ASTRONAUTS, THE - Peter Pan Hits the Suburbs

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 doesnt 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 70s bits of Hawkwind) and Daevid Allens 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 albums 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. - La Vida Es Un Mus. Highly recommended!