Estrus Cocktail Companion

The Estrus Cocktail Companion was a compilation box set put out by Estrus records in January of 1995 (ESBX5). There were twelve songs from twelve different bands, each one exclusive to this set. The Man or Astro-Man? song was “Carbonated Comet.” The twelve tracks were divided over three 7” records, with two songs appearing on each of the six sides. It was meant to serve as the perfect musical mixer for your next bad booze blow-out. It certainly had the look. It came in a hinged box that featured “fabulous five color artwork by none other than Mr. Ed Fotheringham.” The center labels of the records also featured illustrations by Fotheringham. The labels were drab 1950s colors: olive, tan and muted blue. The set included an Estrus Crust Club flyer, a coaster and a plastic swizzle stick.

Here is a scan of the front and back of these three inserts:



The records were pressed on opaque black vinyl. They were also pressed and packaged as a three color translucent vinyl set. The colors were blue, green and purple. Here is a scan of the Astro-specific record, and the trio of EPs that make up the set:





Here are a few shots of the color version (I do not have this on color vinyl so I nicked this from the Apemen’s Facebook page):



And just to cover all our bases, here is a scan of the hinge side of the box: