Spiritualized: Lazer Guided Melodies - The Spaceman Reissue Program (2LP, special edition, white vinyl, 45RPM) [FAT POSSUM]

Why you'll love it

This special edition opened Fat Possum's Spaceman Reissue Program: 180g white vinyl at 45 RPM, cut from a half-speed lacquer by Alchemy Mastering, in a gatefold jacket. Jason Pierce curated the reissue himself, with artwork reworked by Mark Farrow.

This edition

• 2LP set
• White vinyl
• 180g vinyl
• Cut at 45 RPM
• Half-speed master
• Gatefold jacket

About the album

Jason Pierce felt his old band Spacemen 3 still had more to say when it ended, so his first album as Spiritualized set about finishing the thought: long, slow-blooming drones, gospel-tinged melodies and songs that drift into one another across four movements.

He tracked much of it at a small studio near his flat that mostly made advertising jingles, then took the tapes to Battery Studios in London to finish with co-producer Barry Clempson. "You Know It's True" eases the album open, "Run" locks into a hypnotic groove, "Symphony Space" and "Smiles" shimmer and swell, and "Take Your Time" and "Shine A Light" share side three, slow and patient, while "Angel Sigh," "Sway" and the closing "200 Bars" let the haze settle beautifully. Kate Radley's keyboards glow underneath much of it.

It set the template for the space-gospel epics that followed, from Pure Phase to Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space. Spreading twelve tracks over four sides at 45 RPM means getting up from the sofa rather more often than usual, which we're choosing to count as exercise.

Also at Kops: more Spiritualized on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Fat Possum / Dedicated (cat# FP1751-3), a reissue of the 1992 album.