A Lifetime of Temporary Relief: Low vs Spiritualized

[Ian Goodchild]

You know that feeling you get from buying a record/CD that you thought would be good, but which turns out to be an absolute work of genius that you want to tell the whole world about? Here we go.

This is what a/the 'Complete Works' CD set should be, guys. This is one of the best, most complete, most varied and constantly surprising box sets I’ve ever purchased (ranking up there with Lee Perry’s ‘Arkology’, the Velvet Undergrounds 'Peel Slowly and See', the Beach Boys ‘Good Vibrations’ and ‘Pet Sounds’ and even Spector's ‘Flying Back to Mono Valley’) and I suggest you buy it, even if you are, or have been ambivalent towards what you have heard of Low.

What you get is three CDs full of (a). Painfully good & rare covers (including their superlative cover of ‘Lord Can You Hear Me?’ [Jason has stated that when he heard Low’s version of this Spacemen 3 song, he was floored. Hence the ‘rediscovery’ of the track in 1998 and on LICD, where Mimi also sings backing vocals], ‘Surfer Girl’, ‘Long, long, long’ [an extremely poignant rendition of a Harrison track from The White Album], ‘Last Night I Dreamt that Somebody Loved Me’ [Smiths] (b). Lots of (superb) demos, rarities and genuinely unreleased tracks, (c). a lot of Low’s collaborative work (with Springheel Jack, the Dirty Three etc.). The only ommission is their version of Joy Division's 'Transmission', which I could see Ian Curtis listening to, quite happily. Also, notice the absence of multiple versions of the same track. And instrumentals.

Oh, yeah, there’s a full length DVD in there too, which is brilliant. Total price? £14.99 from Amazon, and most indie stores, and only a £1 or too more in Virgin/HMV.

Complete Works Volumes I and II combined cost about £10 more (and a bonus disc/DVD? From Spiritualized?!? Ha ha ha!!!), and the Spiritualized effort looks even more like a joke when compared to this. Oh, yeah, and the tracklisting on Low’s set is correct, and the mastering is superb.

Wow, so much time has elapsed, and CWVI and II still irritates the hell out of me. I really should find something else to get outraged about In the meantime, buy this – I can’t believe that any fans of Spiritualized and Spacemen 3 won’t get something out of this. And advocates of CWVI and II...? Please do a compare and contrast, and value for money test on these sets.

Here's the tracks:

Disc 1
1. Lullaby (demo)
2. Cut (demo)
3. Heartbeat
4. Peanut Butter Toast and American Bandstand
5. Tired
6. I Started a Joke
7. The Plan (demo)
8. Prisoner (demo)
9. Prisoner
10. Tomorrow One
11. Turning Over
12. Bright
13. Walk You Out
14. Tear Down
15. Standby
16. David & Jude
17. Cheek

Disc 2
1. Venus
2. Boyfriends & Girlfriends
3. Surf
4. No Need (Version 1)
5. Be There
6. Lift
7. Joan of Arc
8. Long Long Long
9. Lion/Lamb (demo) 10. Will the Night (demo)
11. Last Breath (demo)
12. Joan of Arc (20 Below Mix)
13. Old Man Song
14. Try Try Try
15. Lord, Can You Hear Me?
16. Venus (Time Stereo Dub Mix)
17. Those Girls (Song for Nico)

Disc: 3
1. I Remember
2. Kindly Blessed
3. Blue-Eyed Devil
4. Sleep at the Bottom
5. When You Walked
6. Back Home Again
7. Don’t Drop the Baby
8. Surfer Girl
9. Blowin’ in the Wind
10. Open Arms
11. ...I Love
12. Carnival Queen
13. Overhead
14. Don’t Carry It All
15. Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
16. Because You Stood Still
17. Fearless
18. Shots & Ladders

Disc 4 (DVD)
1. Closer Than That
2. In the Fishtank
3. Making of Trust
4. I Remember (Live in Paris)
5. Two-Step (live at Bard College)
6. Will The Night
7. Weight of Water
8. Don’t Understand
9. Immune
10. Home
11. Dinosaur Act
12. Words
13. Shame
14. Over the Ocean (2 versions)
15. Looking Out for Hope
16. Canada

[BVCP206]

Couldn't agree more. A superb item just packed with goodies and at £14.99 an absolute bargain. Everything CW1/2 (sadly) isn't.

[purespace]

And if you ever get a chance to see them live, don't live with regret by missing them. Stunning. Brilliant. Aural Narcotics. Made A Grown Man Cry. I love Low!

[BVCP206]

Last saw them live in a church in Leeds, amazing and quite surreal too, felt a little strange sat in the aisle drinking a can of Stella. Best thing about the whole evening had to be speaking with Zak before the show, asked him if they'd play 'The Plan' and dedicate it to my wife (who was in her seat at the time) he said it wasn't on the setlist for that tour but he'd see what he could do. Sure enough halfway through the set they played it and Zak dedicated it to the both me and the wife, I'll never forget the look on her face !
If anybody has a copy of this show please get in touch as I've hunted high and low for a boot of it.

