With a suitably psychedelic sleeve respected scribe and peerless pop culture pundit Jon Savage’s latest themed compilation for Caroline True Records takes the listener on a sonic journey through Space. 

The selections purposefully travel back and forth through time and take in a ton of genres. The album opens with The Byrds’ CTA 102, a bit of 1960s beat inspired by black hole quasars and fired into orbit by Joe Meek-esque DIY Sci-Fi sound effects and strange alien voices. Spirit’s Space Child is `70s West Coast piano-led prog, that spins and spirals, and showcases spooky, Moog-y keys. Cosmic Hoffmann’s Space Disco, an over the top synth-tastic march of Rick Wakeman-like wizardry, is also actually more prog rock than proper mirrorball business. Atmosfear’s Dancing In Outer Space though is a prime, pioneering piece of proto-house, that was a staple of London `80s warehouse parties and a favourite at David Mancuso’s Loft. This was jazz-funk born partly out of sound system culture – bandleader Andy Sojka ran the All Ears reggae record shop in Harlesden. Explaining the track’s dubwise dropouts, skanking mid-section and far-out phasing and filtering. New Wave comes in the sharp, angular shape of Devo’s Space Junk, while production mavericks Martin Hannett and Steve Hopkins’ Space Music is a discoid void of orbiting disembodied voices and muted, machined orchestral melodies that predicts ambient techno. “Foreshadowing” mid-90s stuff such as Biosphere’s Startoucher, which is also included. 

Tom Recchion’s Spaceship enters an eerie, ethereal atmosphere of sinister drones, sweetened by terrestrial vibraphone. Wooden Shjips’ Space Clothes collages vocals, in at least 2 languages, sending them backwards and forwards simultaneously. Mr Fingers’ Distant Planet, an early example of Chicago house that was a Second Summer Of Love favourite at UK clubs such as Shoom, dreams of an alternate Earth, an Eden, free of inequality. Tom Dissevelt & Kid Baltan’s Moon Maid is futuristic late `60s easy-listening muzak, Exotica with its sights set on not on Hawaii, but Jupiter and Mars. Age Of Aquarius psychonauts Lothar & The Hand People, however, are intent on exploring not outer but inner space. Their Space Hymn is a weird, wired Timothy Leary-like trip, accompanied by Moog, theremin, sitar strains, and narration from a gentle guru-esque guide. Lothar’s contemporaries, US69’s 2069 A Spaced Oddity (whose release pre-dated Bowie) is a 10-minute-plus experimental epic, where the band – probably best known for their forays into funk, such as Yesterday’s Folks – deconstruct a sweet, stoned, acoustically strummed shuffle into a kosmische concoction of bottom-end hum, brass blasts, bells and shaken percussion. Hawkwind also boogie their way into the void – although more like dancing druids than anything from the future. Observing that Space Is Deep they build from Spanish picking to heroically-dosed, plugged-in folk, and a freaky, phased, head-banging, free festival shredding finale. 

If you’ve stuck with this review, you’ll realise that the comp gets increasingly out there. The aural adventure concludes with with the way out wailing and warbling of Tim Buckley’s Starsailor. The title track to Buckley’s 1970 LP, which also featured the treasured Song To The Siren, it mixes treated, echoed yodelling and Johnny Weissmuller “Tarzan” shouts. Recorded under the influence of the “avant Garde” composers Luciano Berio and Iannis Xenakis, the closest comparison I can think of is Buffy Sainte Marie’s Buchla-birthed Coil favourite God Is Alive, Magick Is Afoot.

Just like Jon’s brilliant, entertaining and informative books, his selection here puts a personal spin on the universe. Pulling promises of utopian lands and intelligent lifeforms from his own record collection. Optimistic, idealistic, much of it amassed, perhaps, in his youth. While my own vinyl expedition to the stars might take in AR Kane, Death & Vanilla, Marvin Gaye, Group Of Gods, Ednah Holt, Jam & Spoon, Jonzun Crew, Ariel Kalma, Mixmaster Morris, Primal Scream, Slowdive, Lonnie Liston Smith, or U-Roy, the place where our escape pods would dock is Sun Ra. On Outer Space Plateau the jazz genius succeeds in whisking us off to a galaxy far, far away with a collection of strangely tuned keys and a saxophone. 

Jon Savage’s Space: Light Years From Home can be ordered directly from Caroline True Records, via Bandcamp or the label’s own website.