Track Listing

1. Great Hosannah
2. SOS
3. Mystical Machine Gun
4. Radhe Radhe
5. I'm Still Here
6. Shower Your Love
7. 108 Battles
8. Sound Of Drums
9. Timeworn
10. Last Farewell
11. Golden Avatar
12. Namami Nanda Nandana

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11332 in Music
• Released on: 2001-12-10
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

CD Description
After creating a stir with their debut album K, Kula Shakerfollows up with a purposeful upping of the ante on PEASANTS. Like its predecessor, the album brashly melds the cinematic, spacy Britrock sweep of Spiritualised with Middle Easternmelodic touches (the mid-period Beatles are strongly evoked, especially on the flower power epic "Shower Your Love") and the occasional loop-oriented trip-hop touch. The strongestemotional connection for Kula Shaker seems to be with the '60s--heavy organ, choral vocals, Yardbirdsy guitar and harp,it seems like the quartet has learned every trick in the post-'65 rock & roll book and filtered through a harder-edged '90s Britpop orientation. PEASANTS is an ambitious, broad-ranging album, drunk on the driftwood of pop culture and creative enough to make something new of it.

Customer Reviews

A pyschedelic masterpiece...my favourite album ever
Right from the start this album brims with energy. The opening song "Great Hosannah" is typical of what to expect from the whole album... just great melodic rock with classical Indian persuasion. Kula Shaker have created a very new sound but sounds as if it's straight out of the 60's. "Mystical Machine Gun" follows the opening track starting off slow and hypnotic with the Indian Sarungi; it unfolds into an energetic heavy guitar anthem. You will see why it was released as a single. Next comes the heavy rock tune "SOS" followed by the very Indian "Radhe Radhe" which gradually incorporates and ends up finishing with a wonderful brass orchestral piece of music. "I'm Still Here" is a lovely short acoustic number preparing us for the centrepiece of the album; the wonderful hippy anthem "Shower Your Love" (the band's last single together), simply a blissful feel-good guitar tune, with the lyrics sung so sincerely it's my favourite song of all time. Other highlights include the single "Sound of Drums" another fantastic tune which has an amazing piece of organ-playing. The other songs all have their own unique way of making an impression on you mainly because of the variety of instruments used.

What makes this album so special is the clarity of all the band-members and guest musicians (of which there are a lot). They play with so much fire and get the adrenaline flowing throughout the album.

I do admit you will have to listen to the album a few times before you can fully appreciate it as I do but please do listen to it. I highly highly recommend it.

Mindblowing!
Well, there's so much one can say about this masterpiece.... Peasants Pigs and Astronauts is Kula Shaker's "complete" album. It is certainly the best album I own and the best album that emerged in the 90's. We can only hope that the magic shall be picked up by the next generation of the music world so that we can enjoy real music once again.

Great Hosannah is such an incredible introduction to the album that from the first few seconds you know it's going to be a good one! You are, thus, totally absorbed from beginning to end, travelling through the north of India, experimenting with instruments and voice, capturing the essence of music and life.

The rhythm of Radhe Radhe is totally incredible, with the voice of Ghouri (who you may recall also featured in Govinda) and also the mystical quartet entwining the fantastic sounds!

I'm Still Here is just amazing - Crispian and his guitar producing a very reflective, meaningful and very beautiful song!

Timeworm, I believe, is the track which takes Peasants and Pigs to the top - it is an outstanding use of loops and atmosphere which engulfs your mind totally. Only Kula Shaker have been the band of the 90's who could ever had made it this far. This album and its tracks are so much above the rest of the "competition" surrounding it that it deserved so much more than it ever received. I was broken to find that the NME reviewed this LP and gave it 6/10. In my book, it was off the scale.

FANTASTIC, EXELLENT, BRILLIANT : MUSIC!

Namami Nanda Nandunan just takes you off at the end to a traquile place with a trickling stream and a sea of colour which emerges with the harmony and gentleness of the final track.

Peasants Pigs and Astronauts truly is a remarkable piece of musicianship. It should have a very high place in any music loves record collection! It certainly is at the top of mine!

Abi Bradley

Superb
Kula Shakers great debut was followed up by this superb album. A psychadelic combination of Eastern harmonies and influences, great guitar playing, ace vocals and some damn fine melodies. I like the way that many of the tracks merge into each other. The listener gets the feeling of drifting between dimensions on a magic carpet.

Kula Shakers style was very unique and it is a shame that they split up before we were treated to more of their excellent music.