Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft by The Carpenters

'Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft'
by The Carpenters
Fall 1977

The apogee of 70s Cheese..........or over seven minutes of an imaginative musical vision, that reflected the tenor of the times ? 

Or perhaps, a bit of both ?

The song was originally written and released in 1976 by the obscure Canadian progressive rock group 'Klaatu'. The Carpenters decided to release a cover, which required the services of 160 musicians, for their 1977 album Passages. 

Released as a single in September 1977, 'Calling Occupants' and its evocation of benevolent aliens was just right for a year that saw the advent of Star Wars in May, and the much-hyped release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind in November.

I remember listening to 'Calling Occupants' on the radio in those long-ago days 40 years ago. I couldn't decide if it was one of the cheesiest songs I'd ever heard, or whether it was in fact a work of singular vision and artistic imagination. Listen....... and make up your own mind..............?!