Spacemen 3 - classic or unutterably shite?

i've read the writing on the wall

A couple days ago, all of Spacemen 3 (except for the Losing Touch With Your Mind comp) disappeared off of Apple Music. I wondered what was up and then I learned that Spacemen 3's old manager (and sole corporate officer of Adasam Ltd.) and Apple are being sued for pirating hundreds of recordings that he falsely claimed licenses to.

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/apple-hit-with-lawsuit-by-songwriter-heirs-for-allegedly-running-a-massive-music-piracy-operation/?fbclid=IwAR3SLF3-vctvj0P0EbU-e1S3y8pxzXeZjnEQ7H8zLMM1DEZXwAKBxZo8v1w

Holy shit at that -- but also how perversely appropriate that S3's stuff gets caught in yet ANOTHER weird legal zone.

Is this the same guy that runs Spaceage records who Jason and Pete both hate?

unutterably shite

the arts centre live piece where the band were so munted that the bass player forgot to turn on his amp, and the PA keeps announcing the screening time for "Wings of Desire", is one of my all time favourite records.

Are they on any other streaming services?

They only have one song on Spotify and that's only because it's on MGMT's Late Night Tales comp

Is this the same guy that runs Spaceage records who Jason and Pete both hate?

Yeah. Will's book talks about the shit stuff he was doing back then. The guy who hired me into the music industry once told me "an idiotic and ignorant t-shirt salesman has no business managing an important band." I never forgot that...

Anyway, my hope is that Adasam will be so far in the fucking hole with insolvency that SP3 can finally get their own music back. Crazy year gets crazier...

the arts centre live piece where the band were so munted that the bass player forgot to turn on his amp, and the PA keeps announcing the screening time for "Wings of Desire", is one of my all time favourite records.

cosigned

Maybe a perfect band for an ILX covers album.

Are they on any other streaming services?

They only have one song on Spotify and that's only because it's on MGMT's Late Night Tales comp

― groovypanda, Monday, May 11, 2020 5:24 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Same on Amazon Music and Tidal.

> the arts centre live piece

> an idiotic and ignorant t-shirt salesman

ironically, the person who first put out an extract from the contemporary sitar music thing went on to sell t-shirts on a my bloody valentine tour (one of the che / cheree people, can't remember which)

Nick Allp0rt, perhaps.

yeah, i mail ordered stuff from him a few times and he said once he was taking a few month off to tour with mbv. the spacemen3 thing was initially a flexi (5"?) shared with 2 other bands, but is now part of the Dreamweapon lp.

I wonder if that's the same item with a really early (and pretty terrible) Bark Psychosis tune.

yes, clawhammer. and the third band was the fury* things.

* not furry things

I wonder if that's the same item with a really early (and pretty terrible) Bark Psychosis tune.

BTW in addition to being SP3's old manager, the Adasam guy was also Bark Psychosis' manager. Graham Sutton has been at war with him for a long time and also recommend that people *not* buy the Record Store Day re-release of Independency.

Gerald Palmer is the guy that runs Spaceage, that's who I assumed you guys were talking about. He's the one that reissues Spacemen 3 albums and the band discourages people from buying them.

Would love to see a fine remastered Sp3 box set, but I can't imagine it happening.

I guess they have multiple people sponging off of them.

Sonic Boom has a new album coming out this year! Three videos are on youtube. They're okay? I want to like them more than I do.

Bassman weighs in on Palmer
https://petespacemanbassman.wordpress.com/2020/05/16/the-blues-according-to-adasam-and-apple/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRyie8Z1-hA

^^ awesome.

Norman Recs just mailed out they have new, limited (no idea how limited) coloured vinyls of a lot of SP3/Spectrum/Spiritualized releases https://www.normanrecords.com/promos/605 (all by Space Age Recordings)

Now on Spotify!

The Space Age Spacemen 3 vinyl reissues are bad news. Bad pressings.

Fucked Up Inside reissue is great and highly recommended.

XP HOLY SHIT I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS DAY FOR LIKE 9 YEARS, AAAAAAAAA I AM SO EXCITED

It's not all their albums tho but still better than nothing and does have Forged Prescriptions which has the glorious full length version of Ecstacy Symphony

honestly I'm just going to be stuck listening to "Big City" on repeat so I'm fine with that

Just seeing their stuff on Spotify now. I see the first two albums are missing but “Taking Drugs” and “Forged Prescriptions” are there. Is that just a rights thing or do the band/fans consider these to be the more definitive documents of that era?

