Trans5
'Evelyn Glennie's close encounter with UFO'
The June 27th 2000 edition of The Times included a review of a performance at London's Festival Hall of Michael Daugherty's work 'UFO,' as performed by solo percussionist Evelyn Glennie, and Leonard Slatkin with the Philharmonia Orchestra. The piece lasted 30 minutes and was, according to reviewer Geoff Brown:
'..mostly encompassed in three sections, Unidentified, Flying, and Objects. The Roswell incident of 1947 was the trigger for Unidentified, aggressively scored for xylophone and mysterious metal scraps. Flying, spotlighting the vibraphone, began dreamily and melodically, turned fugal and nasty, then floated towards towards a ghostly conclusion. Objects brought forth upbeat, sometimes improvised, frenzy on bongos, tom-toms, bass drum, cowbells, the works..'
The Official Evelyn Glennie Site
A good book I came across recently in a library is ONE HUNDRED BEST ALBUM COVERS by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell (Dorling Kindersley, 1999). Two of the selected album covers feature illustrations of spacecraft:
Hapshash And The Coloured Coat Featuring The Human Host and the Heavy Metal Kids by Hapshash And The Coloured Coat.
This LP, released in 1967, featured cover design by Michael English and Nigel Waymouth, with photography by Ekim Adis. There's much interesting information relating to this LP project, the artists involved and (obviously) the cover itself across two pages of '100 Best Album Covers,' including this quote from Michael English concerning 'The Intention':
"If I use the words that are current now - and they weren't the words we used then, but the meaning is the same - it was to do with putting out a good energy of love and power and light and colour and peace, and turn the whole planet into a radiant ball of good energy. We wanted to communicate that good energy, spread it out, and make contact with new beings, so that in a way, the whole universe would be pulsating with this energy - which it is anyway, as we know. That thinking was so revolutionary, so incredible, and it was virtually ignored by the established fine art world, which continued its fascination with Pop art, and Situationist art. They didn't want to hear about what we were talking about because it was dangerous, it undermined their system."
Hapshash And The Coloured Coat CD Sale
Agharta by Miles Davis
This LP, released in 1975, has cover design by Japanese artist Tadanori Yokoo, with photography by Tadayuki Naitoh and Shigeo Anzai. Again, as with the Hapshash project, there's much interesting information about the artist and the cover across two (large) pages of the book. Concerning the George Adamski scoutcraft that is prominent, in a spotlight, on the back of the outer gatefold sleeve, this is stated:
'During various periods in history the supermen of Agharta came to the surface of Earth to teach the human race how to live together in peace and save us from wars, catastrophe, and destruction. The apparent sighting of several flying saucers soon after the bombing of Hiroshima may represent one visitation. The UFO shown here symbolizes a similar communication.'
The title 'Agharta' was given to his artwork by Tadanori Yokoo, and Miles Davis accepted this as the title for the LP. Tadanori Yokoo says:
"At the time I was into meditation and yoga, and was reading many books about the spiritual world. I was very influenced by Indian culture. I meditated and listened to Miles Davis' tape and thought about a book I had read by Raymond Bernard called 'The Hollow Earth.' It is a legend about a land called Agharta, which exists in a huge cavern in the centre of the earth. But for me, Agharta could be down there under the sea like Atlantis or even hidden in the jungle like the lost city of El Dorado."
Site titled 'Agharta' w/cover art
Look for '100 Best Album Covers' on Amazon / Barnes & Noble
Kate Bush Updates
On June 27th, I found, on the Cloudbusting website, an answer from Kate Bush to the question: Do you believe in ufos and life on other planets? Here's the answer that Kate Bush gave, printed in a newsletter of the Kate Bush Club 20 years ago:
"I really believe in UFOs, and I don't see why there shouldn't be life on other planets. We haven't got off this planet yet, really, so how can we say if there is or isn't. It seems unlikely that we would be the only ones. There have been so many reported that I'm sure they exist, and I really hope I see one - and a whale and a giraffe up close."
I've also put an update concerning the 'Coming Of Arthur' Tennyson quote on my Kate Bush file. Here's a quote that relates to this:
'Long, long ago in a legendary time now steeped in mists and memories, there was a mythical race of divine gods and goddesses known as Tuatha De Danaan, or the Tribe of Dana. They were beings of light, known to have descended to earth from the sun, and have been called the Shining Ones, the Shimmering Ones and the Ancient Ones. They are also known as the immortals..'
Tracy O'Reilly from Irish Fairies and Rainbows