Best Spacemen 3 Album (POLL Ends 4th May)

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What was the 1st SP3 album everyone heard?

Playing With Fire.

I remember everyone talking about how Spz was "spacey" and "droney", but I'd only heard "Ladies and Gentlemen" and "Let it Come Down". I thought "well, this is pretty good, but it's not really spacey or droney... kind of a let down".

Then I saw "Playing With Fire" (in Borders, of all places...), picked it up, and thought "now this is what I was after all along!"

― novaheat, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 19:08 (nineteen years ago)

An intern at sp3's US distro palmed me the entire discography, so I heard everything in one day.

― sexyDancer, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

Lucky you.

Is there a clear favourite for the win here?

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 20:50 (nineteen years ago)

i'd assume it's between playing with fire and the perfect prescription.

― Edward III, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 20:54 (nineteen years ago)

At the time I dug them in this order: Sound of Confusion, Playing With Fire, Perfect Perscription, Recurring
But now I dig them in this order: Playing With Fire, Recurring, Perfect Perscription, Sound of Confusion

― sexyDancer, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 21:14 (nineteen years ago)

sound of confusion is the least best of the main 4 albums - in fact, if you read the liner notes to the TAANG! reissue, the band basically calls it a way of clearing house for much, much better albums in the future - just a way to get their early stuff on record so they could stop playing it live and move forward

― stephen, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 22:41 (nineteen years ago)

I actually listen to Sound Of Confusion a lot!

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 3 May 2007 10:29 (nineteen years ago)

I've been listening to the scientists a lot this week and started to wonder if they influenced s3 (and loop). the scientists were based in london from '84 - '86.

not sure if the similarities are because they both applied suicide's throb-trance aesthetic to rock instrumentation, or if sonic boom was compulsively spinning blood red river. anybody know?

― Edward III, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:25 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah but Sound of Confusion has the Spacemen's perfect "anti-chord" 2/3rds of the way through "Little Doll"

― sexyDancer, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:30 (nineteen years ago)

I voted for Dreamweapon

― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:59 (nineteen years ago)

A resounding result then. I thought it would've been closer with the top 2.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 3 May 2007 23:45 (nineteen years ago)

Looks like Elvis was the only vote for dreamweapon. 5 prefer spiritualized haha.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Friday, 4 May 2007 02:02 (nineteen years ago)

2 people clearly want to get beaten up by me (I don't see Chris actually beating up anyone, sorry!) hurrah, start the arse-whomping.

Kind of surprised by the gap between the top two myself.

― Masonic Boom, Friday, 4 May 2007 09:23 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe Chris will finish them off after you're done with them?

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Friday, 4 May 2007 11:03 (nineteen years ago)

You clearly haven't met Chris. He is a big sugarpussy under all that fringe. ;-)

― Masonic Boom, Friday, 4 May 2007 11:04 (nineteen years ago)

Well no, I haven't met him in real life.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:17 (nineteen years ago)

I've been listening to the scientists a lot this week and started to wonder if they influenced s3 (and loop). the scientists were based in london from '84 - '86.

not sure if the similarities are because they both applied suicide's throb-trance aesthetic to rock instrumentation, or if sonic boom was compulsively spinning blood red river. anybody know?

They were definitely aware of them if not namechecked. The very last Darkside release was a cover of "When Fate Deals Its Mortal Blow"

― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 4 May 2007 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

The live albums don't seem very popular.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Saturday, 5 May 2007 01:46 (nineteen years ago)

I voted for Playing with Fire, but it was a tough choice between that and Performance. Performance was my first exposure to Spacemen 3 and I still think it's one of the best live albums I've ever heard. It manages to be loud and pummeling and completely beautiful at the same time. "Mary Anne" and "Come Together" are stunning. I think it was in the Stylus feature on the top 50 live records.

― Bill in Chicago, Saturday, 5 May 2007 11:34 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think I read that.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Saturday, 5 May 2007 20:40 (nineteen years ago)

I went for the perfect prescription although playing with fire was the first album of theirs i got and i also love sound of confusion.

― leigh, Saturday, 5 May 2007 22:53 (nineteen years ago)

I think I bought perfect prescription and sound of confusion 1st, but that was after a friend loaned me Recurring.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Sunday, 6 May 2007 15:34 (nineteen years ago)

Bump so the back at work people can see the results.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Monday, 7 May 2007 13:46 (nineteen years ago)

Except it's a bank holiday and no one was back at work in the UK.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Monday, 7 May 2007 20:18 (nineteen years ago)

seven months pass...

Those poor live albums

― Herman G. Neuname, Sunday, 23 December 2007 21:40 (eighteen years ago)

They sort of suffer from iffy sound quality... Even "Europe 89," which is the best of the lot, doesn't really sound all that great.

This being ILM, though, I'm surprised that "Dreamweapon" crashed and burned like it did.

― novaheat, Sunday, 23 December 2007 22:01 (eighteen years ago)

Good point.

― Herman G. Neuname, Sunday, 23 December 2007 22:07 (eighteen years ago)

two years pass...

I really, really like Perfect Prescription but c'mon guys Playing With Fire is their best record ok?

― ✌.✰|ʘ‿ʘ|✰.✌ (Steve Shasta), Monday, 8 March 2010 05:06 (sixteen years ago)

so tell me...how do you feel?

