Minus Ten and Counting

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Minus Ten and Counting: Songs of the Space Age is an influential album of filk songs composed and performed by a variety of artists, released as a cassette tape in 1983 by Off Centaur Publications. It was the first anthology of space filk songs, and both inspired a flowering of performance of the genre and paved the way for other albums to be professionally produced. The album was produced by Teri Lee. Jeff Rogers was the sound engineer.

As is common in filk, many of the pieces use tunes from other songs; for example, "The Ballad of Apollo XIII" is set to the tune of "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot. Because Minus Ten and Counting was formally produced and released, official permission was obtained to use all those elements.

The album was immensely popular in science fiction circles. After the 2500 original tapes quickly sold out, the album was distributed as a bootleg, with repeated copying by its fans. It has never been re-released because of copyright and personality conflicts among its contributors. Copies of the tape occasionally appear on eBay and sell for over a hundred dollars. Performances of some of the songs can be found on Jerry Pournelle's Web site[1].

The album directly inspired the CD To Touch the Stars, which contains modernized renditions of many of the same songs.

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Side A

1. "Surprise!" — written by Leslie Fish, performed by Leslie Fish, Roy Torley, Julia Ecklar
2. "Mercury-Our First Steps" — written by Harold Groot, performed by Ross Douglas, Julia Ecklar
3. "Star Fire" — written by Cynthia McQuillin, performed by Julia Ecklar
4. "Toast for Unknown Heroes" — written by Leslie Fish, performed by Julia Ecklar, Leslie Fish, Doug Olsen
5. "Memorial" — written by Mercedes Lackey/Ewan MacColl/Peggy Seeger, performed by Julia Ecklar.
6. "The Phoenix" — written and performed by Julia Ecklar.
7. "Pioneer's Song" — written by Jordin Kare, performed by Julia Ecklar, Leslie Fish
8. "The Ballad of Apollo XIII" — written by William Warren Jr/Gordon Lightfoot, performed by Julia Ecklar
9. "Legends" — written by Bill Roper, performed by Doug Olsen, Leslie Fish
10. "Apollo Lost" — written by Worden/McQuillin, performed by Cynthia McQuillin, Catherine Cook
11. "Hope Eyrie" — written by Leslie Fish, arranged by Doug Olsen, performed by Doug Olsen, Sandy Rittenhouse, Ross Douglas, George Spelvin

[edit] Side B

1. "Minus Ten and Counting" — written by Mercedes Lackey/Leslie Fish, performed by Leslie Fish, Arlin Robins
2. "Fire in the Sky" — written by Jordin Kare, performed by Doug Olsen, Julia Ecklar
3. "One Way to Go" — written by Diana Gallagher, performed by Julia Ecklar, Arlin Robins, Joey Shoji, Jim Fox-Davis
4. "Fly, Columbia!" — written by Diana Gallagher, performed by Leslie Fish, Arlin Robins
5. "Everyman" — written by Mary Jean Holmes, sung by Julia Ecklar
6. "The Moon Miners" — written by Dianna Gallagher, performed Ross Douglas, Julia Ecklar
7. "Voyager" — written Cynthia McQuillin, performed by Cynthia McQuillin, Joey Shoji, Catherine Cook
8. "The Light-Ship" — written Leslie Fish, arranged by Catherine Cook, performed by Julia Ecklar, Catherine Cook, Joey Shoji
9. "Planetbound Lovers" — written by Diana Gallagher, performed by Julia Ecklar
10. "The Mass Driver Engineer" — written by Diana Gallagher, performed by Doug Olsen, Catherine Cook
11. "Sentries" — written by Leslie Fish, performed by Julia Ecklar, Joey Shoji
12. "Witnesses' Waltz" — written by Leslie Fish, performed by Julia Ecklar, Arlin Robins, Catherine Cook, Gloria Oberste, Jim Fox-Davis, Joey Shoji, Susan Fox-Davis.