The crux of my opinion is that I disagree with this, however I'm not entirely sure which way I want to swing, and I can't really say which one is better. A summary of it would probably be along the lines of such;
Out of Frequency builds on the ideas and compositions released on Fruit, however it doesn't best it. This isn't to say that Fruit is a better album, or that Out of Frequency is an inferior album, but that the two albums work on different levels.Ultimately, it would be like comparing the Beatles' 1967 release Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band to Pink Floyd's 1973 release The Dark Side of the Moon. While both were groundbreaking critical successes and both cited by many (arguably) reputable publications among the best albums ever released, neither have enough similar ties to really be evaluated together, or compared against each other.
The amazing thing about this, then, is that the Asteroids Galaxy Tour have managed to release two great albums which cannot best one and other, something rarely achieved by indie, new, and unrecognised bands. While the overall sound is similar, the structures of the albums are incredibly different, and this is exactly what I want to argue is the reason for this difficulty in comparison.
Out of Frequency, at first glance, draws inspiration from psychedelic rock and pop much more prominently than Fruit, however after I became accustomed to both albums it became clear to me that both possess just as significant ties to this particular genre. Out of Frequency, unlike Fruit, is considerably more album-orientated, without ever stepping into the realm of ever being remotely considered a concept album (in comparison, the same can be said of the Beatles' 1966 album Revolver, and Pink Floyd's 1967 album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn). Some of the songs feed off each other, such as the introductory three song phrase comprising a wordless (while not quite instrumental) opening, a two minute follow up (in a completely different key and tempo), and then a longer, more instrument orientated reprise of the first song, and this section, along with others within the album, add to a feeling of continuity and thematic progression. By comparison, the opening three songs of Fruit are standalone songs, none of which link together musically or thematically. Musical and thematic continuity, however, isn't something that should ever add to the quality of an album, as even some of the best albums scarcely utilised (or even fail entirely to utilise) this tool, which for all intents and purposes can be written off as nothing more than a special effect.
The argument that Out of Frequency has 'just as many good songs and just as many bad songs as Fruit’, while is correct by itself, I feel deserves a larger justification.
Technically, Out of Frequency is a much more fluid album with 'higher highs' (Heart Attack, Out of Frequency, and Suburban Space Invader) and 'lower lows' (Mafia, Theme from 45 Eugenia and Ghost in my Head) than Fruit. That is to say that, while Fruit has some great songs, Out of Frequency has some better songs, and while Fruit has some bad songs, Out of Frequency has worse songs. If song quality were to be graphed based on song quality, the two albums would look something like this.
Next is the idea of feel and mood shift within the albums, which Fruit utilises more prevalently. It jumps from poppy, energetic songs such as Push the Envelope, The Golden Age, and Around the Bend, all three of which can be labelled as celebration anthems, to mellow, relaxed, and spaced out songs such as Crazy and Hero. While Out of Frequency attempts this, it falls short due to the trough in song quality experienced in Theme from 45 Eugenia and its prelude, Arrival of the Empress. Its biggest redeeming factor to this otherwise mood-independent album happens when Ghost in my Head, a relatively monotonous song, ends, and Suburban Space Invader (possibly the best non-single song on the album, and my personal favourite) begins. This then sweeps on to Fantasy Friend Forever, a synth and guitar driven mood lifter, which sort of helps to finish off the album before it's really over. When it Comes to Us, while not necessarily a bad song, isn't fitting as the finishing song on the album, and it could easily have been replaced by either of the two songs before it (Suburban Space Invader or Fantasy Friend Forever) to let the album finish on a more whole note (metaphorically). This argument, however, is a minor discrepancy, and the sound of the synthesizer mocking what could be described as the sound of an alien motor slowing down is just as fitting an ending as any alternative, independent of the actual song that it is appended to.
Fruit, conversely, ends on a worse note exactly because of what I just mentioned, and that was song chronology. The final song, Bad Fever, similar to the final song on Out of Frequency, isn't a necessarily bad song, but lacks the thematic closure (or at least musical structure) to be fluently used as the album's closing song. Empirically, this was one of the strongest points for me not really enjoying this album for a long time (and I have had it in my library for close to two years). Every time I listened to Fruit, I would sort of fade out of actually listening to the music as I did other activities, and then when the album finished, the last (and for the first two or so full listens through, only) thing I would remember of it was that Bad Fever worked as a sort of anticlimax to the perceptual rollercoaster I would eventually notice through the rest of the album, arguably culminating in the two songs Sunshine Coolin' and Hero, the two tracks listed before the final song on the album.
I have scrutinised the introductions of both albums, too, and as I touched on previously, the albums divulge at this point. Fruit begins on a low note with Lady Jesus, which although is a great song, doesn’t develop interest until its chorus. Meanwhile, Out of Frequency begins dramatically with its introductory trio, which helped me enjoy the album thoroughly when I first listened to it, as it grabbed my attention immediately, so that by the end of the third song in the introductory trio I hadn't quite dismissed the album to the back of my attention as I focused on other things. Instead, the album became the forefront of my attention by the beginning of the first song's reprise, which then piqued my interest throughout the album, as while there were some poor (and even horrible songs), the peaks (again, as mentioned previously) kept my attention on the album and my interest in the music for its duration.
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour is by no stretch of the imagination a popular band. In their short four years of studio experience, they have enjoyed modest success, being featured in the Heineken advertisement The Entrance, with their single The Golden Age, and Apple's advertisement The Funnest iPod Ever with their song Around the Bend, both songs released on Fruit. That's what makes this sort of a band so great to listen to: if I talk about them with others, no-one recognises their name, but when I show them one of these two songs they become instantly recognisable, putting them in a strange equilibrium of being both internationally famous, while simultaneously being totally unnoticed.
Amazingly, over the last few months my interest in this band has really skyrocketed. While it really took some time to fully appreciate their sound, the more I listened to them the more I started to like, and eventually I became accustomed to the bad songs, making them more familiar and not as poorly-received as the first few times I had listened to them. In fact, this can be said about their entire first album; the first time I listened to the album, with the exception of their two songs I had already heard through advertising (which actually contributed to me getting this album), only one song really took my interest, and this interest was more or less short lived and barely noteworthy. Although the album has flaws, as I grew to recognise their sound (and listen to more of their music) I found myself strangely drawn to more and more songs from this album, something that even critically acclaimed bands such as the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the Who have failed to do. They're a classic example of great potential through originality, and I don't even feel dirty or regretful in comparing them (in spirit more than any other) to bands such as the Beatles and Pink Floyd. I have overwhelming doubt about the Asteroids Galaxy Tour commercial and cultural chances of success, and I don't believe that they will ever raise comparison with, or rival, those ground breaking bands that came about successfully through the musical and countercultural innovations that the 50s, the 60s, and even the 70s had to offer. What I do know, however, is that there's a soft spot in my mind and musical library for anything and everything these guys have done and will do, and, as cliche as it is, while being a very low-key band, they have a very legitimate, very sizable opportunity at commercial success; what's more, is in the world we live in today, anything's possible.
😊😊😊
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