Spiritualized - Sweet Heart Sweet Light

Sweet Heart Sweet Light is the upcoming, seventh studio album by Spiritualized. It is planned for release in March 2012, on Double Six Records.

Track listing

1. "Hey Jane"
2. "Little Girl"
3. "Get What You Want"
4. "Too Late"
5. "Heading for the Top"
6. "Freedom"
7. "I Am What I Am"
8. "Mary"
9. "Life Is a Problem”"
10. "So Long You Pretty Things"

it has been awhile since we have had new stuff, so i'm totally looking forward to this album.

I'm definitely curious about this, tho I'll admit that anytime word on the street bubbles up about a new Spiritualized joint, it is the prospect of corresponding live dates that piques my interest most. That said, I thought Songs in A & E was his best since Ladies & Gents, so I suppose I am guardedly optimistic.

I def hope its more intergalactic gospel-bombast Spiritualized than back-to-basics, let's remake 'Electricity' eight more times under different titles Spiritualized.

At this point, I'm assuming he's not really capable of deviating from one of, or some combination of those approaches.

At this point, I'm assuming he's not really capable of deviating from one of, or some combination of those approaches

For stuff he puts out under the Spiritualized name, you're probably right. However there was that solo guitar CD and also the various bits and bobs he's done with free improv types like Spring Heel Jack, so he definitely has it in him.

There are a couple of the new tracks played live available to watch via the Guardian here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/video/2011/dec/06/spiritualized-other-voices-video

Only readily available until 15th January though. Nice looking videos. Songs aren't immediately any great shakes in those incarnations to my ears though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LugL4P_iODo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e2tuLT762E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Cyo8xivbk8

That looks like the ones, thanks!

"Hey Jane" actually picks up with the early freak-out and post-freak-out groove...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbYm6GlAm8o

Yeah, I'm definitely really liking the extended 'finale' of "Hey Jane" now.

Couple months ago at Albert Hall, Spz. played the new album in it's entirety, and there's plant of YouTubes and bootleg downloads out there. Most promising song to me is "Heading For The Top" which (at least live) busts out of us usual languid Low Earth Orbit.

back-to-basics, let's remake 'Electricity' eight more times under different titles Spiritualized

God, I hate this approach so much. Whereas he can remake 'Shine A Light' as many times as he wants as far as I'm concerned.

Suspect this is going to be closer to back-to-basics really, although there are good and bad ways of doing that. I doubt there's enough money for another huge statement album.

LGM couldn't have had much of a budget, though - or Pure Phase for that matter, and yet..

to say nothing of his half of Recurring!

I mean, he's done great reconfigurations of familiar American blues/gospel/jazz tropes, but they became a crutch for him at some point. But if he can anchor his craftmanship w/ something emotionally resonant like he did w/ Songs in A&E, the songs will at least on their own merits be worth listening to - whereas LICD & Amazing Grace just seem like window dressing.

whatever nits you might pick w/ his post L&G output, though, the man can and always delivers stunning live performances. There's a very good reason why I have seen Spiritualized more times than any other touring band, by a fair margin even.

Songs In A&E felt like his laziest record yet to me. Also that one with the iron lung noise was genuinely horrific to listen to.

last time i saw spiritualised live - which, tbf, is prob more than five years ago now - the group he'd assembled were nowhere near as good as the Royal Albert Hall band.

Isn't his crutch that from S3 on he's never quite deviated from the template set by Suicide's "Cheree?"

I kid, I like this guy.

the man can and always delivers stunning live performances.

the Thighpaulsandra/Doggen/Kevlar lineup in 2002 was amazing

Ladies & Gentlemen live with his own band and scratch choir & strings at the Sydney Opera House in 2011 was probably the best live music experience I had last year

some bunch of scruffy teenagers backing him* at ATP in 2009 was so pissweak I left my friends and went off to see something else**

*probably the same group as 2011 but who knows

** Rowland S Howard with Mick Harvey on drums tbf

I saw the LAG show at Radio City and it was probably the best Spz show I've seen since 1995.

sic OTM (though obviously I didn't see the SOH show).

