The Astronauts<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nEternal long-haired losers. This semi-legendary band have only released seven albums in its long existence but each of them is a bonafide classic. The Astronauts second album \u2018All Done By Mirrors\u2019 judged by those who heard it as among the best albums of all time was a stunning collection of explosive pop songs and traditional folk ballads recorded at a time when all their gigs were with anarchist punk bands. Their fifth album \u2019In Defence Of Compassion\u2019 experimented with ambient house music years before other conventional bands even thought of doing so. With so many excellent songs (many never recorded) it is probably The Astronauts enthusiasm for drugs and music over career and changing fashions which has stopped them becoming as well known as they should be.<\/p>\n
Inspired by the UK punk explosion Mark Astronaut formed the band with a few friends in 1977 and began playing local gigs in their hometown of Welwyn Garden City. By 1979 The Astronauts were regularly appearing at free festivals and gigs in London organised by a hippy collective known as Fuck Off Records and from these began a close friendship with London punk bands Zounds and the Mob.<\/p>\n
That year the first Astronauts EP was released on local label Bugle Records and musically it reflected the hippie drug culture combined with the energy of punk. \u2018All Night Party\u2019 still sounds like the paranoid nightmare it did back then. The record established the Astronauts on the local gig scene among the non mainstream hippie \/ punk \/ biker crowd.<\/p>\n
Also in 1979 an EP was released under the assumed name of Restricted Hours on the Stevenage Rock Against Racism label. \u2018Getting Things Done\u2019 attacked the political apathy of small town life while \u2018Still Living Out The Carcrash\u2019 was musically a typically nightmarish theme.<\/p>\n
By 1980 gigs throughout England with Zounds had won over an army of fans and the \u2018Pranksters In Revolt\u2019 EP sold all its copies within weeks. Musically the four songs were not as adventurous as the first EP although the lyrics were as incisive as ever. Like many great bands from the post-punk era The Astronauts were completely ignored by the UK music press which then as now was only interested in anything trendy, fashionable or middle class. Local fanzine Zero began to champion the band as did the local newspapers.<\/p>\n
The debut album \u2018Peter Pan Hits The Suburbs\u2019 was released by Bugle \/ Genius Records in 1981 to widespread acclaim. Incredibly it received great reviews in virtually all the UK music press. The typical Astronauts audience at the time was largely punks attracted by the energetic gigs and a handful of hippies, so the album was something of a surprise. Full of heartfelt folk ballads and featuring legendary jazz saxophonist Lol Coxhill, the album was not what fans had expected but appealed to a different audience.<\/p>\n
The contradiction of heavy chaotic punk performances and structured melodic alternative pop \/ folk \/ ambient songs continues to this day.<\/p>\n
Throughout 1982-1985 there were hundreds of gigs with the many anarcho punk bands of the era and\u00a0 the second album \u2018All Done By Mirrors\u2019 on All The Madmen Records was arguably the finest album to date. \u2018Soon\u2019 again on All The Madmen Records featured great songs but was let down by lifeless production, yet it still remains one of my favourite albums.<\/p>\n
Robin Basak Zero Fanzine
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nIt’s All Done By Mirrors (All the Madmen records)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nNo-one’s going to complain of The Astronauts holding back in the world-stakes. An average song on this, their second album, unfolds a mini-saga or describes an isolation-tinged scenario with painstakingly effective attention to detail. From Mark Astronaut’s lyrical pen comes a woman dreaming of the Dorset coast whilst writing to her former lover (‘Seagull Mania’); or the man on the street and his wife living out the final day before nuclear destruction (‘Typically English Day’). Carefully drawn, their personalities delicately shaded in – textured is the word. Sung deep in the shadows of irony, these verbose vocals are the framework through which the raw violins and guitars are weaved. Punchy drums keep things alive and alert when wimp-out threatens, which it does too much to be comfortable. However, it’s hard not to feel akin to such a loosely anarchic platter. Let it rip!<\/p>\n
Tony D, NME, October 1983<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Waiting For It All To Go Wrong \/ Scoop \/ Blood \/ Death Of An Idealist \/ No Cold Water \/ Chances \/ Typically English Day \/ Gothic Rooms \/ Gold At The Top \/ Following Orders (part) \/ Behave Yourself (Accapello) \/ Friends Uploaded tonight is a wonderful performance by The Astronauts recorded\u00a0at ‘The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links-downloads"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6177"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6180,"href":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6177\/revisions\/6180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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