Songs in A&E - the greatest Spiritualized album ever

[jb]

So...I think it's a pretty solid album but not outstanding. Some great songs (Soul on Fire, Sweet Talk, Borrowed You Gun, Death Take...) but what really irks me about this realease is the vocals. Anyone who went to the acoustic gigs knows Jason can sing properly but here he puts his croaked/weary bluesman voice over nearly everything. OK, I guess it's supposed to sound 'authentic' but to my ears it just sounds...rubbish. He half wrecked some good tracks on the last album (Ballad of Richie Lee) and it's even worse here. The version of Sitting on Fire on the Bradley's Almanac live recording is far superior to the album cut I think.

But that bass on Sweet Talk is truly brilliant and the best bit on the whole album for me...

[twentysixdollars]

I think there's a lot of mustard in Jason's vocals this time around, on "Sweet Talk" especially but also elsewhere.

[SpaceLine]

i have no qualms with the vocals myself. 8 million or so cigarettes have surely altered his voice over the years and it fits these songs well imho.

i am still of the opinion that sweet talk is up there with his best work ever. the other song that has really grown on me is don't hold me close.

borrowed your gun i am fond of but i get a little overfull of the chorus after a bit. short and sweet please.

excellent choices for a single as i think you have the best slow number and fast number of the entire album in one. this is a good sign as soul on fire is spz by numbers, boring and blah.

[eeee22]

...soul on fire is spz by numbers, boring and blah.

I'm glad someone else agrees. It's just a rehash of "Stop Your Crying," Which is one of the other very select few Spiritualized songs I'm not fond of.
As for the album, I wasn't initially impressed as a whole but then I got past my third listen or so and now I'm a very big fan. As for the title of this thread... I'm going to sit down with a bottle of wine and listen to each album in it's entirety tonight, then report my findings

[Stuart X.Hunter]

... I'm going to sit down with a bottle of wine and listen to each album in it's entirety tonight, then report my findings

May I suggest one of those big cartons of wine...I know it's a bit late '80's house party but Banrock (them Australians) do a nice red...by the time you get to A&E (after approx. 5Hrs) you will be proclaiming it as the best. Good Luck, mon freund

[ebbsandflows]

I like the new style voice. I do miss the deadpan reverb voice of old too but change is as change does.

I must say that the similarity of his voice in "Sweet talk" to the Sterephonics guy is a little tough to get past. Still should be a good single, The bs don't sound like they'll be accoustic mainline versions - i kinda hope they aren't.

Anyone know what is meant by a "Japanese style belly band around the packaging" - curiouser and curiouser.

[MODLAB]

Anyone know what is meant by a "Japanese style belly band around the packaging" - curiouser and curiouser.

-Haramaki-

is a belly warmer with traditional japanese patterns.

so what i make of it is that it will be wrapped as so.

sigh! there goes another idea down the drain!!!

Best,

M

[radioshack]

Don’t Hold Me Close – most certainly the highlight of the album for me.

definitely my favorite song on the album.

Mine too.

[warmgun.]

With regards to the Belly Band, I assume it will be not unlike the red band that came on the latest Blonde Redhead album 23.



Sounds nice...

[alan_cohaul]

I think that "Songs..." is probably the best since LAGWAFIS. I just really like the stripped down nature of it, and it's a grower, something that needs a few listens before you can really appreciate it.

[BzaInSpace]

It goes really well with red wine.

Allegedly...

[natty]

I really like it. It's better than LICD and AG without a doubt. I don't like a lot of the vocals on it though. Some of it even sounds like Damon Allbran to me. Whoever pointed that out is spot on. Sitting on Fire and Death Take Your Fiddle are my favourite tracks from a few listens, but I think it merits a few more before I can really pass judgement.

There's been some really thoughtful and considered stuff posted on this thread and I'm too drunk to really do it justice right now. I'm digging "Indian Giver" more though and am more interested in hearing the new Spectrum LP at the moment TBH.

[alan_cohaul]

I really like it. It's better than LICD and AG without a doubt. I don't like a lot of the vocals on it though.

You know, I forgot to mention that, too.....I think that J is singing higher in some of the songs that he ever has in the past. "I Gotta Fire", for example--that's probably near the top of his range, and I don't think that we're used to it that much, because compare that to rockers like "Electricity" or "Come Together", and you'll notice that the key is higher, so he sings higher. I think his forte is the lower voice---if I did have somewhat of a complaint, it's that his upper register isn't his main strength. I think that, though, is something that people don't give him enough credit on this album for taking a risk and deviating from just his normal range--for better or for worse.

[charles w]

Listened to A+E for maybe the 15th time today and I've given up on it. I've listened through headphones in a quiet room, in the car on the way to work and in my 'shed'

My honest opinion is still that Jason has exhausted his creative energy. There's little on A+E that couldn't have come from any of the previous records. If I'd been told the record was a collection of outtakes from the last few records I wouldn't have disbelieved this. I'm weary of the soul/fire/jesus etc lyrics.

