laundryshark
Well-known member
Go into this Web site and locate song number 30. Download or play it.--Laundry Shark
The Jingle Cats - Oh Christmas Tree
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Telstar
Sorry I'll pass on the cats,, but the first selection caught my eye. I haven't heard Telstar in decades, brought back memories from when I was a kid. I remember what a big deal it was to be able to bounce a phone call off a satellite, now we do it all the time with out giving it a thought.
Here is some interesting background courtesy of Wikipedia:
" - is a 1962 instrumental record performed by The Tornados. It was the first single by a British band to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and was also a number one hit in the UK. The record was named after the AT&T communications satellite Telstar, and was released five weeks after its launch into orbit in July 1962. It was written and produced by Joe Meek and featured a clavioline, a keyboard instrument with a distinctive electronic sound.
This novelty record was intended to evoke the dawn of the space age, complete with sound effects that were meant to sound "space-like". A popular story at the time of the record's release was that the weird distortions and background noise came from sending the signal up to the Telstar satellite and re-recording it back on Earth. However, is more likely that the effects were created in Meek's recording studio, which was a small flat above a shop in London. It has been claimed that the sounds intended to symbolize radio signals were produced by Meek running a pen around the rim of an ashtray, and that the "rocket blastoff" at the start of the record was actually a flushing toilet, with the recordings made to sound exotic by playing the tape in reverse at various speeds.
The record was an immediate hit after its release on August 17, 1962, remaining in the UK pop charts for twenty-five weeks, five of them at number one, and in the American charts for sixteen weeks."
Sorry I'll pass on the cats,, but the first selection caught my eye. I haven't heard Telstar in decades, brought back memories from when I was a kid. I remember what a big deal it was to be able to bounce a phone call off a satellite, now we do it all the time with out giving it a thought.
Here is some interesting background courtesy of Wikipedia:
" - is a 1962 instrumental record performed by The Tornados. It was the first single by a British band to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and was also a number one hit in the UK. The record was named after the AT&T communications satellite Telstar, and was released five weeks after its launch into orbit in July 1962. It was written and produced by Joe Meek and featured a clavioline, a keyboard instrument with a distinctive electronic sound.
This novelty record was intended to evoke the dawn of the space age, complete with sound effects that were meant to sound "space-like". A popular story at the time of the record's release was that the weird distortions and background noise came from sending the signal up to the Telstar satellite and re-recording it back on Earth. However, is more likely that the effects were created in Meek's recording studio, which was a small flat above a shop in London. It has been claimed that the sounds intended to symbolize radio signals were produced by Meek running a pen around the rim of an ashtray, and that the "rocket blastoff" at the start of the record was actually a flushing toilet, with the recordings made to sound exotic by playing the tape in reverse at various speeds.
The record was an immediate hit after its release on August 17, 1962, remaining in the UK pop charts for twenty-five weeks, five of them at number one, and in the American charts for sixteen weeks."
Haven't heard this one over any kind of air in a long time. I'd snag a 45 of it for my juke box if I ever came across one. I'm not so sure about Wikipedia's dating of the Telstar launch. IIRC, it was more like 1959 or 1960. I remember being at a friend's house (in the neighborhood we moved from in 1960) and seeing this rather wavy transmission on the TV and being told it was coming via Telstar. But I admit that 1959 seems like an awfully short time for Ma Bell to accomplish this after Sputnik caused such a global stir.
laundryshark
Well-known member
TELSTAR I Satellite Launched July 10, 1962
See article from nasa.gov.--Laundry Shark
See article from nasa.gov.--Laundry Shark
Thanks for the link. Interesting reading. I guess my memory is a little fuzzy on this whole thing. I swear I remember going outside at night with my parents, sometime in 1960 or earlier, to see a satellite passing overhead and as I recall we weren't the only family outside at the time looking for it. Clearly, it wasn't Telstar we were watching for . . .
laundryshark
Well-known member
Echo and Explorer Satellites
Might have been either the Echo or Explorer satellites or one of the early Russian satellites. Go to the nasa.gov site and do a Search for articles or films about the early artificial satellites.--Laundry Shark
Might have been either the Echo or Explorer satellites or one of the early Russian satellites. Go to the nasa.gov site and do a Search for articles or films about the early artificial satellites.--Laundry Shark
Telstar is a neat song. Simple song to learn to play too, and sounds great on my old Hammond! The sound effects in the song sound more like a mix between a truck stop, and an offset printing press to me! I guess the fact that I didn't grow up in the space age that I didn't recognize the more "high tech" sound it was supposed to be hehehe
Telstar has that fun, optimistic, mid-centry futuristic sound to it that signified the era. That song gives visions of all sorts of mid-century futuristic stuff like space ships, futuristic homes and appliances, and all sorts of other things of "tomorrow"!
Telstar has that fun, optimistic, mid-centry futuristic sound to it that signified the era. That song gives visions of all sorts of mid-century futuristic stuff like space ships, futuristic homes and appliances, and all sorts of other things of "tomorrow"!
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