Mission into CHAOS! was a Man or Astro-man? 7" released on One Louder Records (LOUD1) in 1993. The sleeve was made from glossy cardstock that was machine-folded and glued, leaving only one edge open. With some copies there was an double-sided Astro-Man fan club insert.
Here is a copy of the insert:
It was pressed exclusively on thick, opaque black vinyl (3000). The back cover mentions that the songs were meant to be a soundtrack to a lost spy film of the same title. A reward was offered to anyone who could find a complete, intact print of the film. The film didn't actually exist, but that didn't stop several fans from submitting their own versions. The "winner" of the find the film contest was a guy named Jason Hill. He was listed on the inside sleeve of the follow up single Return to Chaos.
Here is the vinyl record:
Samples used at the beginning of "Madness in the Streets" and "Point Blank" were taken from a G.I. Joe book and record story put out by Peter Pan Records in the 1980s. Here is what the cover looked like:
And below is the audio from YouTube. The "Madness in the Streets" clip starts at 4:45 and the clip used for "Point Blank" starts at about 5:14. Many thanks to Brandonio Granger for pointing this out to me!
The picture of the insert was taken from a now defunct site run by a guy named Brad Lynham. Thanks Brad!
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the few MOAM? records with an outside producer credited. That producer, Jeff Walls, was the guitarist for noted Athens area jangle-poppers Guadalcanal Diary. Later, Mr. Walls formed the southern garage-a-billy combo Hillbilly Frankenstein and also produced several southern garage/punk/surf records, including most of (early MOAM? tour/label-mates) the Woggles' output. Jeff Walls currently plays guitar with those same Woggles, who are still going strong.
ReplyDeleteBesides producing, Mr. Walls, is credited with "mandolin and string arrangements" on this record, which means he played the Moog synth you hear on these songs, according to the "Destroy All Astro-Men!" liners.
It may also be interesting to note that this is the first, and one of the few, MOAM? singles made up exclusively of original material (unless someone knows something I don't).
About the "lost" Mission into Chaos film: I'd like to see a print of this myself, but it's doubtful I ever will, since it's more than likely a figment of Birdstuff's imagination.
Oh, nice find on that insert - it looks like MOAM? was hyping the clone project as early as 1995. And I wonder what the hell that aborted(?) "Astro-Sonic Detection Agency" thing was going to be.
ALIII
Yeah, "Wink Laceletter" is way too perfect of a name for a guy in a spy film. If there is no film, which is what most of us believe, I'd like to know from where they borrowed the picture.
ReplyDeleteSomebody get on that.
Hi, I was on holiday in New York in May 1999 and luckily Man... Or Astro-Man? played live whilst I was there. Being a huge film fan I asked Coco, who was in the crowd, about the film and he admitted it was all just made up for fun.
ReplyDeleteGreat gig and I managed to pick up one of the limited lunchboxes there as well.
John from One Louder here.
ReplyDeleteThere was never an insert with it, although the band may have added some to their copies.
The pressing was 3000.
Thanks for the input, John. I've seen several copies in the US with the above insert. Since the information on the insert seems to be astro-fan club centric, it makes since that they only went out with copies the band distributed themselves.
ReplyDelete