Playing With Fire

Shoegaze! This was better than I was expecting. Sounds like siblings to the Smashing Pumpkins while also being U2 adjacent. Catchy little psychedelic pop.

Very chilled and spacey. I imagine it would be a great listen after a large does of shrooms! It is clear where Spiritualized took inspiration.

(2/5). like space itself this album is vast and occasionally pretty, but mostly empty.

A album with the foundations of some good songs. The guitarist would Make a great rhythm guitarist in a real band. But there was nothing interesting and the same noise over and over got annoying.

That one was painful. Not only was i checking to see how much longer there was every few minutes but when I finally got to the penultimate track all it did was describe my mental state. Its called suicide and its a joke but hot damn did I hate just about everything about this one. It just drones on and on forever. It doesnt do anything cool with these 7, 8, 11 minute songs. You could maybe distille this down from 9 songs to get maybe one decent one. Thats about how many musical ideas exist here. But its 10 tracks and almost 50 minutes long. Its like they wrote in slow motion. Just keep those 3 notes going until we think of the next thing to do in 5 minutes. For sure one of the worst thing ive heard on here. Congratulations to be honest. Im pretty easy to at least appease. But no you guys went above and beyond to make the worst thing for me of all time. Good job

2001 Space Oddessey vibes. Long boring moments then a little excitement

This is by far one of the most self indulgent albums on this entire list. First off, fuck you for trying to sell this piece of garbage. You can play around with ambient sounds all you want don’t try to sell it, nobody cares. Two, fuck you if you think I want to hear the live version, or the demo version, or the alternate version. They’re all trash. This album sucks.

The only song I enjoyed here was a cover. Let the Circle be Unbroken is a great song. The rest of this is just shoegaze that goes nowhere

That was painful to listen to and that’s skipping the Disc 2 of demos and Alt mixes. You would think the torture of listening to three bad Suicide takes isn’t enough - maybe that is why they named the song that?!?

Ненадолго ощутил себя улетевшим с этой поганой планеты, а значит слава космонавтам, слава пионерам

Странно, но приятненько

не то, чтобы прям плохо, но для 88го года звучит уже не свежо - 3

Definitively a no no this is not really near a top anything list

Wasn’t overly interested in this at the start. It was bordering on becoming background noise. Then I really enjoyed Revolution and the album clicked for me after that. Top Track - Suicide

Promising, then I got bored! Heard before ❌️ Listened this time ✅️ Revisit ❌️ ★★★☆☆(5/10) Total reviewed : 477 Already owned : 105 Purchased : 25 To buy : 4 Nope : 343

This is okay! Sort of boring, but okay!

I did not care for this initially, but it really grew on me as the album progressed.

Day 88 Oh my days, when does it end? Fav track: Lord Can You Hear Me

4/10 Honestly, this album is a very dull psychedelic rock/shoegaze pastiche that doesn't really go anywhere or do anything special. I could see this being a great album when you're high, but when you're sober it's just no good.

First listen. I can see the light here but it is so far away. I’m not connecting with this album and I don’t think it’s bad. I’ll need to re-listen when I have a chance.

rock psicodelico experimental, sin más, no me hace mucho ni me apetece mucho, 2/5

Overall: 3/10 This would probably be incredible if I lived in an elevator 24/7. It's painfully dull and uninteresting to me. Fav Song: Revolution

It was just ok. Really a little out there and some parts that just dragged on. I guess you have to be in a certain state of mind to get the most out of this one.

Better than expected.

Haven't heard of them. I listened to this whole thing and already don't remember what it sounds like. Absolute nothingburger 1/5

Завывания безголосых придурков под невыносимый скрежет. Абсолютная вторичность и хрень. Их ответ краут-року

This felt like hard work. I thought by the time I got to Revolution, something was about to happen, but no. Felt quite bored throughout.

Psychedelic

This was a somewhat distracted listen but I really enjoyed it. Some tracks went on too long and bonus tracks felt unnecessary. But I like what I heard

Chill, but also slightly ominous, vibes only. I would put this on during a party or while doing drugs, but otherwise doesn't offer much for me.

Both way more chilled out than I expected and more hard rocking, at different times. Come Down Softly To My Soul feels ready for a daytime Ibiza set, but How Does It Feel distills it to its essence. Ambient, spoken word vocals, heavily distorted guitar and gentle acoustic parts. It develops a bit, fuzzy drums and a repeated vocal, but it's quite the mood. I do like the minimalism and the distortion can get aggressive at times (Revolution). Idk, this defies simple explanation. I feel like some of it could benefit from being played really loud at a warehouse party. For the home listener, you have to be really into atmosphere and feedback because catchy melodies are in short supply and it gets oppressive at times. I'm inclined to give it points just for the spacey analogue sounds - especially stuff like Let Me Down Gently. As it stands, I might cherrypick parts of this but not sure I want to listen to it all in one go.

Tapped out at song 5. Long ass repetitions.

So. Bored. I try to pay attention but it just droned on and on. Repetitive. Did I mention It’s SO LONG.

If you want the best experience, check the original track listing. But despite me doing that, this still sucked

Fínasta gítar rúnk, shoegaze með skemmtilegu twisti. Stundum er bara gott að fá svona rugl.

