Spectrum Meets Captain Memphis

[TheWarmth]

Interesting!!!!

http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4371

[TheWarmth]

Just purchased a copy, so I'll write up a brief review after I've had a chance to listen. Can't believe no one else here has any interest in this.

[spzretent]

there is a thread in the Spacemen section. Twas just listening to it in my car. Well worth the money. Pretty varied as well.

[flamingrev]

Just found a used copy and listened to it once.

Not bad, but "slight" is the first word that comes to mind. The spoken word stuff is okay, although as a southern boy the country/swamp vibe doesn't really come across as very convincing.

New version of old songs from Sonic, yawn. Although I've gotta say, this version of Tomorrow Hits is rather nice. The new song Mary sounds like a Stereolab demo. Heeeeeeeey, Mary=Mary Hansen of Stereolab?


It has gotten me a little excited about the prospect of a new Spectrum album, although I'm not expecting much. I can't believe some people in the other thread were digging this more than A&E.

[runcible]

New version of old songs from Sonic, yawn.

Did you say that when Jason redid So Hot or Lord Can You Hear Me? I think Pete's new versions are sufficiently different to be worthwhile and I really like them.

I can't believe some people in the other thread were digging this more than A&E.

Why? I think it's just as good. A & E is a decent album but it's very much in the Spiritualized mould. Pete's album has some very different sounding ideas and he hasn't made Spectrum music for many years - the Johnny Ace track is absolutely superb I think and I don't think anything on A & E is better.

[flamingrev]

"Did you say that when Jason redid So Hot or Lord Can You Hear Me?"

No, because Jason has written loads of other good songs over the years. One or two Spacemen 3 songs at a concert is great, and an occasional reworking of a Spacemen 3 song on album doesn't bother me. The last time Sonic recorded an album of songs (as opposed to EAR) was 1997, and that was Forever Alien which for the most part was awful in the song department, and the rest of it was more along the lines of EAR.

Sorry to be cynical, but the last thing he released that I enjoyed was in 1994, and since then he's been releasing experimental noodlings (nothing wrong with that if it's your bag) or Spacemen 3/Spectrum archival things. I'm curious to see if he's got a good song left in him, and nothing on this CD has convinced me that he's not just farting around still.

BUT, I'm still hoping for a good new Spectrum album this year, and I have warmed up to The Lonesome Death Of Johnny Ace. There are some good bits to this album, it just feels very small.

[sonic124]

I love Forever Alien!! and Indian Giver aint getting shifted off the stereo yet and remember this is a mini album really excited for the new Spectrum album though it does feel like we,ve been waiting a long time. Just a heads up theres some mega cheap tickets going on ebay for the spectrum apollo shows (ie £25 tickets for 99p £3 etc) get MBV thrown in as well.

[They Transmit]

He was very good the other night at MBV, full band n everything.
Started with a kind Krautrock number then Transparent Radiation, Che and ended with Suicide. As usual he did a lot of fucking about between tunes but over all its really whetted my appitite for the Sonic Cathedral gig on the 17th.

[andyblacktoo]

my point was more than, to me, a&e is spiritualized by numbers, it doesnt really vary from the standard spz blueprint in the slightest.

the captain memphis cd, shows kember is still capable of producing interesting material, just like many others, i wish he'd pick up his guitar a bit more, rather than (to me) flying off to pluto on an electronic tangent.

i just think it shows promise, which alongside the spectrum / mbv shoes seem to be showing a return to form from kember, and a time when pierce seems to just be getting more and more predictable with his musical output.

[bcastle21]

my point was more than, to me, a&e is spiritualized by numbers, it doesnt really vary from the standard spz blueprint in the slightest.

this is such lame criticism. any band "by numbers" has been said how many times before by how many different people?

does everything have to vary from a blueprint when an artist comes out with a new album?

i guess it's all just a matter of personal taste, but A&E to me is Jason perfecting and cleaning up his craft as a songwriter. A&E has depth and complexity to all of its songs, whether lyrically or musically.

Captain Memphis or whatever is a bunch of cringeworthy vocals and dull remakes.

A&E by a country mile.

[They Transmit]

It appears to me that what he's saying is that Kember is still trying to make challenging music and not simply regurgitating the last outing. IMHO A&E aint that great a record as much as I'd love it to be, there is nothing, for me, that is the least bit unexpected, or even interesting; my take is JP has painted himself into a corner and is clearly out of ideas.
Flame away

[bcastle21]

FLAME!

