Chart entered : 30 June 1990
Chart peak : 75
Number of hits : 11
I said in the Ride post that I didn't feel they really qualified as "shoegazers" but this lot were the real deal. My usual travelling companions to Dale games are big fans but I've yet to be converted.
Spiritualized emerged from the wreckage of Spacemen 3, founded at Rugby Art College in 1982 by Jason Pierce and Pete Kember. The two guitarists recruited a rhythm section and became The Spacemen playing at any venue that could tolerate one chord songs lasting 20 minutes. When the bassist left the following year they became Spacemen 3. In 1984 they made a demo tape which they sold at gigs. At this point they were playing a sort of murky swamp rock akin to The Cramps.
Spacemen 3 remained a purely local phenomenon until they came to the attention of Pat Fish from the group The Jazz Butcher who secured them a deal with the independent Glass label in 1986. Their first album "Sound of Confusion" came out that July. It isn't quite as fearsome as I expected, sounding somewhat like a slowed down Jesus and Mary Chain. They wore their influences on their sleeves with three late sixties cover versions ( including one from The Stooges ) all given a similar treatment to their own songs. With Jason's blank drone contributing to the samey feel , the album does rather outstay its welcome. the closing "O.D. Catastrophe" being particularly attritional. The album received little attention at the time.
They followed it up with a single "Walkin With Jesus" , a song they hadn't managed to complete at the album sessions. It's very much out of the same mould with Jason intoning sardonic summery references over the JAMC/ Velvets guitar racket. They started getting some national press and appearing in the independent charts.
For their next album they had the luxury of unlimited studio time after agreeing to fund an upgrade of the equipment. While working on the album they recorded a cover of "Transparent Radiation" by Red Crayola and put it out as a single in July 1987. A drone rock effort somewhere between Velvet Underground and Pink Floyd, it was their first release to use strings to soften their sound.
The album "The Perfect Prescription" came out in September and, as the title suggests, was heavily influenced by the use of recreational drugs. The opening track "Take Me To The Other Side" subsequently released as a single has echoes of Fleetwood Mac's The Green Manalishi. Elsewhere though, Lou Reed and the Velvets are the paramount influence, something only accentuated by the softening of the sound with Farfisa organ, acoustic guitar and strings on various tracks. This is still not the place to come for catchy tunes but it's an impressively realised vision and closing track "Call The Doctor " is outstanding.
The band were not happy with their contract with Glass and in July 1988 put out a live album "Performance" recorded at a gig in Amsterdam to fulfil their contract. By this time their bassist had departed and Will Carruthers , previously in a band called The Cogs of Tyme, came in to replace him. They received an offer from Creation Records which did not satisfy them, eventually settling for a two album deal with Fire Records.
They set down to work on a third album but the sessions were difficult. The drummer had quit so they used a drum machine. More importantly, Jason was spending more time with his girlfriend Kate Radley leaving Kember to shoulder more of the creative responsibility.
The two men argued over what should be the next single. This was eventually resolved in favour of Kember's "Revolution " which was released in November 1988. The song borrows heavily from an MC5 track "Black To Comm" with Kember's spoken word drawl accompanied by a barrage of white guitar noise that grows more intense as the six minute single progresses. It got good reviews and featured in John Peel's Festive Fifty.
The release of the album "Playing With Fire" was held up by a fierce argument over the songwriting credits. The finished product had six Kember songs and three written by Jason. However the latter wanted crediting for the guitar parts he had contributed to the other songs. Their manager had to intervene and eventually Jason got a co-writer's credit on the track "Suicide ". The album then came out in February 1989 by which time they had acquired a new drummer in Johnny Mattock, previously with The Apple Creation.
The album showed a clear pulling apart between Jason's blissed out ballads and Kember's more challenging material like the ten-minute "Suicide" which does indeed make you feel like ending it all. The album got good reviews and topped the independent charts.
