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From: br@cstvax.UUCP (Brian Ritchie)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: SF in Music (and approximations to Pern music)
Message-ID: <321@cstvax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 24-Jul-85 12:14:45 EDT
Article-I.D.: cstvax.321
Posted: Wed Jul 24 12:14:45 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 20-Jul-85 17:16:11 EDT
References: <2716@topaz.ARPA>
Reply-To: br@cstvax.UUCP (Brian Ritchie)
Organization: Comp. Sc., Edinburgh Univ., Scotland
Lines: 62
Keywords: SF-related album tracks, Pern, Anne McCaffrey, folk music


  Some more SF-connected music:

  Virtually everything Hawkwind have ever done; the only album I ever had was
titled something like `The Warrior At The Edge of Time', and included poems
written and read by Michael Moorcock, with wierdo Hawkwind-effects in support.

  `The Pentateuch' by Dave Greenslade; actually a collaboration with SF artist
Patrick Woodroffe - DG did the record, PW the accompanying book.  I don't know
any more about it other than that the shop I saw it in said it was a load of
rubbish!

Brian Eno: Apollo (soundtrack for a collage of NASA space film, directed by
             someone whose name I've forgotten -- DON'T tell me; it's written
	     on the LP at home. Eno's notes say something like `I wanted to
	     create music which reflected the ambient `atmosphere' of being
	     in space' (only a bit better phrased).  Not having been there,
	     I don't feel qualified to comment on the success of his attempt;
	     some of the `music' works for me, some of it doesn't (one track
	     has very animal-like noises on it, and this was before the Shuttle
	     started its monkey-business :-)
	   On Land (if we're going to count Tangerine Dream for *sounding*
	     `science-fictioney', then this has got to be in on it)

Genesis: The Return of the Giant Hogweed (Triffids piss-take)
         The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
	    (perhaps `surreal' rather than `SF')
	 A Trick of The Tail (Fantasy)
	 
Yes:     Astral Traveller
         Starship Trooper
	 The Gates of Delirium

   (Oh dear, my comments on Yes have turned into a ramble, which I can't be
bothered tidying up. Sorry!)
   Although Yes are lyrically distant from SF (in fact they seem lyrically 
distant from *anything*), I always think of their music as `otherworldly'
(whatever that means).  Also, check out Roger Dean's cover art, especially
for `Yessongs' which tells a pictorial story of the demise of a planet and
its subsequent `re-seeding' on another world.  This latter `planted the seed'
for Jon Anderson's (first) solo LP `Olias of Sunhillow', which attempts to 
repeat the story musically (see above note on Yes' lyrics).
  `Olias of Sunhillow' comes closer to my imagination of `alien folk music'
than anything else; in particular, it comes to mind whenever music is described
in the Pern books.  Pedants may point out that since `Olias' has a fair amount
of synthesiser sounds, it is not really that likely a candidate, but the whole
album has an `acoustic' flavour, and that goes a long way to satisfy my 
impression of the music of Pern.  I do listen to a lot of traditional music,
which fits the `acoustic' image (harp, guitar, cittern, fiddle, dulcimer,
mandolin, etc etc), but even granted that the music of Pern may well be derived
from our own traditional music, I *want* it to sound different!  Thus far,
Olias has come closest to fitting the bill; I'd be interested to hear anyone
else's `earthly approximations' to Pern music (or the music in any other works
of SF).

   If anyone is really interested in `science-fictioney' music, I'll try and
make a list from my collection at home (if I remember), but it's likely to
be quite large, and boring to anyone else... if you're interested, mail me.
(Oh dear, what have I let myself in for...?)

Cheers,
     Brian Ritchie