[andyblacktoo]

ok, this is interesting, in some ways your preaching to the converted. in that i have a complete spiritualized discography from 1990 to now.

however.

yes, i think pierce has hit a wall. he's changed the band members numerous times, yet the output remains the same. everyone knows the standard spiritualized blueprint. i don't personally think A&E really moves away from that standard in the slightest. whilst kember may be re-visiting old material, he's seemingly looking at things from a different angle. if anything, pierce has at times failed to do this. yes historically he went a bit garage, but i don't personally think he brought anything new from LICD onwards.

kember may be re-visiting old material, but he's completely re-invented it to his own interest, and i admire this. pierce has produced A&E in an almost stereotypical spiritualized manner. and that is why, in some ways, i really admire kember, he does things because he likes them, immaterial of commercial value. post lagwafis, im not sure pierce ever has done. he's taken the more commercial route.

i personally, don't really see the `cleaning up his craft` concept. i just seem a re-hash of more of the same. but thats my musical taste i guess.

[runcible]

Captain Memphis or whatever is a bunch of cringeworthy vocals and dull remakes.

I think that's an odd view - even a ridiculous one. Why is it cringeworthy? I can't see that at all. And what is the 'whatever' you refer to? There are 2 vocalists on the album and Jim Dickinson's drawl sounds great on Johnny Ace which is one of the most interesting tracks Pete has ever been involved in. Pete's vocal on 'Take Your Time' is well measured and makes this song sound better here than the original.

I think Andy has a point even if I think his criticism is harsh - I like A & E but I don't see much new ground being broken - and that's fine to some extent as I want to hear Spiritualized sounding like Spiritualized. People praise the album as if it's entered a whole new area which I don't go along with. So I agree with a lot of what Andy is saying in principal.

[bcastle21]

well i guess it just is a matter of personal taste. jim dickensons voice doesnt really do it for me...and i've never been into the whole spoken word style of pk. i do admire him for his willingness to try new things and lean toward the more experimental side.

[flamingrev]

This album sounds different because it's a collaboration. Attributing the new direction to Pete doesn't make much sense.

"he's completely re-invented it to his own interest"

Sonic's songs don't sound particularly different than they did before. The guitar tones are a little different and his voice has aged. That's it. Perhaps Pete is breaking new ground by choosing to collaborate with someone, but Pete's contributions to the project sound like stereotypical Spectrum. Which isn't necessarily bad, but I don't see any reinvention going on. My favorite song on this is Johnny Ace, and Sonic's swooping sounds don't particularly impress me. The lone new Spectrum song, Mary, sounds just like a random snippet of Big City.

It is kind of unfair to Jason and Sonic to constantly compare them to each other, but at least Jason is writing new songs. Both bands rely a lot on production to define their sound, and Jason's production style has changed a good deal over the years. Spiritualized has gone from a band infatuated with reverb and tremolo to a very dry production that relies on instrumentation to carry the song. Sonic seems stuck in the past to me, but hopefully the new album will be good.

[mh]

Listened to it a few times now, and I quite like it. It's interesting to hear Pete taking on a song one would normally associate with Jason's voice (Hey Man), and the Captain Memphis stuff is pleasing in a ramshackle manner.

One thing though is that it's kind of not right to talk of this as Pete's current direction - according to the sleeve, these songs were recorded in 2003!

[porkchop]

[quote]The new song Mary sounds like a Stereolab demo. Heeeeeeeey, Mary=Mary Hansen of Stereolab? [/quote]

Sonic was in Stereolab for awhile and I believe this tune is a tribute to her. And yes, as it says, this was recorded awhile back, as well as most of what is to be the new record, since he has been "working" on it for years now right?

That said, I do like the new stuff he's been adding to Dean and Britta's recordings.

[TheWarmth]

At the end of the liner notes it says that Sonic and Dickenson had a disagreement and that "Sonic was ejected from the ship." Interesting. Gossip aside, this album is excellent. I really like it. Sonic's voice sounds great. Very cool collaboration. Still listening for now.

[BzaInSpace]

really have to hear this.

'Dixie Fried' - as some of you know - is an all time classic.