Album Notes

This is Volume 1 of the Trilogy, "The Age of Wonder". "The Age of Wonder" is arranged in three CDs, “Gemini”, “Apollo” and “Orion”. These three CDs are meant to stand up as separate complete works, but when put together tell a whole story – our story. Sound bites have been brought into these CDs from the NASA and presidential archives. The theme of the space program is in the background. Think of it as a Christmas tree on which these ornaments are hung. The result being that of living our lives with the occasional news of the country’s triumphs and tragedies in space.

“The Age of Wonder” starts with President Kennedy’s famous speech to Rice University in Houston. It not only identifies the reasons for launching the space program, it also gave us the inspiration for completing the massive musical undertaking. We choose to do it, “not because it is easy, but because it is hard.” “Because that goal will serve to organize the best of our energies and skills…”

Volume 1, “Gemini” takes us up through the landing on the moon. The songs are not literally about the period between Kennedy’s address to Rice University in 1961 and Apollo 11 in 1969, but they are meant to reflect a growing uneasiness climaxing in the beautiful tenor saxophone solo by Joe Goldberg on, “Summer Storm”. This is followed by the romantic and old timey, “Leave a Message on the Moon” complete with the famous recording of Neil Armstong, “Houston the Eagle has landed.”

Volume 2, “Apollo” (Available 12/10?) starts with Neil and Buzz on the moon and the phone call from, “The Oval Room of the White House” to the Moon, by President Nixon, where Nixon promises that this will usher in a new age of peace and tranquility. “Apollo” is a light-hearted CD in most ways. This is when we feel good about ourselves and confident that we are on the right path. Of course we weren’t in a lot of ways. This was a time of war on much of the planet. On this CD the situation in Latin America at that time is explored as an example. This is done much in the style of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, or Louis de Bernieres, dealing with a tragic situation with humor and magical reality. By the end of the CD we are back in the United States with the happy, light-hearted, irresponsible, “Last Call for Happy Hour”. And it is the last call. The CD ends with the haunting, dark story of a dismal life and the effect of industrial pollution on the poor. “Effigy”, brings in audio from the dramatic, “Apollo 13” mission. The loss of innocence is reflected as the song is fading out. The crew of Apollo 13 has left the Aquarius Lunar Module that they had used as a life boat to get back to Earth and have re-entered Odyssey in the hope that they can survive the fiery re-entry through the Earth’s atmosphere. Houston wryly states that, “The Age of Aquarius has ended”

Volume 3 (Available 4/11?), “Orion” takes it’s name from the now cancelled mission back to the moon. It starts with the Challenger tragedy and the eulogy from President Reagan. The songs on this disk generally reflect our lives since the loss of the sense of wonder. The bluesy, “I Don’t Know How to do my Job” reflects the difficulties of an aging baby boomer trying to hold onto a job that technology has now made him unqualified to do. This disk climaxes with the musical suite, “The Age of Wonder”, which is a story in three parts that was the inspiration for this album. It spectacularly includes the launches of Apollo 11 and Apollo 14. The disk concludes with the hopeful, “Good Things in the World” and the Christmas Eve address from Apollo 8. “Good night. Good Luck and God bless all of you. All of you on the good Earth.”