The tour to promote it generated more arguments with Kember objecting to Kate's presence on the bus. There were further arguments over the next single. The band recorded two songs "Hypnotized" and "Just To See You Smile" written by Jason and Kember respectively. Anticipating trouble , their manager Gerald Palmer selected "Hypnotized" ( from which Kember's contribution had been wiped ) as the A-side and pressed up the single which the band were on tour in Europe.
It was released in July 1989 by which time the band had expanded to a quintet with the addition of another guitarist Mark Refoy, a long-time fan of the band. The single is another lysergic ballad with droning organ chords and whispered vocals and though not obviously more commercial than previous releases it nearly charted. That did not placate Kember whose relationship with Palmer was permanently damaged. The band continued though with the other members all helping out on Pete's solo album "Spectrum" which he would release under the name "Sonic Boom".
In August 1989 they played the Reading Festival in what turned out to be their last live performance. They were then due to tour the US but first Palmer was sacked as manager . He responded by pulling out of financing the tour which had to be cancelled. This was glossed over in the music press with a story that they couldn't get work permits because of drug convictions.
Sacking Palmer did not resolve the conflict between Jason and Kember who recorded their own songs separately calling in the others when required. Kember did not play on Jason's songs but accused him of stealing his ideas. They could only agree to have a side each on the album. A collaborative single with Mudhoney was called off because Kember disliked their cover of "Revolution". Will could not cope with the aggravation and quit the band in September 1989. On the other hand Palmer was back in the fold negotiating a new deal with Dedicated Records.
In November, Johnny and Mark quit the band in exasperation at Kember's difficult behaviour which was holding up the completion of the album.
With the group's album still unfinished , the Sonic Boom album came out in January 1990. This seems to have been the catalyst for Jason to round up the recently departed Spacemen and keyboard player Steve Evans for his own side band to be called Spiritualized. Jason subsequently said he just wanted to get out on the road while Kember toiled in the studio but this does not square with keeping their recording sessions secret from him.
The first Kember knew of Spiritualized was the release of this single to which he responded by announcing the demise of Spacemen 3. "Anyway That You Want Me" is a cover of a Troggs song that Spacemen 3 had previously demoed. As you'd expect, the band slow it down to a drone with strings softening the heavy guitars and Jason singing like he's just got up. There was a suitably psychedelic video to go with it."Step Into The Breeze" is a new song with blasts of guitar and cello scrapes punctuating a pastoral drone expressing a mellow content. I suspect they were probably surprised to scrape a hit with it.
They followed it up with a single "Walkin With Jesus" , a song they hadn't managed to complete at the album sessions. It's very much out of the same mould with Jason intoning sardonic summery references over the JAMC/ Velvets guitar racket. They started getting some national press and appearing in the independent charts.
For their next album they had the luxury of unlimited studio time after agreeing to fund an upgrade of the equipment. While working on the album they recorded a cover of "Transparent Radiation" by Red Crayola and put it out as a single in July 1987. A drone rock effort somewhere between Velvet Underground and Pink Floyd, it was their first release to use strings to soften their sound.
The album "The Perfect Prescription" came out in September and, as the title suggests, was heavily influenced by the use of recreational drugs. The opening track "Take Me To The Other Side" subsequently released as a single has echoes of Fleetwood Mac's The Green Manalishi. Elsewhere though, Lou Reed and the Velvets are the paramount influence, something only accentuated by the softening of the sound with Farfisa organ, acoustic guitar and strings on various tracks. This is still not the place to come for catchy tunes but it's an impressively realised vision and closing track "Call The Doctor " is outstanding.
The band were not happy with their contract with Glass and in July 1988 put out a live album "Performance" recorded at a gig in Amsterdam to fulfil their contract. By this time their bassist had departed and Will Carruthers , previously in a band called The Cogs of Tyme, came in to replace him. They received an offer from Creation Records which did not satisfy them, eventually settling for a two album deal with Fire Records.
