2007 MARCH 1 #060
Travelers Insurance Company - The Triumph of Man
MP3:
1 The Triumph of Man - Side 1 (5:42)
2 The Triumph of Man - Side 2 (5:48)
The future ain't what it used to be. Remember when humankind had a bright future amongst the stars? Now we just hope to avoid a new theocratic Dark Age when the Gulf Stream stops and sets off the next Ice Age. That or unchecked Global Warming, it'll be a perfect time for the oil to run out.
The past ain't what it used to be either, come to think of it. The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair was controversial. It was conceived by local businessmen and not approved by the Bureau of International Expositions. Thus many countries did not participate, and the focus of the Fair became American business. That focus can be heard on this record.
At the end of the 1964 season it was discovered that the Fair was borrowing money when the accounting had made it look like it had plenty. Accusations of financial mismanagement followed, but the Fair managed to avoid bankruptcy through its second season. Attendance was significantly below what had been planned. By its close, the Fair, which was envisioned as a moneymaker for the city, was in debt. An almost commentarial coincidence, this record is pressed on red, rather than black, vinyl.
Nonetheless, in addition to this record, the Fair provided the U.S. with several structures (pavilions that weren't demolished were moved and re-used), at least one painting (Lichtenstein's "New York World's Fair"), and Disney's audio-animatronics!
More info:
ExpoMuseum entry (lots of links)
Wikipedia entry (where I got most of the above info)
1964 New York World's Fair Report and New York World's Fair, 1964/03/02 at the Internet Archive
- Contributed by: Andrew Lander
Images: Front Cover, Inside Jacket, Fold Out Page 1, Fold Out Page 2, Fold Out Page 3, Fold Out Page 4, Side 1 Label, Side 2 Label
Media: 7" Single
Album: The Triumph of Man
Label: RCA Custom Records
Catalog: R4LM-4348
Credits: Script by Robert P. Davis. Narration by Peter Thomas. Original Score by Frank Ledlie Moore. Performed by The Hartford Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Fritz Mahler.
Date: 1964
