I'll tell you a story here. There was one Beatle fan, who was really mad about Beatles. He started buying all the Beatle music that was available. After some time, he found out that there was no more music to buy, and due to obvious reasons, the Beatles were no bringing out any new albums. Realizing the truth, the fan started searching for bootlegs, rares, etc. But soon he got hold of all the bootlegs he could. Then one day another Beatlefan referred him to a band called Klaatu. This fan was skeptical about anything other than Beatles, but he tried out them. He liked what he listened, and he soon became a fan. Not that Klaatu sounds a lot like the Beatles, their lyrical depth and clever compositions are sufficient enough to make someone a fan. There's a nice story, which allegedly relates Klaatu with the fab. Let's listen to that story as well:
The Famous Rumour
In 1976 a
rumor started circulating in the United States that the Beatles had recorded and
released a new album under the pseudonym of "Klaatu" and sales of that record
shot way up. The rumor went something like this:
The Beatles supposedly recorded an album in mid 1966 that was to be a follow up
to Revolver but the master tapes were mysteriously "lost" from the studio. The
Beatles didn't want to re-record the album as Paul had (supposedly) just died in
a car accident. When Billy Shears (a Paul McCartney look alike contest winner)
stepped in to fill the space left by Paul's death, the Beatles stopped touring
and recorded a new album that eventually turned out to be "Sgt. Pepper." This
explains the long gap between Revolver and Sgt. Pepper and also the change in
musical direction. Meanwhile, in 1975, the missing masters were uncovered during
research for the Beatles' story project titled, The Long And Winding Road (which
eventually became 1995's Beatles Anthology) and the band decided to release the
album as a tribute to the late Paul McCartney. They decided on a release with no
credit shown to songwriters and no photos so that the album would sell on the
merits of the music contained therein and not on any "Beatles hype" (similar to
Paul giving away a song to Peter and Gordon in the early 60s called "Woman"
under the songwriting name of Bernard Webb).
What were the clues that made people think that THIS album was the Beatles?
1. The record was on Capitol records, the American record company that had
released most of the Beatles' records in the US.
2. The record had no names of band members listed on it anywhere.
3. The record had no producer name on it anywhere. It simply said, "Produced by
Klaatu."
4. The record had no songwriter credits other than simply, "All selections
composed by Klaatu."
5. The record has a mysterious publisher listed. It says, "All selections
published by Klaatu ASCAP/CAPAC." (The US re-issue in 1981 says the songs are
published by Welbeck Music Corp/ASCAP and MCA Music/ASCAP)
6. CAPAC (see clue number 5) is the Canadian equivalent of America's ASCAP and
Britain's BMI and John Lennon had recently been rumored to be moving to Toronto
Canada since the US was trying to deport him.
7. The record had no pictures of band members on it anywhere.
8. On a couple of songs (Calling Occupants, Sub-Rosa Subway) the vocals sound
like Paul McCartney & John Lennon.
9. The name Klaatu is taken from the movie "The Day The Earth Stood Still" in
which the alien named Klaatu tells his robot Gort to stop hurting people with
the command, "Klaatu barada niktu!" On Ringo Starr's Goodnight Vienna album
Ringo is seen coming out of the spaceship from that movie and is standing next
to Gort.
10. When Sgt. Pepper had been released, the inner sleeve showed Paul McCartney
with a patch on his uniform which read O.P.D. Although many interpretations of
this have come and gone, one of them was used in the Paul is dead myth,
"Officially Presumed Dead". During the song Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby III on their
first album, the lyrics state, "Officially Presumed Is Dead." Thanks to the
outtakes of the Sgt. Pepper picture that are included with the CD we can now see
that the patch says O.P.P. which stands for Ontario Provincial Police. Since
John Lennon had been rumoured to be moving to Ontario, this fits the rumour that
Klaatu was the Beatles quite nicely.
