The story of Klaatu is one of those bizarre musical happenings that could have only come about in the 70's. This Canadian progressive rock band released their first album in 1976 without including any biographical information. The mysterious, mildly avant-garde pop sounds contained therein sounds a wee bit like Paul McCartney on a serious sci-fi trip, leading to a large-scale rumor that Klaatu were, in fact, The Beatles masquerading as this wacky prog band to avoid the pressures of publicity. This rumor obviously deflates after a cursory listen to this album, as Klaatu is not even close to The Beatles' level of quality and consistency. Furthermore, this curio of an album really sounds nothing like The Beatles ("Sub-Rosa Subway" excepted). Be that as it may, Klaatu's debut is an odd, gentle trip that avoids most of prog-rock's irritating clichés in favor of a wholly unique brand of mid-70's pop. The aforementioned "Sub-Rosa Subway", which does indeed smack of McCartneyist songcraft, is prog at its most pleasingly anthemic. The extended jam of "Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft" (later covered by The Carpenters) is delightfully eccentric and evokes 10cc in their more subversive moments, while "Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby III" plays like a disorienting composite of Captain Beefheart and The Bonzo Dog Band. Klaatu could hardly sell a record after folks discovered that they were not, in fact, The Beatles, but this strange, sweet artifact proves that the band had something going for it apart from big-name comparisons.
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