Search - Spacemen 3 :: Playing With Fire

Spiritualized never will be like this

Nuno Leal Da Silva | Lisboa, Portugal | 08/31/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Honey. One of the most beautiful songs i've ever heard. The others? The following of a masterpiece, where echoes of 60's, 70's garage psychadelia reverb high on our ears.



Revolution. To me the only band that had got the same uprising feeling with guitars and percussion is Hawkwind. They rock like Hawkwind and they can be beautiful like Velvet Underground, Love or Jesus And Mary Chain. Rock on, keep on, silence you may rest in peace."

A difficult but rewarding masterwork

Matthew T. Medlock | Cincinnati, OH | 09/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The art rock of Spacemen 3 manages to avoid becoming pretentious and boring by serving up the same sort of expressionism and balance that marks the best of their ilk. Even at its noisiest and most chaotic, there's a melody to find; at its softest and dreamiest, there is an unmistakable gravity that keeps it grounded.



"Honey" and "Come Down Softly to My Soul" roll out of the speakers like liquid that immediately turns to vapor in the ears. "I Believe It" is a cross section of Velvet Underground (with its building drone and hushed excitement) and the Doors (organ-driven psychedelia and slow poet musing). "Revolution" is reminiscent of Iggy & the Stooges, especially in the rough, crunching texture and half-bored, half-aggressive vocal delivery. And "Suicide" is an eleven-minute freakout that rivals anything made by the noise auteurs (and as such, can be alternately compelling and repetitive). If you're looking for solid hooks and meaty riffs, look elsewhere. There's a reason why the shoegazing scene owes a debt as much to Spacemen 3 as any of that band's contemporaries.



Best cuts: "How Does It Feel?" "Revolution," "Honey," "I Believe It," "So Hot (Wash Away All of My Tears)," "Come Down Softly to My Soul," "Lord Can You Hear Me?" "Suicide," "Let Me Down Gently""