1980 Klaatu – Endangered Species

Endangered Species is the fourth and penultimate album by the Canadian progressive rock band Klaatu, released in mid-1980. The music on the album was a stark contrast from any other Klaatu album, as it featured only standard, radio-friendly pop rock songs, as opposed to the usual unconventional, ambitious progressive and psychedelic rock sound they were known for. The band had virtually no artistic control over the music on the record; it was more a project of Capitol Records. To quote the Official Klaatu Website’s FAQ (by Dave Bradley):

“An outside producer was brought in, most of the instruments were played by Los Angeles based session musicians, and the band members were asked to add their voices and (usually) one lead instrument per song. The band was sent home before the album was even mixed.” For more information about this story read this interview on their website.

To add to this, the session musicians overdubbed most of the very few recorded parts by the band. In a question and answer session with fans, John Woloschuk, bass player of Klaatu, explained that all of Dee Long’s lead guitar parts were overdubbed by Chris Bond, with the only exception being Long’s guitar solo on “Sell Out, Sell Out.