They set down to work on a third album but the sessions were difficult. The drummer had quit so they used a drum machine. More importantly, Jason was spending more time with his girlfriend Kate Radley leaving Kember to shoulder more of the creative responsibility.
The two men argued over what should be the next single. This was eventually resolved in favour of Kember's "Revolution " which was released in November 1988. The song borrows heavily from an MC5 track "Black To Comm" with Kember's spoken word drawl accompanied by a barrage of white guitar noise that grows more intense as the six minute single progresses. It got good reviews and featured in John Peel's Festive Fifty.
The release of the album "Playing With Fire" was held up by a fierce argument over the songwriting credits. The finished product had six Kember songs and three written by Jason. However the latter wanted crediting for the guitar parts he had contributed to the other songs. Their manager had to intervene and eventually Jason got a co-writer's credit on the track "Suicide ". The album then came out in February 1989 by which time they had acquired a new drummer in Johnny Mattock, previously with The Apple Creation.
The album showed a clear pulling apart between Jason's blissed out ballads and Kember's more challenging material like the ten-minute "Suicide" which does indeed make you feel like ending it all. The album got good reviews and topped the independent charts.
The tour to promote it generated more arguments with Kember objecting to Kate's presence on the bus. There were further arguments over the next single. The band recorded two songs "Hypnotized" and "Just To See You Smile" written by Jason and Kember respectively. Anticipating trouble , their manager Gerald Palmer selected "Hypnotized" ( from which Kember's contribution had been wiped ) as the A-side and pressed up the single which the band were on tour in Europe.
It was released in July 1989 by which time the band had expanded to a quintet with the addition of another guitarist Mark Refoy, a long-time fan of the band. The single is another lysergic ballad with droning organ chords and whispered vocals and though not obviously more commercial than previous releases it nearly charted. That did not placate Kember whose relationship with Palmer was permanently damaged. The band continued though with the other members all helping out on Pete's solo album "Spectrum" which he would release under the name "Sonic Boom".
In August 1989 they played the Reading Festival in what turned out to be their last live performance. They were then due to tour the US but first Palmer was sacked as manager . He responded by pulling out of financing the tour which had to be cancelled. This was glossed over in the music press with a story that they couldn't get work permits because of drug convictions.
Sacking Palmer did not resolve the conflict between Jason and Kember who recorded their own songs separately calling in the others when required. Kember did not play on Jason's songs but accused him of stealing his ideas. They could only agree to have a side each on the album. A collaborative single with Mudhoney was called off because Kember disliked their cover of "Revolution". Will could not cope with the aggravation and quit the band in September 1989. On the other hand Palmer was back in the fold negotiating a new deal with Dedicated Records.
In November, Johnny and Mark quit the band in exasperation at Kember's difficult behaviour which was holding up the completion of the album.
With the group's album still unfinished , the Sonic Boom album came out in January 1990. This seems to have been the catalyst for Jason to round up the recently departed Spacemen and keyboard player Steve Evans for his own side band to be called Spiritualized. Jason subsequently said he just wanted to get out on the road while Kember toiled in the studio but this does not square with keeping their recording sessions secret from him.
The first Kember knew of Spiritualized was the release of this single to which he responded by announcing the demise of Spacemen 3. "Anyway That You Want Me" is a cover of a Troggs song that Spacemen 3 had previously demoed. As you'd expect, the band slow it down to a drone with strings softening the heavy guitars and Jason singing like he's just got up. There was a suitably psychedelic video to go with it."Step Into The Breeze" is a new song with blasts of guitar and cello scrapes punctuating a pastoral drone expressing a mellow content. I suspect they were probably surprised to scrape a hit with it.
I have friends who adore anything Jason Pierce puts his hand to, but very little has every hit home with me, and I'm generally easy to sell anything with a dream-pop or shoegaze vibe to it.
ReplyDeleteThat "Anyway That You Want Me" is my favourite thing he's done suggests I just find his songwriting lacking.