gts182 “artemish”
Artemis II mission has its first launch window beginning on February 5th 2026.
01-01 Frank Sinatra – It Might As Well Be Swing 101 – Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) (1964)
— not the first into the capsule, Frank’s version followed 10 years after the song was written, originally titled “In Other Words” but when Peggy Lee performed it on Ed Sullivan in 1960, everyone started calling it “Fly Me To The Moon”. Kept getting more popular as the Moon got closer to human grasp, this version of the tune eclipsed over 100 others to become the “standard”, here with the Count Basie Orchestra (him on piano), conducted by Quincy Jones.
01-02 Jackie Lowell & Duane Diamond And The Astronauts – Band Box 266 – Rocket Trip (1961)
— elusive artists, this is Duane Diamond’s only release, on Band Box Records (out of Denver), but Jackie Lowell did a second 45rpm for Sand And Sage Records (in Los Angeles) which was home to rockabilliers Eddie Dean and Lonnie Barron.
01-03 Bob Roubian – Prep 101 – Rocket To The Moon (1957)
— more famous for writing and singing “The Popcorn Song” for Cliffie Stone, which was literally banned in Boston. Roubian used his music money to open the Crab Cooker restaurant, running the joint for 55 years. Odd bio note: his father carved wooden propellers for World War I planes.
01-04 The Vistas – Tuff 990 – Moon Relay (1964)
— only known release on the Tuff Records label, from right here in Rochester.
01-05 Citations – Sara 3301 – Moon Race (1963)
— first (of two) 45rpms by Citations out of Milwaukee Wisconsin, this single was snatched up by Columbia for national release, who added a “The” to the band’s name.
01-06 Chick Willis – Reginald RR-133-4787 – Mr. Moon Man I’ve Come To Bring You Some Food (1972)
— Chick was the chauffeur for his cousin’s Cadillac, Chuck Willis, who hit gold in 1957 with “C. C. Rider”. After Chuck drank himself to death in 1958, Chick (real name Robert) went on to play with Elmore James.
01-07 The Bobs – Plugged 04 – Meat On The Moon (1995)
— name is an acronym for ‘best of breed’. Normally a-capella but here with a band, reversing the popular 90’s trend of ‘unplugged’ performances of grunge bands. The Bobs nabbed a Grammy nom for their version of “Helter Skelter”.
02-01 Man… Or Astro-man? – Your Weight On The Moon 201 – F=GmM(moon)/r² (1994)
— masters of Space Surf music, the equation is explained on the album cover; the lowercase m is your mass. As mentioned before, when I saw them on a stage in a “bowl” depression in a local park, they slashed open pillows and let the breeze turn the venue into a panopoly of downy stars.
02-02 Jack Kerouac & Steve Allen – Poetry For The Beat Generation 206 – The Moon Her Majesty (1959)
— that’s Steve Allen on piano, recorded in 1958 for Dot Records, then pulled after a run of 130 copies. Here from the release on Hanover Records which goes for $300 today. If you want one of the Dot records, add another 0 to that price.
02-03 Jerry Lynn – D Records 1041 – Queen Of The Moon (1959)
— underdocumented artist, 3 credited 45rpm singles, possible his real name was Jerry Hildabridle?
02-04 Nina Simone – Nina Simone And Piano! 104 – Everyone’s Gone To The Moon (1969)
— Nina playing piano (and all other intruments on the album), the sleeve calls this “pertinent, persuasive and exciting”. The song was written by Jonathan King, who later shepherded the band Genesis to stardom.
02-05 Zello – Thousand Days Of Yesterdays 10, 11, 12 – As The Moon Speaks (To The Waves Of The Sea), Astral Lady, As The Moon Speaks (Return) (1999)
— various artists from Northern Europe compiled an album in tribute to the 70’s band Captain Beyond. This is the contribution from the Swedish band Zello.
02-06 The Five Du-Tones – One-derful 4824 – The Chicken Astronaut (1963)
— more famous for their 1963 hit “Shake A Tail Feather” which Ike and Tina Turner covered in 1969, but Ray Charles hit gold with in 1980, a standout dance number in the Blues Brothers movie.
03-01 Bea Arthur & Angela Lansbury – Mame OBC 105 – The Man In The Moon (1966)
— soundtrack album not released until 1969, based on the 1955 novel which became a 1957 film with Rosalind Russell, then a 1966 Broadway show, then a 1974 movie yet again, with Lucille Ball replacing Angela Lansbury, although Bea Arthur reprised her supporting role. Backing chorus here credited as the Moon Maidens.
03-02 R.E.M. – Automatic For The People 204 – Man On The Moon (1992)
— originally, Michael Stipe wanted this to be an instrumental track on mandolin, called “C to D Slide”.
03-03 Gary Lucas – Busy Being Born 07 – The Mensch In The Moon (1998)
— billed as an album of Jewish children’s music, the next track is a cover of Arlen & Harburg’s “Lydia The Tattooed Lady”. Album design creidted to Ikue Mori.
