Spiritualized

Here's the first of what we hope will be a series of Spacemen 3 themed podcasts, hosted by myself and Runcible. If you fancy listening to a couple of long time fans nattering on about their enthusiasm for the band, then this is for you!

Spacemen Pod

Nice one chaps. Only met Runci once but i don't remember him sounding like that

thanks, guys. That was fun to listen to.

sunray wrote: ↑Fri Mar 26, 2021 11:52 am Only met Runci once but i don't remember him sounding like that

I had more hair back then...

Wonderful listen

Loved it.

Well done to you both.

Subscribed! Can't wait to listen.

Thanks for doing all this!

Second episode out now, at the same address as in the first post on this thread.

This time we chat about Transparent Radiation, the November 1985 gig at the Mercia Leisure Centre, and Greg Jarvis from Flowers Of Hell tells us about his Spacemen 3 voyage of discovery.

(We went on too long this time so apologies for the length - we shall try and be more concise in future.)

That Transparent Radiation discussion made my head hurt (in a good way). However, the next day i went down the TR wormhole and listened to all the studio versions. What struck me most is that for 30 years i've been hearing (and singing to myself) the wrong lyrics!

All my misheard lyrics are in brackets at the end.

Towards insanitary bits of HIDE (Life)

Split nostrils HOVERING or ARE GREEN open wide (Hungry) I really hope it's not 'are green'. That just reminds me of a snotty nose!

I walk through BUSHEL & PECK OF GRAIN (Bush & land & pick off prey)

STYROFOAM people quite violent (Starfolk)

Funny bird with it's forehead BENT (Bare)

With the last one, even though every line in that verse ends in '...ent' i still heard bare instead of bent.

I actually prefer 'my' lyrics

had a listen to episode 2 over the weekend, very much enjoyed it and will be continuing to listen.

the fact that 2 people came to that Coventry gig really brings home how out of step the band were- looking back it's amazing how they stuck to their guns really with such a minimalist musical style. before the internet I don't know how fans of this stuff would even find each other!

I also liked the little musical stings to transition to the next part- very Spacemen!

sunray wrote: ↑Fri Mar 26, 2021 11:52 am Nice one chaps. Only met Runci once but i don't remember him sounding like that

it must be Runci's "radio voice"!

If this forum had a "like" button, I would have been hitting it regularly throughout this thread. Thanks so much everyone, glad you're enjoying the podcast so far. The next few are planned and the next should be along before the end of the month. Do please carry on letting us know what you think, both positive and negative, it's good to know what is popular and less successful.

As you appear to be discussing a particular song each episode i'd like to volunteer Rollercoaster for a future show.

"We want Spacemen Pod NOW!!! C'mon Spacemen Pod, play again!"

sunray wrote: ↑Mon May 10, 2021 4:07 pm "We want Spacemen Pod NOW!!! C'mon Spacemen Pod, play again!"

Lots of nice comments which is great. Thank you so much!

I have to hand it to Ian who has done 90% of the work. Probably more actually.

Part 3 is in the pipeline. I enjoyed doing that one the most so far and I think people will find it very interesting. I know I did!

sunray wrote: ↑Mon May 10, 2021 4:07 pm "We want Spacemen Pod NOW!!! C'mon Spacemen Pod, play again!"

Ha! Whenever I hear that bit, I tend to think...

Just adding that it has been a marvelous idea and future is bright for this endeavour. Loving the tempo of it! Also good that Mark having a bigger bank of personal experience with the actual band, is not the driving force of the show. Don't get me wrong, i'm only commenting from the good side of it, meaning that Ian is perfect for the role of leading that show and Mark has his shoulder against it all the time, but both never interrupt each other by wanting to outdo themselves. I wonder how much can you squeez out of dissecting "Dreamweapon"? That would be a challenge, as it seems that all the background info has been out there by now for a long time, but it still would be interesting perhaps to hear what the two hosts could put together dissecting that thing.

Cheers guys, pod subscribed to and will be catching up on back episodes the next few days, no review yet but I`m sure its f#ckin` great

Ian wrote: ↑Mon Apr 26, 2021 6:00 pm Second episode out now, at the same address as in the first post on this thread.

This time we chat about Transparent Radiation, the November 1985 gig at the Mercia Leisure Centre, and Greg Jarvis from Flowers Of Hell tells us about his Spacemen 3 voyage of discovery.

(We went on too long this time so apologies for the length - we shall try and be more concise in future.)

