Astral Plane is a 6-track compilation drawn from a demo session produced in March 1972 by John Cale, whose previous work made him the obvious choice for The Modern Lovers who were the first band – but by no means the last – to clearly base their sound on The Velvet Underground. At this stage The Modern Lovers were a perverse garage band steeped in dark promise, but according to oral histories the band’s singer Jonathan Richman soon lost his way, opting for a softer sound and vision. These six tracks, plus three inferior selections from other demo sessions, were eventually released in 1976 as a compilation album, with “Roadrunner” becoming a moderately successful single release and Richman accordingly being allowed to make and release a series of awful solo recordings.