Reviews (page 3 of 8)
Upeaa tunnelmointia Spiritualized-hengessä. Ymmärrän hyvin, että tämä ei toimi kaikille ja tämä venyttää vähän musiikin määritelmää; onko tämä musiikkia vai ääntä? Kuitenkin, yksin tunnelmointiin sivan täydellistä. Ei kuitenkaan päivittäiseen käyttöön. 5/5
You need to be in the right mood for this album. It's quite chill and psychedelic. I did enjoy it, but things did drag here and there. 3.3/5.
Interesting listen, has a very indie, young band in their basement sound.
This album was 75% droning synths with no direction or culmination. Shit recording an production. "Revolution" was a cool song but also one of the few actual songs on the record. An interesting one time listen, but not something you need to hear.
Can really hear the roots of Spiritualized in this one.
Does it shoegaze? I dunno. Kinda sleepy though. 2/5
Reminded me a lot of Eno. I dig it.
Couldn't get through it. Not even the first 5 songs. I dont know who these guys are. But if they arent dead. They should be.
I kept waiting for it to get good because it sounded like it would until track 5 then stopped listening
Pretty good
I picked up on the psychedelic tones a few tracks in. It almost seemed weird seeing that this came out in the late 80s and not the late 60s. Whilst I appreciate that genre, I could not fathom what was done with it on here. Barely a melody or a hook to be heard and vocals so compressed it sounds like they were recorded with space helmets on. Occasionally, the guitars would be turned up like on Revolution, but it ultimately it just amounts to a cacophony of noise thats only memorable for the change in volume, nothing else.
No lo estoy odiando. Pueda que tenga mejor mood hoy. How does it feel qué carajos es eso, terrible. Una meditación, tiene elementos importantes pero no entiendo que es lo que tengo que escuchar que cambie mi vida. No entiendo nada. suicide y how does it feel en español mejoran pero wow, es transe aburrido
This was an interesting album, didn't know anything about them but it was decent
This is pretty bad, lame
Not my thing
No
I kept thinking "I just have to be in the right mood for this one" but the right mood never came so I gotta go with my mood. Probably would be good music to have a mental breakdown to so will update my rating if that happens
Pink Floyd like
Very low key alt rock
A lot of repetitive melodies that give it an almost religious like quality to some of the songs.
Kinda reminds me of the Jesus and Mary Chain if they took fent and were not very talented, yet I can't help but feel like there is something to it, so I will probably give it one more try.
Was a 4, worked it's way to a 3. Seems innovative for '89. Weirdest music to clean your bathroom to, though. 3/5
iprnotico e meditativo, forse un po' lungo ma voglio rivisitare
Es geht so, aber bestimmt nicht Weltklasse.
I enjoyed the ethereal sound of this album, but I think it's pretty forgettable music for me.
Totally fine. I'm sure it influenced a lot of artists in the 90s
This was very eclectic and there were some moments that we pensively melodic and alright to listen to, but most of it just sounded like flatly angry punk screaming or out-of-tune guitar arpeggios that really grated on my nerves. Two stars, and I think I'm being generous.
unremarkable
7/10
The nonchalance, the 60s inspired psychedelica, the grooves. All good!
Just okay
3 stars
Now I dont know whether I was in a really bad mood today but... I hated this. Thought it was so meh and annoying. Wall of fucking nightmare sound tbh. Truly could not wait for it to be over and did not suffer through the second disc. Tbf I didnt even finish the first disc lol
"Taking drugs to make music to taking drugs to* Jag minns inte om det var till Spacemen 3 eller någon av Spiritualizeds tidigaste skivor som Jason kom med programförklaringen. Men när man lyssnar på Playing with fire är det svårt att inte förstå exakt vad han menar. Kraut, Stooges- garagerock i en skön förening. Jag gillar Spiritualizrd bättre men S3 har absolut en massa rätt oxå. Jason hade redan här en bra känsla för balansen mellan det repetativa och framåtrörelse, mellan stök och skönhet. Ingen större idé att prata låtar, det handlar mer om ett tillstånd som S3 skapar. Men jag nämner ändå Lord can you hear me, som Jason återanvände i Spiritualized 13 år senare i en fantastisk version. Den är magnifik redan här En habil trea som skvallrar om framtida mästerverk
Väldigt snyggt sound. Men lite brist på låtar, är min känsla. Ungefär samma fenomen som brukar råda för efterföljaren Spiritualized. Med några fler lyssningar tror jag kanske det kan växa. Avslutande Lord can you hear me är en höjdare.
Ett rätt okej sound. Förutom band som nämns som inspiratörer Velvet, suicide, stooges) tänker jag en del på Primal scream när hör dem. Vem som är inspiratör kontra inspirerad låter jag vara osagt.Det stora skillnaden är emellertid att där PS hela tiden kör framåt med gasen i botten står Spacemen mest och trampar vatten. De står där å glor på sina skor utan att låtarna kommer igång.
Det finns ett malande groove som jag kan uppskatta. Men det leder sällan någon stans. Låter betydligt äldre än det är.
I was genuinely excited to hear this, but it is most definitely not my vibe. It's a band that's been on quite a few bootleg shirts, so it caught my attention, but I can't say that I'm a particularly big psychedelic prog guy, nor am i shoegaze guy. technically, i suppose this is fine, but i was pretty checked out the entire album.
I'm finding this to be really helpful background music while I let my mind do other things. It has the right balance of forward momentum to not let me completely zone out and repetition to allow for just that.
An exceptionally boring album.
Not for me
Not for me, Pat
Quite dull. Didn't hate it but didn't finish.
