found out that it wasn't the beatles. However, their music was fantastic and many people became a fan. Peaks is basically a greatest hits collection. Even though they didn't have "hits" themselves "Calling Occupants" was recorded by none other than the carpenters and became a hit for them. They had a few single releases and one of the best is "We're Off You Know." If you haven't heard any of their music you are in for a big surprise. This CD shouldn't be the first you listen to. You need to buy their first CD which is actually their first two albums put on one CD. The second album "Hope" is sort of like the B side of the Beatles Abbey Road in a sense that every song is tied together. It is a "spaced out" CD literally considering that the majority of their songs have a space concept in them. They had 6 albums in all. The first 4 were good ones. It is worth the money to get these CD's.

This compilation, though late in materializing, is a good introduction to the band. For those who are unable to get copies of the individual CDs this is the next best thing. I recommend this compilation only if you cannot buy the seperate CDs. To get the full impact of Hope, you need to hear it from start to finish. The booklet has some nice photos and discography information in it. This set just shows how sad it is that this band did not receive thier well deserved credit while they were together.

I have vintage copies of the first 3 albums of Klaatu (3:47, Hope and Sir Army Suit. I also owned a Capitol squish CD of 3:47 and Hope. The music presented in this mix is the most of the best that they have produced. The music clarity is unpresidented. It appears they took the orginal tracks and used them for this release, not the Capitol mix. The only tracks missing that also represent some more of the best are: Mr. Manson, Prelude, Long Live Politzania, Silly Boys, Sell Out Sell Out, A Million Miles Away, and Magentaline.
I hope they will release these also soon, or their later albums presented in the same way.

One of the most unusual footnotes in 70's rock has to be Canadian band Klaatu. Releasing an exquisitely produced, sonically breathtaking debut to little or no notice in 1976, they began what most figured would be a slow sink into obscurity. Then some "tone deaf idiot" (from the collection of clippings in the liner notes) wrote an article that maybe, just maybe, this faceless and nameless band was really the Beatles undercover. Suddenly radio stations went apewire, running Klaatu specials (it was how I first heard about the album) and playing are-they-or-aren't-they games with the album art, the song "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" and the production epic "Sub Rosa Subway."

Listening to these songs now, it's hard to fathom how so many people suckered into the hype (only "Sub Rosa Subway" approaches the Beatles comparisons), but it also took the band's career and effective drowned it. As soon as the second album Hope revealed the band to be little more than a decent prog-rock trio in the vein of Yes or even Genesis ("Hope" is a full blown concept album), Klaatu was shunted off to pop-trivia land. Yet, when you listen to these songs as a group, there is little reason to say that Klaatu shouldn't have been every bit as popular as The Alan Parsons Project.

The three members of Klaatu were pop geeks of the highest order. The sixties flirtations of "Routine Day" (from Sir Army Suit) again begged those maligned comparisons from the first album, but some 25 years later, it just sounds like highly dedicated craftsmen working their skills to optimum effect. Even the Capitol Records enforced "Have Hits or Die" recording Endangered Species has its high points, the ballad that closes this collection ("All Good Things") should have been a breakthrough hit. (And the delightful "Sell Out Sell Out" - not included here - is a leeringly funny take on the heavy hand that their label was pushing on them.) By then, the band was being shunted aside for LA Studio pros, and the album was robbed of much of the group's personality.

"Peaks" - as a single CD - misses a few choice cuts. "So Said The Lighthouse Keeper," "Sell Out Sell Out" and "Juicy Lucy" are particularly missed. The set is heavy on the 3:47 Est debut, with five of that CD's eight songs finding space here. If you don't mind the fact that the band's albums are highly derivative yet very good, this primer might lead you back to any of Klaatu's five studio discs.

An interesting CD, no doubt. I'd heard for years of the legend of Klaatu, but hadn't heard any of their music. I picked this one up in the local music store, and was eager to hear what it sounded like. Hmmmm...it's too poppy (for the most part) to be considered prog rock, so how 'bout prog pop. If you took the Alan Parsons Project, the Buggles, and Badfinger and put them all in a studio, you might wind up with this CD. There are some excellent songs, a couple of so-so songs and one really wretched song (Love of a Woman, it sounds like the Atlanta Rhythm Section or something). A couple of songs sound quite like later Badfinger (Knee Deep in Love and Dear Christine)and some of them are spacey pop songs. There's even a kinda Bachman-Turner Overdrive-ish song, True Life Hero. The CD is a pretty good sampler on the whole but kind of uneven. Still, if you're curious about the band, I think this would be an excellent place to start.

This Canadian band may have never been hugely popular (well, not for very long, anyway), but in my opinion they did record some really good, tuneful stuff, and this collection, while it can't be called a hits collection, features most of their very best. It does have a couple of flaws (in my opinion), but they're not big enough for me to say, "Don't buy this!" I really wouldn't have minded if "All Good Things" hadn't been included. It's not really a bad song, but I don't consider it one of the group's best. Also, there are a couple of omissions that I find regrettable. I think "A Million Miles Away" and "At The End Of The Rainbow" (both from the group's fifth album) would have been particularly worthy of inclusion, especially the latter, which is probably my very favorite Klaatu song. If those two songs had been here, and "All Good Things" hadn't, I would have given this CD five stars. As it is, though, this is still a terrific collection overall, and if you haven't heard Klaatu yet but want to give them a try, this is the CD you should get (if you can afford it; it's a tad pricey these days). Sure, Klaatu may not have really been the Beatles, but that certainly doesn't mean that their music deserves to be avoided.

Many of the best cuts from Klaatu's catalog are included here, however I feel that, as the title of my review suggested, less would have been more for this compilation. This collection could have been cut down to 12-14 tracks and been a better "Greatest Hits" representation. Such tracks as the disco-ish "Love of A Woman" have nothing in common with the mysteriousness and spaciness of their '77 debut- this particular track sounds very dated, and would have fit right in on a Bee Gees or Andy Gibb record of the day. Other "fillers" that would have been better left on their individual albums include, "The Loneliest of Creatures", "December Dream", "I Can't Help It", and maybe, "True Life Hero". The highlights of this collection include all the other tracks from the first American release, the George Harrison-like vocals on "I Don't Wanna Go Home", "Dear Christine", "All Good Things", and the wonderful, Beatleseque "Routine Day".

I love Klaatu's "scifi" rock. Little nuetrino is a great song but I wonder if the original album will ever be availible on cd?

My first listen to Klaatu put me on a run for more. Upon finding this 'Best Of' Recording just months ago excited me to no end. I now have all available CD recordings and two on vynal. A great band. Calling Klaatu , I wish you were still here!

Anything that came from the latter 2 albums are what drag this collection down. Even the most ardent fan would have to say that as well. Had they just stuck with one token song from Endangered Species(all good things) and maybe three songs from Magentalane(Magentalane,Mrs Toad Bake Some Cookies,and Mengentalane reprise)I feel it would have done them justice to call it Peaks.