The Astronauts are one of those bands for whom the phrases 'criminally overlooked' and 'cruelly underrated' were made for. Mark Astronaut is a wordsmith for our times, and The Astronauts haven't always been able to deliver the music to match his barbed-wire visions.
This time, though, they deliver on every front. On 'The Fourth Way' a searing attack on New-Labour-culture, they merge folk with a mutated rap, throwing eastern licks in and wrapping it all up with a typical mixture of anger and compassion all too often lost to the extremes of one or the other in bands these days. Elsewhere, just about every musical form is employed - 'Don't Think About It' is almost Patti Smith with piano (but not voice), whilst 'Time To Roam' ventures into folkronica. But it's lovers of lyrics that will love the Astronauts most, and 'You're All Weird' is a serious return to form. It's also the most eloquent comment we've had so far on Britain post-'97.
Which begs the question as to why you haven't heard from them. The answer is because they don't play the game, the lyrics are more heartfelt than the usual decorations on tunes built to shift units. They're the best-kept secret of a generation, so much so that legendary saxophonist Lol Coxhill took time between playing with legends to come down and contribute beautiful licks for free. He knows - it's about time you did.
The Astronauts - You're All Weird
1. Pudden Sause - intro
2. It'll happen again
3. Fourth Way
4. Don't Think About It
5. Time To Roam
6. Away
7. The Explorer 8. Bats In The Belfry
9. Clarity
10. Climbdown
11. Conjecture
12. Where Do They Go?
13. It's Incredible
14. Pudden Sause
15. Chances
16. Thugs
17. We Were Talking
18. Mystery TrackMark Astronaut (vocals & synth on 8),
Richard Ford, aka Rico (guitars),
Russel Seal (keyboards, machines, addl. guitar & bass),
David Woods (bass 2,9,10,15,16,17),
Lynn Walters (violin 9,10,15,16),
Sim Boyd (bass 5),
Nigel Jolly (acoustic guitar 7),
Lol Coxhill (sax, 4,8,11,13),
Veryan Weston (piano 4,8,10,11),
Steven Seal (percussion 3)
Music & Lyrics: Mark Astronaut, except 1 & 14 by Russell Seal
0 comments:
Post a Comment