Mars Odyssey Craft (NASA/Getty Images)
Fusion 45 regales us with tales of records he’s found in thrift stores and at garage sales..and contemplates if it was a dollar well spent.
Few movies fanned the flame of pre-Microsoft paranoia about man vs. machine quite the way 2001: A Space Odyssey did when it was released in 1968. Though Neil Armstrong’s walk in space was imminent, the movie’s sparse dialogue and chilling cinematography addressed far more than space technology: artificial intelligence and human evolution were the more critical topics that sparked people’s fearful imaginations.
Though it was met with mixed reviews when it was released, the movie has been retrospectively called one of the greats of all time, particularly in the science-fiction genre. And its theme song, “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” though composed as a tone poem in 1896 by [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Richard Strauss[/lastfm], is as well-known to the masses today as the theme from Rocky or “The Star Spangled Banner.”
Part of the song’s popular evolution came from an unlikely melding of jazz fusion and disco.
In 1972, it was [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Eumir Deodato[/lastfm], a Brazilian-born keyboard player, who fused the sounds of the nightclub and Latin jazz together and created a version of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” that turned into a pop music classic. The single rose to #2 on the Billboard chart, won a GRAMMY for Best Pop Instrumental, and sold several million copies. The album version, which clocked in at over 9 minutes, fueled the sales of his first US release, Prelude, to a level of 5 million copies sold.
Following the single on side one are two Deodato-penned tunes: “Spirit of Summer” and “Carly and Carole.” Recalling that Prelude was recorded at a time in American popular culture when The Odd Couple was the Friday night hit on TV, you can hum [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Neal Hefti[/lastfm]‘s theme song to that show and hear, with some slight variations, most of what Deodato laid down on Prelude‘s first side: an easy-listening, lounging-about-the-New-York-apartment vibe that sounds like a combination of [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Bob James[/lastfm] and [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Antonio Carlos Jobim[/lastfm].
On side two, Deodato returns to classical music and movies as his source of inspiration, relaxing into a version of the [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]George Forrest[/lastfm]/[lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Robert Wright[/lastfm] chestnut “Baubles, Bangles and Beads” (taken from the musical, Kismet, and based on Borodin’s “String Quartet In D”). [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Hubert Laws[/lastfm]‘ flute takes center stage on Deodato’s articulate reading of Debussy’s “Prelude to an Afternoon of a Faun” while [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]John Tropea[/lastfm]‘s guitar steals the spotlight on the album’s last cut, “September 13.”
It’s on “September 13″ where, belatedly, the album takes on some life: [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Billy Cobham[/lastfm] lays down a groove in keeping with his solo work, Tropea plays a smoking guitar and the horn arrangement, which echoes some of [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Quincy Jones’[/lastfm] work from that period, frames the tune nicely.
While the top quality musicians from the CTI Records are there in full force (Tropea, Laws, Cobham, [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Ray Barretto[/lastfm] and [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Stanley Clarke[/lastfm]), Prelude suffers from being too polite and too restrained for too long. Sadly, [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Ray Baretto[/lastfm]‘s New York street vibe didn’t inspire Deodato quite as much as would’ve been beneficial.
Was it worth it?
LP (99 cents at the Salvation Army): In good condition, it’s an enjoyable listen for under a buck.
CD (as low as $3.45, used, at Amazon): If early ’70s Latin lounge turns you on, it wouldn’t be untoward to drop 4 bucks on it.
DOWNLOAD (99 cents per cut at iTunes): Considering the above options, this seems a little expensive.
