Astronomy music

[seeker372011]

I'll go first

Astronomy by Metallica (i Love this!)

[CoombellKid]

I'm rather partial to a bit of progressive trance and some Deep Purple :D and
maybe some SRV :thumbsup:

regards,CS

[Glenhuon]

Star Trek Insurrection Theme. :)
But apart from that anything quiet and soothing.

Bill

[Astrod00d]

Image Processing:
Mike Oldfield, Songs Of Distant Earth
Ween, The Mollusk
Bob Dylan, Time Out Of Mind

Under the clear dark sky:
Silence. And Grumbling at the Guider.

[beren]

Vangelis - Heaven & Hell Pt.1/2


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHaQnTMwKSQ

[Dog Star]

Ah! What an evocative thread! For fans of 2001 (and I include myself in their number) the music of Richard and Johann Strauss springs to mind and there is a suggestion of the celestial clockwork in their respective compositions used in the film. Gustav Holst wrote the famous "Planets Suite" with compositions dedicated to the individual planets (or rather the Greek gods from whom they were named) which is also an evocative piece of music and well worthy of the mantle of "Astronomy music."
My personal favorites however come from the little known genre of "Space Rock" (I Kid you not) and is exemplified by such bands as Gong, Neu, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream (Don't start, KM.) and my personal favorites, Hawkwind.
The first record that I ever owned was an old 78 rpm The Purple People Eater by Sheb Wooley and the first record that I ever bought with my own money was a 45 rpm single The Martian Hop by the Randells, so I was always going to be trouble when it came to music.:rolleyes:

[ngcles]

Hi All,

One could make the obvious connection between the two as both must be persons of taste and sophistication, but ...

Even so, it never ceases to amaze me how many amateurs listen to Mike Oldfield.

BTW, the latest offering -- Music of the Spheres released about a month ago(which was inspired by astronomy) is utterly breathtaking in 'scope and execution. I'd say his best since Amarok (and that's saying quite a bit). It is entirely orchestral with classical guitar only, but wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!

In his 1/2 dozen best of all. Listen to it and tell me I'm wrong.

Best,

Les D
Contributing Editor
AS&T

[gman]

To keep in line with this thread, my astronomy song choices are

Astronomy Domine & Interstellar Overdrive
Album - "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn"
Artist - Pink Floyd
Written by Syd Barrett
Released in 1967

Space Truckin
From the album - "Machine Head"
Artist - Deep Purple
Arguably one of the best albums ever released

[GeoffW1]

For me, the soundtrack from Chariots of the Gods

Whatever we all thought of the movie and the novel, this was inspiring music by Peter Thomas.

Cheers

[Kevnool]

the war of the worlds...does the thing

[Omaroo]

Call me weird..... I like like nothing better than pure silence when I'm at my scope.





Follow that up with Pink Floyd in the car on the way home.

[AstralTraveller]

I've got more music than a sane man could use, including most of the stuff mentioned in other posts, but I'll go with Omaroo - complete silence. At home I'm sandwiched between an expressway, a highway and a train line. At work it's either students in the corridor outside my office or 12 vacuum pumps in the lab. It is so nice to give the ears a break and just focus (yuk) on the celestial sights.

If I were to have music it would be 'ambient' rather than 'imperative', if you know the Eno definition of those terms. For that reason I'd eschew rock music. There is plenty of classical (in the broad sense of the term) that would be suitable: perhaps some string quartets early in the night, Dvorak's Serenade for Strings or Serenade for Wind, the Concerto d'Aranuez, or any of the Sibelius symphonies. Alternatively there's plenty of jazz that would serve: any of the 'cool' Miles Davis, most of the Pat Methany catalogue or some Martin Taylor come to mind. The Slava Gregorian I am listening to now would be nice too. Then of course there is the Eno ambient collection.

[fringe_dweller]

one of my faves is Tom Waits, he's always throwing astro references like 'and the moons the colour of a coffee stain' in songs, but I am surprised to see the astronomical theme goes deeper than that - see this recent press conference

http://www.youtube.com/v/EOrG1r3S6ZA&hl=en

[leon]

I'm with you Chris, silence is golden, but I go further than you when it comes to driving around in the car, don't even have it on in there either.

I tend to like it nice and quite all the time, bit hard with a couple of little Grand kids though. :lol: :lol:

Leon :thumbsup:

[RB]

Yep, Marcel Marceau's greatest hits for me too at the scope.

:thumbsup:

[bindibadgi]

AstralTraveller, I'm surprised at you. :P

For me I guess it's Starship Trooper from the Yes Album, although maybe it's stretching it a bit.

[ngcles]

Hi bindibadgi & All,

bindibadgi wrote: "For me I guess it's Starship Trooper from the Yes Album"

MMmmm ... Yes, but the best version of this is the live one on Yessongs. Last track I think on the triple album. Sensational bass-lines. There's nothing like a Rickenbacker bass guitar ...

