Hey You

 

Brighton's Higher Love Records are always good for surprises. This time with a new interpretation of a forgotten song by a band from the C-86 generation. 14 Iced Bears are from Bristol and lead by Robert Sekula and played an jangly indie-pop and got known by their love ballad Hey Fever they recorded on a Peel-show.

Now Kent's Puerta Montt City Orchestra, the project of Angus Murray and Tim Salter, recruited the original singer Robert Sekula to reorganize this song and transfer it as Hey You. The result is a song that could be from many albums by Spacemen 3, Spiritualized or Velvet Underground. Strung-out backwards guitar and sitar strains accompanying the fragile breathless ballad. 

And as if that wasn't enough, Jesse Fahnestock remixed the song and spiced it up with handclaps and synthesizers. 

Monday's Long Song

 

Spititualized released their third album Ladies and Gentlemen we are floating in Space in 1997 and I was confused when I listened to it the first time. Somewhere between Spacemen 3's feedback sound, 6ß's psychedelia, Brit-pop and solid songwriting I couldn't file them and was not sure if it was worse or a great album. After listening to the album more times I found the beauty of the songs and have to say that they made a little masterpiece from the 90's.

Spiritualized - I Think I'm In Love

Amazing Grace

 

20 years ago Jason Pierce aka Spiritualized released their fifth album Amazing Grace probably one of his most underrated albums in his career. I came back to this album when he announced a remastered version to release early next year. You can find variations of his space-rock in tradition of Spacemen 3 as well as soul and gospel influenced songs. A perfect balance of spaced out rock in combination of traditional ballads were new and great decades ago. It is great to hear these songs again after a long time and I have to say that this album should have more credits than it had. Not only a sentimental trip back to the old days - more an experience of how much time he was ahead.

2022 Long Part III

 

Let's finish my musical review of this year's music. The collaboration of Sonic Boom and Panda Bear came unexpected but gave us a lot of great songs with great harmonies, melodies and a massive retro-charm.

The Pink Album by Unloved was one of highlights this year. A psychedelic synthesis of dark pop, 60's girl group sounds, ambient patterns and dance floor undertones makes this album remarkable.

Danish producer Andres Trentemoller made an album that was especially for me because I love the way he can create electronic sounds. Many songs have a somber aura but listening more than one time you can see the magic of his musical cosmos in Memoria.

One of the best albums of this year came out early this year. Flicker by Andy Bell conglomeration of very different sounds from the last decades and full of ideas, melodies, hooks and great songs. Always a pleasure to come back to this great album.

Spiritualized came back with Everything Was Beautiful an album that shows everything I expected form the Jason Pierce' beginnings over his krautrock phase to his last album. Nothing more or less a great album.

Every year is a good year, when Michael Head releases a new album. Dear Scott is more than I expected. Still on a high level with his distinctive voice and a lot of great songs he returned as my favorite solo artist.

Fire Doesn't Grow On Trees

 

Half a year is over and I still ask myself where the time went and I look back to the records I purchased this year. One of those are the latest release by Brian Jonestown Massacre, a band formed in the early 90's by Anton Newcombe in San Francisco and during the last decades they made their unique kind of neo-psychedelica mixed with British shoegaze sound. They were always amazing but their new album hit me in a way that I didn't expected. A sound between late 70's psychedelic, early Spacemen 3 and Spiitualized. An album I got a few days ago and it was on heavy rotation at my place. I am not sure if it will reach a place in my years end list but now it only sounds great to me.

Warmth Of The Sun

 

Martin Jenkins aka Pye Corner Audio announced a new record to be released next month. I know that many people out there are listening to his music with big fun and so am I. He gave me throughout the last years many tracks that have regular plays at my place. Warmth Of The Sun is probably the final result of his collaboration with Andy Bell from Ride and a testimony about new psychedelic adventures in far out spaces. Exactly a distillery of Spacemen 3, Ride and Spiritualized. Looking forward to an album that could reach a high place at my years end list.

The Mainline Song

 

The recent days Jason Pierce released the third song from the upcoming Spiritualized album Everything Was Beautiful. A new Spiritualized album is always welcome at my place and a good opportunity to put on your headphones and drift away into space. And this song fulfills any expectations. As expected the song starts slowly and orchestras sounds join with tender howling guitars to another spaced out hymn.

Monday's Long Song

 

Almost 30 years ago Jason Pierce formed Spiritualized after the split of Spacemen 3 and released their debut Lazer Guided Music. I have to admit that I had a spot on Spiritualized with their epic Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space and digging deeper into their spaced out sound I came to their debut and I can say nothing more that from this time on I love the kind of their unique and never boring sound. A classic album that will be re-released on vinyl during the next weeks. A must have.

Spiritualized - Shine A Light 

Until The Lights Go Out

During the last years more and more bands from Italy showed up with new and fresh material mostly in the category of psychedelic music. One of those is Julie's Haircut from Reggia Romana. They released their ninth album a few weeks ago and it is very good and don't have to hide behind productions from other countries ruling this genre. Their music is spread between Mercury Rev and Spiritualized one one side and Can and JAMC on the other. It is great to hear that they make a very true and unique sound of their influences. Great songs with a motorik beat and some feedbacks make this record worth playing.

