Music Out of the Moon: Music Unusual Featuring the Theremin - Themes by Harry Revel | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 1947 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 18:12 | |||
Label | Capitol | |||
Samuel Hoffman chronology | ||||
| ||||
Les Baxter chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
Allmusic | [2] |
Music Out of the Moon: Music Unusual Featuring the Theremin - Themes by Harry Revel (Capitol CC-47) is an album consisting of six songs on three 10-inch, 78 rpm records by bandleader Les Baxter and composer Harry Revel with theremin player Dr. Samuel J. Hoffman released on Capitol in April 1947. [4] Music Out of the Moon is considered the best-selling theremin record of all time. [1]
The music was a mixture of late 1940s lounge jazz and film music underpinned by Hoffman’s otherworldly theremin playing. According to the liner notes: "Harry Revel created the basic "idea" and themes while Leslie Baxter, conductor and arranger, has given them appropriately unique tone color, using mass harmonies of human voices as well as unusual instrumental effects with woodwinds, strings and bass; some without rhythm, others with a dominant, demanding beat."
Music Out of the Moon was noteworthy for being one of the first albums to feature a full color cover – a risqué photograph by Paul Garrison of partially clothed actress Virginia Clark of the Earl Carroll Theatre, Hollywood, [5] sprawled across a bed – which made it stand out in an era of monochrome album packaging.
Music Out of the Moon was reissued by Capitol in 1950 on one 10-inch, 33⅓ rpm disc (Capitol H-2000). [6]
In 1954, Music Out of the Moon was combined with Music for Peace of Mind -- a six-song 1950 collaboration between Billy May, Revel and Hoffman -- on one 12-inch, 33⅓ rpm disc (Capitol T390). [7]
In 1999, Basta reissued Music Out of the Moon on a CD called Dr. Samuel J. Hoffman and the Theremin, which also included Perfume Set to Music (1948) and Music for Peace of Mind (1950). [8] In 2004, Rev-Ola issued the same three albums on a CD called Waves in the Ether: The Magical World of the Theremin. [2]
The Hollywood producer Mickey Kapp compiled a cassette tape of tracks from the album for astronaut Neil Armstrong, who brought the tape on the Apollo 11 Moon mission in 1969. [9] [10] He played it from the Apollo spacecraft on a Sony TC-50 during the flight back from the Moon when it was about 150,000 nautical miles (280,000 km) from Earth, and explained, "That's an old favorite of mine, about – It's an album made about 20 years ago, called Music Out of the Moon." [11] (NASA audio recording) The record appears in First Man , the 2018 biopic of Armstrong directed by Damien Chazelle.
Track | Song title |
---|---|
A. | Lunar Rhapsody |
B | Moon Moods |
C. | Lunette |
D. | Celestial Nocturne |
E. | Mist O’ The Moon |
F. | Radar Blues |
Track recordings online:
Apollo 11 was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, and Armstrong became the first person to step onto the Moon's surface six hours and 39 minutes later, on July 21 at 02:56 UTC. Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later, and they spent about two and a quarter hours together exploring the site they had named Tranquility Base upon landing. Armstrong and Aldrin collected 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of lunar material to bring back to Earth as pilot Michael Collins flew the Command Module Columbia in lunar orbit, and were on the Moon's surface for 21 hours, 36 minutes before lifting off to rejoin Columbia.
Neil Alden Armstrong was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who in 1969 became the first person to walk on the Moon. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor.
Buzz Aldrin is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. He was the Lunar Module Eagle pilot on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission and became the second person to walk on the Moon after mission commander Neil Armstrong.
Mare Tranquillitatis is a lunar mare that sits within the Tranquillitatis basin on the Moon. It is the first location on another celestial body to be visited by humans.
Eugene Andrew Cernan was an American astronaut, naval aviator, electrical engineer, aeronautical engineer, and fighter pilot. During the Apollo 17 mission, Cernan became the eleventh human being to walk on the Moon. As he re-entered the Apollo Lunar Module after Harrison Schmitt on their third and final lunar excursion, he remains the most recent person to walk on the Moon.
Leslie Thompson Baxter was an American musician, composer and conductor. After working as an arranger and composer for swing bands, he developed his own style of easy listening music, known as exotica and scored over 250 radio, television and motion pictures numbers.
Destination Moon is a 1950 American Technicolor science fiction film, independently produced by George Pal and directed by Irving Pichel, that stars John Archer, Warner Anderson, Tom Powers, and Dick Wesson. The film was distributed in the United States and the United Kingdom by Eagle-Lion Classics.
Harry Revel was a British-born American composer, mostly of musical theatre, working with various lyricists, notably Mack Gordon. He is also seen as a pioneer of "space age pop".
Lunar plaques are stainless steel commemorative plaques measuring 9 by 7+5⁄8 inches attached to the ladders on the descent stages of the United States Apollo Lunar Modules flown on lunar landing missions Apollo 11 through Apollo 17, to be left permanently on the lunar surface. The plaques were originally suggested and designed by NASA's head of technical services Jack Kinzler, who oversaw their production.
For All Mankind is a 1989 documentary film made of original footage from NASA's Apollo program, which successfully prepared and landed the first humans on the Moon from 1968 to 1972. It was directed by Al Reinert, with music by Brian Eno. The film, consisting of footage from Apollo 7 through Apollo 17, was assembled to depict what seems like a single trip to the Moon, highlighting the beauty and otherworldliness of the images by only using audio from the interviews Reinert conducted with Apollo crew members.
Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D is a 2005 IMAX 3D documentary film about the first humans on the Moon, the twelve astronauts in the Apollo program.
Apollo 11 was the first human spaceflight to land on the Moon. The 1969 mission's wide effect on popular culture has resulted in numerous portrayals of Apollo 11 and its crew, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins.
Bruce Martin Woolley is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He wrote songs with artists such as the Buggles and Grace Jones, including "Video Killed the Radio Star" and "Slave to the Rhythm", and co-founded the Radio Science Orchestra.
First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong is the official biography of Neil Armstrong, the astronaut who became the first human to walk on the Moon, on July 20, 1969. The book was written by James R. Hansen and was first published in 2005 by Simon & Schuster. The book describes Armstrong's involvement in the United States space program, and details his personal life and upbringing.
Samuel J. Hoffman was a notable thereminist.
Nat King Cole at the Piano is the first studio album by jazz pianist Nat King Cole, released by Capitol in 1950.
First Man is a 2018 American biographical drama film directed by Damien Chazelle from a screenplay by Josh Singer, based on the 2005 book of the same name by James R. Hansen. The film stars Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong, alongside Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Corey Stoll, Christopher Abbott, and Ciarán Hinds, and follows the years leading up to the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon in 1969.
First Man (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2018 film First Man, directed by Damien Chazelle. The musical score was composed by Chazelle's usual collaborator and Harvard University classmate, Justin Hurwitz. The score uses electronic, orchestral and vintage sounds. In addition to a 94-piece orchestra, an electronic theremin, a moog synthesiser and several other instruments were used, fused with vintage sound-altering machines during the audio mix. The soundtrack released by Back Lot Music on October 12, 2018, received positive reviews from critics, who praised it for its balance of softer melodic passages and powerful themes. Hurwitz's score received several awards and nominations, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.