Best,

Les D

[Ric]

For me it would have to be anything by Floyd, Yes or early Genesis. then maybe some Stones or Purple at 3 am to wake me up again.

Cheers

[AstralTraveller]

Well you might guess, correctly, that I like the odd bit of Yes. However it's a case of horses for courses; what suits the occasion. I certainly don't think having a 'space' or 'astronomy' theme in the title makes it suitable listening. If that were true we'd be listening to Planet Claire or Mr Apollo while observing :scared:.

BTW The version of Starship Trooper on the bonus disc of Magnification is pretty good too.

[bindibadgi]

I've got most of 'em boys. :) Can't remember which is which though, but whichever one has that knockout Wakeman solo through the big crescendo at the end is my favourite, even though the clarity of the (live) recording leaves a lot to be desired.

Now, back on topic everyone. :D

[MrB]

MrBungle - Merry Go Bye Bye
from the Disco Volante album.
Not a song about astronomy but there's the line "And then I broke my Telescope" :eyepop:

[astroturf]

That's Hilarious!, I love Tom Waits
Have a listen to "children's story" off the more recent "Orphans" album
for some Astronomical analagies

Must say, I don't mind Brian Eno's ambient material while spending the evening observing, Daniel Lanois is a favourite as well

Bryan

[Karlsson]

Same here... I'm with the 'silence minority'. It even irritates me when music from elsewhere wafts in (often C&W) in summertime.

And like Leon, I rarely have the radio on while driving... I am a trained musician but I do value silence highly :)

[AlexN]

i like some mellow psytrance by sphongle and 1200mics, and as with ric, Yes is great stargazing music...

But i generally sit in silence...

[FarmerBen]

Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon? ;)

...but seriously, silence is best for me.

[ngcles]

Hi All,

Well FWIW, this was the playlist I made on my iPod (played through the car sound-system) the last time we observed at Bargo on May 3rd. About 7.5 hrs worth. I tend to be the "music co-ordinator" for our nights. Most of us have fairly similar musical "taste".

Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band -- The Beatles

The Firebird Suite -- Igor Stravinski

Fragile -- Yes

Led Zeppelin IV -- Led Zeppelin

The Milk-Eyed Mender -- Joanna Newsom

Amarok -- Mike Oldfield

Procession of the Sardar -- Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov

Music of the Spheres -- Mike Oldfield

Star's End -- David Bedford

The Songs of Distant Earth -- Mike Oldfield

The Planets -- Holst.


Best,

Les D

[edwardsdj]

I'll never forget the total lunar eclipse in 2000 when one of my housemates at the time played "The Dark Side of the Moon" album repeatedly for the duration of the event.

I agree with the silence :)

[AstralTraveller]

I'd set his controls for the heart of the sun.:abduct::o

[venus]

Yellow- Cold Play
Distan Sun- Crowded House
Life on Mars- David Bowie
Drops of Jupiter- Train
Shadow of the Day- Linkin Park

May it Be- Enya...

May it be an evening star
Shines down upon you
May it be when darkness falls
Your heart will be true
you walk a lonely road
Oh! How far you are from home

Mornie utúlië (darkness has come)
Believe and you will find your way
Mornie alantië (darkness has fallen)
A promise lives within you now

May it be the shadow's call
Will fly away
May it be your journey on
To light the day
When the night is overcome
You may rise to find the sun

Mornie utúlië (darkness has come)
Believe and you will find your way
Mornie alantië (darkness has fallen)
A promise lives within you now

A promise lives within you now

[fringe_dweller]

the line i quoted is from track "bottom of the world' from brawlers CD #1 of orphans triology :) are you kidding!! we had orphans on order before first release, got it pre main shop release :thumbsup:

Daniel Lanois is pretty cool, loved his work ever since bought neville brothers 'yellow moon' when it first came out - his fingerprints are stamped all over that one :thumbsup:

[Suzy_A]

Gustav Holst's The Planets
mms://media3.abc.net.au/classic/keys/keys_17052008_28S.asf
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Planets


Claude Debussy's Clair de Lune
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Claude_Debussy_-_clair_de_lune.ogg


Paul McCartney's Venus and Mars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_and_Mars

[Aidan Mc]

Shurely shome mishtake...

Can't miss out on David Bowies 'Starman' and 'Space Oddity (Major Tom)' or

The Church's 'Under the Milky Way Tonight' or

U2's 'Still haven't found what I'm looking for' :lol:

[bindibadgi]

We have a die-hard star-hopper here folks. :D

[fringe_dweller]

tend like making my own music as well these days, last night put new strings on my locally made 'Donmo' tricone rustbucket for first time! (slack! had it since jan!), and just had to do a quick slap dash MP3 quality recording of the incredible sound with my portable zoom H4, and added revrb and eq in GB3 - a one take crappy version of ry cooders paris texas theme, i couldnt remember how it went without looking it up lol, but recorded it anyway - cant wait to get into recording proper :D one day - a heavier brass slide would of sounded better tho

4MB

http://southern-x.org/so_x/dm/donmo.mp3

[jjjnettie]

While watching the total Lunar Eclipse last year, I played selections from Dark Side of the Moon.
Awesome music. It made it a truely memorable event.
The Galaxy Song by Monty Python is regularly dragged out at Astro events when clouds or fog have spoilt the viewing.
At the last Barambah camp I played a bit of Led Zepplin to keep myself awake.

