This one seems to have slipped out unnanounced, which is quite surprising considering it is nearly 10 years since the last widely available studio recordings, and the internet age we live in.

If you know who Mark Astronaut is, you will definitely want this. If you don't know who  he is, and you are looking 

for the surf band, the reggae band, or even the punk band that had a single on Stiff Records in the late 70s, then 

you probably won't.

Donkey Riding was always one of my favourite unreleased Astronauts songs, since I first heard it in the late 80s, so 

I was extra pleased to hear about this new studio recording of it. Musically, it is closest in style to the "Soon" 

era Astronauts than anything they did before or after that album. Or a bit like The Otters with (very subdued) 

violins and what sounds to my untrained ear like banjos.

My only quibble is the bitrate that has been chosen for this "virtual release" (VBR, average 160kbps). I don't know 

if it is CD Baby that dictates such things or not, but in the absense of a proper CD release (or even better a vinyl 

release), FLAC would have made a lot more sense. While they sound excellent on my mobile phone through headphones, 

they do sound a bit flat when played through large/high quality speakers. 

Some decently sized (printable) artwork would have been good too. But these are the first mp3s I have ever bought, 

so maybe what is here is pretty much the standard?
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