SPARKY, spritely space pop rising from the ashes of the much-missed Beta Band as John Maclean and Robin Jones are back in harness with original Beta boy Gordon Anderson (aka Lone Pigeon) following his adventure in psychosis.

The Aliens' first outing sounds like a rag-bag of out-takes from the Pretty Things' psyche classic SF Sorrow being passed around the chemical generation's brightest minds and fed back through a filter of woody nu-folk. Setting Sun is a Hendrix-nodding space-rock opera in three minutes, Robot Man is a Sly Stone lunar funk sketchbook, I Am The Unknown introduces Nick Drake to the cast of Hair and that's only the first three songs. Add to that the endless sonic grin of The Happy Song and we have the makings of something special. Or spacial.