In apt description of the innovations Ron introduced in the Mission Earth album, one newspaper’s reviewer wrote of a “music which spans the gamut of busy orchestrated arrangements, to bluesy 40s jazz to contemporary pop . . . dominated by creatively programmed keyboards. Rooting it all down is heavy percussion and powerful upfront mix on drums.”
The album also, of course, features Ron’s intricate rock melodies to virtually paint scenes portrayed – all in what was proclaimed as “a daring conceptual project and an impressive undertaking of tremendous musicianship, matched with ultraslick production.”
To help carry all to fruition, the album further features celebrated sax, keyboards and vocals of Blues-Rock legend Edgar Winter. Renowned for smash hits “Frankenstein” and “Free Ride,” with their early employment of the synthesizer, Winter rightly described Mission Earth as both a return to rock’s primal roots and yet highly experimental. Working from Ron’s detailed audio cassettes (see Lyrics and Music by L. Ron Hubbard), Winter also served as arranger. In particular reference to his work in that capacity, was what he described as Ron’s unique match of melodic tone with the emotional content of lyrics, and, of course, “Ron’s technical insight of the recording process was outstanding.” No less remarkable, Winter went on to explain, was Ron’s delineation of counter-rhythm in rock, “which was nothing short of phenomenal, particularly inasmuch as it had then been entirely unexplored and only later heard in the African-based rhythms of Paul Simon’s work, some five years after Ron’s analysis.”
What Winter would most generally discuss, however, was the album’s inherent message of planetary concern. Reflecting L. Ron Hubbard’s lifelong focus on key cultural issues, including rampant pollution and drug abuse, Mission Earth, the album, legitimately stands as the decade’s most potent musical statement for environmental reform. Its environmental anthem, “Cry Out,” was not only adopted by Friends of the United Nations in the name of ecological reform, but became the rallying cry for a worldwide Earth Day celebration. The subsequent “Cry Out” video further enjoyed national airplay on Earth Day, while the “Cry Out” single was likewise heard on national radio. Appropriately, all profits from the song were donated for the reprint of the Personal Action Guide for the Earth booklet on behalf of the United Nations Environmental Program.
L. Ron Hubbard has done considerable research into rock music. He had written quite a bit on the history of rock and its development. I had not been aware that he knew who I was or that he followed the rock scene. It was certainly an honor and a privilege to work with him.Edgar Winter - Rock Musician
“So one has to accept the fact that music itself can communicate,” Ron wrote, that it can influence the way in which we view this world. As regards Mission Earth, the album, that influence was altogether profound, and not only in terms of message. For with its innovative under-rhythms and computerized percussion the likes of which had never previously been heard, the album does, indeed, as critics declared, become “an orchestral adventure.”
Cry Out, from L. Ron Hubbard’s Mission Earth album.
