3:47 E.S.T. [AKA: KLAATU]

There was a bit of nonsense going around in 1976 that these Canadian studio musicians were The Beatles in disguise. Try to put that out of your mind when you listen to this album because Klaatu simply won't cut it.

What the band did manage to put on out their debut album was one fantastic symphonic ballad in Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft (which amazingly was covered quite faithfully by The Carpenters!!!). This seven-minute song is superb, somehow combining a spacey, trippy feel with an immaculate rich string, brass and piano arrangement and lovely vocal harmonies. It may be a little too simple for some proggers, but I love it.

Unfortunately, the rest of the album doesn't match up. There's an interesting quasi- classical experiment in Little Neutrino and two rather pleasant (dare I say it?) Beatlesque pop tunes in Sub-Rosa Subway and Doctor Marvello which are quite decent to listen to. In general however, these Klaatu songs remind me of Ambrosia in that the musicians seem to have a lot of nice little touches to offer, but tend to cram them into meandering compositions.

What this album also has to offer is three really awful songs. I mean it ... Hanus Of Uranus is a boring as hell bluesy number and True Life Hero is an interminable single riff. The fact that both songs are sung awfully by guitarist Dee Long doesn't help. The third bit of rubbish is Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby III which is an attempt at writing a musical hall style song. Words cannot convey how atrocious this song is, but suffice it to say I had a vague urge to strike someone after forcing myself to listen to the whole album at one sitting, and I'm sure that this track pushed me over the edge!

Despite the unpleasant moments, the fact that I'm still hanging on to this album is testament to the fact that Klaatu's best stuff is worth listening to. ... 30% on the MPV scale