Playing With Fire

Any band purporting to psychedelic rock / space rock is going to be compared with Hawkwind and Pink Floyd. This album tends more towards early Pink Floyd than Hawkwind, think "A Saucerful of Secrets", although "Revolution" is almost identical to "You Shouldn't Do That" from Hawkwind's 1971 album "In Search of Space".

this was just the most music music

Name checks out. Spacey and 3 stars. I usually don't like this kind of monotonous drones, but this record is fine. It doesn't bother me at all. Favorite song: so hot.

shoegaze extravaganza, another band I'd not heard before, enjoyed it

Interesting

Hadn’t heard of spaceman 3 but really liked this. Revolution was probably my favourite off it. Giving it a 3 because I can’t think of any other songs individually but id say I’d probably give this another listen and would recommend it

Wanted to give it 2/5 at first but got into it after a while. I needed the right setting for this though (walk just after it rained after after a long workday).

En arvostellut tätä heti kuulemisen jälkeen, ja se oli virhe: en muista enää oikein mitään. Sen verran shoegazea oli, että biiseistä yksikään ei erottunut edukseen, vaikkeivät ne ihan yksitoikkoista massaa olleet. Jotenkin kuulen levyssä nuoruutta, se on kiva. Pakko antaa 3, vaikka ois varmaan 2,5.

Really uneven but some decent songs from a band I’d never heard of

Really good. Rating a 3 but really 3.5

Unusually pleasant instrumental (mostly). I could see me giving this another listen

mediocre ig

I can hear their influence but not my cup of tea

I'm familiar with the album before this one, and definitely find it more engaging. Not to say I didn't like most of it but it didn't do much for me either. 2.75

I miss the 40-50 minute albums. these long-ass double albums always feel overly self-indulgent, as only very, very few people have enough high-quality and/or interesting output to justify this. needless to say, this band does not. in this (extremely rare) case, though, I actually preferred Disc 2. it's more interesting, more experimental, more quietly trippy. this understatedness somehow made it more enjoyable for me – but this clearly isn't a positive reflection on Disc 1. If we consider solely the original release – 9 tracks –it's really quite mediocre. pleasant but generic. 2.5

I’m assuming I’m one of a small number of people who has listened to this while *not* on ecstasy. Pretty groovy tho!

Notable tracks: I Believe It, Lord Can You Hear Me

This really did not engage me and I listened once on headphones and once on speakers. Something would occasionally grab me like Suicife. Idk I want to give it a 2.5. Oh, and I gave all the ‘bonus’ tracks a miss

2024-04-21...

Alternately really boring and kinda great! Not sure if I've had an album on here to date with such a variation in how I reacted to different tracks. The more rolling rock stuff was super engaging - the floaty prog far, far less so. I guess an even 3 then? Fave track: Revolution

Got better as it went on

Quite enjoyed the sound here. 3.5 stars.

Interessante

Some weird stuff and some quite nice stuff, difficult one to place. But I’ll be generous rather than harsh. Simpsons: somehow yes hahah

Neat

Very nifty, but also monotonous. Generally this would work much better as background sound than close-listening music, because there really isn't any variation within each of the tracks (excluding a few songs, which were the album's highlights). An odd fusion of influences. We've got the folksy, introspective feel of Simon and Garfunkel (in tracks like Come Down Softly To My Soul and Lord Can You Hear Me, the album's strongest track). We've got a lot of wibbly-wobbly space rock with a wide range of potential influences, most likely (and famously) Pink Floyd. Honey, So Hot, and Suicide were big highlights if you got over the overall repetitiveness. Great bass sound – again, reminiscent of early Pink Floyd and some later prog-/space-rock in the 70s and 80s. The synths were cool, though I think they could've been made more complex, with more interesting chord progressions to better engage the listener. Key tracks: Honey, Come Down Softly To My Soul, Lord Can You Hear Me 3/5

Spacemen 3 already predicted what I’m going to rate this album. It’s okay but a little too boring to listen to while working when I’m trying to stay awake.