Separate but related question - as someone who has never heard those early albums (especially Perfect Prescription), am I gonna get a diluted/distorted vision of the band if I start with these?

Of those available, I would start with Playing With Fire

Listen to all of it because it’s all good. Taking Drugs is a collection of demos that got them a deal with Glass Records. I think Glass still owns the rights to those first two albums which is why SOC and Perfect Prescription aren’t on Spotify. Taking Drugs is great, the versions are rawer than SOC in a very good way. I’d start there to get a sense of where S3 started (Stooges/Cramps/MC5).

Forged Prescriptions collects the original recordings of songs that wound up on PP but for the most part they are not demos. They initially recorded these songs with lots of overdubs and studio trickery but decided not to go that direction because they wouldn’t be able to replicate it live. The FP version of Walking With Jesus is incredibly beautiful.

Dreamweapon has now been added!

Listen to all of it because it’s all good. Taking Drugs is a collection of demos that got them a deal with Glass Records. I think Glass still owns the rights to those first two albums which is why SOC and Perfect Prescription aren’t on Spotify. Taking Drugs is great, the versions are rawer than SOC in a very good way. I’d start there to get a sense of where S3 started (Stooges/Cramps/MC5).

Forged Prescriptions collects the original recordings of songs that wound up on PP but for the most part they are not demos. They initially recorded these songs with lots of overdubs and studio trickery but decided not to go that direction because they wouldn’t be able to replicate it live. The FP version of Walking With Jesus is incredibly beautiful.

― Cow_Art, Friday, July 31, 2020 bookmarkflaglink

Thanks, I think this answers my question. I will listen to it all of course - I was just trying to understand if there was some revisionism going on based on what they were making available. Like, Forged Prescriptions is not the director's cut.

Correct. It’s sort of an alternate version of the album that has been cobbled together. I like many of the FP versions as much as their PP counterparts, and they are different enough to be worth seeking out. But those versions never cohered into a finished album which is where PP succeeds. Sonic considers FP to be the ultimate version of that material fwiw.

BTW, supposedly the master tapes for PP were lost long ago. All digital versions are sourced poorly. Sonic has said that FP is as close as we will get to a proper remaster of PP. Fucking stoners.

I would say Playing w Fire is their "best" but that Recurring is my "favorite" and that also Dreamweapon: An Evening of Contemporary Sitar Music is fucking incredible even if there not actually any sitar on it lmao

I love this band but getting a handle on how their discography all fits together has always been so goddamn confusing

I bought Sound of Confusion when it first released and have no idea how it all fits together either lol

I've spent thirty years trying to figure it out and I still quite can't. But I'm glad I've got everything one way or another.

Nice piece by Will here about An Evening of Contemporary Sitar Music

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/sep/26/spacemen-3-will-carruthers-playing-the-bass-extract

I love this band but getting a handle on how their discography all fits together has always been so goddamn confusing

SP3 is my favorite band, I've worked for Bomp, worked with Sonic, even have my name on a couple of releases - but I don't even know where to start with this. I suppose it's erroneous to consider any track to be the final/definitive version of itself and more of a snapshot of where it's at. There's hours of outtakes from all four albums - no extra songs, but plenty of differing directions something could have takes: real drums vs. drum machine, reverse reverb or not, lyrical changes, etc. etc.

they really “got” minimalism and understood how to properly exploit its power

For All the Fucked Up Children of this World...: Early (first?) recording session. Copied to tape and distributed around town by the band who are not terribly proud of it now. Their sound hadn't formed yet, it's historically interesting but they are baby spacemen toddling about. Bluesy.

Taking Drugs to Make Music To Take Drugs To: Demos which secured a record deal with Glass. Sometimes I like this as much as Sound of Confusion. Released unofficially and later officially with bonus tracks on Space Age Recordings. Only unique song is "It's Alright" which was later recorded by Spectrum.

Sound of Confusion: First proper album. All UK versions end with "OD Catastrophe." All US versions append the Walking With Jesus single and a demo version of 2:35 that is also found on TDTMMTTDT. Taang! Records put out their early albums on CD in the US. The Taang! covers are ugly and the sound quality is shit. The bonus track "Rollercoaster" has about 20 seconds trimmed off. WTF

Perfect Prescription: Second album. Early versions ended with "Call The Doctor." Since then all versions append "Soul 1" and "That's Just Fine" which are b-sides of the Take Me To The Other Side single. These are nice, if a little slight and they dull the impact of the original ending. Taang! version has a gap between "Ecstasy Symphony" and "Transparent Radiation" where the songs should flow together seamlessly. Unforgivable. Best way to hear it is probably the original Glass vinyl.

