The most absurd rumor since the country went berserk in 1969 looking for clues on Beatles albums to prove that Paul McCartney was dead is that a four-man group named Klaatu (whose musicians have not been revealed to the public) is actually the Fab Four secretly reunited to record again. Released last year on Capitol Records, Klaatu's album received generally favorable reviews, and many critics said that it sounded something like the Beatles of the 'Sgt. Pepper' era. Then Steve Smith, columnist for the Providence (Rhode Island) Journal, took it one step further by speculating the group might actually be the Beatles.

"The whole album is about magic, mystery and touring, and the Beatles freaks know that 'Magical Mystery Tour' was the only album the Beatles considered a failure," Smith wrote of a typical clue. "Could 'Klaatu' be their answer to that?"

True-believing Beatles freaks then repeated history by searching for more clues and making them up when they couldn't find any. Always hot for a fad, radio stations fanned the flames by devoting special shows to the speculation. According to Capitol, the album sold 15,000 copies in Boston alone, where it had sold almost none before.

Capitol (the label of both the Beatles and Klaatu, aha!) swears it had nothing to do with the rumor. Klaatu's manager, Frank Davies, is also baffled. "They want to maintain a low profile and be known solely for their music," he says of the group's decision to remain anonymous. "The Beatles thing was not in our conscious minds when we recorded the album. They are not the Beatles."

- Rolling Stone - 4/21/77.

Named for a robot in a science-fiction movie, Klaatu's only claim to fame came through rumor: its self-titled first LP was reported to be the re-formed Beatles, a 1976 scam perpetuated by the group's refusal to identify themselves. When word leaked out that it was only a batch of anonymous Canadian session players, reality asserted itself: mediocrity runs rampant through each of their first four albums, even the attempt to make Sir Army Suit a Northland Sgt. Pepper's. Good for a laugh -- barely.

- Dave Marsh, The New Rolling Stone Record Guide, 1983.

The beneficiaries of one of the most effective music rumors of the 70s, Klaatu (named for a character in the film The Day the Earth Stood Still) achieved fleeting fame when a music critic concluded in print that the group contained one or more Beatles working together anonymously. The group's label (Capitol -- the home of the Beatles) did nothing to quell the rumors, and the liner notes of the band's debut album didn't contain the musicians' names. The album that started the fuss, Klaatu, featured baroque-pop arrangements and titles such as "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" and "Sub Rosa Subway." After the follow-up Hope in 1977 and 1978's Sir Army Suit, the band members started putting their names (Terry Draper, drums; Dee Long, guitar; John Woloschuk, bass) on the work with 1980's Endangered Species, which at least had shorter, usually less pretentious songs. Klaatu may have shared a sense of whimsy with the Fab Four, but not much else. The group disbanded in 1981 after four albums, but a new album was released in 1995. Peaks (1993) is a compilation of the band's best work.

- Brian Mansfield, Musichound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, 1996.

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