VIA PRESS RELEASE | “Delivered with effortless grace, this buoyant look at one of NASA’s most unusual but oft-overlooked efforts will appeal to music fans and astronomy buffs alike.” —Publishers Weekly STARRED review
In 1977, NASA sent Voyager 1 and 2 on a grand tour of the outer planets, after which they would drift forever in the unimaginable void of interstellar space. With this morose outcome in mind, NASA decided to do something optimistic. They commissioned the great astronomer Carl Sagan to create a message to be fixed to the side of the Voyager spacecraft, thus becoming the most important compilation ever conceived. It wasn’t from one person to another, it was from Earth to the Cosmos.
The Vinyl Frontier: The Story of the Voyager Golden Record (Bloomsbury Sigma; ISBN 978-1-4729-5613-2; $28.00 US; May 21st, 2019), by Jonathan Scott, a writer, record collector and astronomy enthusiast, is the fascinating story behind the mission, music, and message of NASA’s Voyager Golden Record—humanity’s message to the stars. The 90-minute, multi-media record contains a variety of music from well-known artists such as Bach, Beethoven, Chuck Berry, and Blind Willie Johnson, along with more than 100 photographs and diagrams, greetings in multiple languages and music from remote cultures around the globe, and a message of peace from President Jimmy Carter.
Through interviews with all of the key players involved with the record, The Vinyl Frontier pieces together the whole story of the Golden Record and details fascinating insights behind the varied songs, sounds, and pictures that made the final cut. It addresses the myth that the Beatles were left off of the record because of copyright reasons and will include new information about U.S. president Jimmy Carter’s role in the record, as well as many other intriguing facts that have never been reported before. It also tells the love story between Carl Sagan and the project’s creative director, Ann Druyan, that flourishes as the record is being created.
The Golden Record is more than just a time capsule. It is a unique combination of science and art, and a testament to the genius of its driving force, the great polymath Carl Sagan. Long after we are gone, the Golden Record may be discovered by alien life in far reaches of the galaxy, and it will offer up a portrait of humanity and a message of peace.
