Spiritualized?

I've listened to LAGWAFIS right through now, and yeah, it's pretty good (highlight being 'Home Of The Brave', which is the only one here that significantly improves upon its own live version), but not exactly great. I'd still put Pure Phase at the top, followed by LICD, then probably the Albert Hall, then LAGWAFIS and LGM tied in last place (rly) (still good though!). I have no plans to buy AG.

It probably helps to know that Pure Phase was for a long time my only taste of the band.

(my favorite song is actually "Do It All Over Again" - beautiful little Phil Spector/George Harrison pop ditty)

I have seen them about six times and every show was great even when they opened for Radiohead in 1997/8. The only album I don't like was the last one, hope he does better next time around.

Glad you came out of it Jason, we need you around a bit longer.

The bill should have been reversed. JAMC opening. Curve next. Spiritualized closing.

Trivia: One of the dazed audience members hollering on FUI is me! I think Ned was at that show too...

Oh, and if this helps return me from the dead, I've bought and appreciated that new Acoustic Ladyland record, so your gospel hasn't fallen upon deaf ears!

He woke up!

From: Spiritualized

Date: Sep 13, 2007 8:46 AM
Subject: New Shows and New Info!
Body: The album is FINISHED, and I should hopefully be posting a track from the new album soon! To celebrate, there have been new shows posted in Spain, Denmark, and the UK, with several in planning for the USA.

Spiritualized Acoustic Mainlines will be playing their last show for
some time on December 9th at the Union Chapel, London, N1 2XD. Tickets,
£19.50 on sale Monday Sept 17th from:
Box Office 0870 400 0688 & www.livenation.co.uk

Stay tuned for more info!!!

Between this and the new Spectrum album it's a good day in Rugby

When does the Spectrum come out again? (And what label?)

Acoustic Mainline show in SF Nov 11 just announced, will be my first time seeing them in a few years. Last show I saw was surprisingly disappointing (he forgot lyrics, drummer missed a bunch of cues, etc.)

A truly massive "Thank You" to all the Medical Staff and Nurses at The Royal London Hospital A&E, Cambridge Ward, Intensive Care and Critical Care / Cotton Ward whom all worked so amazingly hard on his treatment and recovery.
And the new album is called... Songs in A&E.

Lordy Spiritualized are a boring band.

whoa. this means he was on my road for a while...

the Acoustic Mainline show I mentioned above was great btw

new sogns were really good

New album: 'Songs in A&E' due out May 19th.

New tour dates are all called 'Electric Mainlines'.

I didn't expect I'd end up being excited about Spiritualized again.

I have a funny feeling this will be more snooze-inducing than my anaesthetics database. But that could just be me.

Not arsed really. He's been essentially rewriting the same songs since 1991 and the arrangements have been getting increasingly predictable since 97. This is going to be a stripped down affair, isn't it? Which makes me wonder why anyone would bother.

the Acoustic Mainline show I mentioned above was great btw

I agree. They could have done with varying the approach a bit - it got predictable after a while - but it was a beautiful night.

Not arsed really. He's been essentially rewriting the same songs since 1991

more liek 1987!

but in general he's getting on a bit to be singing about what he sings about (being useless owing to heroin addiction). as with bobby gillespie (being awesome owing to heroin addiction).

Great, now I'm imagining their "Come Together" mashup.

The thematic content of Spz songs is utterly unimportant. I could care less if he's singing about drug addiction or dressing up his drummer in his girlfriends' frocks so long as it WUBS.

What makes or breaks a Spz album is the interestingness of the people playing with him, and how much free rein he gives them. Which, since the contract/sacking incident is about 0. Hence the snore-inducing factor of the album.

^^^could not disagree more - he's had a rotating cast of inconsequential sidemen since day one.

Lupine Howl lolz

Tracklist (allegedly);

'Harmony 1'
'Sweet Talk'
'Death Take Your Fiddle'
'I Gotta Fire'
'Soul On Fire'
'Harmony 2'
'Sitting On Fire'
'Yeah Yeah'
'You Lie You Cheat'
'Harmony 3'
'Baby I'm Just A Fool'
'Don't Hold Me So Close'
'Harmony 4'
'The Waves Crash In'
'Harmony 5'
'Borrowed Your Gun'
'Harmony 6'
'Goodnight Goodnight'

Spacemen 3 fan from way back, but I haven't been interested in Spiritualized since Ladies & Gentlemen... & the Royal Albert Hall live thing. Great records, but Jason's a one trick pony, and like w/ Stereolab, you reach the point of diminishing (or zero) returns after a while. "200 Bars" is still an all-time favorite, for reasons I don't fully understand.

Masonic Boom crazy off the money mark in every respect, but oddly accurate with regard to the pull-date.

Hope I'm wrong and that the new one crushes me.

I think he hit a bump in the road with Amazing Grace but Let It Come Down is a fantastic record, and lyrically/songwriting-wise he's certainly grown more clever/wry since his early days so I still have some faith.

(altho no I'm not expecting to be "crushed" either honestly)

The trouble with the straight and the narrow
Is its so thin I keep sliding off to the side
And the devil makes good use of these hands of mine

And if jesus is the straight path that saves
Then i'm condemmed to live my whole life on the curb
On the crossroad to the devil, I'll dwell and i'll count my years

You know that I got a little something I should say
I guess that I'm just so easily led astray
It's alright because I know my own way back home from here

And I don't fall of the wagon you know
I take a dive and go as deep as I can go
Don't hold your breath because I'm coming up slow, this time.

^^funny

So why is every album except the one recorded with all the same people from Spacemen 3 shite, then? Eh?

Oh wait, you all started with this band around LAGWAFIS. Say no more.

Jason Pierce has been writing the same song for the past 20 years. What makes them better is who else got involved. The moment he started bringing in the session players and letting no one else have a say, it started getting less and less interesting.

oh fuck you I've been listening to Spiritualized since the Feel So Sad 12" and was a Spacemen3 fan before that

I have no problem with people writing the same song for 20 years - viva la Ramones etc

So why is every album except the one recorded with all the same people from Spacemen 3 shite, then? Eh? Oh wait, you all started with this band around LAGWAFIS. Say no more.

Jesus Christ. I took issue w/ your description of the sidemen in question as "interesting", and don't believe they were ever given free reign, even in Spacemen 3 (whom I've loved since the Glass days).

And the lyrical content is hugely important, no to me personally, but clearly to Jason. It's not as though those words are just grafted on top of music that doesn't live & breathe the same themes. Everything works together, and that's what makes them great (when they actually are great).

That said, you're right, as I mentioned earlier. Something went out of the band around the time he sacked the original crew.

I mean I honestly can't believe that Pierce's music was significantly improved by the genius-level input of the guys from Darkside and Slipstream and Lupine Howl etc especially when all those bands' own records range from the unremarkable to the unlistenable

x-post

Um, considering I've actually recently sat down and had a conversation with said "sidemen" about how much free reign they *were* given in the early days of Spz, I think I might be more qualified to comment on that. But, you know, everyone has their own agenda.

x-post, actually I saw Slipstream a few weeks ago, and trust me, they were a HUNDRED times more interesting and memorable than any Spiritualized show of, oh, about the past ten years or so?

Sometimes bands are a magical combination of a certain group of people. Replace those people, and the chemistry is gone. This idea that it was all about Jason is a myth which he himself loves to perpetuate.

eh diff't strokes, I guess

Slipstream are still going?!