Klaatu “Sir Army Suit”

If every time a band that was heavily influenced by the Beatles released a record to rumors that they were the Beatles, you’d have a scandal once a week. So, I’m not sure how that happened back in 1976, when that first Klaatu record came out. Someone in the marketing department had an inspiration? —I suppose. I was wondering if I wrote anything about their first record (which I used to have)—and I did, back in 2007! On this, their third LP, from 1978, they prove that they can sound like all kinds of bands… Blue Oyster Cult, Electric Light Orchestra, Kansas… though hopefully no Kkaatu-ian wears a tux with a straw hat or goes on stage in bare feet… or sings backwards. Ultimately, it’s pop, with a Capital p. There’s a lyric sheet, and the last song is printed backwards! But when I try to read it in a mirror, it’s still backwards—it all (doesn’t) make sense when you hear the song! Part of the reason those early rumors came about was because they didn’t include their pictures anywhere, but on this one there are more clues. The front cover drawing shows a long line of people walking over a bleak (Canadian?) landscape toward a rising moon, and on the back cover (drawing) we see several of them approaching—who are they? Fortunately, we now have “AI” to help us solve these kinds of mysteries! So, according to “my phone,” it’s: Ed Sullivan, Maurice De Vlaminck, Norman Mailer, Ian Anderson, “Woman with Basket,” Klaus Kinski, Peter Pan, and Wendy!

2.26.25