Customer Reviews

Astro Sounds From Beyond the Year 2000

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Fans of Danny Elfman, Joe Meek and AIR should check this one out. Space Muzak with vintage synth sounds and fuzz guitars! One of those kitschy albums only the 60's could have produced, and only contemporary ears can fully appreciate its weirdness and (probably accidental) inventiveness.

Look at the price of this CD compared to the rest of the 101 strings catalog. Doesn't it tell you something? For a delicious bonus, three tracks have been added, with "Whiplash" being the obvious highlight: a woman moans and screams to the sound of whips! It'll make even Serge Gainsbourg blush.

This is one cool album, get it and tell all your friends about it! Build the cult.

In 1968-69 this LP appeared on local discount store record racks. This was during the time that astronauts were flying, for the first time, to the moon on the Apollo spacecraft. Millions of people gathered near Cape Kennedy to watch the moon shots go up. Millions more lined streets to watch the lunar astronauts feted in parades in major cities all around the world. The stunning Stanley Kubrick feature film, 2001: A Space Odyssey was released in the Spring of 1968. Space offered new hope and opportunity for all--- or so we thought at that time.

The future never seem brighter as it did when viewed from an otherwise dismal 1960s decade of assassinations, social unrest, and war. Growing up in the backwards, poor state of Alabama was especially miserable for me. Poverty and racial hatred were all around those of us who were stuck in Alabama in those days. The world around me was uncompromising. The future seemed like the only way out for a poor kid with no hope for a college education or other good opportunities. I knew that I was facing a future filled with dismal opportunities in either plant, or warehouse work. The product of a broken home, I was not one of Alabama's fortunate sons. Music was a pleasant escape from the misery of those days.

It might seem hard to believe now, Apollo astronauts were more well known than the 1969 Woodstock stars at the time. Some of us looked to space exploration and new, improved technology as the best pathways for making a better life for all. Overall, it seemed like the space program was carrying us into a better, brighter future.

"Astro-Sounds From Beyond the Year 2000" was the perfect soundtrack to accompany the optimism offered by the Final Frontier of space. I was only 14-15 years old in 1968-69. The LP was released on the "budget" Alshire label, so I took some of my money earned from lawn care work to purchase it. I took it home on my bicycle and slapped it on my homemade stereo system that was cobbled together from neighbor's discarded equipment. The tracks were tasty and "supersonic" to 1968-69 ears!

I wondered if the future music of the year 2000 would sound anything like Astro-Sounds. I am sad to say that it did not. I was fortunate to live beyond the turn of the century, but I am very disappointed that we human beings have failed to build that better world (or worlds as we space dreamers saw it) as it was imagined by many of us as we listened to "Astro Sounds From Beyond the Year 2000". I still own my original copy of Astro-Sounds. I have carried it through all of the apartments and houses where I have lived beyond those years. I even listened to it on cassette, in sight of the launch pads, while jogging on the Space Coast beach of Florida!

Fortunately, I was able to "hang in there" and finally earn a university degree later in life, thanks to my wife's sacrifices. Music is a great source of inspiration and encouragement. Perhaps this old, but very cool music will inspire new listeners to their own bright dreams.

It's hard to imagine how the moribund stylings of the 101 Strings could mate with by-the-numbers psychedelic sounds (phase shifters, oscillators, etc.) and space themes to produce something as compelling as this 1969 release. But brilliantly compelling it is. Though certain to have confounded 101 Strings fans of its day, and failed in any appeal to the contemporary rock or jazz crowds, its reappearance as part of the lounge revival is a blessing.

There's a nearly unexplainable alchemy that makes this so hypnotically listenable. Once past the kitsch factor, listeners will find themselves enveloped in superb bubblegum melodies, rendered with orchestrated strings and guitars that range from crystalline to exotically fuzzed. The drumming would fill any discotheque dance floor, and the organs hum with the power of the Spencer Davis Group (whose "Gimme Some Lovin'" riff is borrowed for "A Disappointed Love With a Desensitized Robot").

