Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Sir Army Suit

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Released
  
August 1978

Length
  
36:05

Release date
  
August 1978

Label
  
Capitol Records

Recorded
  
1973–78

Artist
  
Klaatu

Producer
  
Terry Brown

Sir Army Suit httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaen33dKla

Sir Army Suit (1978)
  
Endangered Species (1980)

Genres
  
Rock music, Progressive rock, Pop music, Progressive pop

Similar
  
Klaatu albums, Progressive rock albums

Klaatu sir army suit 1978 full album


Sir Army Suit is the third album recorded by the Canadian rock band Klaatu. It was different from their two previous albums, 3:47 EST and Hope, adopting more of a pop feel. Many of these songs were hold-overs from early demos the band made pre-fame and were revived because band member John Woloschuk had spent a year writing and arranging the Hope album leaving him artistically drained. The band's other main songwriter, Dee Long, picked up the ball with many new compositions and ultimately co-produced and engineered the record while the band's regular producer, Terry Brown, was busy working with Rush and Max Webster.

Contents

Despite aggressive promotion by Capitol and the band, including bandmember interviews conducted by phone with live radio shows, the album suffered mediocre sales, because of fading popular interest in the band after the 1977 rumour was dispelled about the band being the Beatles recording anonymously. With Sir Army Suit, the band began to reveal their images to the public, first in the album's artwork, then in March 1979 with an animated music video depicting the musicians in caricature. The video was broadcast on 10 March 1979 on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert.

This is the only original Klaatu album whose cover was not painted by Ted Jones; the cover of Sir Army Suit was painted by Ian Thomas Band keyboardist Hugh Syme, mainly known for album cover work with Rush. The cover represented the first crack in the group's notorious anonymity since all three members appeared on the back cover (the front cover features a self-portrait of Hugh Syme and, ironically, Klaatu's previous graphic artist Ted Jones). Other people featured in the back cover are Queen Elizabeth II, Linda and Terry Brown and Francis W. Davies.

A newly remastered deluxe edition of the album was released on 31 October 2013 via the band's own independent record label "Klaatunes". This re-issue includes a bonus DVD containing animated music videos for "A Routine Day", "Everybody Took A Holiday", "Tokeymor Field" and "Perpetual Motion Machine", plus an hour-long interview with the three band members Terry Draper, Dee Long, and John Woloschuk.

A routine day klaatu


Musical style

The album reflects 1960s pop music and other musical styles including disco, heavy metal, progressive rock, psychedelic rock, and music from the British Invasion. A reviewer for Julian Cope's Head Heritage wrote that the album seemed "more of a Beatle-soundalike record" than Klaatu's debut, as if the Beatles had continued in "a parallel universe where Ringo dropped out in the early '70s and the remaining three continued to peaceably work together right through glam and metal and on up to disco (though in the Klaatu universe apparently punk never happened.)"

Track listing

Side 1:

  1. "A Routine Day" (John Woloschuk)
  2. "Juicy Luicy" (Woloschuk)
  3. "Everybody Took a Holiday" (Dee Long)
  4. "Older" (Long)
  5. "Dear Christine" (Woloschuk)

Side 2:

  1. "Mister Manson" (Long)
  2. "Tokeymor Field" (Woloschuk)
  3. "Perpetual Motion Machine" (Long)
  4. "Chérie" (Long)
  5. "Silly Boys" (Long)

Personnel

  • Dee Long - vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drum programming, synthesizer
  • John Woloschuk - vocals, piano, organ, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, bells, mellotron, synthesizer, clavinet, percussion
  • Terry Draper - drums, percussion, vocals, tambourine, triangle, gong, anvil, bell tree
  • Songs

    1A Routine Day3:10
    2Juicy Luicy3:38
    3Everybody Took a Holiday3:00

    References

    Sir Army Suit Wikipedia