Áhugavert. Hafði ekki hlustað á þessa hljómsveit áður. Alls konar tónlist, stílar og textar. Í raun segir hringurinn á umslaginu allt sem segja þarf. Revolution, purity, love, suicide, accuracy.

Shoegaze has never really worked for me, and this was no exception. Not bad for background music, though. 2.7

Really nothing for me on this album, it's the first one that I've listened to on this project of which I didn't add a single song to a playlist of any sort. Drone rock is not for me.

This one grew on me by the end. Thought Suicide was the best thing on here but at over 10 minutes long, was there any need to put 3 different versions on an already overlong album.

Not enjoyable. Even the cover of Will The Circle Be Unbroken was a dirge . Did not finish.

22/10/2026 Unfortunately, not for me. Too long, too boring, 2 stars. Spotify listeners: 118.5k

Very atmospheric, but there's just not enough happening for this to be worth the time. And I know asking for "action" in an atmospheric album sounds like a contradiction, but The Ruins of Beverast, Summoning, and Wolves in the Throne Room are able to manage it. This album is like drowning in boredom.

a few decent songs but also annoying and repetitive

Disc 1: Good intro song "Honey". Getting more psychedelic as it goes. I like his voice. So Hot, Lord Can You Hear Me is more melodic than the other ones. Suicide it's not that good compared to others in this album, why does it have so many alteranate versions. It's an album that should not be this long, why are there so many demos and stuff. Did not finish it, but what i listened was kinda good 2/5

Unresolved Buildup: the Album Poor production, vocals, and lazy atmosphere to boot. Quite shit

Pretty good. Almost a 4 but not quite. If I heard this album around 20 to 25 years ago then I probably would have really enjoyed it.

Decent enough, but the songs felt a little unfinished.

I really liked this. There were parts that drug it down, but, overall, it got to the 4 for me.

A bit bland

wildly lame.

I’m happy to get to hear a Spacemen 3 record that I hadn’t heard before; I’ve always liked what I heard of them before. This is nice blurry shoegaze-psychedelia spacey kinda stuff. Just my kinda thing. Fave tracks: "Revolution" and “Suicide,” which remind me of my favorite stuff from the Velvet Underground (and, in fact, Suicide). And "How Does it Feel," which reminds me of the Spacemen 3 track that I know best, their later 45-minute-long “Dreamweapon,” which I recommend to anyone who also gave this album five stars but hasn’t heard it. Will listen again and I bet it’ll end up downloaded on my phone.

Re-heated Spiritualized nachos still taste pretty good!

Not bad but mostly meh.

Listens: 1.5 Standout Tracks: Not really It's all very samey sounding, which, being adjacent to the shoegaze genre, makes sense. That being said, I was not particularly interested in hearing nearly two hours of shoegaze psychedelic rock today. And then you mix in all of the new-age hippy bullshit and religious references and you've got me disengaging pretty hard. This album also fails the litmus test of mentioning the 1001 Albums book in the Wikipedia article summary. No, actually I lied. Its not in the summary. It's directly below and it's basically the only thing the article mentions. There's virtually no other information about the album, how it came to be, any accolades it might have received, etc. So, yea. Do I hate it? No. I ascribe "hate" to music I actively dislike and go out of my way to avoid. But this can be filed under wholly forgettable and I will never think about this album again beyond writing this review today.

I've never heard this before today, but I immediately clocked this as one of those albums that I have to be in the mood for

The last song was a jam.

Zzzzzzzz..... 1/5.

i like girl on fire

Previously unknown. The parts that aren't boring are annoying.

I feel like I got into a nice state of "flow" while working and listening to this. It is a long album, however, and it feels even longer than it is. I liked it, but I can understand why someone wouldn't. I am glad that someone made an album that sounds like this, and I'm glad it's on the 1001 list. Favorite tracks: 'I Believe It', 'Revolution', and the cover of 'Any Way That You Want Me' on the bonus disc.

Honestly pretty pleasant. Experimental while still being very listenable. I really loved "So Hot" and wish more of the songs had sounded like that one!

Well this was shit

Mesmerising and meditative in parts

SORRY!!!!!! I didn't listen to this yesterday, but I can get to it today. It's almost 2 hours long, though. idk not feeling it. It says psychedelic but not in a 60s way, and I'm pretty sure that's the type I enjoy lol. It's ok, I guess. Skipping how does it feel cause why is that 8 minutes of absolutely nothing? This avant-garde bs is so not me. Skipped another song. It's too much just holding the same note. Like, okay, Yoko. I've skipped 3 songs so far. Make it 4. This AIN'T FOR ME. Oh my God, there is a 10+ minute song. Yeah, I feel bad because this is the second album I've had to skip songs (the other one being that god awful beck album), but really it's just bad. Unfortunately, I am not going to finish this. it's bad.

I was initially looking forward to listening to this one since I saw that one of the members went on to Spiritualized sometime after, but then was extremely disappointed. It’s just a whole lot of fluff. Some pretty parts, but they don’t detract from the rest of the album that’s either insignificant or irritating.

