punk wrote:I actually like the later stuff more than the early stuff i guess.
thats pretty rare i guess.

Same with me. Their early stuff is great but when they evolved from just a silly sci-fi-themed surf band into a weird surf/Devo/noise hybrid, they really hit on something unique. One of my favorite bands ever, and their T&G25 set was maybe my favorite performance of the entire weekend (neck and neck with Killdozer).

To Frank Decent, i would suggest the thee-album stretch covering Experiment Zero, Made From Technicium and Eeviac. Just incredible stuff and their peak in my opinion.

It's really refreshing to read that so many of you are fond of the later albums; typical MoA? fan sentiment has typically been that the later albums got all noisy and that they really missed MoA?'s more derivative early sound. I guess the mid-nineties surf revival brought some really unadventurous tools out of the woodwork, which is probably why I grew out of listening to garage & surf and got into Jesus Lizard and Six Finger Satellite.
At any rate, Steve has written some really heartfelt things about what the Ramones were to him as a teenager, and while I don't share that view of the Ramones, I can understand completely because it more or less describes what MoA? meant to me. That band resonated with me something fierce at an influential time in my life, and it took about six years of daily listening and several live shows for their hooks to work their way outta me. Still, I'm incredibly envious of all you who saw them at T&G25.

As far as an album to suggest, I'd go with Project Infinity. Listeners who saw them early on or prefer surf music tend to like Destroy All Astromen! best, whereas the casual fan tends to really love Experiment Zero. Project Infinity falls right in the middle and contains tracks Steve worked on before he recorded any of their later albums. It is comprised of many songs written at the peak of their releasing-a-single-every-month-while-touring-their-asses-off phase which is really when their song writing seemed to gell, and is probably the best starting point for anyone who may want to examine their later material.

I go for Made From Technicium, I can't believe how amazing the guitar is on that record.

All this talk about MoAM is making me sort of regret having been on the other side of the lot for the Big Black set at TG25. Not that I didn't enjoy Big Black, but I could see and hear them from the other side while me and a few friends waited, and they sounded really "on" that night.

I did see MoA before, during the "Spectrum..." tour at the Black Cat, and it's still one of the best shows I've ever seen. I've still got the tour shirt, and still wear it from time to time.

nathan. wrote:All this talk about MoA is making me sort of regret having been on the other side of the lot for the Big Black set at TG25. Not that I didn't enjoy Big Black, but I could see and hear them from the other side while me and a few friends waited, and they sounded really "on" that night.

That's funny because at the time the group i was with was a bit conflicted about flocking over for MoA? at the risk of not being up front for Big Black. I think at some point our rationale became "tons of people are gonna crowd up for BB regardless, while we're pretty much assured we can get a good vantage point for MoA? and not get mobbed." So i ended up seeing Big Black from a very far distance (frown), but on the other hand, Chuck got one of Birdstuff's cymbals when he gave away his kit at the end of the set. (The fucking kick drum went over my head and away before it dawned on me that he wasn't expecting any of that stuff back. FUCK!!)

I saw them fellas a ton of times. They always brought the rock and are some of the nicest guys I have ever met. Almost every time I saw them they gave me free stuff (shirts, records, light switch covers) just because they remembered me from a previous show.

Top Notch Band.

DrAwkward wrote:

nathan. wrote:All this talk about MoA is making me sort of regret having been on the other side of the lot for the Big Black set at TG25. Not that I didn't enjoy Big Black, but I could see and hear them from the other side while me and a few friends waited, and they sounded really "on" that night.

That's funny because at the time the group i was with was a bit conflicted about flocking over for MoA? at the risk of not being up front for Big Black. I think at some point our rationale became "tons of people are gonna crowd up for BB regardless, while we're pretty much assured we can get a good vantage point for MoA? and not get mobbed." So i ended up seeing Big Black from a very far distance (frown), but on the other hand, Chuck got one of Birdstuff's cymbals when he gave away his kit at the end of the set. (The fucking kick drum went over my head and away before it dawned on me that he wasn't expecting any of that stuff back. FUCK!!)

I actually walked away from Scratch Acid a bit early to make sure I was up front for MoA?, and I got right up to the barricade. I knew there would be tons of people up front for BB and Shellac anyway, so I didn't even try to get super close for them. I'm envious of this Chuck fellow... I kept yelling for Birdstuff's hi-hat. No dice. I think the TVs, drum giveaway, tesla coil and how well they played that night has lead me to say this was the best live set I've ever seen from any band.

I have all the released material by Man Or Astroman?, including the really hard to find singles and compilation material. There's still a ton of b-sides, alternate versions, and tracks exclusive to compilations that have never been collected.
When I get around to converting them to mp3 or whatever, I'll post it to the sendspace thread and also post about it here.
I have enough material for a rarities disc, live disc, and BBC sessions disc. The bad news is, half of said material is sourced from multi-generation sources, but it still sounds pretty good. And I'm picky about that sort of thing.

Christopher J. McGarvey wrote:

Frank Decent wrote:For some reason, I managed to not be turned on by this band. I always sensed that I should like it, but I never gave them a fair shot. Tell me please, where would any of you suggest I get a start on this band? I really would like to learn to appreciate them. Sorry for the hi-jack.

The only one I own is this one

'A Spectrum Of Infinite Scale' (linked above) is one of my favorite records of all time.

Destroy All Astro-Men and Your Weight On The Moon are also classics in my book

Hey thanks for the help.

i would have loved to have seen that show...

i would also love to have all the 7"s and things in one place too.
i own a few, but converting is a nightmare and if someone has already done it then that would be grand.

here here.