Space--Orchestral/Early/45s

Early "space" albums almost invariably offer a great, if camp, full-color jacket sketch of a lurid planetary landscape, perhaps one accessorized with rocketship, girl, or robot. The music, however, is strictly orchestral mush. There may be token "ethereal" effects and even liberal use of startling percussion to symbolize Martians or a confrontation with same. But the outer space of the mid-1950s apparently had an orchestra pit, as the cold, foreboding death of the final frontier is conjured by warm, lush, familar, sentimental strings. Yuck.

The popular 1950s vision of space extended no farther than the moon, that mystical ball of cheese with people just like us living on its far side. The most famous space-themed LP, Les Baxter's Space Escapade, epitomizes such sci-fi quaintness, as does the earlier theremin outing, Music Out of the Moon. As with Pete Rugolo's Music from Out of Space, these are really "jacket" albums. In contrast, The Three Suns Swingin' On a Star succeeds marvelously as a musically camp space romp, thanks largely to the addition of earthy but versatile King Curtis.

Buying: Most collectors want the early records, if only for the jackets. While these are nice to look at, only the 1960s and early 1970s LPs have the desired sounds.