I'd never heard of them before, and I wish that were still the case. Sadly not.

I've got a headache while I was listening to the album

Did not like it.

Boring, hurts my ears, can't hear the lyrics. Altogether pretty bad

Eh... I don't know

1,5

Ech, had high hopes here. Didn't like it, too meandering.

Felt like I was in a dream listening to this - loved the psychedelic ambient blend

A little weird (trippy/spacy, particularly instrumentals and breathy singing) but it was ok

First Listen Favorites: Honey Let Me Down Gently So Hot (Wash Away All Of My Tears) Honorable Mentions: Lord Can You Hear Me I Believe It

Hey, did anyone have real trouble playing this record? I only heard fuzzy electronic garbles, indistinct moaning and mumbling, and drawn-out, irritating, tuneless rambles. I don't know, maybe the stream was corrupted.

626 albums in and my patience for absolute tomfoolery on this list is wearing increasingly thin. What the fuck is this

decent but a bit too repetitive in the end

Very good album. Very surprised that this is their third album in the 1980s, and sounds amazing today.

Was expecting something more psychedelic, but ended up being more stoner. Just ok. 6/10

A strange album that didn't really grab me.

The audio level mixes were all over the place on this one. One song it's really quiet, on another it's piercingly loud. It wasn't the song dynamics just it was mixed terribly, and it's not in a charming way whatsoever like some albums lo-fi elements can be. The album also was a bit too repetitive for my liking. I'd personally say I can like drone music (like Flood by Boris) but definitely albums more like this I don't. I simply just didn't have a good time with this album, I don't think I'd return to this one. Highlight Song/s: "Honey"

Meh. Interesting for sure. But I feel most songs seemed to drag on for too long. Especially Suicide. Goes on for so long and built to nothing really. None of that is to say I hated it. But I just didn't really care for it in the end.

This is a nice surprise. Like the Spiritualized albums, I wasn't expecting much out of this. Turns out this is the kind of loud shoegaze-y bullshit (complementary) that I'm into. I bet I'm going to spin this quite a bit for the next few months, forget it, and then be delighted when I stumble back across it. "Suicide" is incredible. That constant drone of the main riff, the ever-increasing crescendo of fuzz. One of those songs that sort of feels like you're going insane in a good way. Best tracks: "Honey" "How Does It Feel" "Suicide"

Not great. Felt like it was acting super provocative with nothing to show for it.

I liked this album. kinda dark, not the basic british pop group from the 80's that is typical of this list.

If more than three minutes of this album is actually someone playing an instrument and not just some high school garage band doing one lick on a looper pedal and letting it go for waaaay too long with some noodling, I'll eat my socks. This album asks the question "How does it feel?" a lot, and it's bad. It's greatest sin is how abysmally boring it is. I enjoy psych rock, shoegaze, and fuzz. This is a terrible example of any of those things. I had a different shoegaze album yesterday (Nowhere by Ride) and I really enjoyed that. To follow it up with this other side of the coin, I can see how people would hate shoegaze as a genre if this is all they were exposed to.

Couldn't finish

This is boring.

I was pretty excited about this on paper, but it was pretty disappointing. It took three tries to listen to it. I just kept tuning it out and forgetting I was even listening to anything, so would have to restart it. I love space-rock and psych, but this is just somniferous. Even when it starts to "rock" it just becomes so ceaselessly repetitive that I lose interest really quickly. I wish this was better. I feel like it MIGHT be something I could come to appreciate with multiple listens, but there is also nothing about it that makes me want to invest time in that.

This reminded me too much of My Bloody Valentine so this was a big HELL NO from me.

Fint nok! Jeg kan meget bedre lide Spiritualized

Foretrækker Spiritualized pladerne vi har haft, men god dreamy larm ikke desto mindre!

Sounds a lot like an noisier version of Spritiualized (great). Suicide was a really good track!

I’m just not into it and I think the album likes it that way.

This album does absolutely nothing for me. I understand the idea behind the repetition, drones and hypnotic atmosphere, but I never get pulled into it. Instead of putting me in some kind of trance, it just makes me want the songs to stop. The repetition becomes irritating rather than immersive, and I honestly struggled to even finish the album. I can see why some people love this kind of psychedelic minimalism, but it is simply not for me. At all. 1/5

I don't recognize this artist nor any of the track names by title. So I'm basically going into this blind. This is very boring. I feel like they just forgot how to rock. They're certainly doing the other halves of Psychedelic Rock and Space Rock, but there's just no rock to be found here. Why are the drums seemingly completely missing? [Spacemen 3]: Our new album is called "Playing With Fire." [Interviewer]: So does it sound like you're playing with fire? [Spacemen 3]: Oh Lord, no.

really interesting. evokes garagey sounds in the realm of the stooges while also featuring drone that reminds me a lot of the velvet underground. all with christian lyrics paired with drug themes. never heard anything quite like it, but i enjoyed it. favorite tracks: Come Down Softly to My Soul, Revolution, So Hot (Wash Away All of My Tears), Suicide

Como esto todavía se considera rock? No lo volvería a escuchar.

It's a vibe, just not one I'm throwing on too often