Er, ok.

http://www.spin.com/articles/how-spiritualizeds-jason-pierce-fooled-reviewers

"Tinkering?" he says irritably. "Is that what you think I'm doing? Tinkering?"

disingenuous twat

Seems like an honest answer to me tbh. Poor choice of words by Marchese indeed

Also, should probably add I saw them at the Albert Hall, where he played the whole new record. It's going to be good, more spacier moments than Songs in A&E, but lots of ballads (if you like that sort of thing), but his lyrics are possibly some of his worst. I remember rolling my eyes at the last one in particular. The 'rock' songs also tend to last for a while, but then it's Spiritualized live so that's probably nothing to go on. 'Hey Jane' is one of the best he's written in years, though.

just saw those videos upthread. Duh.

Spz is playing in a p small venue for $26; should I get tickets?

sure why not

Yeah go for it dude!

Can't wait. The noise in the live tracks is stunning.

Not to be Debbie Downer, but it really depends how you feel about the past couple of albums.

If you like them, go for it. If you're one of those people that still keeps Laser Guided Melodies clutched to your heart, well... I saw them live recently-ish (well, this decade at least, in the 2010s) and it was one of the most excruciating experiences of my concert going life.

oh I dunno the tour he did with just him and Dogen and a string quartet was quite good imho. haven't seen him perform with a full "rock band" setup in years tho.

I know he's not celebrated as a wordsmith but the lyrics on this album are a disgrace. Like Bobby Gillespie bad.

Spz is playing in a p small venue for $26; should I get tickets?

I would pay double that but no one of any quality ever plays my part of the country anymore.

he's written some good lyrics in his day. couldn't make out most of the words on the live boots of the new material, so reserving judgment there.

I would pay double that but no one of any quality ever plays my part of the country anymore.

Of course I immediately have to retract my statement but I'm happy about that.

Hope J. spends as much time editing as he does mixing this.

Also: Huh?

Wonder if Jason ever heard this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6oqgS35_2w

I'm sure he did

cover:
http://cdn2.pitchfork.com/news/45536/9680614a.jpg
out via Fat Possum in the U.S. on April 17 and Double Six on April 16.

Did Peter Saville's secretary design this album cover too?

pretty good sez I

What. A. Jam.

Had a long long drive in the sun yesterday, wish I had been able to play this song on repeat. Awesome.

As much as I love Spiritualized (a lot), the sound of 20 musicians breaking down and playing whatever, the [insert noise here] moments, they are the musical equivalent of stock footage. Great song though

I can't hear any [insert noise here] stock moments in the new song, although I know what you mean.

This is streaming on NPR. Very excited to give it a listen, I love Hey Jane.

thought the cover art was an img loading error :(

Last couple of albums were a big letdown for me, don't like his new "raw" sound at all. Probably won't be checking this new one out unless it is supposed to be a major improvement.

first sound on this is ornate strings, moodles

also songs in a&e wasn't raw at all, i think

oh haha this is really great

the refined songwriting of let it come down meets the jazz freakout nature of the live show, finally

This is a really good album. It's probably most similar to Let It Come Down especially with the use of strings but unlike that album it doesn't seem to drag as much. Hey Jane is easily the best thing on here but I enjoyed just about every song. I liked the last album but this one just feels so much more focused. I wasn't really paying much attention to the lyrics but that's not really why I listen to this band.

It's a similar situation to the latest Tindersticks album, no massive surprises just a really strong album that's probably their best in over a decade. Reminds me of why I fell for them in the first place.

can't wait for this.
been on a massive spiritualized trip of late.
despite it not doing anything different to the formula i loved 'hey jane'
just hope there is a standard jewel case version of the album as opposed to the usual packaging gubbins that jason likes to mess up.
[though i did like the glow in the dark version of pure phase]

NPR stream

this sounds pretty great

whoa, the video for this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U_EqgBWnmc

def on some Let It Come Down arrangements-tip here

def also way better than the last two

fuck this is REALLY good

the video is proper 0_O
i just hope the album has the complete 10 min version.
honest

bleah, fuck that video

cool song though

i mean, i kind of like it in some ways (the vid), but did not need that massive dose of brutality and negativity atm

this sounds really unpolished to me on the first listen. If he spent a year mixing it, I don't know what the hell he did. Things like Little Girl don't sound cohesive at all.