I honestly wouldn't worry too much about the length. If it's interesting, which it was, then I'm happy to listen for as long as whoever wants to go on for. Sure others must feel the same.

sunray wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 4:47 pm That Transparent Radiation discussion made my head hurt (in a good way). However, the next day i went down the TR wormhole and listened to all the studio versions. What struck me most is that for 30 years i've been hearing (and singing to myself) the wrong lyrics!

All my misheard lyrics are in brackets at the end.

Towards insanitary bits of HIDE (Life)

Split nostrils HOVERING or ARE GREEN open wide (Hungry) I really hope it's not 'are green'. That just reminds me of a snotty nose!

I walk through BUSHEL & PECK OF GRAIN (Bush & land & pick off prey)

STYROFOAM people quite violent (Starfolk)

Funny bird with it's forehead BENT (Bare)

With the last one, even though every line in that verse ends in '...ent' i still heard bare instead of bent.

I actually prefer 'my' lyrics

The one thing that's always got my goat about Transparent Radiation is that Mayo Thompson quite clearly sings "Selfless MAIDEN slip by my side", but thanks to Spacemen 3's mistake in transcription, it's now given as the lyric everywhere.

You're quite right about the maiden/man thing. Whether it is that clear in the original is open to question! I think Pete did a better job than I would of making out what is being sung on the original, even if he doesn't get it spot on. As far as I can make out, these are the sung lyrics.

sunray wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 4:47 pm That Transparent Radiation discussion made my head hurt (in a good way). However, the next day i went down the TR wormhole and listened to all the studio versions. What struck me most is that for 30 years i've been hearing (and singing to myself) the wrong lyrics!

All my misheard lyrics are in brackets at the end.

Towards insanitary bits of HIDE (Life)

Split nostrils HOVERING or ARE GREEN open wide (Hungry) I really hope it's not 'are green'. That just reminds me of a snotty nose!

I walk through BUSHEL & PECK OF GRAIN (Bush & land & pick off prey)

STYROFOAM people quite violent (Starfolk)

Funny bird with it's forehead BENT (Bare)

With the last one, even though every line in that verse ends in '...ent' i still heard bare instead of bent.

I actually prefer 'my' lyrics

Far too many of these are also how i've heard/known them! You are not alone!

In the new episode of Spacemen Pod, Runcible and I talk to Mark Refoy about his time in many Northampton bands in the 1980s, as well as his experiences of seeing Spacemen 3 as a fan. The next epsiode will be along sooner than usual, where the chat with Mark continues as he tells us about his time in Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized. Link in the first post of this thread.

What a nice surprise that was. Obviously the real meat will be when Mark talks about his time in the band (nice cliffhanger!) but still interesting to hear about the local scene and all the different bands he was in.
Imagine being a huge fan of a band.. And then later actually joining them!!

angelsighs wrote: ↑Tue May 18, 2021 8:54 pm Imagine being a huge fan of a band.. And then later actually joining them!!

Marc Riley said something along these lines about The Fall: "I was their biggest fan when I joined, and I was still their biggest fan when I was sacked".

Listened to the first two episodes, well done, sounds great, nice relaxed vibe you`ve got going and very informative to boot so yeah, big thumbs up find myself listening to podcasts almost as much as I listen to radio these days, maybe more, its a great medium, look forward to many more episodes.

Ian, can you get Pat Fish? That would be awesome. Or maybe even Dave Barker from Glass Records?

veiko wrote: ↑Wed May 26, 2021 5:39 pm Ian, can you get Pat Fish? That would be awesome. Or maybe even Dave Barker from Glass Records?

Pat is definitely someone I'd like to talk to, but I haven't asked him yet. The thing is that I know pretty much nothing about his music, and worry that it would be a bit insulting to ask him to talk about his Spacemen connections while ignoring his enormous body of work. Dave Barker would be great to have on, I swapped a few messages with him on a Facebook page for another band he was heavily involved in, but he went very quiet when I mentioned Spacemen 3! (Almost certainly a coincidence, there are photos from the last few years of him with both Pete and Jason.)

In this new episode, we continue our chat with Mark Refoy, talking about his time in Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized, and we examine I Love You from the final Spacemen3 album Recurring. www.spacemen3.co.uk/pod



Photo of Mark with the first Spiritualized lineup courtesy of Phil Nicholls (https://www.instagram.com/philnichollsphotography/).

Episode five is now live, continuing the interview with Mark. This time we talk about the recording of Pure Phase. The original plan was for this to be the last part about Mark's solo work, but that's been pushed off until next time. Mark was keen to talk about Pure Phase, and the chance to tie it in to the reissue was too good to pass up.