Soacey

Quite liked it

I quite enjoyed the minimalism and the gradual build up of it all. Felt unusual. Was unsurprised Luke is into this band. They're from Warwickshire - Rugby. I didn't know we had this kind of output from the midlands

Some pretty great ambient rock. Not fully my cup of tea, but I can get behind this.

noodly appendage. 3 stars.

i liked the vibe but it was a bit of a long collection, would've liked it more if it was more curated

psychedelic, man....

Très psychédélique, on comprend très bien comment ça a pu être une influence pour le mouvement shoegaze. Ce n'est pas un album qui m'a particulièrement accroché, mais je suis resté épaté par la singularité et les risques qu'ils ont pris avec cet album. 7/10

First time listening to this. Droning and feedback-infused noise. I like it, but I live somewhere where crickets exist, so when the crickets started up, I was momentarily convinced there was one in my house.

The first track and a half are such a gigantic whiff that it nearly ruins an otherwise pretty great album. I understand building up the feeling of the album, but you can do that with more than just long presses on a keyboard. Favorite track: Lord Can You Hear Me

Time and a place I guess. If I was tripping balls back when I was 19 this would probably be very engaging for me. As is, not so much. Sounds like the lame bits of Screamadelica.

hippiesque droney, okayish!

Quite alright background noise

I listened to the first 9 tracks, as per the original release. The 2 hour reissue on Spotify felt a tad overkill. It's another one of these where the right setting and headspace make a massive difference. Probably late late on a Saturday night, stood in a field around a camp fire, most suitably intoxicated, enjoying the vibes. Less so listening with headphones on a Tuesday morning at work.

Meh? Sedate psychedelic shoegaze that ultimately amounts to nothing interesting.

Beautiful noise.

Like it's fine???? Nothing special. Nothing worth hearing...

Avaruusjytää! Ihan jees. Ei suuria tunteita herätä mutta mukavasti pulputtaa taustalla 3/5

Letkeähköä psykeä. 3/5

I have never heard this album before. Synthed up sounds including the organ. Grungy at times. Definitely alternative. Some songs hit better than others.

Bisschen langweilig, aber nervt auch nicht.

Note my taste. But good

ok

This one is ok, I like the soundscapes and mood of some songs. There’s also some cool lo-fi guitar and lyricism. But some of the buildups go nowhere, and the songs can feel a tiny bit repetitive. This album is one note and unremarkable, and is the first one where I don’t really see why it’s on this list.

Liked down softly, how does it feel, so hot… zone out songs. Relaxing…

It was alright. Not particularly noteworthy. I didn't skip any songs.

Kinda transitioned into trance music. Not terribly engaging or interesting, but definitely not bad. Worth a listen.

2.5

Tidal only has the deluxe 2-disc, 2-hour version, but I'm only going to listen to the first 9 songs. Ain't nobody got time for all these extra demos and b-sides. I had actually listened to this a couple of times before, it's mostly enjoyable but I'm not crazy about it. The longer psych songs like Suicide go on a bit too long for my liking. I prefer the floater ones like Honey. I can see how this influenced later acts though, particularly shoelace.

Experimental trippy mellow rock.

This band took the artsy noise rock of Suicide, drugged and spaced it up, and made something compelling and slightly more listenable. This is also the stepping stone to Spiritualized, which is a much better band. This sounds like a prototype, rather than something fully in flight, but can hear how many bands were influenced by it, especially those from the Britpop and Shoegaze era.

J'ai aimé ca. C'est très différent et ca dérape d'une bonne facon. La seule chose est l'album est tellement mélangé avec plein de version live etc et c'est dure a avoir la releas original. 3.4

Love Spiritualized but never listened to Spacemen 3 so I was taken aback by how straight-up psychedelic this was, but still interesting to hear just a bit of that gospel influence that will eventually really inspire Spiritualized in the back. Last song really sounds a lot like JAMC.

