The Blue Marble (album)

The Blue Marble
Studio album by Sagittarius
Released	1969
Recorded	1969
Genre	Psychedelic pop
Label	Together
Producer	Gary Usher
Sagittarius chronology
Present Tense (1968)Present Tense1968 The Blue Marble (1969)

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The Blue Marble is the second and final Sagittarius album, released in 1969 by the newly formed Together Records. The title song is by Lee Mallory and Gary Usher. By and large a Gary Usher creation, the album remained in obscurity for most of its post-release, due to the collapse of Usher's Together Records Label. The album is not named after the NASA photograph, The Blue Marble, which was taken in 1972. The cover is an Apollo 8 image and both the title track and text on the reverse of the sleeve talk about the appearance of Earth in space.

On this album, Usher used the Moog Synthesizer extensively, and left lead vocals relatively bare (in contrast to previous Sagittarius material, on which the vocals were showered with harmonies). Also in contrast to Present Tense, Usher takes the majority of the lead vocals, with collaborator Curt Boettcher singing lead only on "In My Room" and "Will You Ever See Me" and Chuck Girard (whom Gary Usher had known during his days producing the Hondells) singing lead on "Gladys" and "I See In You". Most of the songs were written in the psychedelic pop mold. The album is also notable for its forays into Country and Western music styles, at many times utilizing pedal steel guitar (played by Red Rhodes). The record spawned a minor hit with the cover of the Beach Boys' "In My Room" (which Usher co-wrote with Brian Wilson), which featured Curt Boettcher on vocals and reached number 86 on the charts.

The album was reissued on CD by Poptones, and features 5 bonus tracks. Four of the tracks were from singles (two of which weren't included on the original release, the Sandy Salisbury/Gary Usher composition "Navajo Girl", sung by Chuck Girard, and a cover of Harry Nilsson's "I Guess the Lord Must Be In New York City" ), and the fifth track is an alternate version of "Will You Ever See Me". The track listing below is for the original LP.

On October 28, 2008, Sundazed Records reissued the album on both CD and Vinyl. The new reissue is sourced from the original analog master tapes, unlike previous reissues which were sourced from a vinyl copy. The reissue includes the "Navajo Girl" and "I Guess the Lord Must Be In New York City" singles as bonus tracks.

Track listing

1. "In My Room"
2. "From You Unto Us"
3. "Will You Ever See Me"
4. "Gladys"
5. "I Sing My Song"
6. "The Blue Marble"
7. "Lend Me a Smile"
8. "I Still Can See Your Face"
9. "I See in You"
10. "Cloud Talk"