The Sounds of Earth – Golden Record(s)

On releases of the Voyager Golden Record the are several things wrong.

Let’s start with The Sounds of Earth: For me this release looks to represent the original discs, i.e. only 11 copies exist (two onboard the Voyager spacecrafts, 1 in a museum and 8 in an archive). It is basically just take from Discogs, I think.
One thing is about the sections: There are several sections on the release (e.g. “Music of the Earth”, “Sounds from the Earth”). Following the CSG it might be fine to add the section title to all related tracks. E.g. “Music of the Earth” is only used for tracks 3–5 but it should be used for tracks 3–29.
The artist Charles Duvelle is used for “Kinds of Flowers (Java)”. This seems to be wrong (not only on this release) based on Discogs and NASA. He seems to be correct for the next track (Senegal percussion). I’m also not sure what “recorded by” means but if the Charles Duvelle is used (even on wrong track) also others, like Robert Brown etc. should be used. Maybe also the credits for “Compiled by” should be used as artists.
I also wonder why e.g. track 10 is “untitled” whereas it is called “men’s house song” at NASA.
What about “Goro Yamaguchi”, like it is used on Discogs and on the NASA site? Shouldn’t the Latin variant be used over the Japanese variant? Also for the artist of track 27 (Chinese).
Maybe also further info from Wikipedia could or should be used.
Up to track 22 the release on MB is similar to the linked Discogs but from track 23 on we have differences! Also section “Sounds from the Earth” starts at different tracks.
For me it’s also not clear if the sections are in the correct order (comparing MB and Discogs to Wikipedia and NASA).
For “Music Of The Spheres” (track 31) I’m not sure if [nature sounds] is correct since it is “'Composed by” on Discogs.
It seems to be not as easy to have this very special kind of release correct. I don’t know if there is a trustable reference we can use 1:1.

Let’s go on to release Murmurs of Earth. Here it seems to be much easier since we have a Cover Art and details in the booklet and it is just a normal release.
I wonder way it is “Greetings in 56 Languages” on the MB release while it is “… in 55 Languages” in the booklet. See also Talk on Wikipedia.
We also have the error of Charles Duvelle used on the wrong track (for track 7 but track 8 seems to be correct, see booklet).
Also other artists are credited in the booklet but not used and/or credited artists are not used in a consistent way (e.g. Radio Moscow is used for track 2.01 but not for 2.04.
We also have the issue of not using the Latin form, as we have it in the booklet (e.g. T2.05).


I’d like to have a kind of a private “copy” of the original record (music/audio recordings), following as much as possible the original records. You never know but maybe aliens directly come to me, without taking the record from a Voyager. I even think there are some aliens working on MB somehow. :nerd_face: :alien:

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Another issue on “The Sounds of Earth”: Inconsistent usage of (classical) composers vs. performers as track artists (e.g. T03 vs. T30).

I want to know how many Aliens have this in their collection. Do they use MP3 or FLAC?

OGG (cause they want to have good metadata and it is good enough for the old 1977 recordings).
:space_invader:

Isn’t this a boxset? The original release also came with images in a unique Limited Edition package. Delivery costs were a bit high.

Seriously though, I think this makes sense you adjust and correct things based on the research you are doing. Common sense comes in here as there is no Cover Art to work from as I don’t think they wrote a track list on the box.

Do you have the copy from Ozma Records? https://ozmarecords.bandcamp.com/album/voyager-golden-record-2 That is only $15 and would let you get AcoustIDs of all the tracks. Or just hit YouTube

I enjoy research like this as it becomes an excuse to learn so much more about the original.

And obviously there are Aliens working on the MB database. Music is some of the best things us Humans create.

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Yeah, clear in the booklet for that version. You are spotting typos that need fixing. Often happens when a large boxset like that gets added. Or maybe that is Alien sabotage?

I’ll do it soon (or later).
Hence not everything is totally clear to me (or not everything is fully covered by the SG), especially when it comes to the original release, I’ve started this thread.
Maybe we get further feedback before doing even bigger changes.

When you start changes on the main Release that should also get people who own this to appear.

I did a little reading myself. That “55 or 56 languages” is easy to solve. Even the Wiki Talk realised their error at including Esperanto. The “Hello” is only 55 languages.

In the edit to correct that I would ask for other people to comment. Maybe even add a link to this thread in that edit to flush out other interested people.

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Okay, I’ve started the first, easy change to 55 languages (edit #76741303, edit #76741304).

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Give clickable linkies as people are lazy around here: https://musicbrainz.org/edit/76741303 and https://musicbrainz.org/edit/76741304

Honestly, it is not a matter of lazyness.
It’s easier for editor to copy paste a link so why not?
Voter will certainly not copy edit ID and manually rebuild a URL before being able to start reviewing edit.

Please don’t misunderstand me. It was a hint to suggest to paste in a link. And I was helpfully adding those links for people who may be interested.

(And seriously - there ARE editors who can’t be bothered if it is not on a plate for them…)

This thread is not about reviewing edits. But if you want to bring that up as a topic then that is clearly an area where you are making it clear that some people don’t look at something unless it is on a plate for them. But now you are getting very off topic. This is a thread about The Sounds of Earth. If you have a beef about comments and links in edits that needs a new thread.