Forged Prescriptions: Two cds of alternate takes and demos from PP. A couple of unique songs which aren't terribly exciting, but the alternate versions are sometimes lusher and better than the PP versions. Highly recommended. Demo version of "Come Down Easy" is terrific.

The Singles AKA Translucent Flashbacks: Collects the first three singles including all the SOC & PP bonus tracks, with "Rollercoaster" at its proper length (17:24!!!). "Walking With Jesus" single version is a remix of the TDTMMTTDT track. Good shit.

Playing With Fire: Third album. Should end with "Lord Can You Hear Me?" but most versions add bonus tracks afterward. The 2cd version has loads of great stuff.

Dreamweapon: Technically a live album, sort of the fourth album but not really. Originally just the one track it now always comes with instrumental bonuses that fit nicely. "Spaceman Jam" credits Jason but he's not really on it. Some other dude Sonic was jamming with. It meanders.

Recurring: Fourth album. When I had full on Spacemen fever this was IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND. It drove me nuts and went for $$$. Proper ending is "Billy Whizz." All CD versions have the same bonus tracks. I think.

DJ Tones EP: Random rare tracks that hold together well. Notable for Spacemen 3's version of "These Blues," later performed by Spiritualized.

How The Blues Should've Turned Out: Barrel scrapings sold by Sonic Boom. CDRs maybe? Only a hundred were released and later he could be found on the Spiritualized forum berating people for sharing copies. Some good stuff, but this is where I started losing interest in MORE Spacemen 3.

LIVE STUFF

Performance: An abbreviated PP era show. Taang! version adds the Threebie 3 ep which has live tracks from the same gig.

Live In Europe AKA Spacemen Are Go!: Later live album. Collects tracks from different dates, including a couple of the more delicate PWF cuts. "Bo Diddley Jam" is badass.

Live At The New Morning: Unofficially released and then later put out as a needle drop on Space Age. Avoid the Space Age version. Good show from the PWF tour, although the focus is on the noisier songs.

There are other bootlegs, B-sides, and bits and pieces that I haven't bothered to hunt down. Is there something good I'm missing?

Outstanding guide thank you! I have a few CDs and a folder of mp3 albums of which half seemed like bootlegs - now I can figure it out!

I'd add the Losing Touch With Your Mind comp to that list.

Forgot about that one! More alternates, demos, etc.

There's a live boot that I've seen for sale but never grabbed: Revolution or Heroin.

The tribute album is VERY good. All the way through.

1. Bowery Electric - Things'll Never Be The Same
2. The Asteroid #4 - Losing Touch With My Mind
3. Mogwai - Honey
4. Flowchart - Ode To Street Hassle
5. Accelera Deck - I Believe It 3:31
6. Arab Strap - Revolution
7. Bardo Pond - Call The Doctor
8. Frontier - Hey Man
9. Low - Lord, Can You Hear Me?
10. Amp - So Hot (Wash Away All Of My Tears)
11. Piano Magic - How Does It Feel
12. Transient Waves - Billy Whizz

I discovered about five of those bands via the tribute album, I can't speak highly of it enough.

There's the All Fucked Up boot in my collection too:

https://www.discogs.com/Spacemen-3-All-Fucked-Up/release/3141260

Per the Discogs notes:

Live recording from Germany during the tour of 1988, or probably recorded live on 11th January 1988 at The Rose Club in Koln, Germany.

There's also Out of It, which I think is just a selection of stuff found on Forged Prescriptions but I'd need to check to be sure. Not even Discogs has that one I think.

And here's the Revolution or Heroin info again via Discogs:

Though sometimes thought to be "live 22. October 1987 University of London", this is actually the soundtrack from a video of a show at The Mean Fiddler.

There was a 3 CDR project of various songs from live shows over the years but I only have a basic rip of the first disc.

Highly recommend the cassette (or a digital playlist version) of 'The Perfect Prescription'. The entire proper album is on side A while the flip contains the epic covers from the period - the 17 min version of "Rollercoaster" and the 11 min version of "Starship".

Interesting to see the love for Recurring. I remember being slightly horrified when it came out and found it a big let down after what had come before. Big City in particular seemed cheesily ludicrous. I haven't listened to it in about 25 years - maybe I should give it a chance.

Recurring's their best album! That album and the subsequent first albums by Spiritualized, Spectrum, and the Darkside are the high water mark of everyone involved.