the Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space poll

Voted I think I'm in Love, cos the first track seems to incomplete to win a poll, though I love it

Can you honestly not hear the difference?

It's like the difference between a sublime 85% pure chocolate bar and total overkill of chocolate AND CHERRY AND CARAMEL AND FUDGE AND NUTS AND FRUIT AND EVERYTHING SMOOSHED INTO the same space.

Part of what I love about the first album is the lightness of touch. How every note, every riff is in its right place, perfectly balanced, like you couldn't remove a single instrument without the whole thing falling down and not making sense. LAG... is just complete overkill of "well, if a single cello was good... A WHOLE 40 PIECE ORCHESTRA WILL BE EVEN BETTER!!!"

Also, as I've repeated often enough times, the rhythm section on the first album is one of my favourite rhythm sections of all time. So much of that album is driven from what's happening in the rhythm section, so many of the melodies are driven by the bass, the structure of the song kind of comes from the bottom up. LAG... just kind of plods where LGM soars.

Except there aren't any 40 piece orchestras on Ladies and Gentlemen, he's actually pretty restrained with the arrangements - the later Jason Pierce would have drenched that in orchestration but it's all very precise. Cool Waves is the only track that feels close to over-orchestrated to me.

the later Jason Pierce would have drenched that in orchestration but it's all very precise

I was talking about Broken Heart there, dunno where that bit went.

Voted Broken Heart, the way it slows down at the end is so....heart breaking!

Album is not perfect, but very meaningful for pre-blog indie (to use hro context). Kinda shocked this got a 10 to be honest they're just handing them out these days.

I agree with what I think Matt is saying: that LAGWAFIS gets tarred with the "over-indulgent" brush on account of where the band went later. The album strikes me as only marginally more orchestrated than Pure Phase (the truculent wispiness of which I still love), albeit much much more than LGM.

It's mostly string quartet or small brass section as I remember.

That "much much much more than LGM" is crucial, given that LGM is the only album I really still rate as any kind of "Great" album.

LGM is really the only SPZ ***** album. Pure Phase is good at about a **** but LAG... really is pretty much pushing to get above a ***.

well... i like it!

I really need to listen to this album again. At the moment, I can only remember the first two tracks and "Cop Shoot Cop" and, on basis of those recollections alone, I think it's amazing.

a)what is the best song

"I Think I'm in Love" -- maybe not the best, that's too difficult to say, but an early favorite on the album and one that gets stuck in my head all the time.

b)is this album perfect?

Yes.

The live performances of this in the UK this past winter were even better than the album. Ridiculously good in fact.

I really need to listen to this album again. At the moment, I can only remember the first two tracks and "Cop Shoot Cop" and, on basis of those recollections alone, I think it's amazing.

― we call him black Nev coz he's black & his names Neville (HI DERE), Wednesday, March 10, 2010 12:44 PM (50 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

there is a pretty big section of the middle of this record that is forgettable

I Think I'm in Love is also the funniest track. People tend to get so wrapped up in the cosmic boo-hoo that they forget the humour of this album.

Yeah, voting that.

"Electricity" is way too obvious, I could have sung that song without ever having heard it before!

I Think I'm in Love is also the funniest track. People tend to get so wrapped up in the cosmic boo-hoo that they forget the humour of this album

Voting that as well and yeah you're right it's funny, although I'm struggling to find much humour anywhere else in this album.

All I meant was that there is some humour in the album, which critics tend to miss, not that it's wall-to-wall lols. There's a sense that he's poking fun at the self-indulgence of heartbreak even as he's wallowing in it, but it's certainly not the dominant tone.

Oh man so many good songs. So glad I saw them on this tour at a small club. It was epic.

Used to be my go-to make out record. I know, obvious. But also effective.

i've always thought the disney-ish 'stop your crying' etc had a comedy element

this one -- i can kind of see it now. not so much when i was a moody 17-y-o lol but yeah it's there

My gut is telling me to pick "I Think I'm In Love". If we could choose "Home of the Brave" and "The Individual" as one combined track then it'd be a tougher decision. "Stay With Me" is a darkhorse candidate.

I can't be bothered to sit through all of "Cop Shoot Cop" these days. It took me 10 years to realize that the final section, the part where they mellow out after the free jazz freakout, is the best part of the song.