Meh I can see that they were trying various new sounds, but I don't think it worked very well. Not terrible, but not something that I enjoy or could get into.

Spacemen 3 is the band that Jason "J. Spaceman" Pierce was involved in prior to his work as Spiritualized. As a result, you still get a lot of the space rock revival sound on Playing With Fire that would later find itself on Spiritualized releases. It's a fairly airy release, as expected with space rock. Much of Playing With Fire is more concerned about creating an atmosphere but not doing much with it. That's fine for ambient music and such, but for a rock record it feels like wasting precious time. The exception to this is Suicide, which is a behemoth of a track that builds upon feedback and noise until it reaches a magnificent roar, not unlike a rocket attempting to break the sound barrier as it propels itself with unreal forces. This is followed up with the closing song Lord Can You Hear Me?, as a tender moment of aftercare. These songs alone do so much for the album.

boring

A bit guitar-interference noisy but some parts are pretty good. Way too long.

Never heard of this band. Feels like the doors on psychedelics, but not as legendary. At first I liked it, but around the eight song got tired of it. And by the end I felt like I was on drugs too.

First time hearing of this band, going in with zero expectations. It was surprisingly decent for nursing my hangover. The lack of consistency was glaring, but for being exactly what I wanted to hear this Sunday morning, I give it 3 dog hairs out of 5. 🐕🐕🐕

Not my favorite Spacemen 3 album - Lord Can You Hear Me is a clear standout and future precursor for Spiritualized. Also liked Revolution and So Hot.

Decent space jams, boys. Nothing ground breaking but solid psych rock. I dig it.

Issa vibe. Not something I would normally choose to listen to, as I never got into shoegaze-y music, but it’s pretty vibey.

Soothing

I’ve always seen Spacemen 3 as the avant-garde dark horse of shoegaze, a group that was well on the fringes of an already esoteric subgenre. The compositions here are challenging and it’s 50/50 whether the melodic payoff is worth the trouble, but when a track hits it comes together in a beautiful way like a tapestry assembling itself in slo-mo. I get why such a patchwork album is getting a tepid reception here, but I found this an interesting listen that pushed boundaries in an exciting way.

Actually preferable to Spiritualised, probably because or the big Suicide and Stooges feel, rather than generic rawkness. Still feels a lot like all their other work though...

Some nice meditative psychedelic guitar. The songs take their time and we get a couple of slow burns in a row right at the top. "Revolution" kicks things into high gear with some riffs and feedback. I found myself feeling grateful for a little noise and chaos. I guess that song is more of an outlier though. Most of this album is mellow. It’s a simmer, not a boil. Even “Suicide,” the other loud and noisy track, is an 11-minute slow burn than feels more like ambient music than rock. I think that’s the standout track here. The rest of the album is good but I need to be in the right mood for it. “Suicide” is powerful though.

Best song(s): “… Suicide” Rating: 6/10

Interesting rather than good, and very very long. I liked it, but didn't love it

Minimalist, atmospheric, properly noisy. Sounds amazing coming through the headphones. "Suicide" was physically a bit draining to get through, but also kind of mesmerizing. Fave Songs: Lord Can You Hear Me?, Come Down Softly to My Soul, Honey, How Does It Feel?, Let Me Down Gently

Really good shoegaze album, reminded me of spirtized then I realised the connection

The description didn't sound like this album was going to be my thing...and it really wasn't...but also, it kind of brought me into a hypnotic state that I didn't particularly mind. I read a description that referred to "drone-rock" and, though I don't recall ever having heard that term, it fits perfectly.

Rock psicodélico. Ni fu ni fa.

Good album but many of the songs were really long with extended instrumental pieces that mainly felt like they just dragged on.

