The Lilac Time - Astronauts (1991)

Stephen began to write what he thought would be the first of many albums for Creation but what was in fact the last Lilac Time album for eight years. Stephen recalls "I called the Creation office in Hackney. I'm so glad you've found some people you can trust and who will work for you in the right way at last she said."

The Lilac Time felt as if they had found a home and it was time to find the right notes, the Lilac notes, not the kind of "Notes" that Phonogram were interested in.

They had abandoned rehearsing in the farmhouse when Nick decided touring was a complete waste of time. First they tried the village hall in West Malvern. This proved okay acoustically but after a few days they realised that anyone could've walked in and stolen everything. As Stephen says "The only thing we lost were the bongos Michael left on the wall as we drove off on tour. I wonder how long they sat there. Then we rehearsed in Worcester's mental home. The disturbing rehearsal room and depressing rehearsals heralded a tour that should have bound us together but instead broke us up."

In retrospect they should have carried on with the three piece that had been relatively successful in California. It was the fourth tour of the year and the next one would be their last. On the last night of the tour Stephen provoked a mini riot at Cheltenham Ladies college (3rd November 1990), kissed a girl and knew some things were over.

In the middle of December 1991 they were back in Malvern in Stephen's seven by nine-foot spare room with a similarly tiny Akai 12 track portable studio on a government surplus wooden desk. Using one microphone (a Shure 57) they set about recording the 4th Lilac Time album. It was a painful birth starting out in life as "The Sentiments of Spring". Then "Audiodelic" (the studio name) or maybe "Poetry Not Logic", later it was "Approaching Nirvana", later still the unwieldy "Municipal Ironworks Or More Angels". Finally it became "Astronauts And Other Celebrities", streamlined to just "Astronauts" on the day he laid out the sleeve.

"The studio was so small I recorded by myself and then separately with Sagat & Micky. Sagat came up with some good things; the bottle neck slide on the nylon strung classical guitar on "Fortunes" was unique. I knew the little machine and recorded some fat sounds that belie the room or budget machine. I had almost worked my way through all of Iris Murdoch's books."

Recording went slowly and to make matters worse equipment was repossessed due to unpaid bills. "Dreaming" was "possessed" and ruined by Hypnotone. Stephen was "losing the plot" and the album was being lost in the fog.

"The album abandoned I returned to my dark night and the fog. It was only a matter of time before the single bombed. The lilac dream was over and there was nothing Alan McGee could say to make me change my mind. I woke up one morning and talked to him on the phone and that was it the group was over. I didn't have the money to pay the wages, I didn't know what I was going to do but to make an end is to make a beginning."

As a fan I find it hard to believe that "Astronauts" was such a painful album. Fans rate it as highly as anything Stephen had done before or since. Maybe it was this despair that shone its way through to the vinyl. Every note laced with desperation or forlorn hope it sits, imperious, at the top of the Lilac Time canon.

Essential listen: The whole bloody album, stupid! Apart from The Lilac Time I cannot think of a more poignant, beautiful album. The harmonies in "The Darkness Of Her Eyes" are as beautiful as it is possible to be. Oh, you can forget "Dreaming". What were they thinking? (Sabine likes it though! :-))

Essential buy: Try to find the single "Madresfield / Bird On A Wire" on the CAFF label. It has different versions to the better-known "Astronauts" / "I'm Your Fan" records. Although quite rare it turns up frequently enough and should be yours for about £ 10.

Chris

~ Click on the cover images for more details ~

	Artist/Composer	Title	Release Year	Format	Cat. Number	Label	Country	Length	Tracks
	The Lilac Time	Astronauts	1991	CD	CRECD 098 (Int. 848 911)	Creation	United Kingdom	49:26	12
	The Lilac Time	Astronauts	1991	LP	CRELP 098 (Int. 148.911)	Creation	United Kingdom	49:19	12
	The Lilac Time	Astronauts	1991	Cassette	C-CRE 098	Creation	United Kingdom	49:19	12
	The Lilac Time	Astronauts	1991	CD	COCY-7877	Nippon Columbia	Japan	54:25	13
	The Lilac Time	Astronauts+	1998	CD	ESCA 7707	Legacy and Jazz/Sony Music	Japan	77:49	19
	The Lilac Time	Astronauts+	2005	CD	CMQCD1202	Castle Music/Sanctuary Records	United Kingdom	77:49	19
	The Lilac Time	Madresfield	1990	7 inch	CAFF 12	Caff Records	United Kingdom	05:38	2
	The Lilac Time	Dreaming	1991	7 inch	CRE 104	Creation	United Kingdom	08:46	2
	The Lilac Time	Dreaming	1991	12 inch	CRE 104T	Creation	United Kingdom	12:40	3
	The Lilac Time	Dreaming (Hypnotone Remixes)	1991	12 inch	CRE 104X	Creation	United Kingdom	14:27	3
	The Lilac Time	Dreaming	1991	Cassette	CRECS 104	Creation	United Kingdom	08:46	2
	The Lilac Time	Dreaming	1991	CD single	CRESCD 104	Creation	United Kingdom	19:40	4
	The Lilac Time	In Iverna Gardens / Dreaming	1991	7 inch	INT 113.912	Creation	Germany	07:46	2
	The Lilac Time	In Iverna Gardens / Dreaming	1991	12 inch	INT 128.914	Creation	Germany	07:46	2
	The Lilac Time	In Iverna Gardens / Dreaming	1991	CD single	INT 828.914	Creation	Germany	17:44	4