11. Capitol Records USA messed up this song title [does this surprise us?] on
the original release as Sir Bodsworth Rubblesby III. This mistake carried onto
their subsequent reissues until the first CD issue on Capitol which finally
corrected this error. Says Crazy Ray, of WDRC(*) in Waterbury, CT, "If you were
to define Bods, Worth, Rubbles, and By, it would mean 'persons of importance
born of quarry.' The Beatles were first known as the Quarrymen."
12. Beetles are heard to be chirping and buzzing at the start of Calling
Occupants. (Sounds more like Crickets and some birds to me.....)
13. The song title, Sub-Rosa Subway was thought to be a take off on Paul's Red
Rose Speedway.
14. In Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby III there is the line, "he's the only man who's
ever been to hell and come back alive." Some people thought that this was a
reference to the Paul is Dead rumor which states that Paul died in 1966 in a car
crash and was replaced with a look-alike making it seem like he had come back
alive.
15. While there are 8 trees pictured right at the very bottom of the front cover
of the band's first album, only 7 have their roots showing. There are 7 letters
in the name Beatles.
16. On the back cover of the first album is a two colored planet. Some took this
to be an allusion to Paul's album, "Venus and Mars".
17. On Abbey Road the Beatles sing about the "Sun King". The Klaatu album covers
all have a picture of the sun on them.
18. The initials for the Beatles last album, Abbey Road, are AR. If spelled
backwards that becomes RA which is the name of the Egyptian god of the sun. See
number 17 for the "sun" connection.
19. On the Sir Army Suit album is a song called Mr. Manson - it is about Charles
Manson. Charles Manson is the mass murderer who claimed the Beatles were
messengers from God sending messages to him directly.
20. Also on Sir Army Suit is an interesting piece of recording technology for
1978. The song Silly Boys has very strange sounding vocals. The lyrics are hard
to understand as a result. This prompted me to look at the lyric sheet from the
original album. The lyrics are printed backwards. And by backwards I don't mean
like this, "utaalK", I mean physically backwards. If you hold the lyric sheet to
a mirror you can read the lyrics perfectly fine! (This applies to this song
only.) SO, this gave me the idea to play the song backwards. It contains the
lyrics to Anus of Uranus from their first album when played backwards! Some of
the lines have been re-recorded using a vocoder and some have had heavy effects
added, but the lyrics are all there. So, when the song is played forwards you
hear the lyrics to Silly Boys. When the song is played backwards you hear the
lyrics to Anus of Uranus. Very Cool! - (The Beatles pioneered backwards tape
use...)
21. On the Magentalane album there is a song called December Dream - it is about
the death of John Lennon. "Don't cry darling, don't cry, we all will die." "The
darkest nightmare..." "December Dream, don't leave me now." "December Dream,
don't let me down." (John Lennon was murdered in December of 1980 and had
written a song with the Beatles called Don't Let Me Down.)
22. The Beatles connection was confirmed in 1988 when the band reunited to
record ONE new song called "Woman" which was an allusion to Paul's song that he
had given to Peter and Gordon in the early 60s under a pseudonym and also to
John's song Woman from his Double Fantasy album which was released just before
his death. This song alledgedly contained an old John studio-recorded demo which
had been added to by Billy Shears (as Paul McCartney), George Harrison & Ringo
Starr.
How did these rumors get started?
A Providence, RI newspaper (The Providence Journal) ran an article by a rock
music writer named Steve Smith which stated "Could Klaatu be the Beatles?
Mystery is a Magical Mystery Tour." Smith concluded that Klaatu was more than
likely in part or in whole the Beatles.
Charlie Parker at WDRC(*) in Hartford, CT said on air that it was, "a marvelous
experience" to listen to this album and asked, "Who are Klaatu? Are the Beatles
really back?" and suddenly Capitol records had to ship another 20,000 copies to
that region of the country.
All this led people to think this was the Beatles. If it wasn't them, then why
not put their names and their pictures on it?
The New Musical Express (a prominent music newspaper in England during the
Beatles' time) ran an article with the headline, "Deaf idiot journalist starts
Beatle rumour." But despite that and denials from the band (through spokesman
Frank Davies) the rumor persisted and the band's album continued to sell in
large quantities.