Slow ambient drones, fuzzy edge of feedback guitars, hypnotic synth loops, and frail vocals - slow and patient songs that occasionally whip up a frenzy but more often nod out into addled bliss. Beautifully depressed, pure wallowing, endlessly chasing catharsis.
está bien, pero no me encantó. no es mi género favorito
Just not the music for me. Some of the tracks were nice but it just felt overly long.
Kinda fun psychedelic journey. Enjoyable and might give it another listen in the future
It wasn’t horrible. Actually better than I expected after reading some harsh reviews, but it never really grabbed my attention either. While it’s more enjoyable than some entries like Spy vs Spy, it’s not one I’d feel compelled to revisit.
I dig the vibe but this is a little too artsy for a good jam.
This really didn’t do it for me. The bonus live tracks put this band in perspective for me. I could feel the energy working in that context, but in the studio it feels flatter. I understand that “Drone Rock” is meant to be a slow build, but so much of this just feels like a musical ellipsis. Just ideas hanging in the air that don’t develop or resolve enough to hold my interest.
Hypnotic, hazy and good for staring out the window of a moving train. Presumably would be even better on opioids. The Pierce compositions hold up better than those by Kember due to their superior melodicism and reliance on trad and spiritual(ized) forms, but the best of all is the co-write 'Suicide' and the two supplementary live tracks where the band becomes a fully realized English heroin jam band.
Don’t piss me off.
Not my thing
Turned it off when it started repeating itself with 'live' versions. This was not my jam. Songs are too long.
Boring
Musique bien expérimentale, redondant mais hypnotisant et "spirituel". On peut mieux faire musicalement cependant. C'est plus qu'un 3 mais moins qu'un 4 je trouve
c trop expérimental pour moi
Le genre de musique qui t'emmène looooooooooin. A retenir pour plus tard @sydou ^^
4.5/10
I'm a Spiritualized fan but never got into Spacemen 3. I have definitely heard this before but tbh I didn't remember it at all. I enjoyed it, in parts sounding like rough sketches of later Spiritualized tracks and other times sounding like a fully formed unit of its own, especially on the more shoegazey material like Suicide. I need to go back and listen to their other records again
Favorite Track: Lord Can You Hear Me
2.0 - Weak
3/10
Hermoso
Me gustó en general, aunque me gustaría escucharlo más atentamente.
Really solid psychedelic album. While I can't really pinpoint individual tracks, I do think that I'd listen to the album as a whole from time to time.
Did not like it. Just about everything was either annoying, boring, or straight up bad
Got to the third song and couldn’t do it. Sounded to much like alarm songs the way they would repeat over and over.
cool and spacey
Had some moments, long drones dragged it down
Didn’t like it
Apparently a good album is when you build up for 5 minutes and do nothing
Not even pleasant. I would rather play with fire. Space garbage.
I forgot that shoegaze can be really boring sometimes
Dissociating a little bit during this
This had so much potential but also Revolution is one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard in my entire life
This is totally my thing. I was jiving in the beginning because the textures were so interesting, then it picked up out of nowhere with Suicide and absolutely captivated me. Gripping!
Not the worst I’ve heard but it’s pretty bad.
Kind of a slow peculiar one.
Really annoying
yawn. Redeeming feature was it wasn't at all distracting for studying
- The songs on this album feel unfinished to me - like there are the kernels of songs and the occasional interesting riff, but nothing evolved enough. - It sounds like they all just learned their instruments, which, I mean, we all have to start somewhere, but it's not very interesting, and it's definitely not something I need to listen to before I die... so much playing the same note over and over again. - This album feels like lazy ambient with really basic noodling that's not tight enough - it is like they keep falling just behind the rhythm. Seems like opioids would be the right drug class for this album... - The mix was weird, too - the rhythm section is either up front or it's the really basic guitar and bass that's way too forward. - The vocals feel pretty unremarkable here, so it's no wonder they're so back in the mix most of the time. - Lord Can You Hear Me is the song I like best on the album because it has a nice melody, but it still feels anaemic. It's much better when Jason Pierce did a cover with Spiritualized. Spiritualized shows a lot of growth, so this project definitely feels like the very beginning of something that eventually becomes good. - I'd rate it a 1.5.
Okay, kinda trippy and different. Quite like the uniqueness and keeping me in my toes a bit. The voiceovers are a little cheesy and off putting but okay enough for something different. And got more grating and annoying as it went on actually. Lost some of its charm and just became noise and weird voice overs 🤷🏻♂️ It’s such a weird hodgepodge of different styles and songs. Can’t really find my footing in it and even individually, nothing really stands out as appealing (2.5)
Was this interesting? Yes. Should it be on the list? No.
Didn’t really get it
Each song sounds like the long winded intro to an indie track repeated 22 times
Honestly, I can't find anything special about this album...
The guitars in some parts secure it the second star. Pretty strong for a shoegaze-album. ;) 1,5
Irritant. DNF
Mye kult men også litt mye kjedelig. Burde sikkert være stein for å digge det her
Pfoe die is lang, wél een goeie mix met bangers en rustige nummers
Very Velvet Underground without the charm. Would say to it's credit that it's sat in an interesting spot between 60s drone-fuelled punk-adjacent psych-rock and new-age ambient that makes it somewhat ahead of it's time, but being early isn't always a good thing. There's a lot of potential here if the production was a lot tighter. It sounds good in parts, really, which makes the rest even more disappointing. In a way it's like somebody took the semi-improvisational style of jazz and tried it with electronic music, which fails as an experiment (especially compared to its contemporaries in psych-rock and electronic at the time). Fav tracks: Revolution, Suicide
An hour of buildup with no payoff. It’s been a long time since I’ve been this bored and frustrated with an album.
