Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

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G*
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Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by G* »

Has anyone read or come across 'Spacemen 3 and the birth of Spiritualized: Dreamweapon' by Erik Morse? I've seen it on Amazon and wondered if it was worth shelling out for. The reviews that are on there seem positive.

Any comments that anyone has would be much appreciated, as being a tight Yorkshireman I don't like splashing the cash.
runcible
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by runcible »

Search this forum - there is masses of stuff about it. Erik has posted here and a few forum members contributed to the book.
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by G* »

That's helpful. I'll have a trawl, y'all.
jadams501
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by jadams501 »

What a great, great eye-opening book. You can quibble about some "he said he said" matters because jason didn't really participate in the project but the book is incredibly informative, disenchanting in some ways, but definitely an essential purchase for anyone whose interest lies beyond PP and PWF into the whole saga of some very fucked-up children of the world. Highly recommended.
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by alan_cohaul »

Okay, I gotta buy this for sure! Thanks for the recommendation.
redcloud
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by redcloud »

I would definitely recommend the book. It is amongst the best music bios I have read. Morse is a good writer, it is well researched and even though Jason did not participate it reads as a fair and balanced study of the band.

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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by Horrorflick »

I had a hard time tracking this book down initially, and I regretted actually buying it. Most of the detail has very little to do with music, and there is a marked lack of information about Spiritualized. Spacemen3 were a decent group, but I think that Spiritualized is far more interesting. If somebody even did a book about how Jason gets that "sound", I would buy that. (If even just to get a decent look at his guitar collection...)
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by runcible »

Horrorflick wrote:I had a hard time tracking this book down initially, and I regretted actually buying it. Most of the detail has very little to do with music, and there is a marked lack of information about Spiritualized. Spacemen3 were a decent group, but I think that Spiritualized is far more interesting. If somebody even did a book about how Jason gets that "sound", I would buy that. (If even just to get a decent look at his guitar collection...)
Can't agree with you here. The title of the book says it all - its about Spacemen 3 and the birth (i.e. very beginning) of Spiritualized. And that is what it is. Jason chose not to be involved which is fair enough, so there are few quotes from him. The others chose to say what they did, hence their inclusion. And there is quite a bit about how the music was created, the influences, the people involved. Erik did an incredible amount of research to get the information and even discusses social background in the UK at the time. He spoke to everyone he could that were able offer anything constructive and I think he did a great job for the most part. The unbalanced views of people like Pete Bain are a little sad and there are things i disagree with but on the whole it's an extremely interesting read.
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by twentysixdollars »

I'm inclined to suspect that the word "Spiritualized" was put in the title for marketing reasons. Spacemen 3 haven't exactly burned up the charts for many, many years, or for that matter ever. Haven't read the book but I've been told it has its amusing moments.
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by Horrorflick »

Maybe I'll have to give it another read, but I soon got tired of the constant drug banter, chain smoking and counterculture posturing. Did they actually talk about the guitars, amps, microphones, etc.? (I do remember Pete being ticked off about including a bass guitarist in the lineup, hence making the band actually more "traditional." I guess I just prefer the songs Jason wrote and the music that Spiritualized has brought forth since the destruction of Sp3. (There's a tune by Spacemen3 and Spiritualized on the Rhino "Britbox", and Jason wrote them both...)
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by alan_cohaul »

twentysixdollars wrote:I'm inclined to suspect that the word "Spiritualized" was put in the title for marketing reasons. Spacemen 3 haven't exactly burned up the charts for many, many years, or for that matter ever. Haven't read the book but I've been told it has its amusing moments.
Good to note! Yeah, having not read the book either, i'm figuring that they put the "Birth of Spiritualized" in the title to help it sell a little bit, much like how on EBay, they put the key selling words that things may be connected to in the titles so that their search/ hits go up. Books are always a bit flawed; I think that the best that they can do is shed a little insight into how the band worked and how the band stopped working. Studio info would be cool; though in the rock books that i've read, studio info is always severely limited (ie: Lemmy "White Line Fever", Motley Crue "The Dirt", AC/DC "Maximum Rock n' Roll", Zep "Stairway To Heaven" all seemed to focus more on the band happenings than the studio or technical info).
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by toomilk »

From what I remember, Morse's book does touch upon how they worked. Lots of stuff - though not technical details - about them recording and writing songs. It also has a list of all the gear and drugs they used. hah.

I agree that the Spiritualized bit was in there to make it more appealing to current audiences, but it does touch on how Spiritualized formed, and also how Spectrum formed.
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by ryandfl »

I think this might help you out: http://books.google.com/books?id=xlEX6I ... _summary_r

It's a pretty extensive preview of the book at Google Books. Maybe read a chapter and decide whether you're into it.