This is a really good album. It's probably most similar to Let It Come Down especially with the use of strings but unlike that album it doesn't seem to drag as much. Hey Jane is easily the best thing on here but I enjoyed just about every song. I liked the last album but this one just feels so much more focused. I wasn't really paying much attention to the lyrics but that's not really why I listen to this band.

It's a similar situation to the latest Tindersticks album, no massive surprises just a really strong album that's probably their best in over a decade. Reminds me of why I fell for them in the first place.

― Kitchen Person, Monday, April 9, 2012 4:43 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm in every respect!

hypehat, re: mixing -- i think he made some interesting and kinda bold mixing choices; i'd give it another chance. like how low in the mix the drums are on Get What You Deserve. also, i'm assuming you've only listened to a stream and/or webrip, so that could be the source of some of your sound quality woes.

as far as the video goes, it's the best i've seen all year. it's images have affected the way i hear the entire album. and not just their brutality, but the way they juxtapose misery with the music's ecstasy -- an ideal J has been pursuing for his whole career, imo. and i'd say that's pretty much what a successful video is supposed to do.

so happy the mood is positive about this record and i love Let It Come Down so this is a win-win.

can't wait to hear this.

It sounds a little better off headphones, granted, and I've got the vinyl coming some time this week so I'll wait til that before saying too much. And some of it does sound wonderful, like Life Is A Problem and Hey Jane (Greatest thing he's done in years), but I guess I was a little bit spoiled by seeing it at the Albert Hall - I think I was expecting the same massive sweep that he got at that show, and he's clearly not going for that here all the time. It's much more intimate, even to a fault, than Let It Come Down or maybe even A&E - his vocals are really the centrepoint. It's like the closet mix of The Velvets' S/T or something.

he put his vocals way up front on Amazing Grace and A&E too but it works better here. songs are stronger, I think.

also I know next-to-nobody gives any credence to his lyrics but he gets some funny zingers off on this one imho

i think the triteness of his lyrics is actually one of the band's many great qualities. it's like every rock n roll cliche boiled down to it's purest essence.

its*

Whilst that video wouldn't be my first choice for promotional material, I think this is ridiculous. 'Pain porn for white boys'?!
http://www.collapseboard.com/reviews/albums-reviews/spiritualized-sweet-heart-sweet-light-fat-possum/

I really disliked Hey Jane when I heard it, maybe it sounds better in some context other than the radio but it just felt clunky. Then again I've never particularly liked Spiritualized rockers.

I don’t give a shit about notions of authenticity.

hmm rest of the piece indicates otherwise

But if a middle-aged white man from Rugby, trailing his privilege and his money and his production vales behind him like old school ties, appropriates the experience and style and musical tropes of the vulnerable and the oppressed he had better tread extremely carefully.

Glad that someone's finally had the balls to call out middle-class white men for appropriating music made by poor black people. Bold.

Smithers, have the Rolling Stones killed

I don’t like that said whiney, white, self-pitying, copyist, imagination-free, privilege-flaunting cisman from England has used this story and these characters from waaaaaaaaaaay outside his experience, knowledge or culture as entertainment, however much Art has given him a hall pass to do so.

Ugh, she sound like Rik from the Young Ones.

Taking someone to task for being cisgender? Is Wendy Carlos her only musical hero? Wth?

Really having a rough time making it through that first paragraph.

"Because Art has LICENCE"

I really hope the writer is 15, otherwise I feel a lot of second hand embarrassment for her right now.

would she have preferred a video of Jason participating in a genteel fox hunt wot wot

(fwiw I couldn't make it past like 0:30 second mark of the video, have no interest in it - none of Spiritualized's videos have ever been interesting imho)

Yeah the video just comes across as more or less trolling, like the album cover. Capital-S SHOCK & Exploitation where you coulda just put up some cool psychedelic swirls.

