COMPOSER

Like all other art forms, L. Ron Hubbard observed, music is “designed to tell a story.” The statement is not only indicative of his approach as director and arranger of musical groups, but also says much regarding his own compositions.

His formal entrance into the field began in the early 1930s as a balladeer on Washington, DC’s radio WOL, when he performed his own works in an admirable baritone while accompanying himself on ukulele. In this same capacity, and through his 1940 Alaskan Radio Experimental Expedition, he performed on Ketchikan, Alaska’s KGBU radio. Thereafter, he continued to compose and perform on a casual basis until 1974, when he organized several musical groups from crew members aboard his research vessel, Apollo.

In addition to composing their material, he took it upon himself to conduct a thorough review of musical history and form. From this research comes his analysis of country-western, flamenco, traditional Oriental and even rock music. Notable through the period are his innovative blends of modern jazz, reggae and calypso, as well as his modern utilization of traditional Spanish and Oriental forms.

The next L. Ron Hubbard musical offering was the first-ever musical soundtrack to a book, based on his international bestseller, Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000. Reflecting the mood of a futuristic Earth grown primitive following an alien assault, Battlefield Earth, the album, offers thirteen LRH compositions based upon significant events and characters from the novel. The result is a wholly new dimension in space opera sound, and what critics declared was a most “auspicious recording debut.”

Even before the album’s final mixing, Ron had begun to conceive of another highly innovative musical statement — a progressive rock album which constituted another soundtrack, in this case for his ten-volume grand satire, the Mission Earth series.

On yet another track again was L. Ron Hubbard’s The Road to Freedom. Essentially religious music in Scientology style, The Road to Freedom represents the culmination of all Ron pioneered as a Maker of Music. The album offers ten L. Ron Hubbard compositions to convey essential Scientology truths for what he described as “wide public acquaintance with what Scientology is all about.” Its final selection, “Thank You for Listening,” represents a very special work. After composing the melody and providing arranging instructions, Ron sang the vocals without instrumentation to demonstrate how he intended to sing the song. The musicians then recorded the song exactly as instructed, and since Ron never had the opportunity to sing this song in the studio, his original demonstration cassette was used by the musicians to produce the album’s coda: “Thank you for listening. I write just for you.”

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