In 1980 the band came out with it's 4th album (which also ended up being the
last album released in the US by them) called Endangered Species. This time the
album gave us some information. It said the songs were published by Klaatoons,
but it told us that the album was produced by Christopher Bond. The songs also
gave writing credit to Long, Woloschuk, and Tome. Were these the names of Klaatu
members?
The following note was also included in the liner notes for the album:
"Nota Bene:
There are three accepted definitions applied when describing the status of
declining wildlife: rare, threatened and ENDANGERED SPECIES. The most recent
figures published in the Red Data Book, as issued by the International Union for
the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, indicate that there are at
least 340 animals and 20,000 plants listed as endangered species.
Experts throughout the world agree that unless immediate and effective measures
are implemented to protect the existence of these life forms, their final
outcome will inevitably be . . . extinction.
Spring, 1980
Terry Draper, Dee Long, John Woloschuk
For more information, please contact: I.U.C.N., 1110
Morges, Switzerland"
The album also contained an address to write to the band:
write: Klaatu
P.O. Box 1030
Oak Ridges, Ontario
Canada L0G 1P0
So now we had songwriting credits to three people and a note from three people
(2 of whom had been part of the songwriting credits). Are these the members of
Klaatu?
Klaatu actually are:
John Woloschuk - vocals - bass - guitar - keyboards
Terry Draper - vocals - drums - guitar - keyboards - slide trombone
Dee Long - vocals - guitar - keyboards
and there is no Beatles connection on their albums at all.
The Real Story
Here's a FAQ, regarding Klaatu. This is a direct quotation from the official home page of Klaatu (http://www.klaatu.org/). Do check the site for updated and detailed info on the band.
This document is an attempt to answer some of the most often asked questions that people ask when they first find this web page. Almost everything you want to know about Klaatu is on these pages in one place or another. In the meantime, though, for a quick introduction, check the following list of questions and answers to see if what you want to know is here. There are links with most of these to go to more in depth information if you're interested. Enjoy!
FAQ - version 1.07
Last updated 12/29/00
Who were the members of Klaatu and where are they from?
Klaatu's members were John Woloschuk, Dee Long and Terry
Draper. They
are all from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
When was Klaatu formed and when did they disband?
Klaatu was officially formed in 1973, and disbanded in 1982.
How many albums did Klaatu have?
Klaatu had five studio albums:
3:47 EST aka Klaatu (1976)
Hope (1977)
Sir Army Suit (1978)
Endangered Species (1980)
Magentalane (1981).
They also released two compilations:
Klaasic Klaatu (1982) (LP and cassette only)
Peaks (1993) (CD only)
Where did Klaatu get their name from?
Klaatu got their name from a character played by Michael
Rennie in the
1951 sci-fi movie classic "The Day The Earth Stood Still".
Who designed their album covers?
3:47 EST, Hope, Endangered Species and Magentalane were
painted by
longtime friend of the band, graphic artist Ted Jones.
Sir Army Suit was painted by Hugh Symes.
Klaasic Klaatu was painted by Dean Motter.
Peaks was painted by Terry Watkinson
Who sang lead in Klaatu?
As a rule, whoever wrote the song.
Where can I see pictures of the band members?
There are several picture galleries on the Klaatu website,
with both
promo and live shots.
Did Klaatu ever tour?
Yes, Klaatu toured Canada between Nov '81 and July '82.
Did Klaatu ever win any awards or was otherwise recognized?
Klaatu's first album, "3:47 EST" was nominated for a Juno
Award in 1977 for Ted Jones' cover art.
Klaatu's second album, "Hope" won two major Canadian music awards, including a
Juno which was presented to Terry Brown in March 1978.
Did Klaatu have any part in starting and/or spreading the Beatles rumours?
No. Steve Smith, journalist, involuntarily started the rumour in an article, and Capitol Records cashed in on it.
Isn't "Calling Occupants..." a Carpenters song?