I hope that that songs will come alive at the forthcoming gigs.

I appreciate that some folks won't have a word said against Spz and that everything they do is beyond reproach

Not a shocking record by any stretch of the imagination just a bit run of the mill, IMHO.

[sunray]

Well i've only listened to it 4 times and the first 2, apart from Baby I'm Just A Fool, left me feeling angry. The 3rd didn't stir any emotion either way and by the 4th listen i'd progressed to genuinely liking 3 songs: Baby..., Don't Hold Me Close (which really reminds me of live versions of VU's Heroin) and Goodnight Goodnight. I can't stand Waves Crash In or Borrowed Your Gun which are just nauseatingly sentimental to my ears. Listening to it on vinyl, when you get to see it broken down into 4 parts, it just came across as a bit of a weak album. I have no inclination to listen to it again for the time being but will give it another go in the Autumn/Winter months to see if it suits my mood better then.

I'd agree with Charles W's assessment of it not being a shocker just a bit run of the mill.

[alan_cohaul]

All's cool....it would get pretty boring if everyone just agreed! And I think that all Spiritualized fans have a tendency to declare each new SPZ record as the "best ever"....at least for awhile, hahaa.

That said, I think that the charm about Spiritualized has always been that familiarity--J's quite a limited musician and songwriter (even by his own accounts), so there's really only so far that a new Spiritualized album can stray. "Amazing Grace" was the most electric, most amplified and most angry sounding album that they had made and there's quite the contingent of people that didn't like it because it was too heavy and loud and that the softer songs hadn't made the emotional resonation that they'd hoped, maybe sounding like an aftersight. With those limitations, there's only so far that J can or could go in a song oriented way, other than creating just avant noise like "The Individual" or something, and then I think that he'd alienate his core fanbase with that. The tough part for established bands is meeting somewhere in the middle--something that old fans won't think is just a retread, but also something that sounds new and fresh to them and is familiar, yet accessible enough to still reach a larger audience.

That being said, his Jesus worship seems to be getting bigger and bigger on each album. Julian Cope had actually said in a Brain Donor interview, when asked if he likes Spiritualized (Doggen and Bales connection), he said, "I used to. Now it's like coffee table music for smackheads", hahaa. In a way, he's sort of got a point....the Jesus and religious things are sort of overblown (back that up....REALLLLLLY overblown), but I think that it suits him. It's sort of like when you're listening to a Led Zeppelin album and Plant goes into a "baby baby baby baybeh" breakdown or mimics the guitar lick vocally, that's sort of expected of the guy, heh.

[bunnyben]

All's cool....it would get pretty boring if everyone just agreed! And I think that all Spiritualized fans have a tendency to declare each new SPZ record as the "best ever"....at least for awhile, hahaa.

.

that's called 'noel gallagher/ian mcculloch syndrome'

[bunnyben]

Doggen and Bales connection), he said, "I used to. Now it's like coffee table music for smackheads", hahaa. .

cope wishes that he himself was coffee table music for smackheads- so much ego and so little tallent

[sty]

I'm not sure about best ever but it is brilliant without a doubt and I would say definitely Jason's finest work since LAGWAFIS. I love every second of this album and the three live shows I've seen in the past year.

[alan_cohaul]

Doggen and Bales connection), he said, "I used to. Now it's like coffee table music for smackheads", hahaa. .

cope wishes that he himself was coffee table music for smackheads- so much ego and so little tallent

Heh, I thought that would go over like a lead balloon here, but I think Cope's a talented guy, and obviously Doggen and Kev (who Jason trusts and respects, obviously) trust and respect Cope. Unfortunately, it's a bit like parents disliking each other (well, one parent, anyways), and i'm the kid that's saying "let's just all get along"....

[t0kdag0n]

Count me in as one of the people who think Songs in A + E is a serious grower. Defintely a very strong record, imo. I find various songs from the album loooping in my head throughout the day. The first 4 and half minutes are heavenly. The one track I initially wrote off was "Baby I'm Just a Fool" with the common criticism that it's "Walking With Jesus Part 2" but I've even come around to this track. I love the strings and the "All of My Tears" reference and the way the songs builds with the drums and horns in total cacophony. As far as a favorite, it's too hard to pick but "Sweet Talk", "Sitting on Fire", "Borrowed Your Gun" and "Goodnight Goodnight" are all Spaceman classics in my book.

[bcastle21]

i think a lot of people will be swayed after hearing some of these songs in the live setting...

i absolutely love sweet talk and sitting on fire live...

[scratch]

hmm well it took me almost two months to not look at this thread and think.. uuuh? but it´s nice.. very nice
it took me more than a 16? listens to see it fully.. not the best but different than the others and perhaps not the worst

[Luminescence]

Well, it's certainly excellent as every Spz+ album is. However i wouldn't call it there best. 'Ladies & Gentlemen...' still holds that accolade for me.