As a value-neutral description of spiritualized, their music and the way they construct cool, the review is pretty accurate. Problem is that it's anything but value-neutral. It presents itself as a furious, devastating condemnation, and on that level, it's mostly just silly. Spiritualized's rock and roll costume play isn't any worse or different than what the Jesus and Mary Chain and Primal Scream (and Spacemen 3, come on) were up to decades ago. Recycled cool isn't necessarily objectionable, so long as the recycling is honest about itself. Jason's never tried to hide his appropriations. In fact, I'd say that he makes second-handness the focus of his work.

As protest against that repulsive video, the review is painfully overstated, but I understand where the author is coming from. The video is an ugly, insulting, sensationalistic and exploitative piece of shit.

‘Hey Jane’ wears its NSFW like a smug little badge and is a 10 minute long micro-film about a black transvestite prostitute with a small and frightened child who ends up beaten to a bloody pulp by a repressed and shamed white trick. It is repellent and upsetting and I don’t care what Art is allowed to do, I don’t like it. I don’t like the fact that every fist fall, every crunch of boot on facial bones, is filmed in detail and at length. I don’t like what it appears to be saying about people.

The entirety of the content seems to be:

"EDGY!!!!!"

that's what i call review the Idea of an Album rather than the album itself. her descriptions are abstracted so far out from actual musical sounds that it's as if she's rebutting an essay J Spaceman wrote about "How To Make Rock" and not reviewing a collection of songs. like, she could've written that whole diatribe without actually listening to the album, basing it on a passing knowledge of what Spiritualized's music sounds like.

and because the amount of chatter that surround every album release nowadays, i notice reviewers doing this more and more. their reviews are an objection to others' reasons for liking an album and not an objection to weak music. this happened SO MUCH with the drake album last year. it was like "i don't like drake because whining and being conflicted about being ultra-rich should not be a topic of music," which is ridiculous. or "i don't like spiritualized because they reference common musical tropes which is TOTES INAUTHENTIC." what matters with drake or with spiritualized is not what they're doing, but how well they do it. which is very well, if you ask me.

wow there's some grammatical nightmares going on in my posts, sorry yalls

On second reading I've warmed a bit to that piece. She's obviously young and it's better to be writing furious, passionate, overheated screeds than stiff approximations of a 150-word Mojo/Rolling Stone album review.

Though she should have just called it a blog about the video rather than a review of an album I'm not sure she's listened to. And caulk's point about the ongoing trend of reviewing the discourse rather than the music is OTM, but she's hardly alone in that.

Though she should have just called it a blog about the video rather than a review of an album I'm not sure she's listened to.

If it's a reaction the video it makes a lot more sense, but speaking as someone who rarely watches videos and did not watch this one it did not work as an album review at all.

he ongoing trend of reviewing the discourse rather than the music

this has been going on for decades but agree it's much more pronounced in the internet era. and annoying.

Yeah, it seems like an understandable if overheated response to the awful video that unfortunately decided to present itself as a proper album review. Everything the author says seems inspired by and filtered through her response to the video. She this directly: "I watched the last bit through clenched fists and only because I suddenly, urgently, needed to write about it."

must be hard to watch something through clenched fists

I kind of feel like everyone who's freaked out by that video needs to watch it again, 'cause it's really not particularly out there. Has that reviewer seen any movies/tv/videos since the Patty Duke Show?

Anyway, never was a big fan of the Spiritualized half of Spacemen 3, and I doubt this'll change anything.

Like, maybe if he'd just called it "Hey Sister Ray" instead of "Hey Jane" it wouldn't freak her out so much...?

word to that, dlp9001. reactions to the video (both in her review and in this thread) seem to be a bit overblown. ya'll seen a Tarantino movie before?

Her point kinda seems to be that a white male artist is exploiting the struggle of "the other" for a cheap thrill. so are white artists only allowed to depict violence upon white males? where does that leave, say, Tarantino's Jackie Brown? (to name one of literally thousands of examples from film and television)

her whole reaction also seems based off the idea that Pierce made the video, when in fact the director was AG Rojas. who is not white, if that would make any difference in her eyes.

not sure how rojas identifies his race.

of course i've seen tarantino flicks, and tons of horror movies. and shit like the human centipede or w/e. doesn't mean i can't feel that the video is ugly and exploitative.

