This was the most controversial
Tomita album, where he uses
Holst's spectacular, mystical suite
The Planets as a launching pad for what amounts to a simulated spaceship trip through the solar system. Hence the title
The Tomita Planets, which did not deter the
Holst estate from trying (unsuccessfully) to pull this recording off the market at the time. When
Tomita sticks to what
Holst wrote, he follows every turn and bend of the score, save for a big cut in the last part of
Jupiter and an eviscerated
Uranus that nearly disappears altogether. Moreover, the music -- especially
Venus -- often does lend itself to an
electronic space flight fantasy, with
Tomita's arsenal of phase-shifting, flanging, pitch-bending, envelope following and reversing
choral effects and more on full display. It's the stuff between movements that provoked the purists -- the campy simulated mission control communications and
electronic blastoff prior to
Mars and the "noises" of space flight scattered throughout (including a nasty asteroid belt between
Jupiter and
Saturn). The most questionable idea was that of playing
Jupiter's grand central theme on a tinkly
electronic music box as a way to open and close the record -- which some will find satirical, others touching, still others tasteless. Indeed,
Tomita seems to have it in for British pomp; when this theme is played within the context of
Jupiter, he interrupts it with
electronic chatter between mission control and the spaceship. Ultimately,
The Tomita Planets is still good
electronic fun, and it launched a series of space-themed concept albums by this
electronic astronaut. ~ Richard S. Ginell
![Pictures at an Exhibition [Ultimate Edition]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/mimages/0000000000000_p0_v0_s192x300.jpg "Pictures at an Exhibition [Ultimate Edition]")
