Almost eight years ago I released a rock opera entitled Planet and Sky, a cosmic love story, and a little later I went deeper with a podcast called Planet and Sky, the deeper story. I’d like to do a little reintroduction of both of these works.
The album is a collaboration with some musician friends I’d know for many years plus a couple of more recent friends. Melissa Olsen plays keyboards and sings the part of Sky, while Byron Bellamy portrays the Chief Scientist, while I played bass and sang the role of Planet. The three of us also each took on the role of one of the three “travelers” who morph into various forms throughout the opera. Byron and Melissa and I were core members of the Jupiter Sheep, a seven piece progressive rock dance band in Sacramento, CA in the nineties.
Along the way Darryl Dardenne added drums and Lance Taber joined in on guitar.
So what is it about? The opera tells a story within a story. The outer story is about some scientist explorers who arrive at a small barren planet to investigate, and are amazed to discover an information stream emanating from the planet’s surface. Upon analysis and decoding, they are further surprised to learn that it is a message telling the history of the planet.
Specifically, it is an account of the inner story, the romance of the planet and its atmosphere, their fertile union and resulting biosphere, and the tragedy of the atmosphere leaking away into space due to the insufficient gravity of the planet. Meanwhile, the travelers are three types of microbes that arrive from a distant star system and impact the planet, giving rise to the life forms it eventually produces.
Ultimately, the scientists choose to terraform the planet, resulting in the return of the atmosphere and the life forms that had been burrowed dormant within its surface.
The nine songs of the opera are as follows (song titles link to bandcamp links for each song with song lyrics):
Something is Dreaming — a pop rock anthem describing the scientists’ initial arrival and analysis of the data stream, and hints at the content of the message, featuring the voices of Planet and Sky.
Round — a blues rock piece describing Sky’s seduction of the lonely and somewhat obtuse Planet. An initial pair of courtship verses are followed by an instrumental section connoting the million years of Planet’s slow acceptance of the Sky’s romantic entreaties, followed by the exuberance of their union.
Travelers — a jazzy piece with a simple repeating bass line pattern decorated by piano and drums with additional guitar. Lyrically, this piece consists of a three way discussion between the microorganisms on board an icy asteroid traveling through deep space. The first traveler is exuberant and confident, the second fearful and certain catastrophe awaits, while the third is contentful and happy to accept whatever comes. They retain these personalities throughout the opera. Byron sings the confident traveler, Missy takes the worrywart, and I take the relaxed and chill dude.
Eons of Joy — this piece signifies the young lust stage of Planet and Sky’s journey and is an upbeat blues rocker. It is, like Round, a duet between the two principals and ends with a long celebratory outro with Melissa and Lance trading keyboard and guitar licks while Darryl rocks out on the drums.
Such is Love — Planet’s joyful love ballad to Sky. At this point, all is well in their world, with the biosphere thriving and the travelers having evolved into diverse lifeforms. Planet sings of the many forms of love he feels for Sky and for their world, but Sky interjects a prescient note of concern.
Beautiful Life — the travelers notice a serious problem; their world is becoming less hospitable, getting colder and drier by the moment. A similar motif is used as with Travelers, but this time each verse slows in tempo, as the lifeforms on the planet become less mobile and vibrant, and eventually burrow deep and become dormant.
Planet My Love — it is Sky’s turn for a solo ballad, but hers is not celebratory. She has become aware that she is drifting off into space and life on the planet is doomed to destruction. Melissa sings along with a stately piano progression, with drama heightened by a cello solo added by Rebecca Rust. The final verse is Sky’s goodbye, as she finds resolution and gratitude for the life and love she’s been granted.
Empty World — an instrumental piece, beginning with a dirge like progression, then heightened in tempo, and returning to a climactic resolution. In the podcast, this chapter is fascinating, as the grieving Planet discovers the memory clays, a bio/geologic structure capable of preserving information for long term storage. He implants his memories of his long life with Sky and the travelers. This is the source of the data stream discovered by the scientists in the first song.
Wake Up! — the travelers slowly come back to life, and are astonished to find that the planet is once again warming. They describe the improved conditions, and then are interrupted by the commotion of the terraforming project initiated by the scientists. The Chief Scientist returns, rapping out his instructions to engage all means of increasing the temperature and returning an atmosphere capable of bearing life. Planet and Sky are delirious with joy upon rediscovering their cherished world alive once more.
Listen: planetandsky.com · Bandcamp · Apple Music · Spotify