1. Tranquility Base? - Bursts of white noise give way to a keyboard driven tune accented with a great glokenspiel sound. The music has an almost 1960's vibe to it which goes well with the fact that the mission was made in 1969. The lyrics are sung with an almost robotic delivery (as they are throughout the entire album) which strangely fits the music very well. The drums sound fairly lo-fi but this is actually a plus as the contrast between them and the more hi-fi sounding keyboards create a very interesting texture to the music.
2. Chattering Teeth - If 1970's-era Santana got together with Steve and Eydie's backing band and had a lovechild and that lovechild made music it would sound a lot like this. The lyrics tell us about the vastness and coldness of space. The mix is very strong and glockenspiel sounds abound.
3. Eagle On The Moon - This tranquil instrumental represents the actual landing of the the astronauts onto the Moon's surface. More Santana percussion mixed with the glockenspiel bring this musical reverie home. A dreamy mix of other worldy sounds.
4. Nixon & Cohorts - This song marks a departure from the overall vibe of the songs preceding it. There is some great rocking piano being played here but my attention was constantly being pulled to the raw sound of the drums. The lyrics here tell of Nixon and his fellow politicians' limited funding of NASA and the Apollo program. Good groove here.
5. First Photos (Reminiscent) - The glockenspiel is back in full effect. The lyrics in this song sing the praises of the beauty of the Moon's surface and the colors that exist there that we don't see on Earth. The astronauts are so taken with this beauty that they don't want to leave the Moon.
6. Safire Wants Gold - This piece begins with some fast piano playing then the drums come in with an almost shuffle feel. The lyrics tell the tale of newspaper writer Will Safire and his longing for the Apollo mission to fail so that he can make a good story out of it for his paper. At least that's how I understood it.
7. Why Anyone Would - A funky drumbeat starts off this song about how after you have been to the Moon the Earth just doesn't seem all that great anymore. Nice piano fills around the verses and that ever present glockenspiel filling in the cracks.
8. In The Event Of Moon Disaster - The title track of the album and in my opinion the most engaging song of the lot. This short but sweet instrumental features a wonderfully distorted organ sound (is that organ?) that grabs your attention right from the start and doesn't let up. It is definately the hook of the song. The drums are kicking in an almost John Bonham style. Awesome song. I am almost tempted to say that the distorted organ part is a little too high in the mix but at the same time it's such a strong hook that I think it's loudness works.
9. Malfunction - Another keyboard driven piece that features some very complex layers of sonic goodness. This song changes complexion quite frequently from it's uptempo beginning to a spacy middle section and finally resolving itself in an almost blues -like ending. The music reminds me of 1970's-era Weather Report. A kind of jazzy-rock fusion with suprises around every corner.
10. Turkey In The Space - This song celebrates the safe return of the brave astronauts. The tune takes the tempo of a march with an organ making tight little stabs into the musical soundscape. A flute sounding synth plays a melody over the top of the march. The tune fades out but tjust when you think that the album is over the listener is treated to what sounds like some heavily processed speech although I wasn't able to make out what it was saying.
I really enjoyed this album. When I first signed on for this critiqueing thread I was sort of afraid of what album I might end up with to review. I don't like saying bad things about other artists work although I would been honest about any album that I ended up reviewing. Luckily I ended up with this album and I can't say that there was much of anything that I didn't like or anything that I would have done differently. This is definately a charming and entertaining listen.
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