Novas 3: Harmony Of The Spheres
Act 2: Space
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7VgIsXxw_A&list=PLMRcNPXFEbAE9ndvlrSrQ8k6GrVYLzriH&index=9
09 Donna Summer – I Feel Love (1977, USA) SUSAN
Oooh
It's so good, it's so good, it's so good, it's so good, it's so good
Oooh
Heaven knows, heaven knows, heaven knows, heaven knows, heaven knows
Oooh
I feel love, I feel love, I feel love, I feel love, I feel love
I feel love
I feel love
I feel love
I feel love
Oooh
I got you, I got you, I got you, I got you, I got you
Oooh
What you do, what you do, what you do, what you do, what you do
Oooh
I feel love, I feel love, I feel love, I feel love, I feel love
I feel love
I feel love
I feel love
I feel love
Susan and Jack awaken from cold sleep aboard their Astradyne ship.
I think this song was ground zero for the Italo Disco sound, just as Kraftwerk’s Radioactivity was for the German minimal synth sound.
10 The Techno Orchestra – Mechanical Ballet (1982, England) JACK
Figures in space
Slide to the empty place
The movements of a man
Caught in a curtained race
In the Victoriana chamber
Of the speechless play
The lines are getting clearer
As we're learning what to say
Mechanical ballet
(the meaning of it all)
Mechanical ballet
(we dance before the fall)
Mechanical ballet
(it could change your life)
(cutting like a knife)
A dome of sound
Captures the unique sphere
The music of a man
Vibrates to all who hear
In the Oriental chamber
Of the silent opera
The notes are getting clearer
As we re-choreograph the score
Mechanical ballet
(the meaning of it all)
Mechanical ballet
(we dance before the fall)
Mechanical ballet
(it could change your life)
(cutting like a knife)
A tube of light
Pinspots a warm embrace
The presence of a man
Love screaming from his face
In the techno-show chamber
Of the noiseless move
The stage is getting clearer
As our wounds begin to soothe
Two ships arc through space towards rendezvous with the alien asteroid.
Bev Sage and Steve Fairnie (The Technos, The Techno Twins, The Techno Orchestra) were kind of geniuses in the early English New Wave dance scene, possibly inventing the term ‘techno’. I think this is their most pleasantly apocalyptic song.
Hat tip to Fade 2 Grey for the lyrics .
11 Monsoon – Wings of the Dawn (Prem Kravita) (1982, England) THE PROBE
I was born on the wings of the dawn
Oh I was born on the wings of the dawn
Like a thief in the night you came to me
And stole my heart away
Aaaahh
Like a thief in the night you stole my heart
What is your name?
Susan and Jack make an EVA to examine the alien asteroid. An ancient probe activates as they approach.
Sheila Chandra has gone on to have a long career in drone music.
12 Planetary Peace – Medicine Wheel (1980, USA) THE ALIENS
Join the shining medicine wheel
We will all be healed
We are being healed
As Susan’s DNA awakens the probe, the asteroid transforms into a giant craft made of structured energy fields.
A whole fascinating story behind this obscure handmade synth cassette album, and its 2016 reissue, but what’s weird is I’m sure I remember somehow discovering it. I don’t know how.
13 Telepathic – We Are Telepathique (1982, France) SUSAN
I think we're telepathic
I think we feel the same things
At the same time
Your thoughts are mine
I get this funny feeling
When you walk through the door
You know I've seen it all before
You get it too
That deja vu
That's deja vu
And I can feel it everywhere
That's deja vu
?
Telepathique
And I can feel you coming through
Telepathique
Yes I can feel you coming through
Telepathique
Don't let it frighten you away
Telepathique
It would have happened anyway
Telepathique
Cause it's a feeling in the air
Telepathique
A wavelength we alone can share
Oh what a strange sensation
I think we feel the same things
At the same time
Your thoughts are mine
Your thoughts are mine
And I can feel them in the air
Your thoughts are mine
?
Telepathique
Oh I just love your deja vu
Telepathique
And I can feel you coming through
Telepathique
I hear you now, I hear you now
Telepathique
I don't know how, I don't know how
Telepathique
But I can feel you coming through
Telepathique
Oh I just love your deja vu
Susan’s ESP accelerates exponentially on contact with the alien craft. Jack feels it too.
14 Suzanne Ciani – System 55 (2015, USA) SUSAN and THE ALIENS
Instrumental
On the verge of transcendence.
Suzanne (she’s still performing) is one of the giants of electronic music and helped create the New Age music genre but this 2015 promotional video is the simplest piece of hers I could find.
15 Peter Schilling – Major Tom (Coming Home) (1982, Germany) JACK
Standing there alone the ship is waiting
All systems are go, are you sure?
Control is not convinced, but the computer
Has the evidence - no need to abort
The countdown starts
Watching in a trace, the crew is certain
Nothing left to chance, all is working
Trying to relax up in the capsule
Send me up a drink, jokes Major Tom
The count goes on
4,3,2,1
Earth below us, drifting, falling
Floating weightless, calling, calling home
Second stage is cut, we're now in orbit
Stabilizers up, running perfect
Starting to collect requested data
What will it affect when all is done?
Thinks Major Tom
Back at Ground Control there is a problem
Go to rockets full, not responding
Hello Major Tom, are you receiving
Turn the thrusters on
There's no reply
4,3,2,1
Earth below us, drifting, falling
Floating weightless, calling, calling home
Across the stratosphere a final message
Give my wife my love
Then nothing more
Far beneath the ship the world is mourning
They don't realise he's alive
No one understands, but Major Tom sees
How the life commands
This is my home
I'm coming home
Earth below us, drifting, falling
Floating weightless, coming home
The remnants of SYSTEM catch Jack and Susan’s ship, causing a catastrophic malfunction as they approach Earth orbit.
Jack survives in an escape pod.
If there hadn’t been a 1980s German disco scifi fanfiction retelling of David Bowie’s Space Oddity, the Universe would have needed to invent one, and perhaps it did.
16 Katrina and the Waves – Love Shine A Light (1997, England) SUSAN and THE ALIENS
Love shine a light in every corner of my heart
Let the love light carry, let the love light carry
Light up the magic in every little part
Let our love shine a light in every corner of our hearts
Love shine a light in every corner of my dream
Let the love light carry, let the love light carry
Let the mighty river flow in from the stream
Love shine a light in every corner of my dream
And we're all gonna shine a light together
All shine a light to light the way
Brothers and sisters in every little part
Love shine a light in every corner of our hearts
Love shine a light in every corner of the world
Let the love light carry, let the love light carry
Light up the magic for every boy and girl
Love shine a light in every corner of the world
Susan completes her transformation into an energy being. A wave of telepathic energy unleashed by the alien craft strikes Earth.
This was recorded in 1997 (won the Eurovision pop contest) but it was written for the 30th anniversary of The Samaritans charity (founded 1953) so I reckon that makes it a 1983 song.