It will replace nothing - except maybe Suicide.

Also it's cool for Lou Reed to sing about that stuff but it's not like anyone seriously wants to watch a movie of him shooting heroin while having his ding-dong sucked.

when he sings about "the colored girls", it's not like we want to see the shit get beaten out of them in shabby hotel rooms

I really hope the writer is 15, otherwise I feel a lot of second hand embarrassment for her right now.

According to her Twitter, she's a "Ranter, mother, teacher, music-scoffer." Cast your stones at http://somethingtocryfor.blogspot.com/

Playing With Fire and Recurring were a big part of my my teenage years. I have really loved a lot of Spiritualized (lguided melodies, pure phase and ladies) as well,but for me this is a bit of a damp squib, again.

contenderizer, i'm just questioning your reasoning for thinking it's exploitative. is it because the singer is a white male? could it be because the attacker in the video is a white male? would you feel differently if the attacker was some other race/gender? you say you don't want to watch a violent scene in a shabby hotel room, but you watch "tons of horror movies" and even the human centipede, which is on a whole other order of magnitude on the "exploitation-of-violence" scale. i'm curious about your reasons for finding this video as or more repugnant than pure empty gore. (because for me it seems to be aiming for something deeper than that, whether you think it succeeds or not.)

I've seen, and will probably see in the future, lots of gnarly shit on film - really in this case it was the presence of the children that just made me not want to watch it

well, i didn't say i liked the human centipede, just that i've seen it (i loved the performance of the guy who played dr. heiter, for what it's worth). i'm not sure exactly why this video was such a powerful trigger for me. in part it's the fact that it successfully earned my sympathy for the protagonist. i really liked the trans prostitute character and didn't want to see bad things happen to him/her. in part, as shakey says, it has to do with the fact that there's a child involved. i don't deny that horrible shit happens in life, and i accept that art has a right and perhaps even an obligation to deal with it, but somehow the "music video" context makes it hard for me to tolerate this level of emotional brutality. i respect the video for the honesty and respect with which i presents its protagonist's life and struggles, but i strongly felt that the conclusion wallowed in cheap and cynical shock tactics that the context couldn't justify. the brutality didn't feel earned.

^^^ I think that is kinda OTM....

OK, well, I'm glad for the heads up that I should not, under any circumstance watch the video.

Given it's on Collapseboard, and Collapseboard is edited by one E. True, late of these parts - I can tell you from personal experience, that Mr True has a habit of taking blog rants, emails, etc. and dressing them up as "Album Reviews" and representing them as such, when the writer was under the impression that they were writing a rant, rather than a "review." Not that there is anything wrong with rants, but if your complaint about the piece is "that's a rant, not an album review" you might be right, and it might not be the *writer*'s "fault" it was presented as such. As a rant, as an op-ed, I liked it. (Probably a lot more than I've liked anything J Pierce has been involved with in the past 10 years.) ((Though a bit of fact-checking might have helped - Jason wasn't the posh one in Spacemen 3))

I'm kind of over those "statement videos" whereby an artist tries to catch some whiff of edginess by commissioning some ultra-violent video "with a message, maaaaaaannn..." It's been done, and done, and done, from Justice's Stress to MIA's Born Free to etc etc - and yet again, this seems like attempt of "ooh, controversy-bait, let's hope it gets banned to generate some hype for an otherwise unremarkable single."

Maybe that's not what's going on. Maybe J,Pierce genuinely cares about the exploitation of marginalised people, and this his way of "raising awareness, maaaaaan but I'm just not prepared to give pop stars the benefit of the doubt any more. He's just given me another reason not to watch the video/listen to the single, which is probably for the best, given my bitter ex-fan status.

If I had to make a no-doubt-ill-informed guess it would be that Jason Pierce isn't actually bothered about videos at all and the record company just punted the commission to someone they thought would make an impression. Which isn't to excuse it, but I'm not sure how much conscious input he would have had either.

Ha ha, no one is responsible for anything, it's all just the gatekeepers.

(Though isn't Jason's wife a film maker, so he might actually be more bothered about it, than would appear?)

so, anyone wanna talk about the album?

