Billy Thorpe’s Children of the Sun delivered plenty of 70’s cheesiness and prog rock ambitions, but it also offered some catchy tunes and sci fi themes.
What Is It?
Billy Thorpe’s song “Children of the Sun” and its associated tracks (which carried on across multiple albums) deliver a sci-fi rock opera filled with adventure, mysticism, and space exploration. The narrative follows an unnamed protagonist who is unexpectedly abducted by alien beings and taken aboard their spacecraft. The aliens reveal that they are the Children of the Sun, an ancient and highly advanced race. They are on a mission to rescue Earth’s inhabitants from their self-destructive tendencies and bring them to a utopian new world in another part of the galaxy.
Artist: Billy Thorpe
Original Release: 1979
Track Listing from Children of the Sun . . . Revisited (1987):
1. “Children Of The Sun” 6:44
2. “We’re Leaving” 3:50
3. “We Welcome You” 4:43
4. “Solar Anthem” 0:56
5. “The Beginning” 4:14
6. “Earth Calling” 5:26
7. “Turn It Into Love” 5:08
8. “Free Enterprise” 3:47
9. “East of Eden’s Gate” 6:20
Legacy:
This album delivers plenty of 70’s cheesiness along with grand prog/art rock ambitions, but it also offers some catchy tunes (especially the title track) and some interesting sci fi themes that make it worth a listen for genre fans.
A Closer Look:
When Children of the Sun hit the stores in 1979, Billy Thorpe had already established himself as major artist in his home country of Australia, but he was trying to expand his appeal to the lucrative U.S. market. He did that to an extent with this album, likely capitalizing on the popularity of sci fi at that time due to the Star Wars phenomenon. He actually only counted as a one-hit-wonder in the States (and just barely) because “Children of the Sun” only made it to Number 41 in the singles chart and the record topped out at 39 in the Billboard Album chart. But the song became a staple on album-oriented radio at that time, and anybody who tuned in to those stations was sure to hear it on a regular basis.
Only one side of the original album covered the story of the Children of the Sun, with the other side delivering a more standard set of guitar-rock tunes. But it was the title track that garnered the most attention and radio-play, becoming a spaced-out anthem of cheesy, bombastic late-70s rock. Thorpe carried on the story to an extent with “East of Eden’s Gate” which was a track on the album of the same name released in 1982. He did not have much success with his albums that followed Children of the Sun, though, so he tried to recapture some past glory with Children of the Sun . . . Revisited in 1987. That included the songs from the second half of the original 1979 album along with “East of Eden’s Gate” and three new tunes, and that is the best way to listen to Thorpe’s sci fi saga.
His sound is very similar to the pop-meets-rock-meets-prog British band City Boy which tried to make a name for itself in the U.S. in the 1970s and put out the apocalyptic album The Day the Earth Caught Fire the same year that Children of the Sun was released (more on that one at this link). There is plenty of cheese and rock posturing across this record, but his best songs are definitely quite listenable. And while the story of the album is more of an excuse to tie together a collection of songs than any sort of profound statement, it should still be enjoyable to sci fi fans. Children of the Sun is certainly a throwback to a waning ’70s sound that was on the verge of a major change as the ’80s kicked off, but it is also good fun and worth a listen.
Should It Be Rebooted?
Billy Thorpe passed away in 2007 at the age of 60, and his music has mostly been relegated to the rock-oldies bin. But a reboot/revival of Children of the Sun would certainly be welcome, and it should come together with all the glory and bombast of the era from which it originated. This would make a great rock opera, possibly playing out as an animated movie or a full-blown stage production. They could bring in any number of rock legends and/or current stars to sing the songs, and this could deliver plenty of retro-rock fun! Whether the album is renowned enough to draw that sort of interest, I’m not sure. But I know I would certainly enjoy it.
Interesting Facts:
Billy Thorpe got his start in the music business in Australia in the 1960s. In the early ’70s, he and his band the Aztecs achieved some acclaim in that country. However, the “Children of the Sun” single did not make it into the charts Downunder.
Thorpe would start to move away from his rock roots in the ’80s as he began working on music scoring for television shows. Among the genre entries that he composed music for are War of the Worlds, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Hard Time on Planet Earth.
Where Can You Listen To It?
The album is still available in CD and Vinyl format and you can also purchase the MP3 version.
