The string group ever ready to cover anything possessing crossover potential -- whether it was the music of
Cole Porter,
Hank Williams, or Exodus -- eventually turned its attention to the psychedelic age, and with
Astro-Sounds from Beyond the Year 2000, released the most eccentric album in its catalog. The origins of the record apparently lay in a group of session players (including guitarist
Jerry Cole and arranger Monty Kelly) connected to Alshire Records, and although the music they produced had already appeared on record as a hastily conceived psychedelic "group," the same music and effects were then chained to string arrangements and music from "the finest musicians in Europe today." The first number, "Flameout," is an intriguing start, with fuzztoned guitar over a loose backbeat and a vaguely Eastern set of strings. Most of the rest is disappointingly straight-ahead, simplistic instrumentals overlaid with strange effects, or some truly bizarre compositions -- less outer space and more Carnaby Street or Sunset Strip, often sounding like instrumental outtakes from a
Mamas & Papas-with-strings project. ~ John Bush