Spacey and atmospheric for the most part until it reaches a climactic point of relentlessness and intensity that verges on unlistenable. Was about to give it a 2, but the subtle and gorgeous closing track Lord You Can Hear Me saves it

I get what they were trying to do with “Suicide” but maybe don’t make a song that makes you want to while listening to it.

psy rock nothing out of the ordinary 5.5/10

Nice background ambiance. I found this album a little boring for some reason, whereas other 'ambient style' albums I've given more credit to. It just felt like not much was going on at any point? Maybe I wasn't interested in the sound.

Not too sure where to place them really- 1989 is a bit late for any genre that kickstarted and the songs veer between soft and lyrical and then thrashy guitar. Still it's quite enjoyable so i'll listen again sometime maybe?

I respect the vision of Spacemen 3 but the execution doesn’t fully live up to it. Their debut is better

Ok

some of the songs I liked, and others were bad 3 stars

Slow burning far out fuzz

Psychedelic and spacey, not bad. Could’ve flirted with a 4 if it weren’t for the repetitive 11min instrumental.

HL: “Come Down Softly…”, “Lord Can You Hear Me”, “Honey”, “Let Me Down Gently” Evokes a lot of the same feelings I got from “Lazer Guided Melodies”. There’s a lot about the sound/aesthetic of space rock that I enjoy, but the cyclical, droning tendencies can bore as much as they entrance me June 29, 2023 (slightly later that day) Tangent: when I get to #500 I was thinking of sharing albums that are 5 stars to me now, but weren’t when I first listened. My first nomination to that list is “Ladies and Gentlemen” by Spiritualized, that took the best elements that are heard in this album and emphazised the blues, gospel & heavier rock influences.

Gemiddeld album. was er niet onmiddellijk weg van

I think i like this, but it's a little too jam-band / psychedelic guitar exploration-y for me at times.

This was a decent neo-psychedelia album with touches of shoegaze and ambient music. This album had a lot of potential, but so much of it is all build up with no pay off. It seems as though the band spent much of their time building a mood, but that music wasn't strong enough to carry the song without a musical release that never came. There are some decent parts of this album, but nothing that hadn't been done before.

Much better than I had remembered Spacemen 3 when I had initially run into them in the mid-1990s. This album was enjoyable overall with a few parts that got a bit overbearing for me (e.g., Che Maracas Mix). I probably wrote this band off too soon! It really isn't what I'd call an accessible album. And it is quite long. But for 1989, they were way out in a place of their own experimenting with edgy sounds and beats. May the Circle Be Unbroken was my clear favorite, mostly because I love the song so much and it was a very surprising take on this old spiritual.

There are many shoegaze albums in this 1001 list. Why, I do wonder, because the genre can be quite limited. This album is better than others and a nice background listen but it's quite hard to make out the highlights.

Bit of a cross between Pink Floyd and the Doors.

This was a weird album that sounded like a concept album. Instrumental tracks laced between some dialogue. Some songs I skipped, others I liked. Overall nothing to write home about.

Had never heard of these guys before. Pretty cool psych sounds on here. This definitely influenced the sounds of newer groups such as Spiritualized and Tame Impala.

All good stuff, except for Suicide. Too long, too repetitive.

Top Three Songs: 1) Lord Can You Hear Me 2) So Hot (Wash Away All of My Tears) 3) Come Down Softly to My Soul Bottom Three Songs: 1) Suicide 2) Revolution 3) Let Me Down Gently

On the fence about this one - it’s good shoegaze and gives the genre a good run for it’s money - but it’s a tad too too sparse to stay with you for long after you’ve moved on from it. It’s got good points - think the band Suicide with the extreme edge off - Stone Roses albeit without the pop lushness - and a gospel tint. from their peers Primal Scream. But for 7 min songs need to be a little more than just a droning repetition to be worth listening too - and unfortunately there’s a little too much of that. But it’s a nice discovery nonetheless.

Good!

