Hope (Klaatu album)


Hope is the second album by the Canadian rock band Klaatu and their first concept album. Released in September 1977, it won a Juno Award for "Best Engineered Album" and a Canadian Music Critics award for "Best Album" that same year.
An alternate version of Hope was released in 2005 as part of the group's Sun Set collection of rarities. The alternate version on Sun Set includes the complete contributions of the London Symphony Orchestra, which had largely been removed from the version released in 1977. The alternate version also includes a short unreleased track, "Epilogue," which had originally been intended to be placed between "So Said the Lighthouse Keeper" and "Hope."
Hope was remastered and re-issued in 2012 by the band's members, and was released on the band's independent record label Klaatunes.

Musical style

's Mike DeGagne commented that the album was "less pop-infused" than the group's previous album , and contained more "progressive depth" with an "experimental sound". Peter Kurtz of the website felt that the album's conceptual rock opera theme sounded "pretentious, and in some cases like a rip-off of Queen".
PopMatters described the song “Around the Universe in 80 Days” as a “powerful pop ballad” with a “gorgeous piano melody”, and a “fine example of effortless pop-rock craftsmanship”. It described “Prelude” as “an instrumental rock epic”.

Artwork

Like the previous Klaatu album, the cover was painted by graphic artist Ted Jones.
The cover shows "the Lighthouse Keeper's beam". The ruined stone plaza features the sun image from the cover of the previous Klaatu album.

Track listing

;Side one
;Side two
The album opens with a mouse squeak. Their previous album, 3:47 EST, ends with a mouse squeak. The cover art for each album features a mouse.
The original release credited all songs simply to "Klaatu"; however, subsequent reissues and the band's website provided individual song writing credits.

Personnel

;Klaatu
;Additional
;Production
The band members are not named on the original LP.