some random spiritualized reflections

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aadamm
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some random spiritualized reflections

Post by aadamm »

Hey folks. The new album has me re-energized for Spiritualized in a way that had waned over the years, and I've been going for walks and listening to albums I haven't listened to in a bit, and thinking about the band, and I wanted someplace to dump some random Spiritualized thoughts as they came to me. I'm going to talk about some songs and moments and so on, please join in if you care to.

First off, the thought that had me wanting to start this thread: by god have I always, steadily, loved the "come on, my lord" part of On Fire. That's not my favourite album, I haven't been going back to it much lately, but man that particular part of that song, the lyrics, melody, the repetition of it, the choir ... it has always given me goosebumps. Let it come on down, ease away the pain. From 2:14, from 2:40 to the end, incredible. I don't know if I've ever heard it live.

I'll be back with more later. I just need somewhere to dump this because none of my real life friends are interested, ha.
ro
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by ro »

aadamm wrote: Thu Apr 28, 2022 5:14 amI just need somewhere to dump this because none of my real life friends are interested, ha.
love this.
i’ve got friends who are fans, but i can’t imagine talking about spiritualized at this level with them.
here is where the true love nerd devotion happens.
it’s home.

edit/
i love all the echoes of the past 3 decades on EWB. have had the end of Let it Bleed running in my head all day, and am reminded how it walks hand-in-hand with the live versions of Stay with Me
Last edited by ro on Thu Apr 28, 2022 8:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
mc
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by mc »

Random Spiritualized reflection from me: possibly my favourite moment in all their music didn't even make it onto a studio album - the alternative middle section of "If I Were With Her Now", as featured on Blue on Blue. If only that had made it to the final version...

(video should start at the section I mean)

https://youtu.be/XxuJ5ZLhFrA?t=1043
Last edited by mc on Thu Apr 28, 2022 9:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ro
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by ro »

mc wrote: Thu Apr 28, 2022 8:00 pm Random Spiritualized reflection from me: possibly my favourite moment in all their music is the alternative middle section of "If I Were With Her Now", as featured on Blue on Blue. If only that had made it to the final recorded version...

(video should start at the section I mean)

https://youtu.be/XxuJ5ZLhFrA?t=1043
That is just beautiful, the cascading feeling of it. Although I’d miss the album version terribly!
angel-sighs
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by angel-sighs »

The final saxophone note on Shine A Light is like a pure musical transcription of a shiver up the spine. Well to me it is anyways
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by mc »

For me, if J had kept the rest of the album version exactly as is, but subbed in this version of the middle section instead, it would be utterly, utterly perfect - Spiritualized's greatest moment. I sometimes wonder why on earth it got ditched - was it because the 4 (?) chiming guitars would be too hard to replicate live (although unless I'm dreaming, I'm sure some early bootleg live versions sound quite like this), or was it because the arpeggiated chords are identical to Lord Can You Hear Me?, or perhaps he just got bored of it...
ro
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by ro »

Every time I hear the album version middle section it it brings me joy. I had it as my outgoing message on voicemail for a over a year until people started complaining, “what is that?”

which is partly what I love about it so much. and it’s quite the opposite from the version you love.. How interesting that he switched one out for the other. Would also love to know what went into that move.
aadamm
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by aadamm »

the clap and the piano at 5:50 in "take your time"!!!

I had a bit of an Avalanches recording as my outgoing message for a bit, and then my grandfather made a comment and I realized it was alienating and bewildering for them, and I've had boring normal messages since, even though my days of having grandparents call are behind me.
ro
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by ro »

aadamm wrote: Thu Apr 28, 2022 11:59 pm even though my days of having grandparents call are behind me.
♥️
PopeJez
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by PopeJez »

The final saxophone note on Shine A Light is like a pure musical transcription of a shiver up the spine. Well to me it is anyways
Totally agree. Nothing comes close, for me. It's sublime.
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by runcible »

Most of Lazer Guided Melodies has a massive effect on me. It was a momentous time for music anyway but that album seemed to sum up so much of what I wanted from music back then. It also sounds timeless so hasn't dated even a little.