"I have a broken heart/But I'm too busy to be heartbroken" strikes me as a witty line, especially when it turns out that all the pressing business he has to attend to is doing drugs.

all they "hey man" stuff in "cop shoot cop" is p tongue-in-cheek (or do i mean NEEDLE IN ARM amirite) imo. except it's a double irony coz he actually was a junkie.

lot of those lyrics are taken from 'sam stone' by john prine (eg "there's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes")

the two cds of demos etc are on spotify

they are not as good as the finished records - surprise

actually that's not fair. this long version of electricity is better than the single, oddly.

is this album perfect? are the notes where they are suppose to be? i would say it pretty close to perfect. while i was listening to it tonight it brought back a bunch of memories from 1997. i can't say it is perfect because i can't play it all the time, need to be in the mood to listen but when i am, well than it's perfect.

voting for "Cool Waves" because it not getting any love.

is the reissue remastered?.
i remember reading on the spz messageboard that it still sounds the same. which is why i didn't purchase it.

No reason whatsoever to remaster it.

i agree, but i can't justify buying the album again for demos and the elvis version of the title track. which, in my opinion, isn't as good as the version that made the album.

plus it's expensive.

"Cop Shoot Cop" = "Riders on the Storm" btw

come again? csc is kinda good for a start

in a funny way, listening to the outtakes etc has helped me get back into this album. it felt like a kind of monolith, back in the day, and in the last ten years i've listened to LGM way more. the outtakes "humanize" it. not the right word, but.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

It is curious to me that this was the album that broke them (literally and figuratively?). I mean, it's great, practically perfect, but I'm not sure significantly better than/different from the previous two. I guess I agree with one of the above that folks weren't really paying close attention to "LGM" and "Pure Phase." I know I caught them on Rollercoaster in Philly in '92, and headlining the shitty Double Door in Chicago '95, I think. Then I saw them open for Radiohead in '98, but for the life of me I can't remember seeing the band on its own c. "LAG ...", or what sized venues they played.

I was a late comer to the Spiritualized party (circa 2001, high school) and jumped on board with Let It Come Down, then worked backwards. One of my favorite ever concert experiences is seeing Spiritualized two nights in a row, 2003 tour I think, at a tiny 400 person venue, front row at J. Pierce's feet.

I haven't listened to Let It Come Down or Amazing Grace in seven years or so and don't feel any desire to, should I sell them y/n

Sounds like a question for my new thread:

Pruning your physical music collection (CD, vinyl, etc.)... thoughts?

(And, to answer your question: no.)

FOPP in the UK were selling AMAZING GRACE for fifty pence at one point, so don't expect riches

1. Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (I Can't Help Falling in Love) 18

Not sure how this got 18 votes. I mean, I love the fuck out of it, but in context of the whole album it seems like an overture/prelude/statement of purpose, a sign of things yet to come.

bah missed this thread cuz of jury duty.

would have voted the title track or I Think I'm in Love probably but agree in general with comments that this is overrated by people otherwise unaware of the rest of their catalog (I assume this is the case, cuz everyone familiar with their catalog - including me - seems to prefer something else)

also I was at the SF show that half of Fucked Up Inside is pulled from (the half that starts with Medication iirc) and the JAMC were awful. Also someone jumped onstage to try and hug that Curve chick and she decked him. don't remember anything else about their set lolz...

Then I saw them open for Radiohead in '98,

^^^this was a terrible tour for them. they had to cut all their songs in half, it seemed like.

I think the right three songs came out on top but I voted for Broken Heart, it's real top 20 songs of all time contender for me.

Stay With Me deserved to do a bit better.

But boy! Has anybody slogged through the 'sessions' CD pack?

― Mark G, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 11:09 (5 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Hmm, I thought I'd said something like "oh boy, 3 different versions of "CSC", that's gonna be great

In any case, I take back what I hadn't said: It's more like an extended directors cut alternate 2CD version.

Worth the price of admission for the bit in the alternate "I think I'm in love" where Jason brings in the backing choir with "OK, all you girls sing along real loud, and then I'll tell you more about how I feel!" which brought the lols right there.

it's on spotify so definitely worth the price of admish. £30 tho? maybe when i get a job.

srsly this album has one of the best opening tracks ever

Stay With Me deserved to do a bit better. - agree that this is a fine song, but I never really considered it to be a *true* album cut b/c it first served as a b-side on the "Let it Flow" singles.

Was gonna say, mine's completely knackered too.

Same. Squashed and warped to buggery.