Pete Astor is a musician, writer and educator. He led Creation Records' groups The Loft and The Weather Prophets, writing songs and releasing records that helped define the sound of the label and the emerging indie genre. He has gone on to a lengthy solo career since then; writing, recording and releasing music on a range of labels including Matador, Heavenly, Warp, EMI, and Fortuna Pop. He is Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Westminster. As well as touring extensively, he also makes records with David Sheppard as Ellis Island Sound and releases his spoken word work as The Attendant on his label Faux Lux with the help of Ian Button. Since 2017, Astor has been signed to Tapete Records, home to Robert Forster, Lloyd Cole, and Comet Gain among many estimable others.
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CD
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TR 554CD
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2024 marks 40 years of Pete Astor making records, a suitable anniversary point at which to take stock and double back on songs that first appeared on records by Astor-fronted combos such as Creation Records trailblazers The Loft and The Weather Prophets, and Matador recording artists The Wisdom of Harry, as well as selections from solo albums that appeared on labels such as Danceteria and Static Caravan. Astor's motivation for Tall Stories & New Religions, as his extensive notes make clear, is manifold. Some songs are effectively reexamined in the way one might linger over a resonant picture from a box of old photographs -- connecting with the essence of a younger self. Other songs are newly recast in wiser and more reflective hues, while others simply demanded exhumation from willfully opaque, lo-fi non-production. The songs chosen are not the obvious ones -- there's no "Up the Hill and Down the Slope" or "Almost Prayed" here -- but have been selected for more interesting, often esoteric, reasons. Astor is accompanied by an estimable band of co-conspirators, evolving out of many hours spent playing music together on records and at shows over the last decade. They are drummer Ian Button (Death in Vegas, Papernut Cambridge, Go Kart Mozart), bassist Andy Lewis (Paul Weller, Soho Radio, and Blow Up DJ), guitarist Wilson Neil Scott (Summerhill, Felt, Everything But the Girl), and keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist/producer Sean Read (Dexys, Mark Lanegan, Dave Gahan, Iggy Pop, Manic Street Preachers, Beth Orton, Chrissie Hynde). Together they've revisited these lost gems of songs in a manner that has allowed Astor to balance the way that they still make sense to him now, looking both to the future and to that big and interesting new country, the past.
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LP
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TR 554LP
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LP version. 2024 marks 40 years of Pete Astor making records, a suitable anniversary point at which to take stock and double back on songs that first appeared on records by Astor-fronted combos such as Creation Records trailblazers The Loft and The Weather Prophets, and Matador recording artists The Wisdom of Harry, as well as selections from solo albums that appeared on labels such as Danceteria and Static Caravan. Astor's motivation for Tall Stories & New Religions, as his extensive notes make clear, is manifold. Some songs are effectively reexamined in the way one might linger over a resonant picture from a box of old photographs -- connecting with the essence of a younger self. Other songs are newly recast in wiser and more reflective hues, while others simply demanded exhumation from willfully opaque, lo-fi non-production. The songs chosen are not the obvious ones -- there's no "Up the Hill and Down the Slope" or "Almost Prayed" here -- but have been selected for more interesting, often esoteric, reasons. Astor is accompanied by an estimable band of co-conspirators, evolving out of many hours spent playing music together on records and at shows over the last decade. They are drummer Ian Button (Death in Vegas, Papernut Cambridge, Go Kart Mozart), bassist Andy Lewis (Paul Weller, Soho Radio, and Blow Up DJ), guitarist Wilson Neil Scott (Summerhill, Felt, Everything But the Girl), and keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist/producer Sean Read (Dexys, Mark Lanegan, Dave Gahan, Iggy Pop, Manic Street Preachers, Beth Orton, Chrissie Hynde). Together they've revisited these lost gems of songs in a manner that has allowed Astor to balance the way that they still make sense to him now, looking both to the future and to that big and interesting new country, the past.