The bit which stands out is the second half of Angel Sigh - after those big bursts of energy - where the music meanders around and then the cellos bring it to a close. It's like wandering around the most beautiful garden that you don't want to leave. The textures and gentle rotation of sound is quite incredible. The band find themselves in a glorious area and simply stay there. But that's both Jason and Pete all over. Find the right spot and hang around for a bit even if not much is actually happening. Wonderful stuff.
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by runcible »

angel-sighs wrote: Thu Apr 28, 2022 9:11 pm The final saxophone note on Shine A Light is like a pure musical transcription of a shiver up the spine. Well to me it is anyways
This is also up there! Like a beam of light shining through the darkness.
ro
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by ro »

runcible wrote: Wed May 04, 2022 12:22 pm It's like wandering around the most beautiful garden that you don't want to leave. The textures and gentle rotation of sound is quite incredible. The band find themselves in a glorious area and simply stay there. But that's both Jason and Pete all over. Find the right spot and hang around for a bit even if not much is actually happening. Wonderful stuff.
I happen to listen to ‘feel like goin’ home’ about six times yesterday and then you posted this perfect description. Halfway through FLGH there’s a whole minute of staying there in that glorious area, with not much happening.
but it’s bringing you somewhere.
and that somewhere is deeply important.
aadamm
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by aadamm »

(This is going to be self-indulgent)

We had a scheduled power outage in my apartment building the day after EWB came out, and so I had planned to sit and give it a full-focus listen in the dark. And it reminded me of a couple of trips to Mexico, about a decade apart.

The further-back one was I-don't-know-how-many-years ago. Pre-iPhone (I say that only because I was thinking "if I had photos, I could date the trip"). Oh, I know, it was when the what's-it-called broke out. Swine flu? Yeah, okay, 2009. I went to an inclusive resort near Cancun, which is not where I would choose to holiday. But my brother was thinking about a way to get his family (two young boys), and our grandmother, and me and my parents to the same place, and this was his plan. And he was correct: my grandmother was in her late eighties, and going somewhere that she didn't need to leave the entire time was about the only viable option.

So I'm at this place and find an unexpected pleasure in that my entire family would vanish after dinner - my brother would disappear with his family, and my parents and grandmother would retire for the evening, and so each night was mine alone. I would go grab the beers they kept restocking my room with, and the peanuts they kept leaving me, and smuggle them in a towel down to the hammocks on the beach. (I may not have needed to smuggle them, but I wasn't sure if there was an expectation if you were by one of the bars that you would get your booze there...) And I'd lie in a hammock and look at the night sky and drink beer and eat peanuts and listen to a different Built To Spill and Spiritualized album each night.

By 2018, my parents had been spending most winters in Mexico, on the opposite coast, in a tiny town, and I finally came down for a week to see this place that had meant so much to their post-retirement lives. And I ended up consciously re-enacting this "working through Spiritualized's catalog" ritual during my time alone.

And what struck me about this power outage was that it was similar in that it was a removal from my ordinary routines and habits, similar to a trip. The things I regularly do weren't available, and I was lying in the dark drinking apple cider and listening to EWB and thinking about the value of slowing down. That's something I know, but regularly, habitually ignore. And I've always found it remarkable how ... profoundly important it feels to be jostled loose from my day-to-day. And that, I guess, listening to Spiritualized seems in some way like communing with some essential part of who I am, like I forget it or maybe sometimes deliberately distance myself for a bit to not wear it too thin, a lighthouse to keep on the horizon.
aadamm
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by aadamm »

ro wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 12:14 am but it’s bringing you somewhere.
and that somewhere is deeply important.
Yes, yes. Pure Phase into Spread Your Wings does that for me, as does the horn towards the end of the noisy bit of Cop Shoot Cop that signals the transition into the final section.
veiko
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by veiko »

About the recent gigs setlist. Well, i can't see people going crazy here neither or what? https://youtu.be/fYRlr-eGBUU What is the problem?? We care a lot about our favorite band, but we give some slack if he takes the freedom and makes his gigs as he wants to.
angel-sighs
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by angel-sighs »

runcible wrote: Wed May 04, 2022 12:23 pm
angel-sighs wrote: Thu Apr 28, 2022 9:11 pm The final saxophone note on Shine A Light is like a pure musical transcription of a shiver up the spine. Well to me it is anyways
This is also up there! Like a beam of light shining through the darkness.
That's a good comparison too!
It's the depth of the production that makes LGM so timeless all this time later. It's like it's an album in 3D whereas other indie music of the time seems like it's in 2D.
aadamm
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by aadamm »

One interesting point in the landscape of my feelings towards Spiritualized is LICD.

I probably hadn't listened to it since the 2018 Mexico trip until recently. I always liked it - when I first heard it I probably loved it for a while. But in recent years as my feelings towards Spiritualized kind of "settled", I found that if I wanted to listen to SPZ, it was LGM or PP that I reached for, full stop. That was the peak, that was what I wanted, the rest all had its moments but that was pretty precisely what I loved.

Listening recently to LICD is very interesting, because I also love it, despite it not really having the same ... je ne sais quoi. I'm hearing it in the context of Jason's changing interests, and it seems fascinating to have gone from the types of music he was writing earlier to these kinds of arrangements. I wouldn't have thought he would ever write things so straightforward, or with his voice so prominently featured, as he does here. Of course it makes some sense to me in the context of the success of LGWAFIS, and the development of those arrangements, but it's still a bit disorienting to go back to S3, LGM & PP and imagine this person getting from there to here.