3 spacemen walk Into a bar, then turned around and left. There was no atmosphere.

A robotic crab driven by a cat

Once all the live and remix extras were ignored and down to the original nine tracks this was ok. The quieter stretchy tracks worked best.

This music makes me feel like I’m floating. I get 80s no-wave, experimental rock vibes. The drone effects tend to become boring after a while. Guitar is really fuzzy-sounding (listen to Revolution), which is very reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine. Favorite songs: Honey, Come Down Softly to My Soul, and I Believe It.

Canciones en ocasiones un tanto psicodélicas en otras un poco más guitarrero. Poco de vocal. Calificación intermedia por la sensación que te deja cada uno de los temas

You can certainly hear the origins of Spiritualized. I enjoyed this.

very experimental early psychedelic music

Rock psicodélico. Ni fu ni fa.

I can fuck with this. Not my favorite but pretty OK

A great flowing start to a bad and harsh ending

I do enjoy some fuzzy, psych rock. This didn't all hit for me but stuff like Suicide was very enjoyable.

not bad. Although I had it on and forgot I was listening to it. So it didn't make an impact on me.

Background music. Found myself daydreaming and not paying attention which is rare. Didn't like it that much, but wasn't offended by it. 2.5 rated up to 3.

It started fine but it got very long...

Interesting. I never heard this before, and its pretty good. 3/5

I feel like I'm being blasted with subliminal messages. I really don't know what happened during "Suicide", but it was pretty cool. Certainly better than the band it's named after. I'm out of ideas for funny quips, so I'm just going to steal a joke from somebody in the reviews for Kid A: "This album has more drones than the Obama administration". 3/5, one point for each spaceman.

Would be great if high.

dreamy, slow moving, hazy, spacey. As I was listening to this I though "Sounds like spiritualized" only to find out this is the previous band of the spiritualized frontman! Though I don't think this has the tonal and instrumental variety of that band. It's a vibes album

Very good musicians. I am sure I would’ve liked them had I heard them in my “stoner” days.

Started as a pretty spacey popish album ended up becoming drone, then I realized I was listening to covers of Suicide songs. Not sure if it's the version I listened to but if i wanted Suicide I would just listen to Suicide

Some songs I dug. But the majority of the album just felt like "oh I guess it's better than not having music on?" so I don't know if I can say I necessarily enjoyed it. This is definitely a 2.5, but given the way I nearly hated all my 2 ratings, it's getting a 3.

The start of it made me think of what a whole album of the song just like honey by the Jesus and mary chain would sound like then at the middle it got interesting, suicide was way too long for what it was then the final track was quite nice. 3/5

Interesting, sounds like a mild shrooms trip - almost like the audio representation of that body and mental high. A gentle psychedelic haze and the droning, dream, hypnotic quality really helps elevate it. I swear I even heard some surf-rock type of riffs in there! I do think there were some duds, but as a whole it does work. I feel like it could be best experienced as an active listen rather than a passive one.

Pretty good

This album read the book and went by it for 40 minutes straight. It's kind of impressive in that respect. Also, the album cover has threes on it for god's sake.

Was a nice listen and I'd be happy to have this as background music but there was also nothing special about it.

A bit too experimental sounding for my taste.

Hard to understand.

Strange album, it was ok, but felt like it was building to something that never came