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TR 511CD
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Pete Astor on Time on Earth: "In my 50s I realized that the past slowly becomes a bigger country than the future. As always, the future is where I'm headed, but now the past and all that comes with it is stacked up behind me . . . I've made 11 albums of new material since 1987. I realize that anything I've ever thought that mattered, that told the real story, is in those records. It's been five years since my last album of new songs. Perhaps more than before, there's been plenty of time over the last few years to think and reflect. Like every set of work, Time on Earth is an attempt to make sense of life by making work about it. As erstwhile editor of the NME and Q, journalist Danny Kelly wrote recently while interviewing The Loft: 'a lifetime of listening to them has led me to believe that Pete Astor's songs would have always found a way to reach an audience. If he'd been a Californian baby boomer, he's have ended up in the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles, laying down late-night grooves with the Wrecking Crew for a largely-neglected, slightly gloomy, pop album that'd now be worth a fortune. If he'd been born into post-War Britain, earnest girls in sweaters would've fallen in love with him, and his songs, in Embassy-fogged folk clubs.' Of course, I love this quote. And I believe that Time on Earth is most of these things. But then I would say that, wouldn't I? Time on Earth has songs which were written in direct response to loss and bereavement ('Undertaker', 'Fine and Dandy'); songs striving for different kinds of belief ('New Religion', 'Time on Earth', 'Miracle on the High Street'); stories from either end of the cycles of life ('Sixth Form Rock Boys', 'English Weather'). And a few still searching for fulfilment of the heart ('Stay Lonely', 'Grey Garden', 'Soft Switch'). I was lucky enough to be able to make the music with the help of multi-instrumentalist Ian Button (Wreckless Eric, Death in Vegas, Papernut Cambridge) on the drums, bass maestro Andy Lewis (Spearmint, Paul Weller, and DJ at London's legendary Blow Up Club and Soho Radio), longtime guitarist Neil Scott (Everything But the Girl, Denim) and last but by no means least, Sean Read (Dexys, Edwyn Collins, Rockingbirds) who recorded and produced the album at his Famous Times Studios. As you would expect, I'm convinced it's the best record I've made." Pete Astor is a musician, writer and educator. He led Creation Records' groups The Loft and The Weather Prophets. He has gone on to a lengthy solo career since then.
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LP
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TR 511LP
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LP version. Pete Astor on Time on Earth: "In my 50s I realized that the past slowly becomes a bigger country than the future. As always, the future is where I'm headed, but now the past and all that comes with it is stacked up behind me . . . I've made 11 albums of new material since 1987. I realize that anything I've ever thought that mattered, that told the real story, is in those records. It's been five years since my last album of new songs. Perhaps more than before, there's been plenty of time over the last few years to think and reflect. Like every set of work, Time on Earth is an attempt to make sense of life by making work about it. As erstwhile editor of the NME and Q, journalist Danny Kelly wrote recently while interviewing The Loft: 'a lifetime of listening to them has led me to believe that Pete Astor's songs would have always found a way to reach an audience. If he'd been a Californian baby boomer, he's have ended up in the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles, laying down late-night grooves with the Wrecking Crew for a largely-neglected, slightly gloomy, pop album that'd now be worth a fortune. If he'd been born into post-War Britain, earnest girls in sweaters would've fallen in love with him, and his songs, in Embassy-fogged folk clubs.' Of course, I love this quote. And I believe that Time on Earth is most of these things. But then I would say that, wouldn't I? Time on Earth has songs which were written in direct response to loss and bereavement ('Undertaker', 'Fine and Dandy'); songs striving for different kinds of belief ('New Religion', 'Time on Earth', 'Miracle on the High Street'); stories from either end of the cycles of life ('Sixth Form Rock Boys', 'English Weather'). And a few still searching for fulfilment of the heart ('Stay Lonely', 'Grey Garden', 'Soft Switch'). I was lucky enough to be able to make the music with the help of multi-instrumentalist Ian Button (Wreckless Eric, Death in Vegas, Papernut Cambridge) on the drums, bass maestro Andy Lewis (Spearmint, Paul Weller, and DJ at London's legendary Blow Up Club and Soho Radio), longtime guitarist Neil Scott (Everything But the Girl, Denim) and last but by no means least, Sean Read (Dexys, Edwyn Collins, Rockingbirds) who recorded and produced the album at his Famous Times Studios. As you would expect, I'm convinced it's the best record I've made." Pete Astor is a musician, writer and educator. He led Creation Records' groups The Loft and The Weather Prophets. He has gone on to a lengthy solo career since then.
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CD
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TR 436CD
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Tapete Records present a reissue of Pete Astor's Paradise, originally released in 1992 on Danceteria. With the onset of the 1990s and the conclusion of The Weather Prophets, Pete Astor was in the mood for some artistic regeneration. To this end, he recruited a new group of musicians and friends, forming The Holy Road. The band consisted of erstwhile Felt and Everything But The Girl guitarist Neil Scott, bassist Chris Clarke (soon to become a key member of both The Rockingbirds and Danny and the Champions of the World), and drummer Russell Lax (of The Oyster Band and Billy Childish's Pop Rivets). While much of the UK was -- in the words of Jarvis Cocker -- "standing in a field, sorted for Es and Whizz," Astor maintained his commitment to his version of an English Chanson tradition. As such, he was adopted by a new French audience, coalescing around the anglophile gospel of the influential magazine Les Inrockuptibles who lionized Astor's work -- whether it be "Why Does The Rain?", courtesy of his first Creation band, The Loft, or The Weather Prophets' demi-anthem "Almost Prayed", or his more recent solo work on "Submarine" and "Zoo". And so arrived Paradise, becoming for many the album in which Astor, along with The Holy Road, most perfectly expressed his indubitable facility as a singer and songwriter. All his enduring musical references -- from classic British guitar pop to New-York punk via the blues and even jazz -- seem to blend into a fully-formed vision, one which envisions a kind of mythic America whilst always cleaving to European, and specifically British, roots. Twenty-seven years later, with Tapete's re-release, Paradise is a vital addition to a body of work which sounds as good now as it did then.
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LP
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TR 436LP
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LP version. Tapete Records present a reissue of Pete Astor's Paradise, originally released in 1992 on Danceteria. With the onset of the 1990s and the conclusion of The Weather Prophets, Pete Astor was in the mood for some artistic regeneration. To this end, he recruited a new group of musicians and friends, forming The Holy Road. The band consisted of erstwhile Felt and Everything But The Girl guitarist Neil Scott, bassist Chris Clarke (soon to become a key member of both The Rockingbirds and Danny and the Champions of the World), and drummer Russell Lax (of The Oyster Band and Billy Childish's Pop Rivets). While much of the UK was -- in the words of Jarvis Cocker -- "standing in a field, sorted for Es and Whizz," Astor maintained his commitment to his version of an English Chanson tradition. As such, he was adopted by a new French audience, coalescing around the anglophile gospel of the influential magazine Les Inrockuptibles who lionized Astor's work -- whether it be "Why Does The Rain?", courtesy of his first Creation band, The Loft, or The Weather Prophets' demi-anthem "Almost Prayed", or his more recent solo work on "Submarine" and "Zoo". And so arrived Paradise, becoming for many the album in which Astor, along with The Holy Road, most perfectly expressed his indubitable facility as a singer and songwriter. All his enduring musical references -- from classic British guitar pop to New-York punk via the blues and even jazz -- seem to blend into a fully-formed vision, one which envisions a kind of mythic America whilst always cleaving to European, and specifically British, roots. Twenty-seven years later, with Tapete's re-release, Paradise is a vital addition to a body of work which sounds as good now as it did then.
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CD
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TR 396CD
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"The master of less is more" --The Guardian.
