A Spectrum of Finite Scale

A Spectrum of Finite Scale was a self-released, tour only Man... or Astro-Man? album available only on CD. It was limited to 1,000 copies, and was for sale on the band's 2001 tour in support of A Spectrum of Infinite Scale.

There were 13 listed tracks on the disc, and a 14th “hidden” track that was actually song number 32 (placed after 18 silent tracks that were each four seconds long). Musically it was an experimental collection of tracks performed by members of the Astro Staff Live Division, in isolation or in pairs. In other words, it was a series of songs written and played by band members and road crew, with a few extra folks thrown in for good measure. Everyone on the recording had some kind of an Astro-Man connection. Here is a list of the eight performers:

Birdstuff
Blazar The Probe Handler
Coco The Electronic
Trace Reading
The Brannock Device – Live Sound Coordination
Q-Beam – Live Visual Control
Andy Baker
Shannon Wright

Birdstuff, Coco, Blazar and Trace were the official line-up of MOAM? when this disc was released. For some reason, "Monkey Wizard" is dropped from Coco's name. The Brannock Device and Q-Beam were both members of the band's tour crew, with Brannock being the sound guy and Q running the merch table and helping with projection/lighting. The other two are a little more peripheral. Andy Baker played bass on track 6. He also was the recording engineer for tracks 1 and 6 and is responsible for the disc’s mastering. He had previously played in the affiliated band Servotron, alongside Birdstuff and former MOAM? guitarist Dexter X. As a member of Servotron he was known as Andro Series 600. Here’s an old Servotron press photo with an arrow pointing to Baker:


If this appearance by Baker is enough to merit his inclusion as an official band member, then the only member of Servotron in the above photo that never went on to play in MOAM? was the woman: Proto-Unit V-3.

Then there’s the curious case of Shannon Wright. Wright had previously been a member of the Astroman family, part of the Gamma series of Clones. As one of the two guitarists in the Gamma Clones, her name was Carol. Here are two grainy shots of Wright taken during a Gamma Clone performance in September of 1998 in Signal Hill, California:



Where the case for Wright’s full inclusion in the MOAM? pantheon really comes into focus, though, is when you consider that she toured with the band proper, replacing Blazar on the South American/Brazilian tour of 2001. On tour she dropped her Gamma Clone name and took the official Astroman moniker SW6. This, coupled with her playing guitar on "After All the Prosaic Waiting... the Sun Finally Crashes into the Earth" on this recording, really makes a strong case for her legitimate Man… or Astro-Man? membership. Recently, Astro-Man ad nauseam contributor Abraham Lincoln III found a picture of Shannon Wright/Carol/SW6 performing with the band in Brazil. It is the only photographic evidence I’ve ever seen of the full-fledged Astro-Woman:


(That photo is the property of Flickr user withlasers). Note that, in the photo, Wright is wearing Blazar's jumpsuit!

To bring the rest of this recording into visual focus, here is a scan of the front and back of the CD booklet:


And here’s a scan of the front and back of the tray card, and of the disc itself:



And, finally, here’s a track listing with a breakdown of exactly who contributed to each track:

1. After All The Prosaic Waiting... The Sun Finally Crashes Into The Earth
Shannon Wright (guitar)
Birdstuff
2. The Limitations Of A Serial Machine
Blazar The Probe Handler
3. MO₂
Trace Reading
4. Halfway To The Infinite
Coco The Electronic
5. Space Helmet
Birdstuff
Coco The Electronic
6. All The Quietest Whispers
Andy Baker (bass)
Birdstuff
7. Mt-52 Tone/Magnus Opus
Q-Beam
8. Tolerance In A Transitory Universe
Blazar The Probe Handler
9. Analysis Paralysis
The Brannock Device
10. Man Or Man-Machine?
Birdstuff
Coco The Electronic
11. The Potential Energy Of Roger Stone
Trace Reading
12. Mortimer Butomite's Pocket Of Capacitors
Coco The Electronic
13. Fig. A: Dispersion In Full Spectrum Pattern
Birdstuff
Blazar The Probe Handler
32. Untitled
Personnel: ???

And for those of you that are scouring the Internet looking for a download of this disc, consider this section of the liner notes: