VA - Visions of Tomorrow, The Space‑Age Imagination 1950–1964 (A Butterboy Compilation) (4 x CDs)

ROCK

VA - Visions of Tomorrow, The Space‑Age Imagination 1950–1964 (A Butterboy Compilation) (4 x CDs)

Putting this collection together nearly finished me. I’m not exaggerating. What started as a simple idea, “let’s gather the space‑age rock tracks from the early atomic era”, turned into a long, stubborn, patience‑testing excavation through the strangest corners of mid‑century music. Every time I thought I’d reached the end, another obscure 7‑inch, another forgotten B‑side, another regional pressing would surface and drag me back into the hunt.

But that’s the beauty of this era. Between 1950 and 1964, musicians weren’t just making records, they were reacting to a world that suddenly felt bigger, stranger, and more dangerous than ever. Rockets were going up, satellites were circling overhead, and the idea of visitors from other planets didn’t feel like fantasy anymore. You can hear that tension, that excitement, that fear, and that wild imagination in every track here.

This set captures all of it, the rockabilly kids shouting about Sputnik, the surf bands trying to soundtrack the cosmos, the early electronic experimenters bending circuits into alien languages, the novelty storytellers interviewing Martians, the Cold War PSAs warning us to stay calm, and the wide‑eyed dreamers who genuinely believed the future was already landing in their backyard.

Some of these tracks are polished. Some are raw. Some are ridiculous. Some are genuinely visionary. But together, they form a portrait of a world looking upward, sometimes with hope, sometimes with dread, always with curiosity.

And yes, it took a ridiculous amount of patience to assemble. Hours of checking dates, verifying releases, sorting novelty from non‑novelty, and making sure every track belonged in this strange little universe. But now that it’s done, I can finally say I’m proud of it. This is the sound of the Space Age before the Space Age truly arrived, a time when the future was still a rumour, a dream, a fear, a promise.

So, sit back, press play, and let these voices, guitars, bleeps, booms, and Martian howls take you back to a moment when tomorrow felt close enough to touch. (B)

The next chapter is already prepared and will be posted next week. 

If Visions of Tomorrow, The Space‑Age Imagination 1950-1964 captured the innocence, fear, and wild imagination of the early Space Age, then the follow‑up will dive straight into the era when rock music finally caught up with the future it had been dreaming about. 

From 1965 to 1979, the sound of tomorrow wasn’t a novelty anymore, it was a movement. Psychedelic explorers, proto‑electronic pioneers, cosmic rockers, glam astronauts, and heavy‑riff futurists all took the themes of space, technology, and the unknown and pushed them into something bigger, louder, and stranger. This next project will trace that evolution: the moment when the future stopped being a rumour and became a full‑blown cultural force. If the first box set was about imagining tomorrow, the next one is about living in it. And trust me, you’ll want to hear where this journey goes next...

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Track lists

CD1

01 Don Pardo and Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez - Civil Defense Spot: Message From Mars (Conelrad Jingle) (1953) 1:04 1953