An interesting listen, especially since it's the first band of Sonic Boom and the founder of Spiritualized, whose appeal to many listeners I have never been able to understand. Consequently, I thought I would hate this album too... but against all odds, I did *not*. Most of the minimalistic, ambient tracks can hypnotize you quite well if you are in the right mood or mindset for this, and the rockier cuts such as "Revolution" or "Suicide" are doing a nice job quoting or mimicking stuff by The Stooges, The Jesus And Mary Chain, MC5 and... Suicide, obviously! Just like the latter, Spaceman 3 are here using only one single chord and haunted howlings for five minutes, but those 5 minutes still manage to fly by, miraculously. So sure, "Playing With Fire" might come off as an easy thing to do, but doing those sorts of record is actually riskier than it seems. At least if you don't want to get burned. :) Is this record an *essential* listen, though? As of now, the jury's still out on that. As much as one can appreciate the barebones atmosphere and witty references to past acts, there's still the sneaking suspicion that the project was a little too derivative to be positively compared to its models. Music fans might opt to go directly to the sources that so clearly inspired Spaceman 3 here. Especially today... Number of albums left to review or just listen to: 866 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 74 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 33 (including this one) Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more important): 28

What an interesting album! "So Hot (Wash Away All of My Tears)" and "Come Down Softly to My Soul" are my faves.

3.5. I like it.

Interesting listen.

I'll be honest, not really my type of music. I find it a bit boring and repetetive. It's not bad or anything, fine to have in the background, but nothing really going on here.

This was better than I expected. Not sure what I expected, though. From the cover art - looks like three different kinds of bands. But 'neo-psychedelia describes Spacemen 3 pretty well. Only a few tracks were really grating. The rest were pretty listenable. I might dive back into this band, if not this album, again sometime.

I like space rock, or at least I thought I did. Turns out I like a specific strain - namely that howling, swooping variety based on motorik rhythms as pioneered by the likes of Hawkwind. Perhaps I just like Hawkwind. With Hawkwind, you felt like you were on a truly cozmik psychonautic rough ride; Spacemen 3, at least on this album, prefer to float in the stratosphere. It's deep in atmosphere and no doubt scratches a certain itch. 'Lord Can You Hear Me' is a pretty, haunting tune. 'Revolution' is the closest they come to achieving blast off. Perhaps a little too spaced out for my liking overall.

I’m usually not a big fan of shoegaze/soft core stuff like this. But this one’s pretty alright. Also just thought about my last album and it def felt like a black womans version of a bob dylan album

This was pretty interesting to me. Sort of a more modern sounding Pink Floyd. I need to listen to this again. 3 stars for now, maybe going up on further listens.

This album was putting me to sleep until song 5. Revolution did wake me up and was a good dose of noise with excellent bass lines. Suicide is also quite good and would be excellent for an escape scene in an action movie. The original album has nine songs. Once these songs are out of the way, the music is better. There are some gems in the three bonus songs and the 2nd disc. For example, the cover of "May the Circle . . .”and both the alternate and live versions of Suicide are quite good as are some others on disc 2. Why didn’t these songs make it to the main card? I should be rating this 2. If I make my own 45 min. album with greatest hits from both discs I get to a 3. Holy too generous Batman.

Some of the stranger tracks on this really brought it down. 3/5.

gotta be one of my favorite genders, I love psychedelia, it wasn't a perfect album, but I still love this goddamn noise and vibe

Nice

Starts with a mythical, synthy vibe. Transitions to heavy rock after several songs (hits good), then back.

Very good album, though not as good as their first two. 7/10 1. Lord Can You Hear Me? 2. So Hot (Wash Away All of My Tears) 3. Come Down Softly to My Soul

Its ok

Hmmm, late 80's Pysch Rock/Shoegazer music, whilst seeing some merit in the originality and creativity must admit I prefer Jason Pierces later work with Spiritualized than this rather raw output. "Revolution" & "Suicide" are a little to heavy on the fuzz/psych for my taste and I find the whole album a little self indulgent at times. Top Tracks for me are "Let Me Down Gently" and "Any Way That You Want Me" (which I found Reminiscent of the Beach Boys) which are much more mellow and precursor to the Spiritualized modus operandi I think. Don't get me wrong I do see the credit and influence they have had on music, just a little to heavy for my taste.