Photo of Mark with the first Spiritualized lineup courtesy of Phil Nicholls (https://www.instagram.com/philnichollsphotography/).

Episode 5 is a real cracker, if people haven't checked out the pod yet I implore you to give this a listen. I forgot how much of Pure Phase Mark is on and he had some great stories and memories from the time. including some cameos from a couple of Manc music legends

angelsighs wrote: ↑Thu Jun 17, 2021 8:35 am Episode 5 is a real cracker, if people haven't checked out the pod yet I implore you to give this a listen. I forgot how much of Pure Phase Mark is on and he had some great stories and memories from the time. including some cameos from a couple of Manc music legends

What he said, episode 5 is a great way to spend an hour, well done guys.

great interviews with Mark so far, thank you so much for recording these shows!

There's one question I'd love answered if anybody here knows (or if Mark Refoy ever talked about it) and that's whether Mark and Jonny played on Don't Go/Stay With Me (and The Individual) on the Let It Flow singles. If they did, that presumably means they have uncredited appearances on LAGWAFIS, as the album versions seem pretty much unchanged (save edits) from the single versions. Ages ago I read something suggesting that they might have played on these songs (probably on the old Spz forum TBH!) so it'd be great to know if it were true or not...

mc wrote: ↑Fri Jun 18, 2021 11:11 pm great interviews with Mark so far, thank you so much for recording these shows!

There's one question I'd love answered if anybody here knows (or if Mark Refoy ever talked about it) and that's whether Mark and Jonny played on Don't Go/Stay With Me (and The Individual) on the Let It Flow singles. If they did, that presumably means they have uncredited appearances on LAGWAFIS, as the album versions seem pretty much unchanged (save edits) from the single versions. Ages ago I read something suggesting that they might have played on these songs (probably on the old Spz forum TBH!) so it'd be great to know if it were true or not...

That is a great and obvious question that I am cross with myself for not asking about. I think there is a very good chance that they did play on these, but it's also possible that they were recorded after they had gone in the same way that the Pure Phase version of Good Times was. Too late for this round of interviews unfortunately!

Just wanted to pop in and say I'm on the third episode and it's extremely enjoyable. It's like someone made a podcast specifically for me.

WELL DONE!

Hi Ian - any plans for this on Google /Android pod store? I can see episode 1 there, but not the others.
Thanks

sm-iom wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 6:43 am Hi Ian - any plans for this on Google /Android pod store? I can see episode 1 there, but not the others.
Thanks

I think I've done this now, but I'm a bit ignorant about these things. I know it takes a little time before it will show up, so let's see if it will happen.

I'm not planning on submitting it to Amazon or Spotify, I have too many problems with their business models.

Thanks very much Ian, they've just landed - finished episode 1 today and enjoyed. Cheers..

In this episode we conclude our interview with Mark Refoy, talking about his extensive post-Spiritualized work. As well as Mark’s many Slipstream albums, we talk about his time with Pet Shop Boys and the songs by other artists that he has guested on. Plus Graham Duff, writer of the BBC 3 comedy Ideal, tells us about his use of Mark’s music in the programme.

Ian wrote: ↑Mon Jun 28, 2021 6:40 am In this episode we conclude our interview with Mark Refoy, talking about his extensive post-Spiritualized work. As well as Mark’s many Slipstream albums, we talk about his time with Pet Shop Boys and the songs by other artists that he has guested on. Plus Graham Duff, writer of the BBC 3 comedy Ideal, tells us about his use of Mark’s music in the programme.

Ooh, in'e scrummy?

I still have to start this series of Refoy interviews.

sunray wrote: ↑Mon Jun 28, 2021 8:40 am

Ian wrote: ↑Mon Jun 28, 2021 6:40 am In this episode we conclude our interview with Mark Refoy, talking about his extensive post-Spiritualized work. As well as Mark’s many Slipstream albums, we talk about his time with Pet Shop Boys and the songs by other artists that he has guested on. Plus Graham Duff, writer of the BBC 3 comedy Ideal, tells us about his use of Mark’s music in the programme.

Ooh, in'e scrummy?

I cannot adequately describe how difficult it was not to say that when I was talking with Graham.

And talking of Graham, he's recently started his own label, details here.

Thanks again for pushing this through to Google - downloading ep 6. Hammered through the others. Mark Refoy a fantastic guest, no agenda, no product to push, unlike another non music podcast episode I've just finished, which was basically a 40 minute advert. Mark just happy to sit and reminisce....