Mostly though I like the sounds of silence. That way you can hear your spouse/children/pets and other critters creeping up from behind.

[cpoc]

I tend to observe in quiet but might be tempted to use
Vangelis "Albedo 0.39" some nice music... and a bit of astronomy thrown in :)

[Outbackmanyep]

PINK FLOYD...any album!.....DAVID GILMOUR (On An Island)........

Heres a song to try...."Red Sky at Night" from Dave Gilmour's "On An Island" album...Dave actually did the saxophone in that one!

I think a few people on here know my attachment to Pink Floyd....i shouldn't have to keep reminding everyone! :lol: :P :thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

Thought I'd let you know you're not alone there.
My older brothers brainwashed me with Pink Floyd's music in the early '70's. Along with a lot of other groups that little girls generally don't listen to at primary school.
It's affected me for life, but I'm not complaining.

[Screwdriverone]

I love listening to the deep bass of the gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, the mellow undertones of the Globular and Open Clusters and the rich harmonies of the chorus of the constellations and Nebulae that shine down in a symphony of beauty and tranquility.

That's enough music for me. :)

Chris

[bindibadgi]

Screwdriverone, you must have very good hearing. :rofl:

[AstralTraveller]

I've said before that I don't believe astronomy related titles necessarily make good observing music (in fact they rarely do), but if we are going to go down that track why has no one mentioned Donovan's 'Cosmic Wheels' album? The title of the album is undoubtedly attractive - especially to goto owners :P.

Actually, only the title track and one other refer to space. The second track, of course, is the deeply moving, highly effective and much appreciated 'Intergalactic Laxative' :jawdrop: :2thumbs: :bowdown:

Enjoy

I was impressed like everyone
When man began to fly
Out of Earthly regions to
Planets in the sky
With total media coverage
We watched the heroes land
As ceremoniously they disturbed the cosmic sand
In awe with admiration we
Listened to the talk
Such pride felt they, such joy
To be upon the moon to walk
My romantic vision shattered when it was explained to me
Spacemen wear old diapers in which they s*i* and pee

* Oh! The intergalactic laxative
Will get you from here to there
Believe you and believe me! Without a worry or care
If s*i*ting is your problem when you're out there in the stars
The intergalactic laxative
Will get you from here to Mars

They don't partake like you and I
Of beefy burger mush
Their food is specially prepared
To dissolve into slush
Absorbed by multi-fibres in
The super diaper suit
Otherwise the slush would trickle
Down inside the boot

* CHORUS

You may well ask now what becomes
Of liquid they consume
A pipe is led from ***** head to
A unit in the room
The water is recirculated, filtered
For re-use
In case some anti-gravity pee
Gets on the loose

* CHORUS

Wherever man has conquered on the
Quest for frontiers new
I'm glad he's always had to do
The no. one and two
It makes it all so ordinary
Just like you and me
To know the greatest heroes
They had to s*i* and pee

[bindibadgi]

If the toilet is working ... :whistle:

[MrB]

Ummm, could be wrong, but I think most people missed the original posters point here. A few people got it though. ;)

Music that is about astronomy or has something to do with astronomy in it.
NOT music that you listen to while out there at the scope.

[erick]

"One of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces" - thus spake Nick Mason





One of three PF numbers to be played at my funeral! ;)

[ving]

silence is indeed golden.

[AstralTraveller]

I'd say the original posting was quite vague about which of those alternatives was meant.

[Roger Davis]

Moonshadow, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, Stardust, Drops of Jupiter, Fly Me to the Moon, The Galaxy Song, Under the Milky Way, Goodmorning Starshine, Distant Sun, Here comes the Sun, Rocket Man, Harvest Moon, Song about the Moon ... and a stack more. I love the musicality of "The Eve of the War" by Jeff Wayne in War of the Worlds.

[spacezebra]

Hey there

Drops of Jupiter (Train)! Hey Roger - Im learning "Mad World" now!

Cheers Petra d.

[MrB]

True, his example 'Astronomy by Metallica' got me thinking astronomy "themed" music.
I agree with most tho, silence at the scope.

[anthony2302749]

Mad what

[Roger Davis]

Shh, be vewy qwiet, we're hunting galaxies ....

[seeker372011]

Yes that's what I started with but it was interesting to see what people listen to while observing..for me , usually silence at the scope..but bring it on while processing

narayan

[Screwdriverone]

Ha Ha, yes, either that or some very interesting mind altering substances......:scared:

Chris