I've been soaking up older stuff - the Real Complete Works, 91-92 live recordings from youtube, I'm 2/3 of the way through Will's book, and just listened to the 2nd episode of the Spacemen Pod. The 2nd episode is particularly interesting here because they talk about LGM being in some ways like an S3 album, about it bearing much of Pete's influence. And Will has that poignant little bit about Jason and Pete's influence on each other. And watching these shows with the original line-up, and wondering to what extent that line-up dictated a work I had previously thought of as mostly one person's (no disrespect to them). How much of the road from there to here was changes in one person's tastes (and drug habits?), how much was a change in the supporting players, how much was distance from Pete. I don't think these questions have real answers, but I think they're interesting.

I'm really glad LICD exists as it does. It's never going to be my favourite, and some part of me is always going to long for a return to LGM and PP (...which I think maybe EWB gets closer to? but that's a derail here). But I'm glad Jason isn't really interested in repeating himself, and I'm glad he was able to realize this (probably very expensive) experiment.

Also: the electronic/synth-like/clockwork sounds on Won't Get to Heaven are immaculate, as is the way the choir sits under his voice for the "I'm hoping, praying" part at the end. Really, really good stuff.
runcible
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by runcible »

Very interesting. LICD is the album which has grown on me more than any other over the years. Initially there were some terrific songs but I found some stuff too obvious. Also the huge production and list of contributors felt a little OTT back then. It's now settled into a solid listen with the best moments sounding even better. The closer Won't Get To Heaven is absolutely magnificent, as you say, and is one of Jason's finest songs. I play LICD more now than I did on release...
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by sunray »

runcible wrote: Wed May 25, 2022 10:54 am The closer Won't Get To Heaven is absolutely magnificent, as you say, and is one of Jason's finest songs.
What should've been the closer Runci! You're forgetting the album actually ends with Lord Can You Hear Me, which I still find too overblown. Not listened to LICD in yonks though. Keep meaning to return to it but something else always grabs my attention first.

One moment that always slays me is during the version of Thing'll Never Be The Same from Glastonbury 1993; "I could of had a heart... heart... heart... heart... heart" 8)
Nineteen...Nineteen...Six Five
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by BzaInSpace »

I dunno, I’ll never forget the first time hearing that LICD version of ‘Lord Can You Hear Me’ with my then GF.
She had a decent stereo system - I didn’t. Post September 2001 there were quite a few reasons to get the fuck away from
Island life
and head toward…

I think it was reasonably strong, and the wine was excellent. This was weeks after the record had been released. I got way into that, to the point of absolute abandon when the whole thing kicked in at the end.

I already knew the Sp3 version. But that take is fucking unbelievable. To this day, I can hear a space-transmission bleep when it gets really loud. I used to think I’d imagined that in my addled brain. I think it’s there
O P 8
mc
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by mc »

BzaInSpace wrote: Wed May 25, 2022 6:30 pm I already knew the Sp3 version. But that take is fucking unbelievable. To this day, I can hear a space-transmission bleep when it gets really loud. I used to think I’d imagined that in my addled brain. I think it’s there
Completely agree, both on how incredible the LICD version of LCYHM? is, and also the space-transmission bleep - I don't even have to listen to the song to remind myself of the part you mean, I can conjure it in my head as clear as day. It's definitely there.
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by runcible »

I stand corrected... And agreed Joycey - it should have closed the album.

The Sp3 vs Spz version of LCYHM debate will run and run. The Spz version is decent but not a patch on the original. It gets the huge production touch that the album has throughout, but the fragile nature of Jason's vocal on Playing With Fire & the more subtle approach gets me every time. Same with So Hot. Both Sp3 originals are perfect so hard to improve on.
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by BzaInSpace »

…except there’s no debate. Simply a reminder of how good that album is, and how astonishing the epic closing song(s) are.

You can have both versions, and as far as fragile goes; that close harmony with Mimi from Low is hard to beat.

Also - glad I wasn’t the only person to imagine the space-transmission bleep! Very glad I played that very loud indeed way back when. That moment remains incredibly memorable all those years later. It’s wild to think this record is over two decades old already.
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aadamm
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by aadamm »

well

i took LSD today, and listened to Fucked Up Inside, The Perfect Prescription, Dreamweapon, Everything Was Beautiful

and a smattering of others

and it's all really good. thank you
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by BzaInSpace »

Wow! Well, hope it was amazing… Come Down Easy etc
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angel-sighs
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by angel-sighs »

Big fan of Let It Come Down here. It's not perfect but overall i love it for its whole sound and what its going for. The ensemble is so massive and epic but there's something warm about it too.
Good point about Jason's voice being so much to the fore. It sounds so fragile and human in the middle of it all. And he's really belting out a lot of the songs. Must have felt quite different at the time. Ladies and gents was quite clean sounding compared to the earlier albums, but his voice is still quite processed on there.