02 Unknown Artist - Robot Monster 0:42 1953

03 Billy Lee Riley & His Little Green Men - Flying Saucers Rock N Roll 2:01 1957

04 Neil Alan and The Cosmos - Light My Rockets and Send Me to The Moon 2:17 1958

05 Tornados - Robot (Mix #4) 2:40 1963

06 Les Vogt - Moon Rocketin' 1:58 1958

07 Bel-Aires - Space Walk 2:42 1959

08 Winifred Atwell - Spaceship Boogie 2:35 1952

09 Rebelaires Featuring Sammy Smith - Satellite Rock 2:40 1958

10 Gamblers - Moon Dawg 2:15 1960

11 Spotnicks - The Rocket Man 1:54 1962

12 Joe Montgomery - Planetary Run 2:14 1958

13 Wild Tones - Martian Band 2:09 1959

14 Sonny Sheather - Orbit With Me 2:27 1958

15 Teacho and His Students - Rock-et 2:20 1958

16 Butch Paulson - Man From Mars 2:19 1959

17 Vigilantes - Man in Space 3:04 1961

18 Jamie Horton - Robot Man 1:14 1960

19 Al Barkle With The Tri-Tones - Sputnik II 2:00 1958

20 Tornados - Telstar 3:16 1962

21 Ray Anderson & The Home Folks - Sputnicks and Mutnicks 2:09 1958

CD2

22 Galen Denny - Gonna Build A Rocket 2:09 1959

23 Marketts - Out of Limits 2:05 1963

24 Bill Thomas - The Sputnik Story 2:34 1958

25 Ventures - Journey to The Stars 2:19 1964

26 Ivor Slaney - Spaceways 1:24 1961

27 Jerry Engler and the Four Ekkos - Sputnik (Satellite Girl) 2:26 1958

28 Carl Mann - Satellite No.2 2:15 1959

29 Billy Mure 'Supersonic Guitars' - Guitars in Space 1:53 1959

30 Skip Stanley - Satellite Baby 2:32 1957

31 Paul Perryman - Satellite Fever, Asiatic Flu 2:36 1957

32 Spotnicks - Space Ship Rendezvous 1:54 1962

33 3 Honeydrops - Rockin' Satellite 2:23 1958

34 Satellites - Blast Off 2:22 1958

35 Wesley Reynolds - Trip to The Moon 2:05 1959

36 Equadors - Sputnik Dance 2:36 1958

37 Terry Dunavan - Rock it on Mars 1:57 1959

38 Rose DuBats - Signals From Saturn 2:07 1959

39 Danny Overbea - Space Time 2:26 1956

40 Connie Francis - Robot Man 1:55 1960

41 Buck Trail - Knocked Out Joint on Mars 2:26 1954

42 Tom Dissevelt & Kid Baltan - Song of the Second Moon 2:50 1957

CD3

43 Pyramids - Contact 1:53 1964

44 Jackie Fautheree - First Man on Mars 2:14 1959

45 Astros - Space Walk 2:26 1962

46 Jaguars - Supersonic Twist 2:26 1962

47 Spacemen - The Clouds 2:47 1959

48 Moonlighters - Guitar Rock 1:49 1958

49 Young John Watson (Johnny 'guitar' Watson) - Space Guitar 2:40 1954

50 Flee-Rekkers - Fireball (Theme from Fireball Xl5) 2:32 1963

51 Space Walkers - The Invader 3:34 1961

52 Larks - Rockin' in The Rocket Room 2:46 1958

53 Rufus Shoffner - Orbit Twist 2:46 1959

54 Ventures - Journey to The Stars 2:22 1964

55 Starfires - Space Needle 2:20 1962

56 Cees & His Skyliners - Rockin' to Telstar 2:17 1963

57 Pat and The Satellites - Jupiter-C 2:14 1958

58 Jimmie Haskell & His Orchestra - Astrosonic 1:56 1959

59 Spacemen - Blast Off 2:46 1959

60 Los Loud Jets - Sputnik 2:34 1958

61 Freddy Sunder - Flying Saucers 2:14 1955

62 Billy Chambers - Fallout Shelter 2:53 1962

63 Bernard Herrmann - The Day the Earth Stood Still 3:46 1951

CD4

01 Al Jacobson With The Cave Dwalllers - Sputnik 1:38 1958

02 Billy Hogan - Shake it Over Sputnik 2:08 1958

03 Blackie Jenkins - Spaceship Life 1:46 1953

04 Buchanan & Goodman - The Flying Saucer (Parts 1 and 2) 4:22 1956

05 Eddie Cletro - Flying Saucer Boogie 2:43 1952

06 Ginny Millay - I Saw A Flying Saucer 2:43 1961

07 Jeff Hughes - Our Spaceman Did Come Back 2:37 1962

08 Jesse Lee Turner - I'm The Little Space Girl's Father 2:44 1959

09 Jesse Lee Turner - The Little Space Girl 2:51 1958

10 Mad Martians - Outer Space Looters (Part 1) 2:37 1957

11 Mad Martians - Outer Space Looters (Part 2) 2:27 1957

12 Missles - Space Ship 1:59 1960

13 Raiders - Raiders From Outer Space 2:22 1958

14 Roosevelt Sykes - Sputnik Baby (1957) 2:19 1958

15 Sheb Wooley - The Purple People Eater 2:14 1958

16 Tides - Chicken Spaceman 2:12 1961

17 Jive Five - People From Another World 2:23 1961

18 Sonny Day & The Tony Ray Trio - Creature From Outer Space 2:29 1958

19 Jamie Horton - Robot Man 1:49 1960

20 Ran-Dells - Martian Hop 2:18 1963

21 Dick Robinson & His Makebelievers - The Boppin  Martian 1:54 1959

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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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