Kind of expected to hate this (I'm not entirely sure why, something about the whole presentation put me off. I think I could have gotten way into this much earlier in the development of my tastes. Now it's striking me as frequently self-indulgent, and lacking in range. Even so I generally enjoyed listening to it OK.

very accoustic. never heard of em though. Good listens but onhe song `suicide` is really really painful vomit.

Very unique psych rock sound.

instrumental - good pace. enjoyable instruments.

Very minimalist, very psychedelic. Not something I would regularly listen to, but cool listen.

It felt like a mix between a trippy jam and the Pixies. Not bad for background music.

Good

5/10. How Does It Feel? Bad, because I swear the sound of this song is designed to give me a headache. Aside from that song though, which gets better after the first 5 minutes or so, the rest of the album sounds good enough, but I found parts of it a little dull.

Quiero escucharlo again

Pretty boring. I see where they're coming from with the old psychedelia feel but the production just ends up getting in the way. 5

Pretty chill, great background music

3.8

Sowing the seeds of greatness to come..

1989. Key Songs: Honey, Lord Can You Hear Me

Boring

Uninspired, lazy and not interesting. I’m sure they go for a certain vibe but it’s not my vibe.

Not my bag, sorry

There is such a thing as too spacey and I think this album is there. Too much empty space and not enough melody or compelling elements.

TWO HOURS OF THIS. No!

Meh, boring. It exists.

Too weird for my liking.

Has its moments but goes on a bit

I find this album to be very boring. 2 stars or D-.

One should not play with fire. Although the results in this case were more dull than dangerous.

I won’t give this much oxygen, but it succeeded as well as lighting a match in space. The final song was enjoyable.

Have I listened to this album before? No How familiar am I with this album? Completely unfamiliar How do I feel about this artist? I have never heard of them Pre-Listen Thoughts: Always fun to discover something completely new Favorite track(s): Revolution Post-Listen Thoughts: Yeah this is a no from me. The one I like had a real Stooges sound to it, but overall none of this really hit for me.

Parts of this were really hard to listen to.

Not bad, there's some good variety in the sounds of the songs within the album. They vary from kind of cool to like boring Christian vibed whateverness. I liked How Does it Feel, I thought the guitar plucking and the reverbrations were really cool. Suicide was also cool if you like guitars. 2/5 stars.

Playing With Fire by Spacemen 3 is an odd album. I didn’t really any of the songs. Top songs: Come Down Softly to My Soul

I think they were going for something minimal with some punk influences? It wasn’t universally boring, but it was close. 3/10 Ho Hum

What if instead of 1001 albums we did 1001 songs where we only had to listen to the songs above 400k streams on spotify? That would've saved me about 1 hour and 51 minutes of what the hell was that. 2/5 there was only one good song.

Nearly put me to sleep at work

I got this album the next day after listening to their offspring Spiritualized - too much space shit in a row, so 2 points and I'm out without any regrets and without even finishing this 2-hour record. My ears hurt. Pew pew.

Stressed me out to play this while I was at work. I don't know, but didn't enjoy it.

Man idk, didn’t love it, waaaay too long

Boring

I had high hopes for this when it started - I was anticipating a nice mixture of medium and low-tempo psychedelic rock, with a few softer songs and a few punchier toe-tappers. Sadly, instead I felt it descended largely into monotony. A lot of the songs felt repetitive, and I'm particularly irked that they indulged in not two, but three different versions of the longest and most repetitive track. Could have scraped a 3 if it wasn't for that, but as it's presented it can only be a 2.

This is a quote from their Spotify description that I thought fit really well. “Often the band would jam on one chord or play a series of songs, all in the same tempo and key.” Yeah. And it’s boring. It reminds me of one time my brother and I had a video gig to stream some music performances from a venue to Twitch. When we got there, the organizer were laying out mats on the ground and I thought to myself, “that’s kinda weird”. But when the performances started, they were all trip out, super slow drawn out sounds, similar to this but believe it or not, worse. The audience would come in, presumably already high, and then lay on the mats and look at the roof where there was a projection of just rotating circles. Yeah this music would have killed at that venue.