Three bonus tracks from the 101 Strings erotic period (strings + moaning woman = wow!) fill out this reissue. "Karma Sitar" is a flavorful faux-Indian raga, while "Whiplash" adds daring (for a mainstream 1969 release) whip cracks to the erotic equation.

Unlike the hucksters who predict the future and then disappear when their prophesies fail to materialize, the 101 Strings laid theirs to tape, for all the world to revisit "beyond the year 2000." With Scamp's digital reissue (which, unfortunately, contains no production, playing or songwriting credits), one realizes that these Astro Sounds are still reaching into the future.

My father purchased this record for me in 1970. I can still remember the feeling that it gave me back then. And listening to these cuts brings me back to the heyday years that followed - Streaking, Free Jam Concerts (In a world where NOTHING seems FREE anymore), Free Love and the Space Race. I highly recommend this 101 Strings Collection to anyone who wasn't a mote in Daddy's eye and those who can appreciate the growing pains of music in those days.

Note: Moog was just coming out when this album was produced...if this release or the original album is not a collector's item now, they should be...

This CD delivers! There is something extra spacey about a phase-shifted string section matched with fuzzbox guitar.. The original album cuts are best here. The extra cuts are OK, but aren't really in the same spaced-out league as the originals. If you are looking for a little class with your early psychedelic music, this is for you.

101 Strings were know for their "elevator music" style instrumental albums. This album is something else entirely. The strings are still there, but they are pushed into the background. Instead, most of these tracks have rock guitars (heavy on the fuzztone) as the lead instruments. Lord knows what the little old ladies who were fans of 101 Strings thought when they heard this album. To my ears, it sounds like music from the soundtrack of an exploitation movie about hippies. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. The CD adds three bonus tracks from another offbeat album by 101 Strings, which featured "erotic" music. The most interesting of these tracks features the sound of a woman moaning while being whipped. This is a fun album that will appeal to people who like "offbeat" music.

This is a really great album I stumbled across on download a few years ago, before this edition was released. The music is very trippy, very AIR like, as one reviewer also mentioned. It's fun to pop in while in the shower, or to fall asleep to, or for a very groovy party I'd imagine!

These are great sounds, trippy and groovy, but with a touch of class. Well, maybe not the song with porn-like moans in terms of class. This is 60's bachelor music, the real deal.

My biggest complaint is that this thing only runs 36 minutes. In a day an age where only the devout still buy CD's, it is not helpful to have that "that was IT?!?!?" feeling. The other way to look at that is I wanted more! I assumed based on the track listing that I had at least 1 hour of material for my purchase.

I got the 1996 version and I have a feeling that better versions may exist, yet recordings from that period should have a certain "charming dirt-like quality," so I would love to A/B them some time.

Love the album, but the sound of this 1996 Scamp Records release is very poor. EQ is messed with to the point where the timing seems wrong, details get lost due to a lack of focus. It just doesn't "groove" at all. A friend who's also into audio agreed with me that this CD is an assult on the ears and just not "musical" sounding at all.

I picked up the Licorice Soul release on vinyl from 2004 and it sounds MUCH, MUCH better. It sounds so different and so much more enjoyable than this CD it's hard to believe. There is also a brand new (2009) remaster out on CD that might sound better, but I haven't heard it. If you need a CD, I would try that reissue and leave this one alone.

EDIT:

I see this review is coming up for both reissues of Astro-Sounds. If you're looking at the 2009 26F Records release, you may be on the right track. If you're looking at the 1996 Scamp Records release, don't do it!... lol

As for the ORIGINAL recording artist, Jerry Cole, * * * * *
A true masterpiece for its time, perhaps better known as "The Animated Egg". This release however is a complete, total RIP-OFF of the above mentioned LP title with overly phazy, flangy additives. Sadly, without the knowledge and consent of Jerry Cole, it was re-titled and re-packaged as if it were something completly unrelated. For those of you who want the real deal, it can be found on the Sundazed label (reissued on CD with a double amount of bonus material) The Animated Egg - "Guitar Freakout"