Spacemen 3 - classic or unutterably shite?

Y'all might want to reread the comment a bit, which while hyperbolic is not claiming S3 influenced *all* bands vaguely or clearly labeled post-rock, and does not automatically deny the potential influence of those two (very fine) bands at all.

And another thing--they sucked away attention from Sundial, who deserved it more.

I think the tribute songs were a part of the intentionally stoopid humor in their music along with the drug stuff and the God stuff. They weren't really serious about how their music was intended "for all the fucked up children of the world."

Great, great great band. And certainly a bit ridiculous on some level, but its not as if their referents weren't also.

One night when I was pretty drunk and living in a large loft space I played the Sound of Confusion very loud and it all just clicked. I think they are the band that took me the longest to "get" and probably the biggest 180 degree shift in opinion I've ever had.

I was in the same class as Jason Pierce at school and I can assure you it wasn't a public one!

Jason is usually quite humble in interviews, you're probably thinking of Sonic, who used to regularly glamourize drugs in interviews (to the point that 85% of the dialogue was centred around drugs).

playing with fire is pretty remarkable when you consider how heavily the earlier stuff hung off everyone they were ripping off. it actually does transcend all that. how do they possibly get 'i believe it' to sound so... i dunno, how do you get that much rushing momentum out of two organ notes?

it's all classic though, really. i used to put that 18-minute long version of 'rollercoaster' on repeat and stare at the wall for hours.

the vox conti is one of my favourite sounding organs. these clever bastards had some pretty sweet gear

how do you get that much rushing momentum out of two organ notes?

The brilliance of Spacemen 3, in a nutshell.

and of course don't get me wrong, i don't think it's just the gear by any means. but it don't hurt

jim we should form 'the australian spacemen 3 show'.

haha

i'll have to get a bowl cut wig

getting bad haircuts to make music to get bad haircuts to

Can I be your tribute fan?

to answer that question i must pose my own: how do you feel about bowl-cuts??

so tell me, how do you feel about them?

Might have been posted elsewhere on ILX already but if not -- the first in a series of exhibitions dedicated to the art of Natty Brooker, who performed in the band early on, did artwork for them as well as early Spz and generally is a big part of the legacy of it all. Very sadly, he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer; the upcoming exhibitions are meant to celebrate his work and life. He won't be attending due to his health, but the LA opening this Saturday will feature the very cool Will Carruthers as host; prints are available for sale. Further openings in the future will be in New York, London, Berlin and Amsterdam. You can find more information here:

http://willcarruthers.blogspot.com/

http://losangeles.going.com/event-666993;Spacemen_3s_Natty_Brooker_Print_Show_Opening

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=236361510161

Ugly link there for the second one -- just go here instead

i tried getting into this band a few years ago, but just didn't feel it. and Loop is one of my all time favorite bands.

Hmm. Try again.

If you dig Loop, pick up a copy of The Sound of Confusion and play it really, REALLY fucking loud. 2:35, Mary Anne, O.D. Catastrophe. Blast the hell out of that shit. In a car if you can't do it at home. Should do the trick.

I'll try that. I think I may have only tried Perfect Prescription, Playing with Fire, and Dreamweapon.

I want to go to that, but I'll wait for Berlin or London. At least now we have a fun new way to play "where in the world is Will Carruthers?"

It's Spacemen 3 day today according to Dan P. of Abunai (in that Mr. Kember and Mr. Pierce were both born today back in 1965).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg5D-CqDoI8

Shoot. Happy Bday, guys.

wow, I never they were born on the same day!

Happy Bday, guys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0j21IIXpA0

Any day that gives me an excuse to listen to more Spacemen 3 than I already do is a very, very good day in my book.

listening to magic lantern, so that sort of almost counts

not really. happy b-day tho

Magic Lantern doesn't count :)

dunno that it will be of interest to anyone but me, but i just picked up a 2LP "fan club" reissue of taking drugs to make music to take drugs to, a classic S3 boot from way back. originally released in 1990 on father yod records. said by the band and many fans to be one of their best recordings, perhaps the best period. a faithful reproduction of the original packaging & pressing, plus an extra LP's worth of contemporaneous tracks tacked onto subsequent CD editions. nice to have and quite affordable.