Sure.

i think the triteness of his lyrics is actually one of the band's many great qualities. it's like every rock n roll cliche boiled down to it's purest essence.

― caulk the wagon and float it, Tuesday, April 10, 2012 1:50 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

My kingdom for an eyeroll emoticon.

dude, he rhymes "day" with "day" in a like really pure essence way.

Streaming it now ... had a really good feeling about it based on a couple of recent live recordings. People alluded to it upthread, but yeah this would have made perfect sense as the follow up to "Let It Come Down" (my fave SPZ album btw).

call it pretentious but i'm being totally sincere. it's why i like the lyrics of, say, "Home of the Brave" so much even though they're not particularly "good" lyrics. but i think i invest less importance in lyrics than a lot of people on here, so.

maybe that is an eyerolly thing to say, but that's been jason's strategy since day one (also true of the jesus & mary chain). idealization of cliche is the method.

lol, song #9 is named after a mississipi records gospel comp.

I haven't really listened to Spiritualized much since "Let it Come Down", which I loved with all my heart. I'm kinda interested in this stuff but this first song is pretty meh.

@scott, think about it. singers/lyricists in the popular music tradition have been rhyming words with themselves, rhyming "face" with "place", forcing "again" to rhyme with things that it doesn't, etc., since this shit all got started. just as Spiritualized's music pulls simple tropes from all over rock's history, J's lyrics take its most basic tropes (drugs, love/heartbreak, God) and play them out in a simple way. i'm not saying he could write better lyrics if he wanted to, just explaining why the band's lyrics work for me in an unusual way.

idealization of cliche is the method.

contenderizer otm

I see what you're all saying about the mixing ... "You Get What You Deserve" is bizarre, *really* vocal and guitar heavy, then the coda happens and it's swimming in bass and the drums nearly disappear, like it's a rough unmixed demo. It has to be some kind of weird compression from the stream, I'm not sure what to make of it if it was mixed intentionally that way.

Great song though.

i prefer to call it stoner laziness, but you can call it whatever you want to call it.

x-post

i always feel bad for his back up singers too. :(

i mean you could even pay someone to look up words that rhyme with "day" if you don't feel like doing it yourself.

"You Get What You Deserve" is bizarre, *really* vocal and guitar heavy, then the coda happens and it's swimming in bass and the drums nearly disappear, like it's a rough unmixed demo

think this sounds great and am sure it's purely intentional. Jason's at his best using weird mixing methods (see also: Pure Phase)

i mean you could even pay someone to look up words that rhyme with "day" if you don't feel like doing it yourself.

i'm not really defending pierce, morbs, cuz i haven't loved a spiritualized album since ladies and gentleman..., but i do think that the referentiality and simplicity are intentional. for whatever that's worth.

I Am What I Am lyrics are totally funny imho

wait, did you just call me morbs? take that back.

I was listening to that Hatchback album Zeus + Apollo the other day and was thinking they should do a collaberation with Pierce.

wait, did you just call me morbs? take that back.

That is the second worst thing a person can be called imo.

...is this about where I confess that I still haven't heard the previous album and can't see myself getting all excited for this one either? I dunno, I think he just lost me somewhere.

he should just hire songwriters. or cover good songs that already exist. same with nick cave. and any other spoonjunemoon lazybones out there. no shame in covering good songs. or hiring songwriters. people do it every day. the sound will still be sorta cool. million old country songs that are good and better than jayspace's stuff.

or at least bury the vocals so that i can't hear every word.

same with nick cave.

betcha can't say YOU'VE rhymed "Orpheus" with "orifice" anytime lately ya jackmunch

i was gonna but then i realized that they didn't rhyme.

"That is the second worst thing a person can be called imo."

jackmunch is number one, right?

i was gonna leave, but now i'm curious what other names i can get called on here.

lol, you're not a morbius, scott

not yet

I'm really liking this album, more so than I have recent Spiritualized ones.

The closing song is almost a Spiritualized pastiche yet still sounds great.

After my initial excitement after hearing the live run-through last year, I'm completely detatched and uncompelled. At least A&E felt like Jason was pushing himself forward as a songwriter (and there are some genuine creepy moments on it), but this just feels like a scavenge through whatever was on Jason's hard drive.

