Tunguska is the site of the "Tunguska event" that occurred in 1908. It's hard to say what actually happened, but the going theory is that a meteor blew up in the air 5-10km above the surface, so there wasn't an actual impact with the ground, but a huge shock wave pattern noted by the direction that the trees laid down when they were snapped. The trees at "ground zero" were still standing, but stripped of their branches, while the trees outward from the center pointed away from the center in a butterfly pattern.
There's also some controversy among conspiracy theorists (and I'm not making any judgment as to the accuracy) that it was the result of a UFO blowing up. Tunguska apparently lies down-range from the site where Russia launches spacecraft, and they sometimes have to recover the debris from aborted missions in this area. Or is this just a convenient cover-up for other things recovered in this region?
The explosion occurred in 1909, and it was some time later before an expedition dispatched to explore the area. This might be the "Return to Tunguska" that the APP song refers to. Or could it refer to aliens returning to the area after the 1908 destruction of one of their spacecraft?
Alan Parsons is sort of vague about the meaning of the song, simply saying that enough has already been written about Tunguska that he won't rehash the story. To be sure, a lot has been written about Tunguska, and there's no way of telling which part of this lore he pays tribute to with this instrumental piece.
The fascinating, trancendental nature of the song suggests to me that he (and the folks he collaborated with from Shpongle to write this song - Simon Posford and Raja Ram) embrace the mystery of the incident and just let that be that.
Tunguska is the site of the "Tunguska event" that occurred in 1908. It's hard to say what actually happened, but the going theory is that a meteor blew up in the air 5-10km above the surface, so there wasn't an actual impact with the ground, but a huge shock wave pattern noted by the direction that the trees laid down when they were snapped. The trees at "ground zero" were still standing, but stripped of their branches, while the trees outward from the center pointed away from the center in a butterfly pattern.
There's also some controversy among conspiracy theorists (and I'm not making any judgment as to the accuracy) that it was the result of a UFO blowing up. Tunguska apparently lies down-range from the site where Russia launches spacecraft, and they sometimes have to recover the debris from aborted missions in this area. Or is this just a convenient cover-up for other things recovered in this region?
The explosion occurred in 1909, and it was some time later before an expedition dispatched to explore the area. This might be the "Return to Tunguska" that the APP song refers to. Or could it refer to aliens returning to the area after the 1908 destruction of one of their spacecraft?
Alan Parsons is sort of vague about the meaning of the song, simply saying that enough has already been written about Tunguska that he won't rehash the story. To be sure, a lot has been written about Tunguska, and there's no way of telling which part of this lore he pays tribute to with this instrumental piece.
The fascinating, trancendental nature of the song suggests to me that he (and the folks he collaborated with from Shpongle to write this song - Simon Posford and Raja Ram) embrace the mystery of the incident and just let that be that.
-Bryan