Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts (+Bonus CD)

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
Limited edition version of the hit English indie rock outfit's 1999 & second album with a two track bonus disc featuring 'Tattva' (Live) and 'Hurry On Sundown' (Hari Om Sundown). A combined total of 15 tracks, with the main album featuring the singles 'Mystical Machine Gun', 'Shower Your Love' and 'Sound Of Drums'. Double slimline jewel case. 1999 release.

Tracks:

Great Hosannah
Mystical Machine Gun
S.O.S.
Radhe Radhe
I'm Still Here
Shower Your Love
108 Battles (Of The Mind)
Sound Of Drums
Timeworm
Last Farewell
Golden Avatar
Namami Nanda-Nandana
Unknown

Customer Reviews:

Just a thought..........2006-07-30

It's just so refreshing to hear people defend an album they like in spite of critics/wannabe professional blowhards... this is an exceptional album, and even though every 'professional' audiophile is enamored with it and a few of the 'permanently pissed' don't care for it shouldn't dissuade people from getting it. If it wasn't for the necessity of balance within the right of free speech, sometimes I'd just like to remove the bad reviews altogether. Of course, that would mean every album was great, and that's obviously not the case.

Just read all the reviews with a grain of salt, and try to pick out the saner reviewers from the nutjobs.

I liked the album. So which am I?

www.myspace.com/twistedcoil

Magical mystery tour.......2006-04-21

Like the highly acclaimed previous Shaker offering "K", this album is a mystical romp through psychedelia marked by an intoxicating afterglow for the listener. The production value on this record is superior to "K". A riff on one of the songs was given to Mills by George Harrison who was close chums with the Shakers as was David Gilmour of Pink Floyd (the album was recorded on his houseboat/studio). For those unfamiliar with the Shakers think Beatles meets Grateful Dead meets Pink Floyd meets Jimi Hendrix meets the Moody Blues meets Ravi Shankar forming an indescribable heady brew sure to leave you floating.

This record has been trashed in some quarters by people who hate the indian influence and the mystical assuredness of the Shaker sound. They find it pretentious. Too bad, different strokes for different blokes I say. Like one or more reviewers mentioned here there is a mistaken idea that Crispian Mills is some kind of pretentious jerk. This false meme was created by some U.K reviewers who write for big publications in the U.K and who simply hate the way the Shakers songs are so in your face "I have the answers to the mysteries of the ages". That's why they came down so heavily on Mills, not because of Mills personality it's because of his so called arrogant lyrics and musical style, he is in fact a charming very funny bloke. Also the haters came down heavily on Mills when in an interview he mentioned that the swastika is a mystical yantra from India signifying good fortune that was stolen from Hinduism by the nasties and that he wanted to reclaim it, he then joked about wanting to do a concert with swastikas on fire surrounding the stage. This blew the mind of some U.K scribblers who then labled Mills a nasty, go figure.

A Rousing, Anthemic Festival.......2006-04-10

Some albums are sneaky-dangerous: you're afraid to play them too much because they're so good and you don't want burnout, you want a friend for life; if you're able to set them aside from regular rotation, then every time you hear them you'll want to play them twice. This is one such record. I'm glad to see it's still a respectable ranking on Amazon. Why in Shiva's name did they break up?

Intoxicating rock with a sprinkling of Indian mysticism.......2006-03-15

What's again very obvious in this Kula Shaker offering, is that again, they seemed to have recorded their bits and parts, then bundled it all up in holy cloth and let this mix soak up all Indian flavours as they passed through the un-eco-friendly country.

Kula Shaker is a British Band that openly confesses of being heavily influenced by heady doses of Indian mysticism and mythology (one look at their first album 'K' will immediately corroborate the confession...'K'...'K' for Krishna too? Hmmmmmm).

What's commendable about the band is that they fuse Indian elements so seamlessly, it kinda grows on you...even for music enthusiasts like me who find it very difficult to appreciate music emanating from the same set of instruments! Sitar, sarangi, bamboo flute, shehnai, sarangi...wud I beleive it? With Kula Shaker....hell yes!

