More than 45 years after its original release, Billy Thorpe’s classic sci-fi rock album Children of the Sun is finally getting a new lease on life.
The newly announced reissue marks the first authorized CD release of the original 1979 album in decades, restoring a record that many classic rock fans know primarily through its iconic title track.
Released in 1979, Children of the Sun featured a powerhouse lineup that included acclaimed session bassist Leland Sklar and drummer Alvin Taylor. Led by the futuristic title track, the album became a staple of album-oriented rock radio and helped Thorpe build a devoted following in the United States.
Yet despite the enduring popularity of Children of the Sun, the album itself became increasingly difficult to find.
Producer Spencer Proffer later revisited the project, issuing a revised version titled Children of the Sun… Revisited. That release featured only five songs from the original album, supplemented with three new tracks, and eventually became the version most fans encountered.
Meanwhile, the original 1979 release quietly disappeared. It was issued on CD only once through a limited Australian pressing in 1993, leaving collectors to pay premium prices for used copies.
The new reissue came about thanks to an unlikely source: a fan.
Jeremy Holiday of Iconoclassic Records was searching for a copy of the album for his personal collection when he discovered how scarce it had become. Shocked that the album’s most successful market, the United States, had never received a proper CD release, he began exploring whether a reissue was possible.
“Anyone unwilling to spend over $100 for a used copy of a bare-bones Australian pressing had no opportunity to purchase the album on CD today,” Holiday told Ultimate Classic Rock. His investigation led to a years-long effort involving rights research, archival detective work and tape recovery.
Because Children of the Sun had passed through multiple companies after its original release, determining ownership proved complicated. The album was originally released on Capricorn Records before the label folded, with Polydor later handling distribution. Eventually, researchers confirmed that the rights had reverted back to Proffer’s company.
The next challenge was locating the tapes.
With help from Universal Music’s archives, original production masters prepared for Polydor in 1979 were finally located. Working from those tapes, engineer Wouter Bessels created new masters with input from Proffer and longtime collaborator Larry Brown.
The result is a long-overdue restoration of one of Thorpe’s most beloved albums.
“It’s a great shame that Billy Thorpe [who died in 2007] is not here to enjoy this moment,” Holiday said. “Another interesting fact is that the album was recorded over a long period but mixed very quickly. That amazes me considering how spatial the original mix is, and how well it uses the stereo spectrum. Children of the Sun is definitely a headphones album.”
For fans, the reissue offers more than nostalgia. It provides the chance to hear the original Children of the Sun as it was first intended: a classic rock favorite finally returning after more than three decades in the shadows.
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