[runaway]

So true.
Low (and about a half dozen other bands) have taken a place in my heart once occupied by Spiritualized, especially since the unfortunate advent of Complete Works One/Two and Amazing Grace.

[Jebus Sabes]

- And the 3 hidden tracks at the end of CD2.
- And the DVD easter eggs to find 3 live tracks, the alternative 'Over the Ocean' video, and alternative 'Canada' video (15 minutes long - oooh mama!).

This is how Low describe their cover of 'Lord, can you hear me' in the liner notes:
"S3 was a big influence on us over the years and it's been great to meet and work with those guys on different occasions."

Jason Pierce wasted Mimi's vocal talents on 'Let It Come Down' - far too low in the mix.

Alan and Mimi from Low had their second child last month - have a look at this photo of the baby watching Alan playing guitar.

[J SpaceDan]

My word! I'm a huge Low fan but I was gonna wait until I'd bought all the albums proper before getting this rareities collection but after having read what you had to say about it, Ian, I'm gonna bump it right to the top of the list. And I didn't know about the bonus DVD that comes with it. I've seen Low three times and they're consistently great although at the Varsity in Wolverhampton (just a pub with a stage upstairs) they were frequently drowned out by the games machines downstairs... I met Zac last year in Germany who was quite scary but very very nice.

[Greeny]

Ooooh I'm very excited about this, thanks for the heads-up Ian.

Jesus Sabes, is it straightforward to find those extra DVD tracks? Canada is one of my all-time favourite songs even in its shorter version....

[Jebus Sabes]

I'd have missed the easter eggs, until I read about them.

Side B of the DVD. At the Title menu, you scroll the green dot down, as usual. At the following options:
-Over the ocean
-Weight of water
-Canada

Click the left hand arrow, and the dot should change to Red. Now choose Enter, and you'll get the extra videos.

Let us know what you think of the extra 'Canada' video. I went to a Low gig once, and can't remember it being like that....

[Greeny]

Can't bloody wait....

[Starfish]

sounds like good advice, Mr G. Looks like they've not bothered with anything from the Christmas album (unless I'm mistaken, which wouldn't be the first time. Or the last.)

[BVCP206]

£14.99 including shipping from play.com.

[stegraham]

This sounds like a good bargin - I've ordered it. BTW, does anyone like Picture Center? If you do, and you are not aware of the new album then go and get it "ordered". It's a compliation of previously unreleased stuff and they are giving it away for free, they even pay for the postage and package:

http://www.picturecenter.co.uk

Top stuff!

Ste

[TheWarmth]

Regarding Low, I listened to the first half of Things We Lost In The Fire on the CTA on the way home from work yesterday. Sunflower is a great track and Laser Beam is, too, but I was fairly bored with the rest of the songs. Dinosaur Act, which I think was as single, didn’t really do much for me. I also have Secret Name, which has a few standouts, but overall I’m rarely inclined to listen to Low. Is there something wrong with me? Am I missing their key mind-blowing album?

[J SpaceDan]

I've not got all their albums but, from what I know, if 'Secret Name' and 'Things We Lost ...' don't do it for you, then Low probably isn't the band for you. From the albums I've heard, Low are one of those rare(-ish) bands whose later stuff is better than their early material. 'Trust', their most recent, is arguably better than 'Secret Name' and 'Things We Lost ...'. I guess they play the kind of music (like Azure Ray - any fans here? ...) which when it works is truly astonishing but when it doesn't is a bit of a waste of time. Luckily, in my opinion, Low make it work most of the time

[BVCP206]

Just played the hidden tracks on disc 2, what's all that about then ?

[Jebus Sabes]

The hidden tracks are from this concert:

The Misfits Show
Spaceland, Los Angeles, CA
31 October 1998
Low performed "Words", "Turn", and "Over the Ocean" in the style of the Misfits.

[a beautiful noise]

wow, could this be, myself and "the warmth" agreeing on something. holy shit, the planets must be in alignment today!


xxxshonnxxx

[BVCP206]

The hidden tracks are from this concert:

The Misfits Show
Spaceland, Los Angeles, CA
31 October 1998
Low performed "Words", "Turn", and "Over the Ocean" in the style of the Misfits.

Many thanks for that, I really didn't know they had it in them! Sort of glad they aren't listed, doesn't really sit well with the rest of the package but interesting all the same.

[veiko]

And now there is a tribute album to the Low:

http://www.fractured-discs.com/low.html

We Could Live in Hope | a Tribute to Low
Release date: August 24

"It's been ten years since the release of Low's beautiful first album, 1994s I Could Live in Hope. In celebration of this milestone we, being such staunch admirers of Low, have gathered together a few of Low's personal friends and fans to record their own definitive versions of the eleven songs that appeared on the actual release. We took creative liberty by slightly skewing the original tracklisting to include two starkly contrasting versions of the often requested first song 'words'. Much like the amazing originals, We Could Live in Hope's twelve gorgeously rendered interpretations will ultimately capture, softly shape and soothe your mood. Their collective sounds resonate and sway within that raw, utopian essence of what makes Low so familiar to us all- that glorious uniqueness of feeling simultaneously safe and vulnerable. By fans, from fans, for fans."