Their second album, 'Peasants, Pigs and Astronauts' emulates the same technical, recording wizardry and musical styles like its predecessor, 'K'.
Ok, before I start reviewing this album, I suggest you already decide to buy it. Go, go!

According to Crispian Mills (the most charismatic of the band, whose vocals are a treat to listen), the meaning of the new album is more or less with reference to India. The title according to him might have different interpretations (which was his objective primarily), but hear this one and you'll have to agree. The 'peasant' signifies the majority of India's population that live below the poverty line, 'pigs' signify the atmosphere / a reflection of the environment in which we live in, and 'astronauts' signify the ambitious plans, we as a nation harbour, to attain nuclear power status and be one among the develpoed nations, never mind the lack of basic infrastructure. Well, I'll subscribe to this view anyday.

Now to the songs...
If you've loved the first album, there's no reason why this won't go down well with you. The opening three songs are all mystical-rock compositions that have intermittent tablas and sarangi's that generously give you breathing space. 'Great Hosannah', 'Mystical Machine Gun' and 'S.O.S.' revolve around the impending doom of the world about to end abruptly (I think) even as we sleep peacefully, and the feeling of frustration when exposed to the mediocrity around us. Pretty strong words too, wonderfully worded again...

S.O.S.
"...
Blood transfusion, revolution
Satellites on Mars
Man became the spawn of Satan
Drivin' around in cars
----
I read the news but
The news didn't fascinate
I stayed at home, watched
The media ejaculate.
..."

Listen to Crispian sing 'Mystical Machine Gun'. It's bound to get you really intoxicated. I love this guy!
He gets even more madira-zonked on songs like 'I'm still here', 'Shower Your Love (great shehnai accompaniment by a guy called Durvesh)' and 'Timeworn' (the ending shehnai really sounds like a bidayee!...the hindi movie kind...beti...apna khayal rakhna beti..sob! sob!).

You might have caught 'Sound of Drums' on one of the music channels. Great track, especially the initial repitition. '108 Battles (of the mind)' is an absolutely crazy number and I found at least a thousand musical influences there. A bit of Uriah Heep, Jeff Beck and flower power all rolled into one.

'Last Farewell' bids adieu to 'Great Hosannah', almost like its part-II. Slow and very melodious...and Crispian Mills, what else to say?
'Golden Avatar' forms a nice precursor to the wrap-up number, 'Namami Nanda-Nandana'.

The only spanner in the works comes in the form of solitary raga/shlok deliveries. 'Radhe Radhe' (ok she's got a great voice..but does not gel here, face value) and the ending read-out (its not mentioned in the track listing).
In contrast, Crispian has sung 'Namami Nanda-Nandana' with utmost sincerity, which makes it great listening, more so due to his Brit accent too I guess.

Great album. Just listen to it. If you like a bit of fusion, Talvin Singh, Mahavishnu Orchestra...you'll love this one.

p.s. 1. That's Hariprasad Chaurasia on the flute in 'Namami Nanda-Nandana'.
p.s. 2. The band is named supposedly after a 9th century Indian King with the same name!

An excellent album........2006-01-20

This is a truely excellent album by Kula Shaker, and it is wrong to say that it is no where near as good as their first or that it is not a great album. It has very catchy songs, a great feel to it and after you have listened to it you feel as if you have been somewhere.

How can anyone say this is not a superb album? Nonsense.

Average customer rating:

Shower your love on me
Monumental effort
The gods of rock & revolution for fun!
A Very high three stars that is.........
****in' brilliant!!!

Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts
Kula Shaker
Manufacturer: Msi/Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00000I8SX
Release Date: 1999-03-09

Customer Reviews:

Shower your love on me.......2007-07-14

Kula Shaker is a big of an oddity -- a 1990s band (recently reformed) that sounds like a classic psychedelic/Indian funk band from the sixties or seventies.

And their second album "Peasants Pigs and Astronauts is a seriously underrated little Britpop album, full of rich atmosphere, brilliant instrumentation, and a thick opulant blanket of Indian musical influence. Where else in modern music do you hear Sanskrit chants with blazing riffs?