Ian wrote: ↑Mon Jun 28, 2021 10:37 am

sunray wrote: ↑Mon Jun 28, 2021 8:40 am

Ian wrote: ↑Mon Jun 28, 2021 6:40 am In this episode we conclude our interview with Mark Refoy, talking about his extensive post-Spiritualized work. As well as Mark’s many Slipstream albums, we talk about his time with Pet Shop Boys and the songs by other artists that he has guested on. Plus Graham Duff, writer of the BBC 3 comedy Ideal, tells us about his use of Mark’s music in the programme.

Ooh, in'e scrummy?

I cannot adequately describe how difficult it was not to say that when I was talking with Graham.

I can imagine.
This also seems like the perfect excuse to give Psycho Paul another airing.

In this episode, we walk with Jesus as we discuss one of Spacemen 3's most famous songs. Ian and Mark disect the many recorded versions, and are joined by Pat Fish of The Jazz Butcher for a chat about a couple of versions where Pat supplied vocals. Plus contributions from a few other fans for which this is a favourite song.

Band photo taken during the Walkin' With Jesus single cover shoot courtesy of Craig Wagstaff.

www.spacemen3.co.uk/pod

Enjoyed listening to that this morning - currently day 8 of isolation so going a little stir crazy - was just checking out that Five Americans tune and noticed they had another single called Sound Of Love not long after!! Was cool to hear that bit of Walking With Jesus form Performance, had wondered for decades what happened after it fades, one mystery solved, great work.

niamhm wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 12:36 pmwas just checking out that Five Americans tune and noticed they had another single called Sound Of Love not long after!! Was cool to hear that bit of Walking With Jesus form Performance, had wondered for decades what happened after it fades, one mystery solved, great work.

Oh, that is a Good Fact, thank you! Yeah, it was cool to hear that different recording of WWJ from the Melkweg, more soon I hope.

Ian, you need to contact Chris Barrus. He was a huge SP3 fan in US, back then made a one and only decent discography webpage of Sonic's stuff. Might just reminiscence the past and make a nice fan talk with him.
Hopefully you can figure out putting the whole "Playing with fire" under microscope and slashing it up on your podcast.

God, I loved Chris Barrus' Sp3, Spz and Spectrum websites back in the late 90s/early 2000s. Back when the internet gave you information rather than tried to sell you anything...

forgot to say how much I enjoyed the latest episode. Covering Walking With Jesus is quite an undertaking. Like many here I have umpteen versions of this song.
When you said the Spiritualized versions arrangements are often more dynamic (good or bad thing depending on your point of view) it brought to mind the Royal Albert Hall version where they go into double time at the end. not something the Spacemen would ever do

Finally caught up with this episode a few days ago, really enjoyable stuff. I'd always wondered why WWJ fades out on Performance.

We take a look back at Spacemen 3's performance at Watermans Arts Centre from 19 August 1988, the gig everyone now calls Dreamweapon. With contributions from Spaceman for the night Steve Evans, bassist Will Carruthers, taper Andy Jackson, Vinita Joshi of Rocket Girl Records, Steve Mitchell of Fierce Recordings, attendees Col Todd and Paul Thorpe from the band The Loveblobs, latter-day Spaceman Mark Refoy, and the late, great, Pat Fish.

www.spacemen3.co.uk/pod

This is such a brilliant episode. So full of emotions and new facts. Beautiful. Bewildering? Absolutely! Thanks Ian and Mark. RIP Pat.

Ian wrote: ↑Fri Dec 31, 2021 7:00 am We take a look back at Spacemen 3's performance at Watermans Arts Centre from 19 August 1988, the gig everyone now calls Dreamweapon. With contributions from Spaceman for the night Steve Evans, bassist Will Carruthers, taper Andy Jackson, Vinita Joshi of Rocket Girl Records, Steve Mitchell of Fierce Recordings, attendees Col Todd and Paul Thorpe from the band The Loveblobs, latter-day Spaceman Mark Refoy, and the late, great, Pat Fish.
www.spacemen3.co.uk/pod

Finally caught up with the Dreamweapon episode.
It's a wonderful documentary, really evocative and fascinatingly told.
Good work all round, to everyone involved.

I decided to play Dreamweapon as an ambient backdrop while listening to the pod - and I can recommend doing that if you haven't listened yet.

Regarding Will's account of the end of the gig and realising something was amiss (trying to avoid spoilers in case there's anyone here who doesn't know the story there - if there are, don't read any further please!).

