Normally, a CD like this, made up of true obscurities, wouldn't be the place that one should start listening to a group…
...But it's also almost impossible to listen to this collection of early tracks and vault leftovers and not feel a tremendous respect for the Astronauts, or conclude that this CD might be as good a place as any for the neophyte listener to plunge into their sound. It's all that strong. The early Palladium Records single "Come Along Baby" b/w "Tryin' to Get to You" (the latter featuring vocals by bassist Stormy Patterson) is pretty impressive, and the two dozen outtakes from their 1963-1965 RCA sessions show off a band that had several albums' worth of substantial and enjoyable surf music at their disposal, the unheard stuff every bit as good as what got released. Robert Demmon, Dennis Lindsey, and Richard Fifield could come up with as many interesting and different guitar attacks, and James Gallagher was just as adept on the drums as their opposite numbers in the Ventures; only the latter group got to release about three albums a year, whereas the Astronauts did about a third of that. What's more, as "Tryin' to Get to You" and "Everyone but Me" show, they were fairly strong in the vocal department when necessary, although "My Little Beach Bunny" was nothing to write home about in terms of lyrics. Their later stuff here, especially "Buy Me a Round" and "Shame Shame Shame," has a garage punk edge that will prove a real shocker for those who only associate the group with their surf movie appearances. Their 1965-vintage rendition of "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day" is a snarling masterpiece that runs circles around the Monkees' version, and it's followed by an instrumental adaptation of the same material that doubles the fun. Next up, in turn, are the vaguely folk-rockish "The Tables Have Turned" and "Girls Like You" with their jangly guitars and Searchers-like introductions -- and it's difficult to hold anything against any band that covers "I'm Gonna Buy Me a Dog." The stuff here may all be rare or hard-to-find for lots of reasons, but not because it deserves to be. The sound is excellent, up to Bear Family's usual standard, and the annotation nicely informative and, at times, downright fun -- a lot like the music. - AllMusic Review by Bruce Eder
trax:
01 Come Along Baby 02 Tryin' To Get To You 03 Surf Softly And Carry A Big Board 04 The Pier 05 Surf Party 06 Firewater 07 Hot-Doggin' 08 Every One But Me 09 Quasimoto 10 Scotch And Guitar 11 Surf's You Right 12 Let's Surf Again 13 Surfer Girl 14 My Little Beach Bunny 15 Around And Around 16 Surf Softly And Carry A Big Board (dubbed) 17 Main Title From Ride The Wild Surf 18 Go Fight For Her 19 Swim Little Mermaid 20 Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day 21 Razzamatazz 22 The Tables Have Turned 23 I'm Gonna Buy Me A Dog 24 The La La La Song 25 Buy Me A Round 26 Girls Like You 27 Count Your Mistakes 28 Shame, Shame, Shame
ripped from CD in glorious monoloudarama!
"Astromono" 1994 - 7"/45rpm
In all, they recorded nine albums. Gallagher and Lindsey were drafted for Vietnam before the last album, Travelin' Men in 1967, and were replaced by Mark Bretz and Rod Jenkins respectively. Demmon also left, being replaced by Robert Carl McLerran, before Fifield and Patterson finally decided to end the band name after a tour of Asia in 1968. - wiki
trax:
01 Rocket To Mars 02 Rocket Man 03 Moonshot 04 Switchblade
RYP,
You do realize that these albums are by two separate groups, yes? Rarities is indeed by the Astronauts from Denver CO, but Astromono is by a German group of the same name (and nearly 30 years later). They are completely different in tone, style, production values, and listenability.
Nonetheless, the latter group put out at least two albums and a few EPs, I have nearly all of them.... I think.
sumgai
pimokeitis said...
Hallo RYP,
bei der Astronauts Single "Astromono" von 1991 handelt es sich nicht um die amerikanischen Astronauts, sondern um die geniale Surfband um Thilo Pieper und Michael Larisch aus Bielefeld, die in den neunziger Jahren 8 Singles und ein Album veröffentlicht haben.
Thilo Pieper als Kopf der Astronauts war noch in etlichen anderen Bands aktiv, so u.a. bei den "Scales", "Billy a Rock", "Rauchende Colts" und "Dukes of Hamburg". Gruesse aus Eastwestfalia
In Strad Magazine, I saw an item praising the violinist in this group. because I love Gypsy, Russian, Hungarian (along with classical) music, I wanted to hear this group, and ordered it from Amazon. It's really an amalgam of gypsy and jazz, but it all fits well together. If you want to hear romantic tuneful music full of dance-inducing energy, this is it. - food lover
members:
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