Tony Carey first appeared on my musical radar when my friend Alan introduced me to the band Rainbow. Carey was Ritchie Blackmore’s keyboard player,who appeared on the seminal album Rising [1976]. As was Blackmore’s wont, he changed band members until Rainbow became less like Deep Purple and more like Foreigner [yeah, that’s a slam]. With his departure from Rainbow, Tony Carey moved to Germany and began a solo career. The first record I can remember coming out under his own name was the song I Won't Be Home Tonight [1982]. On the strength of that song, he got a record deal with Geffen Records. He would release conventional songs under his own name, but he had another creative outlet with the name Planet P. Planet P was the outlet for his more experimental side. Call that music “progressive, science-fiction influenced space rock.” His first [and only] album for Geffen was the first eponymous Planet P album, the hit single from which was Why Me? [1983].
In 1984, Tony Carey had two albums ready to go for Geffen – Some Tough City and Pink World. Some Tough City was a single conventional album that was a collection of songs, some of whom connected with the others, and some songs which didn’t. Pink World had the big concept and was a double LP. Geffen heard both albums, but didn’t hear a hit single between them. Geffen wouldn’t release either album, but MCA did. Back in those days before corporations took over radio playlists and DJs could play what they wanted, we soon heard A Fine, Fine Day, A Lonely Life, and The First Day of Summer. If you’re my age, you’ll recognize them immediately when you hear them. For songs that weren’t “hits” in the ears of Geffen’s A&R people, those songs got quite a bit of airplay. Those Geffen A&R guys weren’t too bright. These are the same guys who sued Neil Young for not sounding like…Neil Young. When Some Tough City ran its course, then came Pink World, just in time for Ronald Reagan’s re-election.
The Plot
Artimus is a seven-year old boy who, while playing in the woods near his “quiet little village by the sea”, drinks from a polluted stream that’s near a factory that makes “household goods”. After he drank the water, Artemis began to change. He could no longer talk, but he still had two more senses than Pete Townshend’s Tommy. Although he could no longer speak, he could read others’ thoughts, he could see into the future, and he could move objects without touching them. He had unspoken powers about being able to keep his fellow villagers alive. His visions of the future were not pretty. He saw nuclear apocalypse. The government authorities, not exactly of the benevolent sort, take Artimus into their “care.” They're afraid of Artimus’ powers, but they think they can use them for the purposes of conquest and rule. After said holocaust, society inside “the barrier” turns Orwellian. All this time Artimus is confused. What is he supposed to do? Then he figures it out – he disappears. When he disappeared, so did “the barrier” that protected the “true believers.” There is a bit of a twist at the end where Tony Carey leaves it up to the listener to make his/her own conclusion about what happened. He’s leaving it up to the listeners to think for themselves, a talent that those in his story did not have.
To Live Forever – The first part of the story of Artimus. He’s a seven-year old boy. He plays near a factory, near a river that is polluted. The river doesn’t have any fish. Artimus either can’t read, didn’t see, or ignored the signs that said “don’t drink the water.” Well, he drank the water and things started to change. He stopped aging. He lost the power to speak, but in return he gained the ability to see into the future, gained the power of mind reading, and gained the power of telekinesis. For a seven-year old boy, he’s very aware that while he’s going to live forever, it would be better for the rest of society that he hides himself away from everyone else and live in a cave.
Pink World – There’s always someone somewhere who says the end of the world is coming soon, and that same someone always says “repent while there’s still time.” People have heard this message before but ignored him. He says he has “proof” this time because he read it in the supermarket, like those tabloids one sees while waiting for check-out.
What I See – The story of Artimus continues. He has the same dream every night, a dream about a red planet, a desolate landscape where everyone is on fire. He also sees he’s going to be made a figurehead by the authorities. He wonders if he’s the only one who has these visions.
