A Spacemen 3 re-evaluation

They were absolutely shameless in their appropriation of other bands' songs and sounds, yet at the same time they were totally original. They're not the only band to ever have those influences - Velvet Underground, Neu!, Suicide, Stooges, bits of gospel - but they combined them in a way that no one has before or since. They were junkie chancers total amateurists who gave their records away for the next fix, yet they did everything with an almost autistic intensity which is utterly staggering. Their music was so *simple* - drones, never more than two chords, simple melodies, tremoloes - yet utterly imcomparable.

Two people so different that these days you can't even imagine them in the same band together, yet when you hear Playing With Fire, you can't imagine them apart.

Why do I love them so much? And why *them*?

The only thing I didn't like about them was their bitchiness in interviews. They would dis Loop and then say things like the Jesus and Mary Chain weren't that special (since they had done the feedback thing too on their first album).

Kate mentions "autistic intensity" - I think _Dreamweapon_ is the ultimate maximization of that. I could easily listen to it for hours and hours.

Ah, marvellous. This is the type of feeling MBV created in me. Allow for the seismic surprise, always. It's so transcendent when something like that happens.

Since my introduction to the whole thing was the Spectrum solo that SB released in 1990, I actually backed into it all rather than hurtling headlong. I actually like that, that my first taste was the vinyl-release of that with the spinning front and Sonic's swirl of a voice on "Help Me Please."

ditto

What a waste, no! my other housemate and I decried. So merrily off we went with the bag. Soon enough some neighbors came over to play hearts. That was going fine until some point in the game when it was my turn and I realized I no longer knew what the shapes on the cards meant. I'd seen them before, but could _understand_. I tried to express my bewilderment, but could only place my cards down face up on the table--I could not speak.

I walked into my room. turned on a red light. pressed play on recurring and sank into my couch. the world opened up before me. Every sound was a sight to behold. I surfed When Tomorrow Hits and crashed on a rocky beach where the undertow dragged me out to sea again. I was lost. I was connected.

So, from thereonin it went. I still think Perfect Prescription is my favorite album, but Recurring is just behind and there's Playing With Fire, but that's not to discount Dreamweapon.

that's unusual.

I would have so much more Sp3 stuff if I had the money. As it is I have to make do with that "Translucent Flashbacks" comp of the early singles.

haven't heard yet tho'.

Fret not, Playing With Fire has one via Space Age records, a two disc version. It's the one to get.

just finished the Morse book, anyone else read it?

i read most of a friends copy back when it came out... a load of what's in there has been summarized on wikipedia but at the time all the behind-the-scene stuff was unknown to me and pretty interesting (like them signing their big deal after they'd all but split already). would like to reread it sometime.

Yeah I have that book

given that Sonic obviously cooperated with the author more than Jason did, it's funny how Sonic still comes off as the bigger asshole. I found the more hyperbolic interludes totally tiresome, but the nuts and bolts of their touring and recording was pretty interesting.

just finished the Morse book, anyone else read it?

I was interviewed for it. It's OK... thought that the DREAMWEAPON framing device at the beginning was somewhat of a stretch. I wish that the book was being written now - there's more stories and folks seem more talkative now.

Sonic complaining that Jason was using/"stealing" his effects/techniques for songs that were going on a Spacemen 3 record is so wtf

junkies amirite

Well, this is new to me. 80 minutes of video footage (apparently with enhanced audio and video from original) of a 1989 concert in Arnheim, shot by the promoter. Sounding really good so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gnj9tFuTTc

Includes rendition of Suicide's "Che" beginning at 38:35 mark

Listening to 'Recurring' tonight because a friend said she was listening to it a couple nights ago. It's not like I've never tried to like Spacemen 3 in the past, but it never worked. Tonight? It's working. Yay!

I'll preemptively declare I still find Spiritualized to be incredibly boring, but maybe 2021 will be a surprising year.

Recurring is a lot of fun IMO, and you should work backwards to Playing With Fire if you dig it

Sonic > Jason but damn Jason had some good tunes

What saves them from being mere junkie-bores though is an honesty about the darker side, and the euphoria they capture in their music.

yeah this (from nineteen years ago)

do you have to be high

I always figured that to be the case, but I can now confirm that you do not.

Spacemen 3’s “Big City” is having a moment
https://www.brooklynvegan.com/spacemen-3s-big-city-is-having-a-moment/

Off Festival in Poland has both Sonic and Spiritualized on the line-up: https://off-festival.pl

(this led to a funny social media exchange about if there was a Spacemen 3 reunion, it would be a spontaneous one-off in Poland.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUszsUz3lPI

Will is so great. The second Freelovebabies album is probably my favorite S3 related thing besides Spiritualized.