Sirens of Venus
One continuous hour from the Stardust Lounge. Rock organ bleeding into guitar, slap bass locked to drums, the whole room breathing like it has been smoking since midnight. Nineteen pieces, no gaps, no shuffle.
Three sets are known to have been broadcast from the Lounge. This is the one that survives in full.
Tracklist
- 1The Lounge Opens
- 2Venusian Arrival
- 3Acid Cloud Serenade
- 4The Gravity of Her
- 5Phosphene Coast
- 6462 Degrees
- 7The Pressure Suite
- 8Slow Orbit
- 9Dense Atmosphere
- 10Surface of Desire
- 11Thermal Drift
- 12The Second Planet
- 13Perpetual Dawn
- 14Sulfur and Silk
- 15The Blind Cartographer
- 16She Has No Moon
- 17Retrograde
- 18The Long Night
- 19Transmission from Venus
The Stardust Lounge
The Lounge is on Luna Base Alpha, the first semi-permanent lunar settlement, established in 1963. The Atomic Songbirds became a fixture there almost immediately, playing swing and jazz to low-gravity nightlife. See the timeline. By 1968 the room had developed its own sound, and this hour is what it sounded like at the end of a long night.
Venus gets the whole set to itself: the heat, the pressure, the sulfuric cloud deck, a planet with no moon and a day longer than its year. Nothing here argues for the place. It just sits inside it for an hour.