Power – Artimus and his powers have come to the attention of authority figures. At first they are skeptical about what he can do, but once he gives them a demonstration, the light bulb goes on in their heads that they can use Artimus to their advantage. These authority figures also caution whomever is listening “don’t get the boy mad”. That line reminds me of a character Bill Mumy played on The Twilight Zone. In this particular episode, Mumy’s character is a six-year old boy who has the power to read minds, and has the power of telekinesis [just like Artimus]. Mumy’s character didn’t like machines or electricity, and using only his mind he made them go away. If anyone said or even thought about something that isn’t “happy”, he either wished them away or changed them into walking vegetables. The chorus:
Oh we'll keep you
We'll be watching you
And we'll study you
And Artie
Oh we'll teach you
So you'll use it right
And you'll join the fight
And Artie
Oh, we need you
When your country calls
These hallowed halls are waiting
Oh, this is straight from the top
We'll never stop
We can't be stopped
With your power
We need your power…
At this point, Artimus became what Bob Dylan once called “a pawn in their game.”
A Boy Who Can't Talk – This song is a plea from Artimus’ parents to come home. They tell Artimus that the authorities are afraid of his power, and that they keep him away from everyone else in order to keep him in line. They tell Artimus of the thousands who want to walk where he walked. They warn Artimus that the authorities flatter him in order for him to do what they want. The parents’ wish is that someone will speak up and say “he’s just a boy who can’t talk.”
The Stranger – “The Stranger” is an unknown leader figure who appears from nowhere and claims to be destined to save their people, whether he be “from a valley in the Rhineland [Hitler], “the deserts of Iran” [Khomeini], or “a village they called Jonestown “ [Jim Jones]. He’s someone who always seems to show up at the right place at the right time [or as the narrator puts it, “who is summoned”.] Is the narrator comparing Artimus to these people?
The Shepherd – Somebody read an article about Artimus and his thousands of followers while waiting in line at the grocery store. This guy’s followed a few messiahs in his time [cue Life of Brian joke here], so he’ll check out the newest Messiah referred to as The Shepherd [aka Artimus]. He wonders if this “Messiah” is the “flavor of the month,” but he’s sure Artie’s “the one.” Could he be the same guy who said “there’s a Pink World coming down”?
Behind the Barrier – The nuclear holocaust foreseen by Artimus has happened, launched by the authorities who promote him as the Messiah. But the “true believers” who launched the cruise missiles at their unseen enemy are safe “in the zone” protected by the dome created by Artimus. The “true believers” laughed at their victims. How did Artimus create “the barrier”? Nobody knows, but he has powers to do anything.
This Perfect Place – This song is a great use of irony. Besides the ever-present surveillance cameras [never mind, you get used to them], Artimus’ face plastered everywhere [“Big Brother is watching you…”], snitches who turn in family members for saying the wrong things in their sleep, it’s a great place to live. Why is it great? It’s a comfort to the sheep that Artimus knows what they think.
What Artie Knows – What does Artimus know? He knows everything. In Artie we trust, he’s righteous and just… That’s exactly what the authorities want the sheep to think.
In the Zone – Everybody has what they want or need, except a mind to think for themselves. There are no seasons, it never gets cold, there’s never any bad weather. There aren’t any birds in the zone. Nobody is hungry, and nobody is poor. The sheep always do what they’re told [unless they preach revolution in their sleep]. The perfect place that no one can escape from is a fishbowl existence, but it’s a small price to pay for not being nuked.
March of the Artemites – An instrumental that borrows the main riff from The Hollies’ Bus Stop.
A Letter from the Shelter – The shelter in question is outside of Artimus’ protective zone. It’s a reminiscence of what life was like before the nuclear holocaust. How they just live in a hole in the ground.
One Star Falling – This one is also from the perspective of those outside of the protective zone.
Baby's At the Door – Artimus is gone. Where Artimus once stood is now “a little pink pool”. With Artimus gone, so is the barrier protecting “the zone.” Weather has returned, and left his followers on their own. They then realize that they no longer needed Artimus. They also realize they didn’t learn from mistakes of the past, that utopia can’t last forever. Whatever happened to those who made the nuclear holocaust happen is unknown. By the way, there’s a basket at an orphanage…
Requiem – At the end of the story, someone is crying out for Artimus to come back. Where did Artimus go? This is left for the listener to figure out. My guess is since Artimus had the power to do anything, he used his power to make himself disappear and reincarnate as the “baby at the door”. That's one way to "live forever." He had seen what had been done to others in his name, and wanted no more part of it.
Pink World would be the last thing we’d hear from Planet P for twenty-one years. In the interim, Tony Carey made music under his own name. In 2005 Carey would resurrect the Planet P name to record 1931. But that’s another story…