― Trip Maker, Monday, 8 March 2010 05:35 (sixteen years ago)

Have been listening to this band tons recently. No question about Playing w/ Fire being their best, but I think Dreamweapon is a very close second. I love "Repeater (How Does It Feel)" so much.

― This object perpetually attempts to sell itself on eBay. (Stevie D), Monday, 8 March 2010 06:54 (sixteen years ago)

They sort of suffer from iffy sound quality... Even "Europe 89," which is the best of the lot, doesn't really sound all that great.

Hey Sonic and I did the best we could!

― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 8 March 2010 06:56 (sixteen years ago)

This being ILM, though, I'm surprised that "Dreamweapon" crashed and burned like it did.

Again... I did what I could

― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 8 March 2010 06:57 (sixteen years ago)

I love Live in Europe fwiw (the lp sounds better than the cd) but will forever stand by Taking Drugs as my desert island Spacemen.

― Trip Maker, Monday, 8 March 2010 14:20 (sixteen years ago)

I really, really like Perfect Prescription but c'mon guys Playing With Fire is their best record ok?

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Monday, 8 March 2010 15:52 (sixteen years ago)

I agree, just switch the names around first.

Also, what's with the words on the cover of Playing with Fire. Revolution, Suicide, Purity, and Love, and... Accuracy?

It's like they had settled on using exactly 5 edgy words, but couldn't come up with a good 5th, so they just tacked it on at the end. I mean, "accuracy", what's that even supposed to mean?

― ●●●●●●●● (EDB), Tuesday, 9 March 2010 02:07 (sixteen years ago)

You have to be accurate when you take a morphine suppository and put it all the way inside...

― dlp9001, Tuesday, 9 March 2010 02:20 (sixteen years ago)

"I really, really like Perfect Prescription but c'mon guys Playing With Fire is their best record ok?"

Nope.

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 9 March 2010 03:09 (sixteen years ago)

Also, what's with the words on the cover of Playing with Fire. Revolution, Suicide, Purity, and Love, and... Accuracy?
It's like they had settled on using exactly 5 edgy words, but couldn't come up with a good 5th, so they just tacked it on at the end. I mean, "accuracy", what's that even supposed to mean?

Nope. Behold the business card of Trans-Love Productions...

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/4418346127_c2eec17600.jpg

"Revolution" and "Suicide" are PWF song titles leaving "Love" as the last remaining word.

― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 9 March 2010 03:49 (sixteen years ago)

Elvis, did you work on Dreamweapon too? What's your fave live S3 album?

― This object perpetually attempts to sell itself on eBay. (Stevie D), Tuesday, 9 March 2010 16:00 (sixteen years ago)

I forget if I voted in this poll. For me it's "Sound of Confusion" all the way, although "Forged Prescriptions" would be a close second if it had been included.

― NoTimeBeforeTime, Tuesday, 9 March 2010 16:09 (sixteen years ago)

Xposts: That doesn't change the fact that accuracy still looks weird among those other words.

― ●●●●●●●● (EDB), Tuesday, 9 March 2010 16:49 (sixteen years ago)

It doesn't. It looks freaking great. I used to have a black denim jacket with the 5 words from Playing With Fire painted on the back of it, in a circle. It looked cool as hell.

(oh, shut up, I was, like, 18 when that album came out. Painted denim jackets are amazingly cool when you're that age.)

― There's Always Been A Dance Element To (Masonic Boom), Tuesday, 9 March 2010 16:55 (sixteen years ago)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tokUMMNBNww/Rx8F-UhApDI/AAAAAAAAAF0/en99JIU0Oec/S220/8.bmp

― am0n, Tuesday, 9 March 2010 16:57 (sixteen years ago)

That is leather, not denim.

― There's Always Been A Dance Element To (Masonic Boom), Tuesday, 9 March 2010 16:59 (sixteen years ago)

It doesn't. It looks freaking great. I used to have a black denim jacket with the 5 words from Playing With Fire painted on the back of it, in a circle. It looked cool as hell.

WLD WEAR (am 22yo for reference)

― This object perpetually attempts to sell itself on eBay. (Stevie D), Tuesday, 9 March 2010 17:27 (sixteen years ago)

Elvis, did you work on Dreamweapon too? What's your fave live S3 album?

Didn't work on Dreamweapon. I wish there were better quality tapes from 1989 - especially with the short-lived 5 piece lineup.

― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 9 March 2010 22:17 (sixteen years ago)

It doesn't. It looks freaking great. I used to have a black denim jacket with the 5 words from Playing With Fire painted on the back of it, in a circle. It looked cool as hell.

Best. Jacket. Ever.

― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 9 March 2010 22:18 (sixteen years ago)

Personally, I'd prefer an all-over Recurring patterned one piece outfit myself.

― ●●●●●●●● (EDB), Tuesday, 9 March 2010 23:04 (sixteen years ago)

Never in a hundred years would I have expected to see a thousand people dancing to "Revolution" http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=62457399 (well, OK it is the Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve)

― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 07:44 (sixteen years ago)

I don't know why BTWS always play *that* one. It's like the *least* danceable Spacemen 3 track ever. But they always do that segue it into the Stooges trick which works really well.

― There's Always Been A Dance Element To (Masonic Boom), Wednesday, 10 March 2010 10:27 (sixteen years ago)

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