3:47 EST
| 3:47 EST | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Klaatu | ||||
| Released | August 11, 1976 | |||
| Recorded | 1973–76 | |||
| Genre | Progressive rock, psychedelic pop | |||
| Length | 41:52 | |||
| Label | Daffodil, Capitol | |||
| Producer | Terry Brown, Klaatu | |||
| Klaatu chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Peter Kurtz, Allmusic |   [1] |
| Dave Sleger, Allmusic | [2] |
| Mike DeGagne, Allmusic | [3] |
3:47 EST is the first album by the Canadian progressive rock group Klaatu, released in August 1976. The album was renamed Klaatu when released in the United States by Capitol Records. It is regarded as one of the band's greatest albums (along with Hope), using the same kind of Beatlesque psychedelic rock (in the style of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour), with a few new additions; most notably vocal distortion, more backwards instruments, and some obscure musical instruments such as electric sitars. The Juno-nominated album cover was painted by a friend of Klaatu's members, the Canadian graphic artist, Ted Jones.
For a variety of reasons, rumours spread in the wake of the album's release that Klaatu were, in fact, a secretly reunited Beatles.[4] The album was moderately successful in the United States, largely as a result of the Beatles rumours.[5]
A high-quality newly remastered version of the album was released on Klaatu's indie record label "Klaatunes" in 2011. To accompany this release, a music video was made for the remastered version of "Calling Occupants".[6]
Origin of the title
In the 1951 science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still, the alien emissary Klaatu arrives in Washington, D.C. at 3:47 in the afternoon Eastern Standard Time. According to a 1981 issue of the group's newsletter, "one of the band's member[s] viewed a screening ... and was immediately impressed by the appropriateness of the character Klaatu's arrival time on earth as the title of the band Klaatu's debut record album".[7]
Musical style
AllMusic's Mike DeGagne has retrospectively called the album "an entertaining debut album made up of light, harmonic pop songs which harbor a little bit of a progressive rock feel in a few spots". Dave Sleger of the website said "Klaatu frequently alternated between Beatlesque pop, the showy guitar rock and vocal theatrics of early Queen, and the electronic orchestral techniques pioneered by Walter Carlos, or worked all three into the structure of a four- or five-minute song".
Track listing
| Side 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 1. | "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" | John Woloschuk, Terry Draper | 7:14 |
| 2. | "California Jam" | Woloschuk, Dino Tome | 3:01 |
| 3. | "Anus of Uranus" | Dee Long | 3:16 |
| 4. | "Sub-Rosa Subway" | Woloschuk, Tome | 4:36 |
| Side 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 5. | "True Life Hero" | Long | 3:25 |
| 6. | "Doctor Marvello" | Woloschuk | 3:37 |
| 7. | "Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby III" | Woloschuk | 3:22 |
| 8. | "Little Neutrino" | Long | 8:25 |
The album ends with a mouse squeak.
Personnel
- Klaatu
- John Woloschuk - vocals, piano, organ, mellotron, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, synthesizers, percussion
- Dee Long - vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric sitar, synthesizers, ukulele, telegraphy, mellotron,
- Terry Draper - drums, percussion, tympani, vocals
- Additional musicians
- Doug Riley - strings, woodwind, and xylophone on "Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby III"
- Vern Dorge - chimes on "Sub Rosa Subway"
- Bruce Cassidy - trumpet on "Doctor Marvello"
The band members are not named on the original LP.
Production
- Produced by Terry Brown & Klaatu
- Recorded & engineered by Steve Vaughn & Terry Brown
- Tape Operators: Brian Bell & Paul Barker
References
- ↑ Kurtz, Peter (2011). "Klaatu - Klaatu | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
- ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/klaatu-hope-mw0000199578
- ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/347-est-mw0000227255
- ↑ "Klaatu Identities and Beatles Rumors". Klaatu.org. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
- ↑ Dave Marsh and John Swenson, Rolling Stone Record Guide, Random House 1979
- ↑ Klaatu's official website homepage
- ↑ The Morning Sun, Fall, 1981 - Issue No. V. Retrieved 2011-07-14 (Bastille Day).
- ↑ http://www.klaatu.org/