3-
Boring and uninteresting.
wtf is this
Terrible garbage
3.6 Roentgen
Alguna canción está bien, pero el conjunto es irregular.
My highschool band could produce better psychedelics than these guys.
this is not good
fail to see why this album is on here
This is crap
This one is like eating ice cream, but with a few flavors, and they don't have much in common. You take a few licks and then bam, you have a whole new flavor profile assaulting your taste buds. It's disorienting, but then you get into some citrus or dark chocolate, and it works out fine.
...and then it just sort of ended. No good bye. Unless I missed something. Which happens. And now I really do miss something. What? I miss something. So more of a slow fade? Too slow. It's been long enough that I remember the forgetting. Apparently it takes half as long as a relationship lasted to get over it. So it's just a simple math equation? If that's how you want to digest that factoid - yes - a math equation. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. 1+1. 1-1. Yo. What? Snap out of it. I could that all day. Like a certain album? Exactly. But in the end what do you have? You said it...
Vette VU-achtige drones, vernieuwend, goed
Sometimes it sound pretty good but more often it sound like a record stutter and skipping.
I listened to this album and, how to put this… its vibe is solid, but many songs were like long and repetitive. I get it, I was not high, but need to reduce the redundant sounds a little guys. Positive experience in the end
I have never had enough drugs that could make me enjoy this, and that includes general anesthesia.
Spacemen 3 is one of those bands on my own personal list to listen to and never quite found the time until I did this album challenge. Since I only have one day to review this, it's not very proper to write about this album on psychedelics as the band intends you do while you listen to it. I've only got weed on me. Spacemen 3 is probably the most honest band next to the Grateful Dead in that regard. I understand Spacemen 3 is space rock/shoegaze, but the big gaps of silence or lull moments in How Does It Feel is too much for me. Other tracks like Revolution and Suicide are more of my thing. Other stuff like Honey/Come Softly To My Soul/Let Me Down Gently are okay, annoying to begin with but evolve later as a good song. (upon a relisten check I think Honey is fine). Was leaning on a 4 rating and needed something to wow me to give it the 5 and Suicide was definitely the standout track to me. I like the jammy side of shoegaze/space rock and it delivered. I just wish that was most of the album, away from the poppier side. Overall Playing With Fire is something kind of special in 1989 in its psychedelic influences on a genre that needed some more influence in that area. It's their most cohesive of their first three albums (I listened to their first two after this one, Sound of Confusion is my favorite but not on this list).
This was 2 hours I will never get back. Must be great under the influence, but sober? Insufferable and makes me consider wading in gator infested waters to be put out of my misery.
Likte denne veldig godt ved første gjennomlytt! Har hørt litt sporadisk på disse karene opp igjennom, da mest på albumet med det legendariske navnet "Taking Drugs To Make Music To Take Drugs To". Denne var litt rundere i kantene enn sistnevnte, og det gjør ingen ting for min del. Beste spor: Suicide Sjekk ut Spiritualized om du likte denne.
Lyden av å sakte kveles i verdensrommet.
Den satt ikke helt på første gjennomlytt. Ga den en sjanse til og der var den! Absolutt noe jeg vil høre mer på. Sliter bare litt med å skjønne i hvilke settinger skal kunne sette den på.
Kjedelig og deilig👌Får veldig lyst på dop.
Hørt under matlaging. Ooooof, dette var stressende musikk. Ikke for meg.
Veldig laidback, vanskelig å bli engasjert. Shoegaze uten sjarm.
I just wish it was more interesting. 2/5
I expected to enjoy this one way more. I like a many Spiritualized's records and this is kinda like a proto-Spiritualized, but it's just not very interesting. You can hear J. Spaceman searching for the sound he would perfect with his subsquent band, but he's still not there yet.
Classic 3 star fare. The problem with this is not that it’s a bad album but that it’s not spiritualized, specifically we’re floating in space. But it is close enough that it reminds you how good that album is.
Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Lying In Bed
Quite enjoyed the first few chords but then it all fell apart.
Weird, and yet somehow, also boring?
mostly meh 2.75/5
Mit psychedelische E-Gitarre jams chan mer wenig falsch mache. Het mi überzoge und spass gmacht. Aber viellicht au sehr ustuschbar. Wege guetem Mood gits 4 grossi Schritt für d Menschheit
80s stoner rock
Shoegaze, characterised by ethereal soundscapes, obscured vocals, and extensive use of guitar effects and distortion, often producing an immersive "wall of sound". Krach.
sorry i do not take drugs. what makes this album an album that one has to listen to i'd like to know though
This was an abomination of an album. It seems to be all over the place, with the only consistency is it being a dreadful listen.
< the Beatles How did they make 45 minutes feel like 5 hours?
Hypnosisoivaa kampetta. Psykedeelistä rokkia, mutta suurin osa kappaleista tosi ambienttia. Jos kuuntelee liian tarkkaan voi käydä ehkä vähän liian junnaavaks. Esim Suicide on 11min samaa sahaamista. Ihan jännä kummiskin. Parhaat: Let Me Down Gently, How Does It Feel
Not completely unlistenable, but not too far off. Harsh sounds and talk singing. BLAACH!
Very spacey at times.. to be expected though
Man, that was rough. I should've known off the bat when that Wikipedia page was among the shortest I've seen.
This started as a 4, interesting electro noise. Then it just dragged on and on and got more and more annoying, monotonous, blah. Ended at a 2 pushing toward 1. And I only listed to half of the extra hour of demos, remixes and 2 extra mixes of the 12 minute nonsense of Suicide.