Not sure which version of LCYHM I prefer. Both fulfil a different need. I do prefer the Pure Phase version of All Of My Tears though. The Spacemen 3 versions seem like demos to me, and i mean that as a compliment. Even the Spacemen's more produced stuff has a lo fi rawness Jason would never let Spz have

Part of me thinks LICD should have been even more ambitious, stick Rock and Roll and Going Down Slow on there and make it a fuck off double album!
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by aadamm »

I'm sapped! The ole' toss n' turn for hours, noticing the sky lightening before real sleep is achieved, etc. I've got that drained battery feel today. But I've taken this week off from work, so I have nothing I need to do today.

But! I was really glad I made time for both EWB and Perfect Prescription. I wasn't really planning on either, but I wanted to go sit on the patio for a bit, and ended up going straight from one to the other, and they both felt perfect for the moment. I had not given Perfect Prescription that quality of listen before, and I liked the juxtaposition of the two albums.

angel-sighs, the fragility of his voice is just perfect for the material, isn't it? Really suits it well.
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by aadamm »

I find the line "you can always shoot the messenger the moment they arrive" genuinely funny. That song is the highlight of that album, but I do like "The Morning After" more after the show I saw in April.
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by angel-sighs »

aadamm wrote: Thu May 26, 2022 7:58 pm angel-sighs, the fragility of his voice is just perfect for the material, isn't it? Really suits it well.
Oh 100%. If it was a more belting or histrionic voice, it wouldn't work. You have to hear Jason's fragility within all that epic stuff thats going on.

I always thought it interesting that LICD sounds like a far superior version of Richard Ashcroft's first solo effort. With all the strings and the generally smooth sound. Not that i think it was deliberate. Far from it- just an interesting coincidence. One is how to do it properly, one is how not to do it!
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by ibex1251 »

SPIRITUALIZED live in the NME tent at T in the Park 1998... Nice memories coming back to me from that.
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by niamhm »

ibex1251 wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 12:31 pm SPIRITUALIZED live in the NME tent at T in the Park 1998... Nice memories coming back to me from that.
First and only time my wife saw Spiritualized, our daughter has now seen them more, absolutely scorching - for Scotland - that day
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by heisenberg »

angel-sighs wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 4:54 pm
aadamm wrote: Thu May 26, 2022 7:58 pm angel-sighs, the fragility of his voice is just perfect for the material, isn't it? Really suits it well.
Oh 100%. If it was a more belting or histrionic voice, it wouldn't work. You have to hear Jason's fragility within all that epic stuff thats going on.

I always thought it interesting that LICD sounds like a far superior version of Richard Ashcroft's first solo effort. With all the strings and the generally smooth sound. Not that i think it was deliberate. Far from it- just an interesting coincidence. One is how to do it properly, one is how not to do it!
Ashcroft can't arrange music at all is another way to look at it. His solo stuff veers between being horribly overproduced to sheer predictability. Any great album he's been involved in had other people doing the music :wink: Can't believe he is the sole credited writer for BSS too - he didn't even write the string riff, the producer did :lol:

My favourite Spiritualized moment right now is the badass bass riff in Best Thing You Never Had. Then the drums kick in. Fucking awesome.
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by aadamm »

heisenberg wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 10:38 pmMy favourite Spiritualized moment right now
Right now I'm walking around thinking "Angel Sigh is the best song ever written and the live versions of it with the first band lineup are unmatched" which I don't quite mean literally, but I don't not mean it either. Best Thing is fantastic - I hope I can another chance to see some of the material from this album now that I'm more familiar with it. It was a bit of a shame to have the tour stop here before the album release.
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by ibex1251 »

niamhm wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 9:46 pm
ibex1251 wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 12:31 pm SPIRITUALIZED live in the NME tent at T in the Park 1998... Nice memories coming back to me from that.
First and only time my wife saw Spiritualized, our daughter has now seen them more, absolutely scorching - for Scotland - that day
Went to T in the Park most years, but 98 was quite possibly my favourite. Miss that festival a lot.
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Re: some random spiritualized reflections

Post by nghst »

Wasn't sure where to put this, but I was looking for Spiritualized news on Google and this popped up:
As The Christian Post’s Leonardo Blair reported of the incident: "A Missouri pastor has apologized after a video clip in which he threw a spiritualized tantrum from the pulpit and called his congregation 'broke, busted and disgusted' and 'cheap sons and daughters' for not 'honoring' him with a watch from the luxury brand Movado went viral."
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