Astronauts, The

Astronauts, The

Survivors

La Vida Es En Mus

***Second release on the Astronauts early works reissue campaign. It covers the 1979-1980 vinyl releases of Mark Wilkins and company. It includes the four tracks from the self titled EP from 1979 and the four tracks from “Pranksters in Revolt” EP from 1980 on Bulge records. These tracks show us perhaps the most straight forward side of The Astronauts. Tagged at the end of each side you’ll find one of the tracks recorded under the Restricted Hours on the rare split EP with The Syndicate for the Stevenege RAR back in 1979. Swinging from proto punk to hard rock and from echo folk to epic synth jams – these tracks feature the amazing Wilkins lyrics of inner city criticism, self doubt and despair. This is free / DIY / Punk music as its best.

Astronauts, The

Peter Pan Hits The Suburbs

La Vida Es En Mus

Reissue of this long lost masterpice from 1981 originally released by Bulge / Genius records. The Astronauts were (and are, after close to 30 years and a history of lineup shifts only bested by The Fall) the definitive psych-punk ensemble, though even that title doesn't do 'em justice. Their sound culminates the post '77 punk dabblings of head forbears Twink (his 'Do it 77' single and The Rings' 'I wanna be free' platter), Nik Turner (the outstanding Inner City Unit and the 'punkier' late 70's bits of Hawkwind) and Daevid Allen's planet Gong (with fellow acid-punkers Here and Now) all woven in with an earlier Robert Wyatt / mellow candle-y psych folk vibe... While not sounding like any of those things at all. Get it? The album's range is gigantic: from dissonant punk a la Fall ('Everything stops for baby'), to epic progressive folk ('Protest song', 'Baby sings folk songs'), ditties ('Sod us'), hard-rock ('The Traveller'), pop ('How green was my valley'), garage / surf ('Still Talking'), industrial ('How long is a piece of string'), and set to arrangements that employ synths, flute, saxophone, and strays into progressive or even free-form / psychedelic sections. The icing on the cake is the mature statement of the lyrics, a cynical and bitter exploration of the lives of simple men, miles away from the generic horror / punk overtones that permeated most of alternative albums at the time.