Never heard of this lot before. First impressions were that they were a band which could open for a Sigur Ros concert and they reminded me of Spiritualized. Wiki told me they were indeed an early incarnation of Spiritualized. Wiki also told me of the band’s drug use which explains a lot about where this music comes from. Despite of never having anything stronger than codeine in my life I did find this album strangely good. Rather like the two Spiritualized albums on this list, which I went out and bought on the strength of being presented with them here, I can see me doing likewise with this one. Don’t think this album was ever aimed at the likes of me but the fact that I nevertheless found it entertaining says a lot about its musical value. 3/5 18/2/26
Enjoyable
Cool album, nothing crazy. 6.3/10
High me from 30 years ago absolutely swears by this album. Me now finds it tedious. Maybe a 2.5 based on the cool experimental stuff, but could some of that have stayed in the studio? Plays like an electronica album. Maybe I'll smake weed again in my 70s and slap this back on.
69/100. This record plays around with some really interesting textures and leans heavily into that hazy, psychedelic vibe. I can definitely appreciate what they’re doing here, and it’s impressive in its own way. It just doesn’t fully match my personal psychedelic taste. A solid listen with plenty to admire.
The penultimate track, Suicide, was a great shoe gaze droner, for sure the highlight of the album. And, to my surprise, the least popular according to Spotify stats. The majority of the stars I'm offering are for this track alone; the rest didn't speak to me that much.
Droney, fuzzed out perfection.
Not good.
Alternative band,I’ve never heard of. Music kinda of boring, all songs same alike.
PSA: Do not judge this album by it's "graphic design is my passion" cover lol
I was scared going into this album, because of the reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised. I loved this album, it had this dark psychedelic sound, something in between punk and goth music, and it resonated with me, I didn't feel bored by it, even a song that was just basically a 12 minute guitar riff didn't bore me. This is the kind of music you would hear late at night during a music festival, as you stumble around half drunk and half high and it evokes a certain kind of feeling of emptiness, despite the crowds around you.
That was very boring, but also painfully long. Shoutouts to Suicide being on disk one not 1, not even 2, but THREE times. Sounds like the kind of music your stoner friend would give you and tell you it'll "Increase your chakras". I've skipped disk 2 just because it's a reprise of songs from disk 1. I don't want more.
"Another band from Rugby, Warwickshire?" puzzled this Warwickshire girl - and then I realised it was the same fella I'd learned of when I was reviewing Spiritualized. I was no more aware of his previous band, Spacemen 3, than I had been of Spiritualized, I'm afraid, despite the local connection. I found most of this album a bit insipid and inward-looking. I guess the ending of Revolution was cool, and might knock your socks off at full volume? Suicide, too, might work well live.* But on a first, casual listen, none of the songs really went anywhere**, and I strongly disliked the vocals. As I couldn't get into it, I found it mainly self-indulgent and, apart from a few pleasant electronic noises and a bit of distortion, I'm sorry to say most of it bored me. *Yes, there was a live version of Suicide on the Spotify album. But I stuck to the original nine tracks. This project is big, people. **The best track, I thought, was Lord, Can You Hear Me. Listening to that was the most involved that I felt: simple arpeggios chords with low-key distorted accompaniment. Affecting, and earned this an extra star.
Kept waiting for the songs to start and then they were over. Not to my taste at all, and kind of baffled that this exists tbqh
For me this was just lifeless background music. Nothing pulled me in, nothing to connect to, like background music in a store I realize is not at all for me. I wonder around aimlessly for a while because someone else wanted to go in but I don't actually look at anything
Wow! That was BORING. I sort of respect the ambient shoegazey mood they’re going for but it just felt so uninspired. Some moments were nice in their chillness but overall, I’m not revisiting this. Other shoegaze bands are FAR more interesting than this.
I didn't mind these chill vibes today, and I like that a couple of them get really loud and distorted to break up the monotony. Nothing groundbreaking here, but I didn't hate it.
Really odd and interesting
Guys please I’m falling asleep
What was this?
A few fleeting moments of enjoyment scattered throughout, but overall l can safely say that I am not a this enjoyer.
1,8/5
Not my extended play cup of tea.
p612. 1989. 1 star. Pretentious, tedious abstract guitar noodling with spoken/whispered "lyrics". Fuck me, this is awful. Who picked this shit for the list?
By the end i finally got it. Probably the only album so far that i plan on returning to
A Lofi disaster that uses lots of notes to say nothing. As a fan of Lofi music I agree that yes this is Lofi but me strumming a few notes on a guitar is Lofi but it doesn’t make it good. When you listen to an album and think, hmmm, I could do that, that’s not a good sign. The song Suicide is prime example, some guy holds his finger down on a synthesizer while the bassist plucks a one note drone. I can’t really think of any time or place that I would play something like this.
The heavy focus on the atmosphere and the ethereal bliss creates such a specific picture. There’s a lot of power that can’t be found in the noise and the intense reverb. I enjoy the richness of these wall of sounds throughout the album. I do wish there were more depth to the theme though. I feel like the live experience would create this depth that I feel like is missing, but it’s not translated fully through the studio recording. A track like Suicide exemplifies this, with there being noticeable changes, but the impact feels softer than what you would expect. I truly don’t think this would be the case when listening to the thickness of the guitar in person. Faves: Revolution, So Hot (Wash Away All of My Tears), Honey, Come Down Softly to My Soul
Spaceeeyyyyyyy. This is an early hallmark of the "space rock revival" style, which combined the space rock of the 70s with newer sounds for the late 80s and the 90s. I hear everything from The Flaming Lips to Spiritualized to even Boredoms in this album, and it seems like this is the origin point for it all. Noisy, frenetic, and full of excellent buildup and atmosphere, this is a must-listen for anyone interested in spacey, wacked-out rock music!
