I was always more partial to Spacemen 3 than Spiritualized. I respected what J. Spaceman (Jason Pierce) was doing in his spin-off project, but when I was younger, I needed more noise and feedback in my indie-rock. Now, older and maybe more open-minded, I'm revisiting the Spiritualized albums. And today's revisit involves Songs in A&E from 2008.
With a picture of Pierce in the hospital on the cover, the record presents a chronicle of damage both medical and spiritual. As a result, the album may be the most gospel-inflected of the whole Spiritualized catalog. There's a resignation here to the vagaries of life and the universe that gives this material elevation over the sort of proto-garage rock that inspired Jason in Spacemen 3. From the morose "Death Take Your Fiddle" to the objectively gospel styles of "Sweet Talk", there's a variety here that remains impressive still. Fans may trace this back to certain records by The Stones, yeah, but to hear this coming from the Spacemen 3 guy is still sort of an eyebrow-raiser. That said, there's still some raucous stuff here. "Yeah Yeah" is a trashy workout, while the blues-based "I Gotta Fire" works up an admirable racket.
Best listened to in one sitting, Songs in A&E is a sort of masterpiece. At least when hearing this one can imagine Jason Pierce thinking that he was making his personal masterpiece when recording this. And that makes a lot of different in how one approaches this. There may not be as many obvious and visceral thrills as on earlier releases from J. Spaceman as Spiritualized, but there's a maturity here that, when heard in the right mood, seems positively transcendent.
Songs in A&E by Spiritualized is out now via Fat Possum.
[Photo:Nick Waplington]