Feb. 19, 2007 - Jeff Berkwits Sci Fi Music Review
I chanced upon a Locus article today I enjoyed, in which he reviewed, of all things, the Edgar Winter Mission Earth album ("of all things" because the album was released 17 years earlier).
I have to agreem with Berkwits though. Edgar Winter never loses his touch, never gets stale; his is quintessential rock and roll and this album is one of his great ones.
He writes:
L. Ron Hubbard also composed a slew of distinctive tunes, with the Mission Earth CD — performed by famed rock artist Edgar Winter — probably the most prominent of these projects. Penned to commemorate his 10-volume Mission Earth saga, this boisterous work was recorded, with the author's direct participation, just prior to his death in 1986.
"I loved the free, uninhibited spirit that Hubbard exhibited," recalls Winter, adding that the novelist conveyed distinct opinions of how he wanted each composition to sound. "He had lots of ideas about the color and personality of the music. A lot of the songs were reminiscent of very primitive tunes, almost like what you would think of as old folk melodies, while others were more contemporary. It very much depended on what the song called for. Some had an Eastern influence, since a lot of the action in the books centered on Turkey and the heroin trade. Then there was a punk-rock-like song called 'Just a Kid' that was very modern. It wasn't just one style."
Hubbard's clear vision was perhaps enhanced by the fact that Mission Earth was not the first time he had used song to supplement his literary output. His debut science-fiction musical venture, Space Jazz, was specifically designed to accompany his novel Battlefield Earth (as a matter of fact, a couple of years later the LP was simply renamed Battlefield Earth). The eclectic 1982 album is reportedly the first soundtrack ever written for a book, and highlights performances from jazz greats Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke, along with one of the earliest professional uses of the Fairlight CMI (computer musical instrument) synthesizer.
"A song can racket down the ages," Hubbard presciently declared during a lecture delivered in December 1952. "It doesn't corrode. It doesn't have to be polished, maintained, oiled, shelved or put in a vault. It happens that a song is far more powerful than any blaster ever invented."
And just last week Chick Corea won two grammies for his musical tone poem, The Ultimate Adventure based on the book by the same title by L. Ron Hubbard.
Ron certainly inspires the best of some of the icons of music.
How a man who could develope all of the Scientology religion (and if you've ever read a Scientology book, or been in to visit a Scientology church you may have an inkling of how extensive and prodigious that work was and the extnet of its impact on society), but he managed to fit in writing great novels in his "spare time."
God, when I think of his creating output compared to mine!
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