I was actually thinking “well, I can see what they’re trying to do, it just isn’t really for me, but I respect it,” and give it a good ol’ fashioned 2 stars. Then the 11-minute song “Suicide” hit. It actually started to piss me off as it went on. Just 11 entire minutes of fucking NOTHING happening. Which was especially egregious because it felt like some sort of interesting prog rock or something that was building to something. anything. But it didn’t!!!!! And two songs later they tried to hit me with a live version of Suicide. Absolutely not. Bunch of bullshit that did not respect my time. 1 star. Fuck you
I kept waiting for a big climactic payoff that never came. As it turns out, this is not that type of album! It's all about the textures and hypnotic rhythms, and going into a second listen with that in mind made all the difference for me. They do a great job of mixing in gentler tracks between the more distorted, aggressive ones, so all in all I found it to be a surprisingly engaging listen for a drone/ambient-adjacent record. Loved it! Standouts: Come Down Softly To My Soul • Revolution • Let Me Down Gently • Lord Can You Hear Me
Extremely solid ambient stuff, perfect for piloting your spaceship into a black hole or drifting on a raft in the ocean.
"Come Down Softly to My Soul" had a nice, mellow vibe to it. "How Does it Feel" was trippy. It was a little annoying at first, but morphed into something very listenable. "I Believe It" was repetitive, but in a way that I liked. I really liked Doors keyboard sound along with the vocals with the Jim Morrison vibes. "Revolution" was a punk(ish) distortiongasm. "Lord, Can You Hear Me" was just a nice song all the way around. The rest of the tracks were a frigging mess, but that's true of many albums on this list.
I'm a big shoegaze fan but this didn't work for me. Slightly too baggy.
This album literally gave me a headache.
Might be worth another listen
Tremendo viajezote. Muy buen disco, me costo terminarlo, no por la música en si, sino por el tiempo que dura. Fueron 2 horas pero divididas en varias sesiones. Sobre la música, me gusto mucho el estilo, me gusta mucho la música instrumental y sobre todo el progresivo. El ambiente psicodélico le da un toque genial a cada pista. La homorritmia de todo el disco hace que no se sienta tan pesado lo cual creo es un acierto teniendo en cuenta, por el contrario, la polifonía en casi todas las canciones. Me gusta mucho como experimentan con distintos estilos, son capas y capas de texturas con cada instrumento y sonido que van agregando. La carencia de vocales en el disco hace que cuando se hacen presente destaquen muy bien y para mí hace toda la diferencia. Buen disco.
My brain is too smooth ti appreciate it
6/10
It's pronounced spa-CHE-min... I thought I'd like this as I loved Jason Pierce's later work with Spiritualized, but this was just too abstract for me.
I know nothing about this except the name of the band. Nice! Wait, this is where Spiritualized came from?!? Oh wow. This is really good. Not Spiritualized at its best good, but really good.
Trying to be too experimental for its own. I didn't dislike everything off it but I'll doubt I'll return to it ever
Didn’t mind a few tracks but majority seemed quite similar. Enjoyed the instrumentation as the use of electric guitar in this kind of electronica stuff is new to me and sounded good, but overall just didn’t amaze me.
I like this genre, and yet I thought it was shite
Very good.
I remember hearing OF Spaceman 3 but don't remember what context or anything about them. And their Wikipedia page doesn't give me any clues. A lot of this kind of reminds me of some of the spacier stuff that Corgan did with the old Pumpkins. "Revolution" reminded me of some of Wilco's noisier stuff, and also a little bit of Ministry. This was interesting. Didn't love it but kind of liked it. I could have seen myself listening to this in college if I had known about it.
You know that NOFX album ‘All Killer, No Filler’? This is the opposite. Lots of building and lead up but very little payoff makes it a very frustrating album to listen to.
I like psychedelic music and ultimately I didn't find anything on this album ridiculously bad I think it's quiet soothing at times to get lost in the droney music but then like you'd get like massively disrupted by wailing guitars which was annoying at first but I actually kinda like it. This whole album feels like a proto mbv album and like a mix between the doors and the velvet underground. To be honest really not as bad as people make it out I had a good listen overall. I don't mean it a disservice by giving it a 3 but you compare to what mbv or the boo radleys or panchiko were going for at a similar time or the psychedelic stuff that came before and it loses some status in my opinion
They got some pretty cool sounds on this album that sound a couple of years ahead of their time, but I don't really think they have the songs to back it up. None of the songs were bad, but not enough happened to say I loved any of them. The most egregious song was the 11 minute one. I love me some crescendo core and slow burn songs, but they actually have to burn and not loop 2 notes for 10 minutes. Despite all this complaining I did enjoy this album enough. Low 4.
Honestly, this type of music feels so empty to me; endless melodies that appear to be coming to a culmination, but never actually culminate; whispering lyrics as well = zero impact... :/
Overall, this was a pretty meh album where nothing really happened, but it's alright for either having in the background and you're just chilling, or for playing in the background of a movie perhaps, but it would be a pretty serious movie, as not a lot happens in the songs.
- Initially I was going to look into the history of this band and try to build a little context .... then I thought about that and decided I had better use for my time. What''the saying: Here's three chords, noww go strat a band? That's great and true but the st of us don't NEED to hear EVERY band started with those three chords. This probably sums up what is the basic flaw of this list ..... -
I queued up to buy this album when it first came out, having been a big fan of Spacemen 3 for many years. It was a little bit of a disappointment at the time, with two bangers (Revolution and Suicide) sandwiched between more ambient, almost spiritual tracks. Looking back, this is the direction that would lead to Spiritualized eventually, and to be fair, the more ambient tracks had always been there, but usually in the minority. I would probably give five stars to anything on this list by Spacemen 3, including Dreamweapon, one of my favourite EPs of all time. Listening to it today, it's still slightly disappointing, with Sound of Confusion or Perfect Prescription being better albums in my opinion, but at the same time, several times better than the best work by other artists. Easy five stars.
