Sounds of Outer Space is a cardboard record that came with a rocket model resembling the image on the record. I’d love to find out more about the model, but no luck yet. The recording is very weird, with a narrator speaking poetry over futuristic sound effects. I do love the line, “To be afraid and not care that you are afraid is the courage of which astronauts are made.”
The little information I have came from Nightcoaster and The Internet Museum of Flexi/Cardboard/Oddity Records. The video is via homersoddishe/YouTube.
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UPDATE: Many thanks to Gordon Peterson, who identified the spaceship model as AMT’s Leif Ericson Galactic Cruiser.
The photo is from Frank Henriquez, who provides a complete history of the model and record on his website. The ship was designed by Matt Jefferies, who designed the original Enterprise for Star Trek. It went through several versions and releases, including a U.F.O. Mystery Ship that glowed in the dark. As for Sounds of Outer Space,
David Penn and Scott Snell did an amazing job of identifying both the source of the music and the spoken words in the record. The lyrics are from a 1967 psychedelic rock record called “Cosmic Sounds” by The Zodiac. The music was originally used in “The Twilight Zone” and was released in “The Twilight Zone: 40th Anniversary Collection” set.
I’m listening to Cosmic Sounds right now. Like, it’s out there, man.
2 Warps to Neptune 