Spiritualized

[psychobain]

So long you pretty thing
God save your little soul
The music that you played so hard
Ain't on your radio
And all your dreams of diamond rings
and all that rock and roll can bring you
Sail on, so long

[psychobain]

I love you like I love the sunrise in the morning
I miss you like I miss the water when I'm burning
I didn't mean to hurt you dear the words just came out wrong
Now I'm broken down and lonely and I can't get along

[Orpheus]

Saw them about a year ago. Fantastic show.

[VinylGuy]

saw them in 2008? maybe? Great show.

[Lament]

I saw them open up for Radiohead in early 1998. Radiohead on OK Computer and Spiritualized on Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space. Fucking unreal night.

I saw them a whole bunch of times when they toured Let It Come Down as well. What an absolutely fantastic band. I particularly love the Ladies & Gentlemen-Let It Come Down-Amazing Grace stretch of records.

[VinylGuy]

Cop Shoot Cop is the real shit bro.

[Lament]

Cop Shoot Cop is the real shit bro.

times a billion...

[Kevin Davis]

What do fans of this band think about "Sweet Heart Sweet Light?" It was my first exposure to Spiritualized, and while there was a lot that I really liked about it, overall I found the guy's personality really offputting--a combination of smugness and interminable self-pity that I found difficult to put up with for more than a couple songs at a time. If this is pretty much what the rest of their catalog is like, I'll be content owning just this one, but a record made up solely of the good points would have masterpiece potential. So what do you get when you dig further back into the catalog?

[Lament]

What do fans of this band think about "Sweet Heart Sweet Light?" It was my first exposure to Spiritualized, and while there was a lot that I really liked about it, overall I found the guy's personality really offputting--a combination of smugness and interminable self-pity that I found difficult to put up with for more than a couple songs at a time. If this is pretty much what the rest of their catalog is like, I'll be content owning just this one, but a record made up solely of the good points would have masterpiece potential. So what do you get when you dig further back into the catalog?

Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space is their "masterpiece." It actually beat out OK Computer for album of the year in a lot of publications back in 1997. I would say that's the best one, and I think most people would agree. It's the perfect distillation of everything that makes them great. The two after that are great too; Let It Come Down is very heavily orchestrated and super melodic. Amazing Grace harkens back to the harshness of his Spacemen 3 days. The first album, Lazer Guided Melodies, is very expansive, guitar heavy second-wave spacerock. It's great if you're into spacerock, but if you're not it probably won't do much for you. The second one, Pure Phase, expands a lot on the sound of the first one, but in retrospect is very much a transitional record on the path to the sound they mastered on Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space. Sweet Heart Sweet Light has nothing on the middle period records.

Some choice cuts from Ladies & Gentlemen...







(I wanted to post Cop Shoot Cop, but the only full versions of it on Youtube are live versions. If you can hop on spotify or something and play it, do so. It's one of the greatest things you'll ever hear...)

[Lament]

(Also, there is a lot of smugness and self-pity on all of their records, but on the first five the music is so good that it doesn't even seem annoying)

[psychobain]

Code:

 If you want a radio
 I'll be a radio for you
 If you want an aeroplane
 I'll be an aeroplane for you
 If you got a lonely heart
 I'll be a lonely heart for you
 If you want a rocket ship
 I will be a rocket ship for you
 If you walk the galaxies
 I will walk the galaxies with you
 If you be my lonely girl
 I will be a lonely boy for you
 If you want a shooting star
 I will be a shooting star for you
 If you want another world
 I will be another world for you
 If you want an universe
 I will be a universe for you

 always forgetting with you

[bodysnatcher]

been loving this song lately.

[bodysnatcher]

Loving the new Spiritualized song

[Jorge]

I soured on them when I went to see them live acoustic and it was the most boring shit ever

The electric show from a few years back was much much better

[VinylGuy]

I saw these guys in a festival....ten years ago? something like that.

They were good.

[bodysnatcher]

I soured on them when I went to see them live acoustic and it was the most boring shit ever

The electric show from a few years back was much much better

Yeah, I could see how an acoustic show would be boring. A lot of the songs really need electric to come to life with all of the layering, feedback, chaos, etc.

[psychobain]

[iweartwoshoes]

Wow. How have a reached a point in my life where I listen to a new Spiritualized song and think yep Mr Spaceman's writing lyrics for me now.

[bodysnatcher]

"I'm Your Man" is so good. That old Soul / R&B riff is so f'ing perfect. And i'm loving the ukulele in "A Perfect Miracle"

[psychobain]

don't you love when one of your fav bands is about to release a new album and you revisit their whole catalogue?