Some pretty and good songs on this album but most of them had to little going on for me. Even slower songs can have something catchy to them.
average
How have I not heard of this. This is hypnotic and meditative and a little weird, comes in and out of ambient into psychedelia. Layered guitars that come in and out of spase but perfectly balanced compositions. Great use of ambient and spacey synths that definitely pay homage to the band name. Lord an YOu Hear Me is gorgeous. You can gear the velvt underground in here quite distinctly
people on this website are obsessed with calling any ambient or experimental album “music you need to be on drugs to like”
What a fun pool of vibes, one rif jazz? Album is 2hr long so can't do the whole thing but love the concept, think I caught some common samples in there. For what it is I found it rather interesting Song names somehow really match the vibe of the songs only using a few notes generally I'll be damned if this ant Alan Sparhawk's favorite album lol, just get lost in the sound and sometimes annoyed. 4
If you wanted to make a trance album, but all you had was an electric guitar, an effects pedal, and a microphone, I guess you'd make this album? It drones on and on and never gets interesting... which I know is kind of the aim of trance music, but I couldn't find a way into it. Boring.
im just pissed off im sorry
Len Houmous claims he had sex with 3 spacemen 1.7 9/9 Lord Can You Hear Me?
Well that was a nice surprise. I hadn't listened to this album in YEARS and certainly didn't expect it to crop up here. It's a record I owned around the time it came out but I'd never quite grasped just how influential it's been. Listening to it again now, it clearly set the tone for the 'proper' indie scene of the early 90s, in the UK at least. Great to hear it again.
I think it's fair to say that this being on the list came as a massive surprise. Aside from anything to do with drug taking this is a really great album. I still remember the first time I heard "Revolution" as a teenager and it blew my mind. As I've got older I have still returned to this album and I still get that bit of a rush with Revolution but it's some of the gentler moments which seem to resonate more now, with sublime tracks like So Hot (Wash Away All of My Tears). In retrospect I think you can see the two directions that will be Spiritualised and Sonic Boom but before that split they work wonderfully together here. It is still a pleasure to listen to, preferably at some volume,
An unenjoyable listening experience
I see tje vision they had for this album and i enjoyed it alot surprisingly. However some songs did feel like they just dragged on for ages. I felt at the edge of my seat for a lot of them aswell because i was expecting some kind of climax with a drum part but instead i got nothing. This is an album you have to listen to in full, you cant really lisren to the songs individually. I liked it
I really like this kind of stuff. I prefer Spiritualized over Spaceman 3, but it's the same thing, just a little more mature. Just fuzzy jamming and cool backbeat. I almost don't care that the lyrics are at least half undecipherable. It's a vibe, not a sing along. I don't love the talk over "How Does It Feel" but it's not terrible. I think "Suicide" is so close to great, but that whine/drone is a little irritating. I'd play this in the background of a work day any day. I'm sure some folks won't like it because it is a leeeetle bit same-y throughout. And I usually dislike that, but here, it's a same-y that I like so... 4 stars!
1.5
I love Spiritualized so I should have listened to Spacemen 3 a long time ago. I was expecting it to be spikier and more electronic, but found I really liked it. You can really see the through line from this to early Spiritualized, and in fact Spiritualized still play some of the songs live.
I liked this better than some of the others overall, but I didn’t finished the album and I rushed through some songs. Not really my cup of tea.
Sorry
My rating distribution demands more 2-star ratings. “Playing With Fire” by Spacemen 3 is a good opportunity to improve in this respect, as it's simply too boring to be bad. I played it in the bathroom this morning, and every time after I couldn't hear it, e.g., because of my electric toothbrush, it sounded exactly the same as before. Wikipedia classifies this record as psychedelic rock, which isn't technically wrong, but for me it's ambient, but created with real instruments. Much ado about nothing, so to speak.
Didn’t feel like anything special
Interesting but nothing made me download a song and for that…twos company
Nothing stood out, background music at best
Não gostei, achei o som muito poluído.
Interesting. Moody. Psychedelic. Not for me.
I thought it was fine. But didn’t really amaze me and I was expecting myself to love it just based off reading about the album and the band. Meh
It's odd? Feels like lots of half finished ideas thrown together but it's oddly hypnotic. 2h is a long time but Suicide isn't awful.
Don't have this one, some cool sounds but a lot of tracks feels unfinished. A lot of potential but doesn't pay off a lot. I've heard better from them. 3 Heard before? Some Owned: No: 43/172(24%) Will I get. No
Wasn't as terrible as i was expecting. Pretty forgettable
Я спочатку хотів захейтити, а потім щось так підзалип на цей дроновий психоделічний спейс-рок. Маю слабкість на репетативну музику
Такий психоделік рок я не дуже люблю, причому колись мені подобалось, але я розлюбив.
Enough musicianship, I suppose, to get out of dreaded one-star territory, but let's please not do this again.