Pete Astor on the record: "Time passes. Life happens. People arrive and people leave. Songs celebrate, songs grieve, look at yesterday and smile towards tomorrow; and everywhere, ghosts. One evening, when I was enjoying my favourite red wine, I decided to pour an extra glass for people and times past. Soon it became a tradition, the name of a song and then an album: One For The Ghost."
This is a record born through time; seasoned and erudite Indie auteur, ex leader of Creation Records' favorites The Loft and The Weather Prophets, Pete Astor brings together strands and tributaries in his work over the years, mining timeless guitar pop to frame wry lyrical insights and melodic hooks, making music for today, with a true line from the past and an eye to the future. Having released Spilt Milk in 2016 to an overwhelmingly positive response, Astor continues the musical spirit of that album with James Hoare (Ultimate Painting, Proper Ornaments, Veronica Falls) remaining a mainstay on guitar. He is now joined by The Wave Pictures' rhythm section of Franic Rozycki on bass and Jonny Helm on drums; Pam Berry of Withered Hand and Black Tambourine contributes vocals. One For The Ghost's rainy day psychedelia maintains Astor's engagement with relevant and contemporary worlds; from the mordant wit of the title track ("It's the wallpaper or me you know/one of us has got to go/ said Oscar Wilde/ and then he died"), to the London-based outsider ache of "Walker" ("Walking the town, joining the future to the past/ the line from Arnold Circus all the way to Marble Arch"), via the ageless love song of "Water Tower" and its paean to rural modernism ("Meet me by the water tower/ it's my favorite concrete flower"). Bruised, but very much alive, Astor and One For The Ghost face the future with a wry smile and hungry heart.
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LP+CD
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TR 396LP
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LP version. Includes CD. "The master of less is more" --The Guardian.
Pete Astor on the record: "Time passes. Life happens. People arrive and people leave. Songs celebrate, songs grieve, look at yesterday and smile towards tomorrow; and everywhere, ghosts. One evening, when I was enjoying my favourite red wine, I decided to pour an extra glass for people and times past. Soon it became a tradition, the name of a song and then an album: One For The Ghost."
This is a record born through time; seasoned and erudite Indie auteur, ex leader of Creation Records' favorites The Loft and The Weather Prophets, Pete Astor brings together strands and tributaries in his work over the years, mining timeless guitar pop to frame wry lyrical insights and melodic hooks, making music for today, with a true line from the past and an eye to the future. Having released Spilt Milk in 2016 to an overwhelmingly positive response, Astor continues the musical spirit of that album with James Hoare (Ultimate Painting, Proper Ornaments, Veronica Falls) remaining a mainstay on guitar. He is now joined by The Wave Pictures' rhythm section of Franic Rozycki on bass and Jonny Helm on drums; Pam Berry of Withered Hand and Black Tambourine contributes vocals. One For The Ghost's rainy day psychedelia maintains Astor's engagement with relevant and contemporary worlds; from the mordant wit of the title track ("It's the wallpaper or me you know/one of us has got to go/ said Oscar Wilde/ and then he died"), to the London-based outsider ache of "Walker" ("Walking the town, joining the future to the past/ the line from Arnold Circus all the way to Marble Arch"), via the ageless love song of "Water Tower" and its paean to rural modernism ("Meet me by the water tower/ it's my favorite concrete flower"). Bruised, but very much alive, Astor and One For The Ghost face the future with a wry smile and hungry heart.
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7"
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TR 390EP
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Seasoned, erudite indie auteur Pete Astor, ex-leader of Creation Records favorites The Loft and The Weather Prophets, presents two all-new tracks made with James Hoare of Ultimate Painting, Proper Ornaments, and Veronica Falls. They're joined by The Wave Pictures' rhythm section of Franic Rozycki on bass and Jonny Helm on drums, with vocals from Pam Berry of Withered Hand and Black Tambourine.
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