Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra (album) - Novel

Novel

Kantner had intended this record to be a soundtrack to a novel he was writing at the time. The album is the sequel to Kantner's Hugo Award nominated 1970 album Blows Against the Empire, and carries the sub-title "The Empire Blows Back." At the time of the album's release, the novel had not yet been completed but included with the album was an insert which explained the story. The insert describes a San Francisco band that develops telepathic amplification technology, which attracts the attention of various governments. The group attempts to escape to the safety of the Australian Outback, and joins a self-sufficient settlement of over 1500 people. The US government agents track the band down and attempt to take the technology for use in the Cold War. The telepathic children assist in creating a shield around the settlement that then escapes into space. Also included on the album insert were descriptions of what each song meant in the overall story. The full-length novel was later published by Kantner's own company, Little Dragon Press.

The novel includes notations for a full soundtrack which would have included (in the order indicated in the novel) :

  1. "America" (from "KBC Band")
  2. "The Planet Earth Rock'n'Roll Orchestra"
  3. "She's a Telepath"
  4. "Teddy Bear's Picnic" (Bratton / Kennedy song, also covered by Jerry Garcia)
  5. "Circle Of Fire"
  6. "I'm An Asshole" (never written song, set of lyrics only in the novel, Kantner's notes indicate a Ramones-like punk song)
  7. "Teaching The Computers To Dream" (never recorded, played live by Jefferson Starship in 2000-2004, later recycled as "On The Threshold Of Fire" on "Jefferson's Tree Of Liberty")
  8. "I Am Machine" (never written song, set of lyrics only in the novel)
  9. "Girl With The Hungry Eyes" (from Jefferson Starship's "Freedom At Point Zero")
  10. "Mount Shasta"
  11. "Lilith's Song"
  12. "The Three Oddest Words" (poem by Wislawa Szymborska)
  13. "Wooden Ships" (from Jefferson Airplane's "Volunteers")
  14. "Transsubstantiation"
  15. "The Mountain Song"
  16. "Declaration Of Independence"
  17. "Underground"
  18. "I Came Back Fron The Jaws Of The Dragon" (from Jefferson Starship's "Winds Of Change")
  19. "Good Shepherd" (from Jefferson Airplane's "Volunteers")
  20. "Fireball Chant" (never written experimental instrumental in the style of "Underground")
  21. "The Sky Is No Limit"
  22. "Planes" (from Jefferson Airplane's "Jefferson Airplane")
  23. "Let's Go"

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