Genre: shoegaze, 3 star ceiling Album length: 2 hours, minus 1 star Listening experience: painful, minus 1 star
Kinda sounded like 3 high schoolers just got some gear
Spacemen 3 really is a very fitting name for this group because I think you must be an alien to genuinely enjoy the album👽(or really really high) I get some music can be an art and theres spiritual music out there, but this was a tough listen at points, I really did try to go in open minded but you know it's really not for me. An Interesting listen and a very unique sound but it's a 1 star from me. Usually I'll pick out standout songs for reviews but the only song I could sort of enjoy was 'May the circle be unbroken'
I don't know what genre this lands in - not psychedelic rock. Was actually pretty good, but there was not enough material to warrant 2 discs
Hm. 2
too long, very ambient
3/10, audiophile slop
secondo me interessante ma non ho avuto modo di approfondire
Non ce l’ho fatta a sentirlo tutto
Zone out on shrooms music
Idk where my notes go but u liked this album great for tripping or meditating
I liked this. It kind of sounded like 60s punk / psyche to me. I was also confusing it with Spiritualised to start with… which makes sense as I found this band developed into Spiritualised. Yeah. A bit minimal. But good! 4 stars (I realised it was an “extended version” this time so didn’t have to listen to an extra disc of “bonus” material as if it was essential to the album. But, in this case, I might give it a go in future!)
Very much enjoyed this, yes it’s a mash up of great other bands like the stooges, my bloody valentine, velvet underground, suicide but they make it their own…
No es lo que yo escucho normalmente, la verdad esperaba mas, pero no es tan malo, no lo escucharía seguido pero mehh, hubo una canción que si me gustó pero lo mismo no la escucharía seguido
why is this involved when you have motherfucking my bloody valentine. 3/5
80s at least -too long but okay -sounds more modern lowkey -kinda like honey -sound seems very experimental definitely leaning more 90s which makes sense since it’s 89 -so much religious matter -actually like lord can you hear me -it was fine overall nothing great but nothing egregious
thought it was fine. the instrumentals were fairly repetitive- wish there were more lyrics
This really isn’t for me
Before listening: never heard of this one. I see on Spotify this is a lengthy one (consisting of two discs with a run time a minute short of two hours.) not sure if I will make it fully through but I will give the first disc a complete listen before I decide on the second. During Listening: Sounds far out and spiritually charged. I’m digging the intro but Im not sure if I would want to listen to this a second time. I feel like I’m sitting in one of those overpriced “light show” exhibits watching strobing lights on a 10 minute loop. I could totally see someone catching a vibe… if they were on DMT. But all jokes aside, I do kinda fuck with this album. If I was having an emotional breakdown or an existential crisis, this would be a great grounding album. I feel like every song is edging me like please let’s go somewhere with the amazing lead ups.
I only listened to the first side and had zero interest in the second
Some songs were 3.5 and some were 2’s for me. 2.5
Too many skips. Couldn't get through it. 1/5
There's no way this can be as bad as people are saying, right? Turns out yes, it can be! This sucks. It is just bad. It's not psychedelic or shoegazey or ethereal or epic or experimental or anything like that. It's just shite.
Did not enjoy this at all
Primal Scream before Primal Scream
Will come back to this.
Interesting album. I enjoyed it. Lots of cool ambient vibes.
Spacey and cool, enjoyed it but a little indulgent and probably won't give it a ton more listens
this is complete nonsense
Wildly inconsistent
Someone got a delay pedal for Christmas!
Some good songs, calming but repetitive
Made me sleepy while driving, might try again while high
Enjoy the drones. Definitely my jam—can’t say there’s anything revolutionary or mind blowing going on
The last song was such an amazing payoff for an album that came close to doing some really cool things but instead seemed content to fade out before making the leap. It was relaxing and enjoyable overall, but I don’t see myself coming back to it again.
Heavy on build-up but short on payoff, this album makes me long for what it's missing. The melodies here are very pleasant, and the patterns are busy enough that it never gets boring. When the guitars get louder and noisier, like on "Revolution" and "Suicide," the album is at its strongest. But those songs, like all of them, lack variation, be it subtle evolutions, a climax, or a denouement. That last one is most lacking from "Revolution," which has a hypnotic groove but an incredibly abrupt ending. I prefer this formless psychedelia to psychedelic rock, but there's just not enough to make the tracks feel satisfying. The quieter tracks especially suffer from this. I can hear the influence this had on other acts - the softer, almost gospel tracks remind me of Primal Scream's "Damaged" - but those acts provided more than the skeletal guitars and organ found here.
177/1001 Spacemen 3 - Playing with Fire Heard before? ❎ Revisit? ❎ This is quite a frustrating listen, as there is a lot on here that I do like from a sonic point of view, but so many of the tracks I'm thinking where is this actually going?
Good music but a little too trippy and sad for me.
Highlight: Honey This album presents an odd mix- kinda shoegaze, part trance-like psych rock. I wonder if the band influenced The Dandy Warhols... Overall: 4/10
The wiki is paper-thin; likely why plucking individual nose hairs is more entertaining.
To me, this is what the Velvet Underground would sound like if they started up around the dawn of shoegaze. I don't know if that is a totally apt comparison, but the attitude is certainly there. Tracks like "How Does It Feel" or "Let Me Down Gently" or "So Hot" point toward Pierce's work in his next project, Spiritualized. It has the same slow burn and repetitious backbone, though without the ambient space and effects filling in the sound. Almost like a Spiritualized demo tape. It's okay, and it's interesting, but not a sound I'd come back to very often as it goes a little too far to lull me to sleep. I think "Lord Can You Hear Me" is the closest to the Spiritualized sound and serves as a perfect closing track. I'm more interested in the sound and energy of tracks like "Revolution" or "Suicide". The fuzzed out guitar textures are great throughout the album. I just don't know if I'm as into the songs they serve. The slow songs are almost *too* slow in comparison to the faster songs, and the best song, "Revolution", feels out of place. With that said, I'd say the album as a whole is uneven, but there are a ton of great songs here.
