sound of the suburbs

This was the title of Peter Astor's last solo album that dates from 1993 and it was in March of that year that I promoted his gig in Montpellier. I must say that at the time Astor's previous bands, The Loft and The Weather Prophets were just names I'd come across in the press but don't worry I have since done my home work and caught up with those early Creation bands that he fronted, and well worth my time it was as well. I can remember that gig posters were rather loud, being an image from the album sleeve of a flamenco dancer in different shades of red, not very rock 'n' roll, though here in the south of France maybe the image was not too out of place. The gig, was great, though not that well attended around a 100 people in an 900 person venue, despite this I was won over. I can remember us having a healthy presence of local musicians for the concert, all of whom seemed to consider Astor to be some God like figure in the scheme of musical evolution. The result of which was that I checked out his earlier albums, 'Submarine', 'Zoo' and 'Paradise' and there wasn't a dud one between them! These four albums, two a piece for Virgin and Danceteria, have long been relegated to the realms of second hand shops. Interestingly enough Peter Astor would still appear to be in favour with Alan McGee as a compilation of songs from these four albums called 'Injury Time' with the track listing having been selected by the songs author is a new feature of the Revola catalogue. The two numbers posted today, taken from 'God And Other Stories', do not feature on this compilation though I would suggest that they would not have been out of place on it. 'No Food Is Blue' has a title that reminds me of my days as a psychology student and was picked up by myself and other jocks on Radio Alligator as the lead track from the album, no surprise really as it is a nice little pop gem with a catchy hook. 'Big Dumb Song Again' the albums closer is a mixture of pop number and ballad that is so infectious that I get the impression that I have already heard the melody somewhere else, this of course may well be the case but I can't for the life of me put my finger on who or what it was!
Since 1993 Peter Astor has stayed active with different projects such as Wisdom Of Harry and Elis Island Sound, two very different projects both distant in terms of musical style from his earlier work, but more from them another day.