No. The Carpenter's version was just the first (and thus far most successful) cover of this classic Klaatu original.
There is morse-code in the song Sub Rosa Subway. Does it mean anything?
The translation according to John Woloschuk can be found in the Spring 1982 issue of the band's original newsletter, the Morning Sun.
Who is Alfred Beach?
Alfred Ely Beach was a 19th century visionary, whose work as the inventor and engineer of the world's first underground system has captured the attention of Klaatu. Alfred's great grandson was a loved member of the Klaatu Mailing List, until his tragic death in the summer of 1997.
The overall style of Klaatu's 4th album, Endangered Species is decidedly different from the others. Why is that?
Klaatu had virtually no artistic control over this album. It was more a project of Capitol Records. An outside producer was brought in, most of the instruments were played by Los Angeles based session musicians, and the band members were asked to add their voices and (usually) one lead instrument per song. The band was sent home before the album was even mixed.
What was the last thing Klaatu ever recorded?
Klaatu was asked to record a song, "Woman", for the German TV series "Tatort" in 1988.
Are there any Klaatu soundfiles available online?
Yes. Sound clips from all 5 albums, plus solo material, are available in the site. http://www.klaatu.org/themusic.html
Where can I order Klaatu CDs/tapes from?
The albums are all available on CD currently in Canada, the fifth album is available on CD in the US and Korea as well, and the first album is available on CD in the UK. Lots of online stores have these CDs for sale.
Are there any Klaatu videos available? How about recordings of live performances or demos?
Not at the moment, but we're working on it, folks. :)
We know about the existence of some things because of an interview with Dee. Also, Dee & Terry have been having their old reels preserved digitally to review for the possible inclusion of any demos and early mixes on a possible rarities release.
Are the members of Klaatu still in the music business?
The Toronto Sun had an article about the band in the late 80s which told what they were doing at the time. It has been removed from the Klaatu web site over copyright issues with the author.
However:
Terry ran a roofing business for a while before working as a producer for other bands.
Dee has worked as an engineer and a producer as well as a guest musician on a number of recordings over the years. He says there's probably hundreds, maybe even thousands. Obviously with that many the details have gotten foggy over the years as to which ones exactly. But we do know of a couple of them and you can check that out on the discography page.
John has worked as an entertainment accountant for a number of years.
Are there any solo releases available by the band-members?
Yes.
Terry has released a solo CD (with a promo EP as well), a children's cassette, and a fan club only live limited edition live CD with enhanced CD-ROM track, and an expanded version of the children's cassette on CD. He has also just released some music to accompany a toy product called The Furzall, as well as some tracks on the Bullseye Records 2000 Christmas Disc. He is currently working on a full length second solo album.
Dee Long has released his first EP, Digital, as well a 2CD set called Been Here Before which consists of archival material not previously released from the 80s and 90s. He is planning on releasing another CD in 2001 with all new recordings.
You can check out their record label's site for more information. Bullseye Records can be reached here .
How can I get all the latest info on Klaatu?
You can subscribe to the Klaatu News, an e-mail announcements
distribution list. This will have the
latest on developments from Bullseye Records, updates on the Klaatu web page,
announcements of upcoming interviews by Mark Hershberger, and news about fan
club tribute releases and ongoing activities. To subscribe, send a message to
[email protected] with the following text in the first line of your message:
subscribe klaatu-news your.email@address
I'd like to get in touch with other Klaatu fans. What should I do?
You can sign up to the Klaatu mailing list / dicussion forum for fans here . This list generates around 30 -50 messages per day on average. There are over 150 fans worldwide on this list at this time.
Was any Klaatu sheet music ever issued?
Yes. There was a book of sheet music for the entire first album. An excerpt of this book can be viewed here. Click on the song title for Calling Occupants to see the actual sheet music for that song.
Are there any Klaatu midi files available?
Yes. There are a few. Click http://www.klaatu.org/midi/index.html to list the available files.
Epilogue
That was all about Klaatu from the Dalnet Beatles team. Hope you've enjoyed it
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