Publishers Weekly
★ 03/25/2019
Music journalist and Record Collector contributor Scott creates a high-energy, interplanetary pop song of a book devoted to the six-week project led by Carl Sagan and astrophysicist Frank Drake in 1977 to create a playlist of music and sounds to accompany NASA’s Voyager probe into space. Scott, who acknowledges he is more of an expert on mixtapes than astronomy, proves an enthusiastic and upbeat guide through the universe of bureaucratic red tape, tight deadlines, and romantic entanglements that revolved around the compilation effort. His thoroughly researched account draws on interviews with and unpublished writings by Voyager Record team members to explain the decision-making process behind various inclusions, including Chuck Berry’s rock ’n’ roll standard “Johnny B. Goode”—picked when the other pop song in contention, the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun,” proved unconscionably expensive —and legendary bluesman Blind Willie Johnson’s “Dark Is the Night,” “arguably the most haunting sound on the record,” for which team member and famed ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax lobbied. Scott summarizes the story best as being “about an awesome band of ordinary yet exceptional individuals who created a wonderful yet genuinely weird monument.” 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. (May)
From the Publisher
Bursts with gloriously geeky detail. (5*)” —The Telegraph
“He has the nerd's determination to track down details, to badger surviving protagonists with questions no one else has asked. Above all, he has a golden ear for irony. Far from second-guessing or lamenting the record's imperfections, he revels in its pops, clikc, glitches and quirks.” —The Wall Street Journal
“Both a detailed history of and a thoughtful exegesis on caution-by-committee and the sometimes remarkable synergy between art and science. Crucially, Scott's narrative blends extraterrestrial wonder with earthbound charm and brims with poignant revelations. (4*)” —Mojo
“Jonathan Scott is our cheerful tour guide ... and The Vinyl Frontier is our comprehensive and comprehensible itinerary.” —LA Times
“Scott masters the technical details, often with a touch of humor.” —The Washington Post
“The cast of characters alone is tremendous. Written in a lively, often jocular tone … The Vinyl Frontier tells the tale well” —Science
“Created from a strange marriage of politics, bureaucracy, budget, ambition, innovation, and beauty, Scott describes a portrait of humanity that is still travelling out among the stars.” —The Nerd Daily
“A vital addition to the library of anyone with an interest in the Voyager missions, extraterrestrial contact, or Carl Sagan.” —Astronomy Now
“You may have heard of the Voyager Golden Record, but Scott's illuminating backstory brings a new appreciation to this simple object. It's not just a record. It's science's most thoughtful and optimistic act.” —Amy Shira Teitel, author of Breaking the Chains of Gravity
“An entertaining, compelling, brilliantly-researched and inspiring account of the Voyager spaceship's curious passenger, the Golden Record, and the wonderful team of dreamers who made it happen.” —Emer Reynolds, writer and director of The Farthest