The album’s hazy and repetitive atmosphere sometimes reminded me of the mood associated with Trainspotting and 1990s British indie culture. However, the long, drifting repetition often felt too drawn-out for my taste, and I struggled to fully connect with the album beyond its atmosphere.

Seems like this droning, repetitive BS from Spiritualized and Spacemen 3 has an audience, it's not me though. Done now!

Boring

A mixed bag of an album, at points I could get into it but other times felt a bit over indulgent and borderline boring. Psychedelic rock is great n all but you need at least a hint of groove. 2.0/5.0 Best Song: Revolution

fand ich langweilig

MegaGähn

no lo escuché todo, está demasiado largo

Was alright. I like a nice chill, ambient, spacey album however a bit bold to say it’s in the top 1000 albums of all time.

This sounds like stoned people look when you're sober.

New Wave Trance Prog Rock (?) Some very long tracks (11-minute) with repetitive guitar strumming as the engine; to the point it almost became annoying at times with the heightened focus on it.

Holy boring Batman.

Fav- let me down gently 2/5

how did we go from the first three tracks to whatever the rrest of that was

Some albums are made for drugs and this one is it. Why would any sober person want to listen to the same synth rhythm for 7 minutes straight? There are some moments on this album that sound interesting and peak my interest, but it never lasted that long. It's has its qualities but it's definitely not for me. 4/10.

Not the best Spacemen 3 album and everything that’s good here was done much better by Spiritualized.

An album with grand intention that feels like it was created from pull-down menus.

Surprised I didn’t hate this but I didn’t like it

It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be (a low bar) but still boring af.

Droning on and on and on....

Maxbe somebody needs to point out to me what elements to listen to here, but I found this pretty unremarkable.

I really should pickup the book to see why some of these albums are on here. Suicide was definitely the best track, and a full album of that easily gets three stars, maybe four.

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.

Does it shoegaze? I dunno. Kinda sleepy though. 2/5

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

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.

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

Just okay

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.

An exceptionally boring album.

Not for me

Not for me, Pat

Quite dull. Didn't hate it but didn't finish.

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.

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.

Boring

c trop expérimental pour moi

4.5/10

2.0 - Weak

3/10

Apparently a good album is when you build up for 5 minutes and do nothing

I forgot that shoegaze can be really boring sometimes

This had so much potential but also Revolution is one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard in my entire life

Not the worst I’ve heard but it’s pretty bad.

Kind of a slow peculiar one.

- 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

The guitars in some parts secure it the second star. Pretty strong for a shoegaze-album. ;) 1,5

Irritant. DNF

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

Boring and uninteresting.

fail to see why this album is on here

Sometimes it sound pretty good but more often it sound like a record stutter and skipping.

Lyden av å sakte kveles i verdensrommet.

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

Quite enjoyed the first few chords but then it all fell apart.

Weird, and yet somehow, also boring?

Shoegaze, characterised by ethereal soundscapes, obscured vocals, and extensive use of guitar effects and distortion, often producing an immersive "wall of sound". Krach.

Not completely unlistenable, but not too far off. Harsh sounds and talk singing. BLAACH!

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.

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.

Not good.

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.

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.

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.

I'm a big shoegaze fan but this didn't work for me. Slightly too baggy.

My brain is too smooth ti appreciate it

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

im just pissed off im sorry

Len Houmous claims he had sex with 3 spacemen 1.7 9/9 Lord Can You Hear Me?

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.

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.

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

Wasn't as terrible as i was expecting. Pretty forgettable

Enough musicianship, I suppose, to get out of dreaded one-star territory, but let's please not do this again.

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

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

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

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

this is complete nonsense

Wildly inconsistent

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.

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.

This felt a little random. Weird, but hypnotic. Sort of what I needed on my Christmas Tesco shop. But also, no.

It stinks