03-04 Moon Mullican – King 1198 – Rocket To The Moon (1953)
— here at the height of his stardom for King Records, he later recorded with Boyd Bennett And His Rockets, before that band faded to become King’s anonymous “house band”.
03-05 Sopwith Camel – The Miraculous Hump Returns From The Moon 204 – Monkeys On The Moon (1973)
— riding a rising tide, the lead track of their debut album in 1967 out of San Francisco hit the Top 40, the first SF ‘hippie’ band to chart nationwide. They promptly broke up, reforming in 1973 for this, their second album, after which the band… promptly broke up.
04-01 Lothar And The Hand People – Space Hymn 205 – Space Hymn (1969)
— band named after their theremin, which they called Lothar. Oddly, this 7 minute tune (obviously never realeased as a single) got the most airplay.
04-02 Frumpy – By The Way 201 – I’m Afraid, Big Moon (1972)
— formed out of City Preachers, “Germany’s first folk rock band,” and named after the (surprisingly?) female vocalist: Inga Rumpf. Apparently, Inga saw the word “frumpy” in an American music catalog, and it just cracked her up. Debuing at the 1970 iteration of the Essen Festival, they blew the crowd away. The subsequent tour headlined across Germany with opening act Spooky Tooth, as well as Frumpy playing as the opener for Renaissance, Humble Pie, and Yes. This tune is from their 3rd album after which… they promptly disbanded. But reformed as Atlantis, who opened for Lynyrd Skynyrd and Aerosmith in 1974.
04-03 Nilsson – Son Of Schmilsson 201 – Spaceman (1972)
— obviously Harry Nilsson, this followed his 1971 “Nilsson Schmilsson” and was a stiff middle finger to the label badgering him to re-create his pop success on the previous album. Other songs on this album have Ringo Starr and George Harrison, but this track merely has guitar from Peter Frampton. Odd bio note: Nilsson’s grandfather and grandmother were circus folk in Sweden, performing “aerial ballet”.
05-01 Bioterranean – Acid Face Of The Moon (Sancho Meiso Chaya Remix) (2024)
— real name: Victor Solsona, out of Barcelona, Spain. Hahahah, searching for release info on this, for the first time I was served a disclaimer: “AI responses may include mistakes. Learn more…” Maybe 2026 is starting out better?
05-02 Lee George – Wonder Records 100 – The Little Moon Men (1958)
— discs from Wonder were pressed for them by RCA, today’s internet has nothing to say about Lee George, but Wonder released twenty 45rpm singles out of Atlanta GA 1958-1960.
05-03 Astralasia – Feed Your Head Vol2 11 – Ignarus (Lunar Poona) (1994)
— archetype of the genre “goa trance”, Astralasia is the British confluence of husband/wife team Gary “Moonboot” Masters and Kim “Kim Oz” Russell-Masters, and brothers Craig and Wayne Twining.
06-01 Bobby Dimple & Lunar Ladies Chorus & Lipple Kutie Kids & Hutch Davie Diggers Band – Crewe 336 – American Moon (From The Heart’s Delight Follies ’69) (1969)
— some versions (this, we suspect) are low quality, being recorded onto styrene instead of vinyl. Bob Crewe managed to get the tune onto Ed Sullivan, while he was recording Julius La Rosa ( a favorite of local Rochester NY DJ Otto Bruno), and in 1970, Crewe picked up late-career Leslie Gore.
06-02 Howlin’ Wolf – The Back Door Wolf 102 – Coon On The Moon (1973)
— if your name was Chester Arthur, you’d change it to Howlin’ as soon as you could too. Taught harmonica by Sonny Boy Williamson, after serving in WW2 he played with just about every-damn-body in the Chicago blues milieu. And everyone *wanted* to work with him, since he paid upfront AND made it all legal with contributions to Unemployment Insurance and Social Security, which was rare (if not unique) in the blues scene of the 50s and 60s.
06-03 Mark Graham & Orville Johnson – The Kings of Mongrel Folk 09 – Tap Dancing On The Moon (1996)
— dobro & mandolin here by Johnson, harmonica by Graham, formerly of the band The Chicken Chokers.
06-04 The Ravens – Top Rank International 2016 – There’s A Hole In The Middle Of The Moon (1959)
— late-career single for the Ravens, who were crucial for turning R&B in Rock & Roll. Top Rank was a British label responsible for porting records from American labels (like Cameo and Swan) over to the UK from 1959-1962. If you’ve got your postwar declining-shipyard malaise, toss in Top Rank 45’s, add in Buddy Holly, some BB King, and Bo Diddley, and presto, you get something like The Beatles.
06-05 Miles Davis Nonet – Birth Of The Cool 203 – Moon Dreams (1957)
— tragic example of lost opportunity, a monophonic release when stereo was just within grasp. Davis on trumpet of course, but JJ Johnson did trombone on 5 of 11 tracks, this one included. Max Roach did drums for eight of the eleven tunes, here he is, though you can barely tell!