Friday, July 11, 2008

Bobby & Betty Go To The Moon

A Lunar Adventure in the Year 1985

There may not be a record made that deserves its own time capsule more than the mid-sixties gem Bobby & Betty Go To the Moon. It's hard for a child of the 70's like me to fathom a society that would approve of this mix of gloriously cheesy sound fx, adventure, info-tainment, space loneliness, party music and sexism. This twisted little record perplexes me so much I sampled it for one of my own records years ago.

Side one is the narrated tale of two young astronauts, Bobby and Betty, and their preparations and lunar voyage as the first humans under the age of 21 to reach the moon. First off, what kind of adults-only shenanigans have been happening up there? Why is Betty, an astronaut, for cryin' out loud, so subservient to Bobby? Why does the the quarantine chamber sound so much like a white guy beatboxing? Who the hell could take a nap right after liftoff??? Side Two is a band of session musicians playing a mix of a couple of generic rock 'n' roll, souped-up children's songs and a barely-disguised cover of "I Got You (I Feel Good)" while someone goes apeshit on a delay-soaked theremin and looped crowd sound fx.

Listen to a sample from both sides below, and download the entire record from the link below.
Sorry about the surface noise. So it goes.



download zip

7 comments:

Paul Sutton said...

Thank you ever so much for posting this. I had a copy of the LP many years ago and took it to school for 'show and tell' and it was taken away from me by my teacher! and never returned! I'm thrilled to be able to hear it again.

little billy sunshine said...

oh i do like this!

dodger said...

Thanks for the memories! I have always remembered the computer sound effect.

Unknown said...

Thanks so much ... I've used this record for years, but mine is too scratched!

Graham Exton said...

So good to get a copy of this again. It has inspired many groovy tunes (mine are on Macjams, if you're interested) by Isan and Wagon Christ, to name but two.

Bagawire said...

This is pure gold. It's all over 'Space' by the Orb/KLF and the original Orb Peel session.

Unknown said...

Thank you for making this old recording available. This album was recorded one year after I was born and was on high rotation throughout my very young childhood on my Mickey Mouse record player along with 'Free To Be, You And Me', 'The Gingerbread Man', 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' (read by Boris Karloff no less) and 'The Jan & Dean Story'. Now that I think about it, some of this early influence may explain a lot! Anyways, thanks again for the trip down memory lane :)