Perhaps it's time to fire the band again?

He needs to start wearing that DRUGS NOT JOBS tshirt again, that will really go down well right now. It is a boring, expendable album for me and I dont take any pleasure in saying that. He does need to sack the band and then hire Hatchback as his new band and stop writing terrible lyrics. And get out of this 'pity me junkie' bullshit, that is the scant emotional landscape of all his albums really. Dont get me wrong I love a lot of Spiritualized, but this is mediocrity.

How long again did "Hey Jane" leak? I feel like I've totally heard this song before...

Oh wait.. I heard it on the radio last night. That was it.

I listened to this on Saturday and was pretty unimpressed, it picks up at the end a bit but otherwise it just feels like a trudge.

http://thequietus.com/articles/08533-spiritualized-sweet-heart-sweet-light-review

Thoughtful of the Quietus to put that Huh?.jpg next to that nonsensical first line.

That's a terribly-written review actually.

yeah that review is appalling. by "subterfuge" I think he means "antidote", although I'm not really sure

I also don't think it's true that Spiritualized's reputation rests entirely on "Ladies and Gentlemen...".

The morose lyrical ambiance is off set by a winsome string / jangling guitar combination that sounds like Cast. There is a strong late 90s pop sensibility at play elsewhere, too. 'Get What You Deserve' smacks of something that Ian Brody of the Lightening Seeds would come out with, were he asked to write a song in the style of George Harrison

There's also a drum beat reminiscent of Shedd Sevan.

To say nothing of Guy Dodd

I'm yet to meet anyone who considers them merely 'alright'.

sup

it's too bad that this album is getting such a bad rap! it's true that it's kind of a boring album, but "hey jane," "headin for the top" and "so long you pretty thing" are all mega-classics imo, and scattered strategically so that their good vibe carries over to the next song, and the whole thing is a delicious treat. that's what i think anyway.

also reading this thread, i remembered that shakey mo collier is a michael moorcock character and that's why i'm really posting, sup dude??

i don't *really* care about lyrics, but dag

mark iv otm, imo

yep

also sup

bad rap? http://www.metacritic.com/music/sweet-heart-sweet-light

I think So Long... will definitely become one of my favourite Spiritualized songs. There's just something infectious about it.

Nice live version here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbYm6GlAm8o

I'm seeing them in a week and a half and am gonna spend the time re-listening to everything. I just got my hands on the 3CD "Ladies and Gentlemen..." set and all of the "I Think I'm In Love" demos are so fucking gorgeous.

word. i really love the straight acapella demo of the "suuuuuunnnnnn, so bright that i'm nearly blind" vocals from the first half.

i'm seeing them (for the first time!) on monday and i am so fuckin excited.

that 'Pretty Things' video weirdly makes me a bit nervous about the show though. i love the new album and i love that song, but it seems a little flat or phoned-in there.

seen them over half a dozen times and it's usually a great show. there was only one set I was disappointed by, and that was on the Let It Come Down tour and things just seemed sloppy (drummer missed cues, Jason forgot lyrics, etc.)

did you ever see them with the full array of guitars/synths/strings/choirs etc?

yep - both the LAGWAFIS and the LITC tours were like that. LGM tour was a five-piece augmented by a sax/flute player iirc. And then the Pure Phase tour was just a quartet, and that was honestly the best version I think. Also saw the recent small tour he did with just Dogen on piano plus trio of backup singers and a string quartet. It's always a little different. The light show does a lot of work lol.

Loved the Pure Phase tour, which might as well have been called the small clubs and strobe lights tour. I saw them a couple of times behind LAG, once opening for Radiohead at their "OK Computer" peak. Seen them a few times since then - a surprising number, actually - and will see them again tomorrow night, though of course every show has been more or less the same.

lol I left after Spiritualized's opening set for Radiohead (who I have never cared for fwiw). It was weird seeing Spz play truncated versions of all their songs.

Pure Phase tour was really special, feel like that was the one time I really just could not figure out how such a small group of people were making all that sound

Radiohead tour was also the peak of their internal discontent, iirv

I never realized the song "Pure Phase" was just a milder "Ecstasy Symphony" until just now. I always assumed Sonic Boom was the one behind that one.