It opens on a spacey, shimmering note, before seguing into the funky, catchy, wild "Great Hosannah." It's a surprisingly stirring song calling for all people to join together, because, Crispin Mills asks us a bit uncertainly, "Will we arise in our time/At the dawn of another meaning/Will we awake at the break of a great hosannah?"

It's followed by the sinuous, swirling rocker with a great name "Mystical Machine Gun." Then they follow it up with a slew of solid rock'n'roll, flavoured with a heavy Indian vibe -- psychedelic blues, roof-raising rockers, bouncy Doors-like pop with samples of thunder, soft acoustic ballads, and little yowling songs that cycle gently in chiming, colourful circles.

It came as a shock to me to learn that Kula Shaker (named after an Indian holy man, Kulasekhara) only formed in the mid 1990s. Listening to their sound and their socially critical lyrics, I thought they were a product of the sixties or seventies, whose music had stayed timeless.

But as I listened to it more, it became clear that this music was a more modern type. It has deliciously barbed, jagged riffs paired with cycling, ethereal guitars, even in mellow love songs like "Shower Your Love." And it's laced with bells, funky horns, eerie flutes, smashing drums, rippling retro keyboard and spacey synth. It's all woven tightly together, into pop songs with a dozen layers of sound. But they also do something a bit more recent, slipping in delicate samples of church bells, singing birds, and a weird little voice.

Crispian Mills has that retro flavour as well -- he pours his heart into his rough-sounding vocals, as he belts out everything from neo-psychedelic weirdness ("You're a wizard in a blizzard/A mystical machine gun") to tender love songs ("Shower your love on me/Don't make it so hard to cry"), and a few awkwardly phrased calls for revolution ("Well, I laugh and catch the sun/'cause it's gonna be revolution for fun").

The newly reformed Kula Shaker mishmash retro instrumentation, Indian funk and blazing rock'n'roll together in their second album, an underrated little Britpop gem.

Monumental effort.......1999-05-11

After a critically acclaimed,but far from perfect debut album,"K".Crispian Mills and his compatriots hit back with possibly the album of the decade.With obvious references and inspirations,Kula Shaker manage to create a diverse,and surprisingly cohesive atmosphere.Think psychedelic Beatles meets Ravi Shankar 1999.A milestone.

The gods of rock & revolution for fun!.......1999-04-18

First I thought I didn`t like this album as much as K, but now I know how wrong I was. 'Great Hosanna' is a perfect song with the most incredible intro. 'S.O.S.' truly has it, one of the best songs on the album! No bad songs on the album! I'll say '108 Battles' and 'Timeworm' are one of the best ones. PP&A is one of the best albums I've ever bought. Though I have to say this is not so mainstream as K was. Just buy this record, it's worth it!

A Very high three stars that is................1999-03-26

Kula SHaker are a great band and this is a good album. YOu just get the feeling that for every magical piece of music, theres another track which isnt so awe inspiring. "Shower your love" is pure genius yet something like "SoS" is pretty average. A lot of Inadian influence which isnt a bad thing. Yet they could have done without the horns. Nice album but not life changing.

****in' brilliant!!!.......1999-03-21

And I thought 'K' was the best thing ever...

PPA is by far one of the greatest things I've ever heard. The fact that Great Hosannah and Last Farewell are two parts of the same song (ha!) doesn't bother me one bit. Rockers like SOS and MMG are absolutely fabulous, with 108 Battles and Golden Avatar screaming against yer ears. Nice, soft songs include Shower Your Love(!), Namami Nanda-Nandana, Radhe Radhe (Love the horns), and Timeworm. Last but not least is the grand Sound Of Drums! Wahey, it's a revolution!

Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts (+Bonus CD)
Average customer rating:

Shower your love on me

Brilliant Simply Brilliant, Sgt. Pepper of the 90's

Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts (+Bonus CD)
Kula Shaker
Manufacturer: Sony International
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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