Built from droning, overdriven guitars, mantra-like percussion, and keyboards that stretch into blurred, glowing tones, with vocals floating in a detached half-murmur, this neo-psych album moves like wandering through a dim corridor guided by a flickering candle drawing you in looking curiouspy around until blindingly a cacophony of sound (e.g. track suicide) is turned on and I want to turn of the album.
I bet I would’ve loved this had someone I could see live today released it
This felt a little random. Weird, but hypnotic. Sort of what I needed on my Christmas Tesco shop. But also, no.
Not a bad kind of spacy, psychedelic record, but most of the songs ultimately didn't really go anywhere except Revolution that I thought had a good build-up. I've heard Spiritualized before, so was kind of cool to hear their origin.
It was okay. I like Suicide and many of the guitar riffs, particularly in the live portion of the album. But I think I woulda liked the album better without the vocals -- the instrumental songs are the strongest part.
I liked it a lot. Was great for doing work to!
I'm glad I read the Wiki page - saved me listening to them for two hours.
It stinks
This is better than that MC5 album for sure. There's some decent psychedlic rock songs here.
Not bad, I enjoyed
Nice background music that could be revisited 3.5
I was too sober to get the full experience. Great album but not as versatile as Spiritualized and I don't often feel the mood for this. A generous 4 but might slip to a 3 if I don't relisten anytime soon.
I really like all the versions of "Suicide," but the rest of the album doesn't work as well for me. It's a bit disjointed and the production doesn't seem great. I may listen again, but I don't see myself coming back to this one often. Favorite track(s): see above
Boring and wouldn’t listen to this again. 1/5
solid Enjoyable
Was the one of the authors' cousins in Spacemen 3 or something?
I have not taken enough drugs to listen to this album that some guys took drugs to make for people to take drugs to.....ya know?
Drug-addled psychedelic guitar trance, with a side of Jesus.
Eh…don’t think this is a must listen
could have loved this
I see the vision, but I do not hear the execution. The band was aiming for these airy, evocative, prolonged instrumentals that would turn guitars into atmospheres, and voices into characters. But sparse arrangements and flat performances leave a void of nothingness for the better part of the hour plus this thing putters on for. I feel like you can point to Spiritualized as a group that executed Spacemen 3's game plan to a great deal of success. What was a song like "Revolution" doing in the first third of this project? Unnecessarily noisy and harsh, taking me out of what little involvement I had with the albums wispy aura. "Suicide" was nice because it committed to an idea but then it went for way too long so it kinda ruined itself. "Lord Can You Hear Me" is a fair reason to JUST keep this project floating at a 2/5 stars. But man. Not by much, especially if you can endure disc 2
Honestly, this isn't it. Just a bunch of noises and it never got better. Almost every song overplays its welcome.
No es mi rollo pero no está mal
Cool stuff never really listened before ahead of its time
8 / 10
Speisa saker!
Decent background music
weird, boring and redundant.
Bit of a snooze fest, hope they’re better at being spacemen.
Not for me
actually awful
A few okay tracks, but by the last few I was wondering how much longer til the damn album was over.
Ok
"how does it feel" drove me crazy- it made me feel annoyed. I liked the first 2 tracks though. revolution also kind of sucked- angry noise for no reason. suicide too like who decided minutes of synth was good- 11 freaking minutes. someone commented "good but largely irritating"- yes. the ones that arent noise are good but the rest is bad. 2.5/5
Apparently I've been putting too much effort into songwriting all these years. Agonizing over finding perfect rhymes and whitty turns of phrase. Little did I know that you could just choose a chord or two, play them over and over for 5-8 minutes while talking stream of consciousness psuedo intellectual BS over the top...and...BOOM...a hit record! I can get down with some shoegazey stuff, but these dudes are too high on their own supply.
‘A similar musical borrowing’ sounds close enough to plagiarism. No thanks.
Ooh, I am diggin' these drones. Noisy, repetitive, driving. This is exactly my thing. Hints of 60s punk (MC5 and Stooges), 70s krautrock, and 80s no wave, this really hangs together. It's a collage of musical references built into a whole new thing. The NY Times obituary for Lou Reed referred to him as the godfather of "high IQ, low technique" rock and roll. and that's exactly what this album is. I could listen to this all day. I never knew where to start with Spacemen 3 (although I am long time Spiritualized fan), but I think I need to rush out and buy this record. I have been listening to this all day. It's magical noise.
Standouts Revolution
странная музыка и названия. не ценю когда поют под нотами
This is not a good album. Baffling that they thought it was something worth releasing. Equally baffling to imagine someone rushing to a studio saying 'lads I've written an absolute banger - we're going to repeat two notes for 11 minutes!' At times I thought it reminded me of Spiritualized, a band I love. It has some of the jam vibe but none of the good stuff. Turns out that this band is a precursor to Spiritualized. Makes sense, but still does not make it good.
I didn't find much to like about this album, and was going to give it a 2, maybe even a 3... And then "Suicide" went on for ELEVEN WHOLE MINUTES. Worse still, it might be the most boring, repetitive song on the album. Thank goodness I looked up the original tracklisting and decided to skip the bonus and live tracks from the rerelease as well as the whole second disk. I would not have coped with nearly 2 hours of this.
Important to shoegazers, but since Spiritualized already appears on here twice, I feel like shoe gazing is more than represented. Honestly, this was boring AF. Another example of a mediocre British band that was included because of the author's bias and not because they actually need a 3rd album of shoe gazing on here. If this band were not from England the author would have looked right past this. This is the kind of jamming that ever dorm band did in the late 1980s and into the 1990s. Nothing special here.