Music from Planet Earth 2: Aliens Teenie / Various

It's a perennial starting point for conspiracy theories, the perfect excuse for lost homework or any kind of irrational behavior. Alien intervention solves everything. Things from other planets are a sustainable reason for many unanswerable questions and, across the music industry in the late '50s and early '60s, in the wake of a slew of space-based exploitation movies, a series of 45s and suitably unearthly concept albums emerged to capitalize on this burgeoning, bizarre and mysterious idea. Everyone was viewing far off planets with wonder, amazement and the occasional well-directed sound effect. No-one really knew what aliens could do, so the potential for music to accompany whatever they did was limitless. Over 50 years after these sides were released in a fit of futuristic creativity, we're still asking about the potential of water on Mars, puzzling on the rings of Saturn and wondering if anything really did happen at Roswell. "Aliens stole my dog!" screams the headline in the National Enquirer. Of course they did." -Dave Henderson, MOJO magazine, 2014; Features tracks from Cees & His Skyliners, Kenny Hollywood, Danny Wheeler, Dr. Samuel J. Hoffman, Carl & The Spindletoppers, Russ Garcia, Joe & Rose Lee Maphis, Rusty Wellington, Attilio Mineo, Jean-Jacques Perrey, and Sun Ra.