If you are also into my opinion, it's a very well-written book about an interesting story. If you're into the music (I'm guessing you are), and you can sit through accounts of some mid-20's subculture posturing, you'll like the book.
dselevan
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by dselevan »

I ordered it on Amazon based on your reviews.
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by bcastle21 »

as someone who was turned onto spiritualized around the release of Let it Come Down, reading this book really made me appreciate the music of spacemen 3 much more than I did on previous listens.
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by dselevan »

I feel like an old timer. I'm 30, when I was in high school 15 years ago, my buddy gave me a copy of Spacemen 3 Recurring (on tape), with Flying Saucer Attack on side 2. This was what we listened to. Spiritualized Lazer Guided Melodies was a little hard to come by before it was re-issued, Pure Phase was owned by just about everyone I knew. I thought I knew everything about Spacemen 3, I'm kind of interested in the stuff that most of you guys hate. I want seedy stories about the band sniffing glue before recording Rollercoaster for the 10th time or snorting white out before their big show in Germany.
sunray
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by sunray »

Personally i'm amazed everybody didn't rush out and buy it on the day of release, it's a book about Spacemen 3 for fuck sake! I never thought that'd happen in my lifetime. As for the book itself it's well worth getting and an entertaining read, just skip the author's pretentious artwank bullshit of an intro. Oh yeah, i'm with dselevan on this, i like to hear tales of rockn roll debauchery too! Although there really isn't as much in the book as you might've expected. Enjoy.
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Holden
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by Holden »

I've just posted about this separately, but this book is listed on various online retailers for between £600-£996! Do you think this is legit? Does it fetch those sorts of prices?
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by spacemanrich »

WHY ??? Is it out of print ?

Bought it at regular price when it came out many, many years ago.

Well written but I certainly won't shell out 600+ pounds for it.
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by NightWash »

Just fyi - the book is also available as ebook. Sure lacking the style of a physical copy bit the content should be the same :D
sunray
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by sunray »

If anyone wants a pdf of it I can sort them out.
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by Billy Whizz »

I looked a few years ago when I was skint and thinking of selling mine. Back then I saw it for sale for about 50 quid I think. Obviously it's WAY more now... but have any actually been sold at that price I wonder?

I've still got mine, decided against selling in the end. The spine is quite faded so not sure I'd get max for it anyway.

Oh... and yeah, it is out of print, has been for ages.
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angelsighs
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by angelsighs »

Also, some online sellers (particularly on amazon marketplace) actually use algorithms to calculate the price at which they are selling an item. so it tries to work out a price based on rarity of item etc.. but as you can often see, needs serious fine tuning at times!
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by heisenberg »

I've got one too and considered selling it because I normally sell media I'm done with. It's an interesting book if a tad po-faced and dour. Most of the book's story is told from Sonic's perspective but he doesn't come out of it looking very good unfortunately. I'd say I preferred Will Carruther's telling of the tale, which is a far more grounded take on things and unlike Morse's book makes being in a band sound fun at times. Still, if anyone was willing to give me £600 for a physical copy of a book that is currently available from e-book publishers I'd happily sell them it.
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by mojo filters »

Sadly my copy got lost in a move years ago, to the best of my knowledge. I actually prefer the idea of an eBook, as some editing smarts might neatly eliminate the interminably repetitious references to rolling and/or smoking a joint, that Morse seems to feel obliged to put on just about every fucking page!

I think Willie's book is definitely better written, very interesting and imbued with a unique English charm. However at the end of the day it's his memoir, whereas Morse attempts to more surgically extract and chronicle the key information around the entirety of Spacemen 3 plus the subsequent solo careers of Pete and Jason.

Willie's ability to spin a mixture of everyday events and rock'n'roll absurdity into so many interesting narrative anecdotes is mightily impressive. I could see him doing well as a fascinating raconteur, speaker, q&a host etc.
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angelsighs
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by angelsighs »

mojo filters wrote: Sun May 05, 2019 4:39 pmWillie's ability to spin a mixture of everyday events and rock'n'roll absurdity into so many interesting narrative anecdotes is mightily impressive. I could see him doing well as a fascinating raconteur, speaker, q&a host etc.
Will did a Q&A at Liverpool Psych Fest a few years back, he came across great and he does have a way of telling a story.
I'd definitely be interested in a Vol 2 of Will's tales.
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by veiko »

angelsighs wrote: Tue May 07, 2019 7:51 am
mojo filters wrote: Sun May 05, 2019 4:39 pmWillie's ability to spin a mixture of everyday events and rock'n'roll absurdity into so many interesting narrative anecdotes is mightily impressive. I could see him doing well as a fascinating raconteur, speaker, q&a host etc.
Will did a Q&A at Liverpool Psych Fest a few years back, he came across great and he does have a way of telling a story.
I'd definitely be interested in a Vol 2 of Will's tales.
Hold on, is that a hint? Is Will working on a second volume or was it just wishful thinking aloud?
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by angelsighs »

veiko wrote: Tue May 07, 2019 9:36 am Hold on, is that a hint? Is Will working on a second volume or was it just wishful thinking aloud?
Just wishful thinking unfortunately
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by QUINCY »

I would propose the book. It is one of the palatable tune profiles i've examined. Morse is a decent writer, it's inside and out asked about and adolescents that Jason did not take a premium it examines as a reasonable and balanced examination of the band.
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by angelsighs »

I will happily sell my copy for 599.98 and undercut the competition
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by toomilk »

I've still got my copy. My sister used to work at a library, so I had her put the glossy mylar cover to protect it in hopes that it would be worth something at some point... :!:

No way I'm going to sell it though!
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by burningwheel »

A new copy sold on ebay a little while back for $80. He was originally asking 120. Sadly I didn't have cash at the time to jump on it :(
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by Holden »

angelsighs
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by angelsighs »

Looks to be an affordable price unless there's a last minute bidding war. Unless the seller has set a minimum price, or would bidding start at that if they did?
Sometimes I wonder if I should sell my copy, how many more times am I gonna reread it? But its a great reference point for the time even just to dip into.

I'd love a similar book which continues into the Spiritualized years. I get a feeling we never hear half of how the band actually operates and works.
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Re: Erik Morse's book on Spacemen 3

Post by herman »

Sold for £47.66
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