Planet P Project - “Pink World” (1984)

I was 16 years old and I was in Oslo (Norway). The reason was a camp with the string orchestra I was a member of, at that time I played the violin. At that time I was also interested in anything that could be perceived as mysterious or outside our normal reality. At that time I sometimes bought albums because they had an exciting cover. At that time I could come home with something weird from the record shops (mostly second-hand LPs when you made a choice based on the cover, you didn’t dare to put your entire monthly allowance in such a purchase. This was bought new, though, I was on vacation! Well, almost). At that time the world was an exciting place ...

It was not in a record store I found this LP, it was more of a norweigan Wal-Mart. It stood there in a shelf and waited for the Swedish boy who obviously could not resist such a cover. A pink boy holding a pink world in his hands, looking down on it while it melts in his hands. A really mysterious outside, and I could not wait to get home and hear what certainly would be an as mysterious inside. In addition, it was a double album! Double value for the money.

And it really was a mysterious inside. At age 16 I realized it was a concept album, I heard the name “Artemis” appear here and there in the songs and they seemed to have some sort of common theme. I did not really know what it was all about, or rather, I understood nothing of what it was about but I none the less liked the album. It was mysterious, the cover was filled with riddles, and the lyrics of Artemis and the boy who could not speak made you wonder... Hmmm, what’s all this about? Really? All this appealed to me, the boy who dreamed of God and mystical experiences. Things got so bad I now can admit that I created a tag, "Artemis", which ended up on some of the walls of the high school restrooms. Surely this has been forgiven today?

For a while I was really into this album and it spun regularly on my turntable. The only thing I didn’t like with the music was the drum sound, drum machine I assumed, which reminded too much of the drum sounds our Commodore VIC 20 could create. It sounded pretty cheap, but this was a minor detail. As usual (?) with double albums I thought / I think the first two sides are far better than the last two.

You can describe this record as a rock opera in which a boy named Artemis plays the main character. I have now learned more about the plot via the source of all contemporary wisdom, the Internet. Apparently it’s set in a post-apocalyptic world where the boy Artemis finally becomes a Messiah figure and saves part of humanity. Or something like that. Personally I got bored after a few years of the album and it got further and further back in my collection. Partly because I, to some extent, distanced myself from the young Markus’ somewhat naive yearning for the "mysterious" and partly because I found music that was better. In addition, at the age of 17 I spent a year in the U.S. as an exchange student and therefore had to undergo a deprogramming from the record, I went cold turkey. Hard life.

I understand that this LP has reached some kind of cult status and on the internet you can find lots of people who love this record and seem to hold it as a central part of life. Planet P Project is often compared to Pink Floyd and this album with "The Wall". Personally, I think that they play in completely different leagues and Pink World is not near any of Pink Floyd's creations, not even their more boring. When I listen to it now, I can find some hidden jewels in the songs, such as "Pink World" or "Power" which are quite good songs if you ignore the semi-awkward sound. Mainly, I like them for their bombastic and pompous choruses, one of my weaknesses. If one were to record this album again with today's technology and sound, different arrangements and real studio musicians it would probably a lot better. Because I suspect that many of the songs are actually OK. Now it's a lot of keyboard and guitar on the album with a large touch of the 80s in them.

Behind the name Planet P Project is Tony Carey. For a short time he was the keyboardist for Rainbow, after that he made a lot of solo albums, both under his own name and under the name Planet P Project. On this album he plays more or less all the instruments himself, Peter Hauke has produced. Something I like about Tony Carey is that he comments a lot of the comments on Youtube concerning the songs he have made. And his comments are always in a nice and positive tone. It's fun to read.

Favorite Tracks

Pink World

Power

March Of The Artemis

 

Tracklist

Side A

1 In the Woods
2 To Live Forever
3 Pink World
4 What I See
5 To Live Forever, Pt. 2
6 Power
7 In the Forest

Side B

8 A Boy Who Can't Talk
9 The Stranger
10 What I See, Pt. 2
11 The Shepherd
12 Behind the Barrier
13 Pink World Coming Down

Side C

14 Breath
15 This Perfect Place
16 What Artie Knows
17 In the Zone
18 Behind the Barrier, Pt. 2
19 March of the Artemites
20 This Perfect Place, Pt. 2

 

Side D

21 A Letter From the Shelter
22 What Artie Knows, Pt. 2
23 One Star Falling
24 Baby's at the Door
25 Requiem
26 Boy Who Can't Talk, Pt. 2