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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Music General Discussion »

Permalink The Astronauts

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Thank You!!

So, does anybody know anything about, or have contact information for, The New Voice Record Company, Taipei, Taiwan, which produced this vinyl LP, LW-210?

Last edited: May 07, 2014 22:01:00

I've been looking for it on the Internet. I couldn't find anything. Is there a logo or something at the back of the LP?

TonyBanks74 wrote:

I've been looking for it on the Internet. I couldn't find anything. Is there a logo or something at the back of the LP?

Click the OPTIONS box in 'Private Messages' and then click the bottom box.

Last edited: May 07, 2014 17:35:21

Old_Tele_man wrote:

TonyBanks74 wrote:

I've been looking for it on the Internet. I couldn't find anything. Is there a logo or something at the back of the LP?

Click the OPTIONS box in 'Private Messages' and then click the bottom box.

Great!! Thank You!! Smile

I've been listening to a lot of Astronauts lately. I was trying to describe that popping reverberating rhythm. That studio sounded like a dangerous place to be...like being inside a Tesla coil with sparks flying and what not. Then I remembered a line from a Sonic Youth song: "the snap of electric whip crack". That's it!!!

That two guitar rhythm/drum beat formula they had could turn even a pedestrian cover into into an "Astronauts" song.

Twin rhythm (or 2nd lead) guitars also worked well for the STRING-A-LONGS and their hit "Wheels" and "Brass Buttons."

I love the way these early groups arranged and orchestrated each part. Like small ensemble chamber music for electric guitar.

The String-A-Longs sound quite good!

There are a couple "keys" behind the String-A-Longs sound:

1) Norman Petty, (the guy who 'found' & recorded Buddy Holly) arranged ALL of their songs, and wrote "Brass Buttons", "Nearly Sunrise", etc.
2) Norman Petty, also 'found' & recorded The Fireballs, which Norman used as a house band on many Holly songs. George Tomsco, their lead guitar, was outstanding!

Last edited: May 08, 2014 14:43:00

Oh yeah, love the Fireballs. I thought I heard a Norman Petty influence there somewhere! That "tick tick tick" lead of what I assume is the Jazzmaster pictured with one of the members. Very Tomsco-esque.

There's a pretty direct line from the Fireballs to the Astronauts:

The young Paul Johnson in particular was a big fan of the Fireballs, and highly influenced by them. You can hear Tomsco's guitar style and sound in Mr. Moto and many of Paul's other songs. The tiki-tiki rhythm guitar part in Mr. Moto is then borrowed by a South Bay band highly influenced by the Belairs - the Chantays, who use it on Pipeline, adding of course a big wallop of reverb to that rhythm guitar part. Once they get signed to RCA, the Astronauts have to quickly learn how to play surf music so they listen to a lot of the Chantays, and adapt that heavy-reverb rhythm guitar sound to their own style - and voila! The Astronauts sound is born, after just three degrees of separation from the Fireballs.

Ivan
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Last edited: May 08, 2014 14:35:46

That's some nice context! Thanks...

I agree, I love this kind of history. For a new guy like me it really adds to my appreciation of the genre. Thanks professor!

All I wish I knew what they were talking about

There's another angle to explore. Several of the most loved Astronauts tunes are written by Al Casey. His own recordings feature the staccato muted drip sound we all love. Question is who's versions were first, Al or the A'nauts? If Al's, then there's the inspiration right there.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

I though Lee Hazlewood wrote The Hearse. Al Casey just recorded it and several other songs before the Astronauts.

Edit: http://www.discogs.com/Al-Casey-Surfin-Hootenanny/release/5127818

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Last edited: May 08, 2014 20:55:14

Oops that's right. It was the recordings I'm really referring to.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

Simple evaluation of who recorded first (Hazlewood/Casey) should establish the time line of who preceded who and who influenced who.

Last edited: May 08, 2014 21:50:24

Since Hazlewood produced and wrote so much of that album, I'm ass-uming that Casey's are the original recordings of those tunes. Danny, I think you are right. I don't see how the Astronauts could have failed to be inspired by the prodigious drip Al got on that record.

We were talking earlier about bands changing the original music in their various versions. One listen to Casey's version (the way Hazlewood originally intended it to be, one would have to believe) and you can hear that the Astronauts changed the bridge. To my mind, the Astronauts version is one of the great bridges in surf music--or perhaps I was just conditioned to it, having been familiar with it long before I ever heard Surfin' Hootenanny. In any case, it has become the standard. I'm actually disappointed when I hear bands not giving it its due, just strumming through the chord changes.

Excellent point, Danny! I was just thinking back to where the Astronauts talked about how immediately after telling the RCA executive that they can play surf music in order to get the record deal, they said they went out and bought a bunch of surf records. Obviously they covered Pipeline on their debut, so I figured that was the main connection. I still think it was, only through Casey - it just adds one more degree of separation to my story! Smile

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube

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