The Astronauts were a group of musicians from Colorado who took a shot at bringing the sunny California sound to their landlocked state. On this, their first album, they tackle some of the hits of the day with their signature sound while throwing in a few tunes of their own. While the few vocal numbers may be of interest to Beach Boys fans, where the group truly shines is their instrumentals. With guitars practically dripping with reverb, this band has one of the most recognizable sounds of any instrumental group of the period.

 

Hazelwood’s dreamy ‘Baja’ opens up side one. The Astronauts try their hand at vocalizing on Beach Boy’s ‘Surfin U.S.A,’ which winds up coming nowhere near the original, though the effort is well-intentioned. ‘Misirlou’s’ heavy beat, crunchy guitars are juxtaposed against the laid-back shuffle of ‘Surfer’s Stomp.’ The Astronauts again send a vocalist up to the mic to deliver a cover of ‘Suzie-Q.’ ‘Pipeline’ is a commendable cover of the Chantays’ hit while Henry Mancini’s lone contribution to the surf genre, ‘Banzai Pipeline’* turns into a comic number that pokes fun at the surfing jargon of the day and ‘Kuk’* shows that the group was fully capable of coming up with their own material. ‘Movin’’ grooves well in classic Astronauts style. The vocal number, ‘Baby Let’s Play House’ is an anomaly among the other surf-themed tracks and sits uncomfortably between them. ‘Let’s Go Trippin’’ is another fine cover while ‘The Batman’ is another Hazelwood number and boasts some fine guitar work from Rich Fifield.​

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The Astronauts’ stood out from many of the instrumental bands of the time because of their distinct “wet” sound. Their debut Lp is full of reverb, saxes, and pounding drums. The only downside is a lack of original material and a few weak vocal numbers sandwiched between the better instrumentals. However, Surfin’ with the Astronauts still manages to come out on top due to its varied selection and the youthful enthusiasm it’s played with. Though this was the band’s lone surf-related album, their next offering would transition the group to the more-translatable hot rod scene. 

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* Note: When the album went to press, both 'Kuk' and 'Banzai Pipeline' were mislabeled - though the lyrics do say "...Banzai Pipeline, shootin' the curl" the track labeled 'Kuk' is actually the Mancini composition, 'Banzai Pipeline.' Later reissues fix this problem.