hey, should I get Recurring? love everything else and passed on it at the time

it has some great moments

Recurring is great!! albeit a pretty big anomaly in their catalog. it doesn't really sound too much like anything before or since by either Kember or Pierce.

there are loads of drum machines and synthesizers on it

didn't really get it at the time, but it's pretty great in retrospect. it's fragmentary and covers a lot of ground, with a few tracks echoing playing with fire, several pointing toward lazer guided melodies and others suggesting avenues i wish they'd stuck around long enough to explore more fully (synth-pop!). def worth picking up, esp if you've heard & love everything else.

groovy, sounds like I really would've hated it in '91 but will totally dig it now.

i'll also get behind Recurring, awesome awesome album

the only spacemen 3 record i've got is sound of confusion & tho i like it quite a lot i find they're a bit too tightly wound for their own good? feel like the restraint is a bit much & potential rock n roll energy is wasted, esp lead guitar parts & vocals. wondering if any of the other records are a bit looser or something

Well, that Taking Drugs reissue is a lot of the same songs from Sound of Confusion in demo form.
Looser, rawer...I prefer those versions for sure. You should check out the live stuff. Performance was a life changer. "Suicide" could be their single greatest contribution.

Yeah that one is my fallback -- I do love the rest for different moods but Mesmerized just seemed to get Sonic's ability to embrace warm drift perfectly, not having to worry about creating songs as such.

Ned, I read and reread your Spacemen 3 reviews several times back in the day. I came to them through Spiritualized and Allmusic led the way. Thanks for that. In college I would stay up way too late devouring Allmusic.

You're most welcome! Glad to know that was a bridge to more.

the first song on that sonic boom spectrum album is so gorgeous and lonely, I think the cover of my vinyl copy had a cardboard roulette wheel you could spin

forever alien completely blew my mind at the time, I could not comprehend it, it sounded like sonic boom tried to record an album while several ufos were landing all around him

OMG, Forever Alien is an absolutely astonishing piece of work. It was just kinda... not where my mind was at when it came out, but it was an album I have revisted again and again, and realise just how formative Sonic Boom was, towards shaping everything I love in music. It's so slithery, and alien-sounding - there's this real kinda 80s mythology that synths are supposed to sound clinical and cold. (Actual Kraftwerk... does *not* sound cold, they can sound clinical, but their tone is very warm.) While Pete took the idea of "what if synths were a living alien intelligence" and ran with it!

I'm so lucky I actually got to see him do that shit live when I first moved to the UK, because transporting the gear necessary to generate those sounds was so obviously never going to happen.

So much of the E.A.R. stuff is... patchy, but when it's good, it's amazing. I recently got out a load of E.A.R. records and started re-listening, because when I'm having a bout of really bad hyperacusis, they're one of the few things I can listen to that doesn't trigger it.

Hm, so out of curiosity, any particular difference between the two versions of Forged Prescriptions? There was that John Rivers-remastered version from two years back, besides the original back in 2003.

Didn't realize the different cover was supposed to be remastered. I know that when FP was initially released Sonic was involved and seemed rather proud of it. By the time the newer one came out things would have soured between Gerald Palmer and him, so I can't imagine Sonic had anything to do with it. And Space Age hasn't shown any particular inclination towards caring about sound quality.

It would be cool to compare them, but I suspect that the new cover and remastering are geared only toward selling the same album to the same people twice.

Suspected as much!

Anyway as long as we're all here, Sterling Roswell has a wonderfully titled Bandcamp site:

https://sterlingroswellvortexionvalveloopdecoderprojectresearchfacilty.bandcamp.com/

And among other things a new album just out (but Bandcamp Friday is about to happen so there's that):

https://sterlingroswellvortexionvalveloopdecoderprojectresearchfacilty.bandcamp.com/album/the-psychedelic-ubik

(Or maybe an old album. He's been adding a slew of stuff over the past few days.)

sonic boom on da BiS

https://beatsinspace.net/playlists/1060/

LOL, my dead husband (tm) loves Kraftwerk even more than I do!

Oh shit ziggy stroom aka nosedrip did the other set too, what a night of joy on BIS

Strong mojo uncle vibe to that BiS mix, thanks uncle pete

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvaf1-2Xnmw