Slowness

As far as I know The Cure made a great performance at Glastonbury this year and now many people talk about them and their influence in music history and how they work well on stage after all these years. They were always a band I loved from deep in my heart and I played for a few month in a band playing their songs. After all I wasn't good enough to play bass and I quit - probably too soon. But it makes me smile when new bands follow their footsteps nowadays. One of those band sis Slowness a band from San Francisco/NYC. Their latest record has some songs on it that would fit easily on Cure's Disintegration added with some kind of Neil Young or guitars you could hear sometimes on records by The Fall or Spacemen 3. I know this sounds weired but give them a listen and you might agree with me. One of those new records that made fun to me and will be played in my house often this year.

This Year's Records 15/18

Every new album by Spiritualized is a good album for me. And so is And Nothing Hurts. It is nothing new just like many before but if you are a huge fan they don't can make anything wrong. All in all another album that shows everything I like by them.

Spiritualized - I'm Your Man

Spiritualized - The Morning After

Spiritualized - Sail On Through

And Nothing Hurts II

I tried to feature a few new song by Spiritualized's new album and they released via bandcamp. But they deleted these songs from the page. So I give you some appetizers yesterday. I try to give you the possibility to listen to their songs at this place. So listen to this songs soon because I will delete them before I get arrested.

http://afewgoodtimesinmylife.blogspot.com/2018/09/and-nothing-hurt.html

And Nothing Hurt

Jason Pierce aka former Spaceman 3 and now Spiritualized released a new album these days. And it filled just what I expected: Some semi-acoustic love songs like The Morning After and punpers like A Perfect Miracle or On The Sunshine where he puts out his guitar and takes us to a ride into space-rock, jazzy heaven. You ought to listen to this songs loud so that you can hear the the greatness of this songs between traditional songwriting and spaced out feed-back sound. Not the music that gets into your ears and stay at your attention but if you listen several times you will listen to an album Pierce worked for years to deserve it to us.

Spiritualized - The Morning After

Spiritualized - On The Sunshine

Hands

During the last days I listened often to the new album by The Duke Spirit. They released their latest record after a period of absence over 5 years. Now they are back with a superb record based on blues and blues-rock. Sometimes the power of PJ Harvey or Patti Smith shimmers through, the whole sometimes also reminds of the Breeders. However, behind all garage rock manner one notices that the former art students have also belonged Spiritualized or The Jesus And Mary Chain, because this psychedelic beginning forms the carpet of her special rock variation.

I tried to offer a few songs via box but they regulated my limits to a very low level. So I have to find out another opportunity for a free download.

Lay Back In The Sun

Against the weather forecast for today the sun is shining in a cloudless sky. Stormy and rainy April showers were prophesied. Now I'm sitting on my balcony with a cup of coffee typing these words. So I tried to offer you a song with sun in it's title.

Have some sunny days during the Easter time.

Spiritualized - Lay back in the sun

Songs The Lord Told Us # 10

Spacemen 3 was an English alternative rock band from Rugby, Warwickshire. It was founded in 1982 by Pete Kember and Jason Pierce. Their style was to be assigned to the space to rock and the shoegazing. In 1991 they resolved and Jason Pierce founded Spiritualized together with Jon Mattock. Besides, they developed from her motto "three chords good - two chords better - one chord best" an independent, uncompromising sound and fell under influence, among the rest, under tape like MC5, The Stooges, 13Th Floor Elevator and The velvet Underground. They released their masterpiece back in 1988 with 'Playing With Fire' an epic album by some weird ones. Differences of opinion between both dominant leaders were every now and then the reason that such an album could originate. It's a compact recording and the gift to their fans. Most of the song on this record were mellow, slower and soft like Spiritualized used to play a few years later. But there was one song on this album that drove me almost crazy when I first listened to it. 'Revolution' is this kind of song you listen for the first time and you'll never forget. A song only played with riffs, echoes and feedback with an steady going bass line (that comes angry to your ears) and lyrics that was written against the politic of Mrs. Thatcher (like most of the bands in this era did). I can remember when I listen to this song for the first time. It was at the end of 1988 and we had in Southern Germany the ability to listen to Alan Bangs (we called him the poor man's John Peel). When he made his last radio show before he was banned from the airplay because his kind of music wasn't compatible to the mainstream he made a two hours set with the music he was influenced and addicted to. Me and a couple of friends listened to this show and I was captured by this song. I thought by myself: This one must be much more an awesome song when you smoked something good.

Tune up loud and give yourself a pleasure while listening to it.
Have a good weekend people

Hypno-Beat

In the mid 80s a band impressed me much because they brought the music from the psychedelic era and pre-punk into nowadays music. Someone described their music like colorfully mind-altering, but not in the sense of the acid rock of the 1960s; instead, the band developed its own minimalistic psychedelia. There are no more words to add. Spacemen 3 was a band that should never be forgot. Without them Spiritualized wasn't possible.

Spacemen 3 - Hypno-Beat