At about 21m 15s there's a loud noise which sounds like an amp being plugged in or out, or cutting out. It does set off a delay effect but I can't work out if there's any difference in sound before or after it.
Anyone got any thoughts, insights or enlightenment on this?

*stares into the distance and wonders if J or Pete would sit down for a chat*

angelsighs wrote: ↑Mon May 10, 2021 9:25 am had a listen to episode 2 over the weekend, very much enjoyed it and will be continuing to listen.

the fact that 2 people came to that Coventry gig really brings home how out of step the band were- looking back it's amazing how they stuck to their guns really with such a minimalist musical style. before the internet I don't know how fans of this stuff would even find each other!

I also liked the little musical stings to transition to the next part- very Spacemen!

sunray wrote: ↑Fri Mar 26, 2021 11:52 am Nice one chaps. Only met Runci once but i don't remember him sounding like that

it must be Runci's "radio voice"!

Mate - I saw the darkside back in 1991 in Bradford TownHall. There were about 3-4 people there and I’m sure I saw Jason at the bar!

Just discovered this last night, listened to the first episode. Great work, loved it.

aadamm wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 7:16 pm Just discovered this last night, listened to the first episode. Great work, loved it.

Delighted these are still giving people pleasure. Not sure when there will be another, no shortage of ideas or people who've kindly said they'd be involved, just general real-world stuff intruding a bit too much to give this my attention right now.

2/3 of the way through the conversation with Mark. I love that he remembers his contributions to songs as snatches of melody, still - I'm not sure I would remember what I played 30 years ago.

There's a fantastic quality to this kind of archival effort, in that we're in the internet era (he said on a bulletin board), but this stuff isn't _of_ the internet era, and the participants are mostly still around. This effort of remembrance, when we have things like dodgy recordings and low res video, worn posters and old photos, has an almost alchemical element to it that nothing native to internet era will have in quite the same way.

aadamm wrote: ↑Mon Jun 06, 2022 1:41 am There's a fantastic quality to this kind of archival effort, in that we're in the internet era (he said on a bulletin board), but this stuff isn't _of_ the internet era, and the participants are mostly still around. This effort of remembrance, when we have things like dodgy recordings and low res video, worn posters and old photos, has an almost alchemical element to it that nothing native to internet era will have in quite the same way.

beautiful!

i’m slowly working my way through these episodes
i love what aadamm has said here

In the episode I was listening to last night, you all were talking about being floored by New Order live. Are there any classic New Order shows on youtube that anyone is aware of? I love New Order, but never even really thought about them as a live act.

aadamm wrote: ↑Thu Jun 16, 2022 3:21 am In the episode I was listening to last night, you all were talking about being floored by New Order live. Are there any classic New Order shows on youtube that anyone is aware of? I love New Order, but never even really thought about them as a live act.

I don't feel qualified to answer this. As I think I said on the pod, New Order at the 1989 Reading festival was one of the gigs of my life, but although I've got a few of their albums and know most of the others, I'm not a hardcore fan, or even a particularly knowledgeable one.

But I was delighted to get a message from Mark Refoy, who suggests that this is a good one. Great sound and picture quality too.



All this ties in nicely with the latest track Mark has posted to the Slipstream SoundCloud account, a cover of Ceremony.

https://soundcloud.com/slipstreamuk/ceremony

PERFECT, thank you both. That's really wonderful.

Glasgow Barrowland 1985, sounds a bit ... but very listenable still, a good show for many reasons, first show after Lowlife was released
I think, my first New Order show as well, also my first of many times at Barrowland https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... QTkkFyRGQY

niamhm wrote: ↑Sat Jun 18, 2022 9:38 pm Glasgow Barrowland 1985, sounds a bit ... but very listenable still, a good show for many reasons, first show after Lowlife was released
I think, my first New Order show as well, also my first of many times at Barrowland https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... QTkkFyRGQY

I was at that Barrowland Show in 1985, featuring obligatory crap joke about a lady of ill repute. Meanwhile, this is my favourite 1981 New Order performance. It was going to be released instead of the Ukrainian National Home video a couple of posts back.

https://www.bilibili.com/s/video/BV1BC4y1877y

The bass breaks down during ICB which meant that they didn't release this until the Movement box set a couple of years ago. The version of Hurt/Temptation with the segue is great.

Ah, finally got around to watching the NYC show last night, that was fantastic. Absolutely wonderful. I'll watch yours next, plan.

I know how these kinds of projects can be and don't mean to provoke any negative feelings, but I'd be delighted if you guys came back and did any more episodes. Gentle encouragement, no guilt.