Forged Prescriptions

Spacemen 3 | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 23, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Space Age Recordings
• ASIN: B0000AN4F2
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,350 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Things'll Never Be the Same

2. Walking With Jesus

3. Come Down Easy [Demo Version]

4. Transparent Radiation [Single Version]

5. Ode to Street Hassle

6. Call the Doctor

7. Ecstacy Symphony

8. Feel So Good

9. Soul 1

Disc: 2

1. Transparent Radiation

2. Come Down Easy

3. Walking With Jesus [Demo Version]

4. Things'll Never Be the Same [Demo Version]

5. We Sell Soul [#]

6. Starship [Demo Version]

7. Take Me to the Other Side [Demo Version]

8. Velvet Jam [#]

9. I Want You Right Now [#]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Completists rejoice, beginners beware, August 17, 2005

By 

J. Rossi (Downers Grove, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Forged Prescriptions (Audio CD)

For starters, this is not the release to buy if you've never encountered S3 previously, and even if you have you would appreciate this more having heard one of the album-length Perfect Perscription relaeases.

The subtle (and some not-so-subtle) differences in the songs on the first disc hit harder after having listened to Perfect Prescription, proper. "Things'll Never be the Same" is without the signature cymbal crashes while the wah soloing is more prominent; "Walking With Jesus" is a gospel song fresh from the church basement with humming organ, hushed vocals, and plaintive guitar; "Come Down Easy" and its country/western crawl saunters in on horseback while a Farfisa drone arrives minutes later.

It's hard to envision disc one as the true Perfect Prescription, especially when listeners have become accustomed to the previous versions, but this is supposedly the mixes and track order the band wanted in the first place; in time this will be the definitve version of the album.

Disc two is more hit and miss. Different mixes of "Transparent Radiation" and "Come Down Easy" appear, but considering the versions of those songs on the first disc are already different from what one is used to, it seems a bit too much to have another alternative mix. However, the second version of "Walking With Jesus" is perhaps the best version the band ever committed to tape, with its background droning buzz dueling with the plucked guitar notes.

"We Sell Soul" is nearly unrecognizable as being S3, at least at the time of Perfect Prescription; it sounds like a Playing With Fire or Recurring outtake, or something from Sonic's solo excursions. The "Starship" demo is a muscular jam that predates "Revolution" and "Suicide"; the two previously unreleased tracks are interesting but not necessarily necessary (the "Velvets Jam" was at one time available on a version of Dreamweapon).

All that said, this version of Perfect Perscription is at the very least interesting, but more often than not it hits as hard as the original album did the first time you heard it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not a good value, April 10, 2004

By 

Tome Raider (California, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Forged Prescriptions (Audio CD)

I have bought a lot of over-priced import recordings over the years and only regret a handful of them. This is one that I regret.

Reason: This is larded up with alternative versions of the same songs. And the CD's are both less than an hour long.

Yes, most of the music here is good, but it is redundant and short-lived, leaving me with the sense that I've been taken.

Even the consumers of the avant garde appreciate a fair deal and have awareness when they haven't received one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Perscription Work in Progress., December 12, 2003

By 

Brett Lloyd (Newport News, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Forged Prescriptions (Audio CD)

I've been a bit leary of buying some of the alternate mixes of Spacemen 3 albums, but this one had some unreleased stuff on it, so i went for it anyway.

To my surprise, I actually like most of it. The first alternate take of Things Won't Be the Same is better than the one that appeared on the album. And even though there seems to be a billion different versions of the Ecstacy Symphony, I prefer the version found here. It sounds a bit like a demo, but a really well-mixed demo. As for the previously unreleased tracks I've mentioned. None of them are really that great. the Velvet Jam sounds like an unwritten coda to The Velvet Underground's Sister Ray (which isn't a complaint at all.), but the other two tracks aren't all that interesting.

Other tracks, such as the first Alternate version of Walking with Jesus, maybe aren't as good as the original, but are still quite interestign to listen to to at least see where the band was going with the idea.

The bottom line is that, of course, Spacemen 3 fans will at least be intrigued by it, new listeners should just go with The Perfect Perscription album. That said, though, I'm unsure of how many of the tracks can be found elsewhere on the numerous Spacemen 3 oddity releases, but it does seem to compile stuff that even if previously released, it's otherwise hard to come across.

Now if only a comprehensive version of Recurring (including all b-sides/alternate mixes) gets released...