Pete Astor - Mr Music

by Anthony Strutt

published: 22 / 7 / 2015

Label: Fortuna POP!
Format: 7"

Fabulous new seven inch vinyl single from Loft and Weather Propehts' front man, Pete Astor

Review

I first discovered Pete Astor in the mid 1980s via a radio session from his second Creation band, the Weather Prophets. The Loft, his first Creation band, left the landscape after releasing just two singles during their original lifetime, 'Why Does the Rain?'(1984) and 'Up the Hill and Down the Slope'(1985). Before they recorded their debut album they had split, but Pete was already ahead of the game, taking Loft drummer Dave Morgan with him. The Weather Prophets began their career on Creation, before Alan McGee took their first album 'Mayflower' (1987), along with 'Sonic Flower Groove', the debut album from Primal Scream which Morgan also played on, to Elevation,a major label version of Creation, owned by Warners. Sadly, it wasn't a success, and 'Mayflower' still has never been been released on CD. The band returned to Creation Records, producing for me some of Astor's finest work with their 1988 second and final album, 'Judges, Juries and Horsemen'. He also released two solo albums for the label, Submarine and Zoo. After the Weather Prophets finished, he also recorded as Pete Astor and The Holy Road, as well as some more experimental work, under the names, the Wisdom of Harry and Ellis Island Sound. The Loft reformed in 2004 and continue to play often. Pete is also the father of Wesley from Let's Wrestle and is a Senior Lecturer at Westminster University, He has also penned a book on Richard Hell and The Voidoids 'Blank Generation', an album that started his adventures into music. While Ellis Island Sound, which is an instrumental trio, released a fourth album, 'Regions', last year, his last solo album was 'Songbook, which came out on Second Language back in 2012. 'Mr Music', his latest offering, is his first single from an album, which is due out next next year on Fortuna POP. It is being released on blue vinyl as a part of Fortuna POP's singles club,and plays to all Pete's strengths. The title track has a breezy early 1960's Beatles style, while its lyrics call out to everyone living living ordinary lives and doing ordinary jobs but with their hearts full of music to relieve the pain of everyday life as we know it. 'Armitage Shanks' is equally realistic in tone. It has an early and simple Velvets, and is played on semi-electric guitars quietly so as not to awake those having a lie-in on a Sunday morning. A fabulous record.