THE ASTRONAUTS – Travellin’ Men – (RCA) – 1967

1967.    

This is the final recorded gasp of The Astronauts.    

Despite trying to keep up with the times they had changed quickly. It was only 4 years earlier, in 1963, that their first album was released and they rose high on the garage, frat rock and surf music sound.  How quickly do musical tastes change ….or at least they did in the sixties.    

The Astronauts were a professional, working group. Despite being talented I suspect this was more of a job than an artistic calling. Of course, you can have both. But even if it wasn’t a "calling" does that lessen the music? No, but it means that sometimes when it’s just a job you are always following trends and then perhaps always one step behind.    

Many well known careers have been built on that.    

Hey, even The Beatles weren’t above following trends. The influence of the Beach Boys and The Band on their music, for instance, is yet to be fully recognized. Music is never created in a vacuum and even those at the top of their game can be influenced by others and can follow trends. The only difference with The Beatles is that they were credited with the trends they hopped on.    

Average bands don’t add anything to the originals. The Astronauts are way better than average but sometimes they aren’t inspired and in their four years since their first album they had released 10 albums (including this one), toured across the US and Japan, and generally tried to keep their heads above water.    

Give them a break.    

The Astronauts here are workmanlike doing mostly contemporary soul and pop hits. One of the singles was released in 1966 and I dare say, given the release dates for  most of the covers, the album was probably recorded in 1966. They do however add a jagged guitar here, a rough edge there. They do not "make the songs their own" but they do enough to make you sit up and say "that sounds different to the original, it sounds a little more rock n roll a little more like say, The Astronauts".  

Many bands don’t even reach that point in music.

Check my other comments on The Astronauts for biographical detail.        

Tracks (best in italics)  

• In the Midnight Hour – (Steve Cropper, Wilson Pickett) – Wilson Picketts soul smash (#21 1965). This is done well, it doesn’t top the original and doesn’t take it anywhere new.
• She’s Just My Style – (Al Capps, Gary Lewis, Leon Russell)- The Gary Lewis hit (#3 1965)
• Let’s Go Get Stoned – (Joseph Armstead, Nick Ashford, Valerie Simpson) – The Ray Charles song (#31 1966) which the Astronauts do as a suitably bluesy pop tune.
• Main Street– (James Griffin)- written by James Griffin , later of Bread, this was released as a single by Gary Lewis in 1968. This is superior pop.
• The Birds and the Bees- (Barrington Stuart)- The #3 hit for Jewel Akens in 1965. Not as R&B as the original and a little duff.
• Laugh, Laugh -(Ron Elliott)- The Beau Brummels smash (#15 1965). The Astronauts have toned the British Invasion sound (via San Francisco) of the original version. But only just. Still a great beat song.
• Count Me In- (Glen D. Hardin)- Written by ex- Cricket and future Elvis pianist this was a hit for , again, Gary Lewis (#2 1965). A perfectly good version of a great song.
• I Know You Rider-(trad)- The Astronauts update their sound on this one as they tackle the old country folk blues song associated with The Byrds and the Grateful Dead. The songs does not fit in with the rest of the album but the song is a good one.
• In My Car-(Al Capps)- perfect lush MOR mid 1960s pop (with a nod to early 60s dramatic romantic pop). Nice. Written for or recorded first by The Astronauts(?)
• Travelin’ Man-(Jerry Fuller)- a beautiful song. Associated with Rick Nelson (#1 1961)
• Out of Limits-(Michael Z. Gordon)- The Marketts 1964 instrumental hit (#37) This song has been done by everyone but is perfectly suited to The Astronauts.
• Better Things– (Bobby Russell) – an original (?) written for or recorded first by The Astronauts . Nice mid 60s pop. I wonder if Ray Davies from the Kinks lifted the title and theme to his song from this?

And …      

There were more "in" records to buy in 1967 than The Astronauts, but this is unpretentious rock …. I’m keeping it.
 
Chart Action  

nothing.
 
Sounds

Main Street
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEHe-bk7qcM

Count Me In
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqeqrz5qVys

Travelin’ Man
MP3 attached below  (one for regular reader, Mountain Goat)

The Astronauts – Travelin Men  

Better Things
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rU2kUScRWs

Others
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO_pOYfsJk4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHbcU5ArqBQ
 
Review
http://www.allmusic.com/album/down-the-line-travelin-man-mw0000597089
 
Bio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Astronauts_(band)
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-astronauts-mn0000753852#discography
 
Website
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Trivia  

• wikipedia: "For a while, the same band – Fifield, Patterson, McLerian, Bretz and Jenkins – performed in the US under the name SunshineWard, who released one single, "Sally Go Around The Roses", in 1967. Patterson then left the band and music business, and Fifield and McLerran formed a new band, Hardwater, with Tony Murillo and Peter M. Wyant. In 1968, the band released two singles and an album, Hardwater, on Capitol Records, produced by David Axelrod. Fifield also had a role in assisting Axelrod and record engineer David Hassinger, who owned the rights to the group name of The Electric Prunes, to find a new group of musicians to take on that group’s name for their record, Mass in F Minor. Fifield contacted fellow Colorado musicians, Richard Whetstone, John Herron and Mark Kincaid, who then agreed to form one of the final line-ups of The Electric Prunes".