THE ASTRONAUTS – Down The Line – (RCA) – 1965

Yes, another Astronauts LP – hey, don’t complain it could have been another Bobby Vee.

I get on these kicks.

Look at my other comments on The Astronauts for background detail on them.

I would be repeating myself (again) if I called them a "working band".

I have waxed lyrical about them and their time and place and  I will repeat, again,  they were a "working band".

As a working band they had one ear to the ground to see what was happening around them.

You have to sell units, get exposure, get bookings, get cash to pay the bills.

Where is the art?

The art is in the result and it doesn’t have to be conscious.

This album in a little schizophrenic – the first side is hard edged rock n roll with more than a touch of garage and R&B.

The songs don’t  just pump they pound. There is menace hovering over every song , and it’s sharp. The precise and distinct instrumentation only adds to it.

For sure, The  Paul Butterfield  Blues Band, The Blues Project, The Animals and The Rolling Stones were reinterpreting the R&B classics at around the same time  but the Astronauts, who must have had an eye on that, were ex rock n rollers.  Accordingly they never let the black R&B shine through totally. There is a lot of  white rock attitude here. They are, on the first side, akin to Paul Revere and the Raiders and they do anticipate the garage sound of the Seeds, The Shadows of Knight, The Standells and others.

So they walk a line somewhere between white garage and white R&B. They aren’t going forward but the sound is beautiful.

The second side is more pop and beat. There aren’t many English songs but the similar tunes they had made hard on side one are given a more pop sound on side two. Clearly, they were watching the record buying public and how they reacted to the behemoth that was the Beatles record sales in 1964. Rather than going "English" though they took the beat and popped up the songs. Think Johnny Rivers if was a combo playing a dive in the Midwest rather than the swank whiskey a go go.

Or, perhaps, they are trying to be the American Rolling Stones?

Did I say they were a working band.

The album is a bunch of covers but it is testament to the Astronauts that they give the songs readings in their own style.

So, you say, is that it?

A band doing a bunch of stylistically similar covers.

It sounds easy?

It may be but seldom do you get results as good as this.

Not enough to set the world on fire but that goes with the territory also.

Tracks (best in italics)

• Down Home Girl– (Leiber, Butler) – Originally done by Alvin Robinson in 1964, The Rolling Stones covered this in early 1965 on their US released "Now!" album. The version here is magnificent. It never breaks loose but smoulders all the way through. Perfect for the beginnings of garage.
• Memphis, Tennessee -(Berry)- Slower and deliberate, this is a totally different reading to Chuck Berry’s original or even Elvis’ and Johnny Rivers famous covers. All three of those versions have different moods and maybe meanings. Here the song isn’t so melancholy about the  trying to get home but rather a threat to the person who put the distance between the narrator and Marie, in Memphis Tennessee.
• Oh Baby (We Got A Good Thing Goin’) -(Ozen)- another song covered by the Rolling Stones in early 1965 (on Now! again)
• Dimples -(John Lee Hooker)- The great Hooker song – interestingly it was covered by two British invasion acts: The Spencer Davis Group in 1964 and The Animals in the same year.
• The Seventh Son -(Willie Dixon) – The Willie Dixon tune souped up and released by John Hammond and more relevantly here, Johnny Rivers in the same. The Astronauts version is somewhere between Willie Dixon and Johnny Rivers and is a joy.
• Walking The Dog  -(Rufus Thomas) – The great Rufus Thomas song, also covered by, err The Rolling Stones in 1964. To be sure all these songs are R&B classics but I see a pattern developing…especially noticeable in the harmonica. Hey, you could do worse than cover a song The Rolling Stones had covered.
• Sweet Little Rock And Roller – (Berry) – Another great Berry song given a bouncy treatment quite faithful to the original. It would have been perfect for The Rolling Stones.
• Only Those In Love -(Alquist, Stuart)- The Chad and Jeremy (British Invasion)from 1964. Pop, as you would expect, but a little rougher than it’s British original.
• Down The Line -(Roy Orbison)- a total re-interpretation of the Orbison classic. A lot of beat.
• Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire -(Steve Venet, Tommy Boyce)- This my be an original written for the Astronauts. Steve Venet and Tommy Boyce could write this in their sleep. This song is a perfect American rip off of the dreamy English beat sounds.
• It Doesn’t Matter Anymore -(Anka)- The Paul Anka song identified with Buddy Holly. Not surprisingly the Astronauts would dig into 50s rock n roller. And this Buddy Holly song shows just how much of an influence he was on British Beat.
• It Could Never Be The Same -(Don Addrisi, Dick Addrisi)- Another original? The Addrisi Brothers later released albums. Here they are writing variations on the sounds of the day. Pleasant enough.

And …

Gosh I like The Astronauts …. I’m keeping it.
 
Chart Action
 
Nothing no where
 
Sounds
 
Down Home Girl
attached below

The Astronauts – Down Home Girl

Memphis, Tennessee
Live 1965
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMFDcHgJROI

It Doesn’t Matter Anymore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocscPsNDewc

Others
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGH-VJarH8A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHbcU5ArqBQ
 
Review
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Bio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Astronauts_(band)
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-astronauts-mn0000753852#discography

Website
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Trivia
– Liner notes and various behind the scenes manoeuvring are by Lee Hazlewood.