On Letterman tonight...

http://p.twimg.com/AsUqMe7CMAA8gk5.jpg

I never realized the song "Pure Phase" was just a milder "Ecstasy Symphony" until just now. I always assumed Sonic Boom was the one behind that one.

He was. There's some minor differences and FWIW, "Symphonic Space" on LGM is Jason (but using the same principle)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx2ImCXMw8U&feature=youtu.be

Sounds good! Solipsism.

Better than I expected. Wanted the all-too-brief noise break at the early 3:00 mark to keep going, though.

NPR is streaming live video/audio from their Washington DC show right now: http://www.npr.org/event/music/152291064/spiritualized-in-concert?ps=mh_frhdl1

They were pretty good last week, but I have a feeling the band can do this in its sleep. I wish it were a bit ... free-er.

Funny admission: it was not until last week that I realized, all these years later, that the title "Cop Shoot Cop" was a drug pun. I just always thought of it like "Spy Vs. Spy" or "Man Bites Dog."

huh I never got that either. I thought it was a reference to cop-on-cop violence.

I like this record pretty well. Sometimes I feel like the bass is missing, it feels a little thin in places. Like you can hear basslines but it doesn't have any punch. I'm sure that's an aesthetic choice in how they mixed it but I wish there was more low end.

So Long is pretty good...

Oh my GOD! We got to hear "Ladies and Gentlemen...", "Come Together", "Electric Mainline", and !!!"WALKING WITH JESUS"!!! Plus a near-30 minute encore with "Cop, Shoot, Cop" (which I was never crazy about on the album but was transcendent live), and at the 15 or so minute mark they did one of those end-of-show freak outs where all the musicians play their instruments all crazy for like five minutes, except instead of ending the show they abruptly went back into the mellow part for another 2 or 3 and ended really gently. It was such a brilliant and incredible thing.

I seriously was not expecting them to be as incredible as they were. I don't think I've seen a show that good since LCD

Yeah, I never noticed the "Cop Shoot Cop" pun until right now. Clever.

I don't feel so bad for not figuring that out until about three months ago, and this is after me owning albums by the band with said name for years.

Super psyched to get to see them tomorrow in Austin...I dig the new record a bunch.

Jason on the cover, writing the album, etc. etc.

@SteveDeux you know that's exactly how Cop Shoot Cop is on the album, right?

I never really cared for/paid close attention to the album version

saw them last night in SF, they were fantastic. I haven't seen them since the Rollercoaster tour in the US, and I thought they were super boring then.

also we had cute backup singers

i still don't get the pun

cop heroin shoot heroin cop heroin

cop shoots another cop with a gun

rmde at you people

lmfao@upeeps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwC7n8q-oHQ

New Jason interview: http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4145686-i-think-festivals-are-the-death-of-art-dis-meets-jason-pierce-from-spiritualized

Worth reading. Nice to have Jason fully back again

Apparently he played new songs and keyboards at last nights show. Maybe I should go when he hits Brighton...

interesting interview. he has funny opinions.

New songs - one a drippy sounding waltzy ballad which had a few zingers and got progressively less lovely as it went. Not bad, called A Perfect Miracle iirc.

Other one was this insanely heavy one chord blues which lasted about 8 minutes and lyrics revolving around 'one man's x is another man's y' and I could have sworn he was saying 'hoo-rah' a lot. But they were playing so loud his wittering was hard to make out.

But he ended up playing most of the new record (which gets a bit dull live), with the exception of Take Your Time, Ladies & Gents, and a version of Electric Mainline that was the loudest thing I've ever heard. Ever managed to drown the drummer out towards the end, just this massive sound/huge bass. But J was playing tonnes of intricate guitar stuff and keyboards, and even got his daughter out onstage to sing that song she's on on the new record.

Saw them tonight, they played COME DOWN EASY in the encore.

Agreed about the new songs, "A Perfect Miracle" is corny but still all right, but the eight minute one chord blues thing was a major highlight of the concert.

Is Huh? a universal word