Customer Reviews

Playing With Fire

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the second of the Spacemen 3 discs I picked up and I like it even better than the first. The first was The Perfect Prescription, which is unbelievable. Both albums are phenomenal choices for everything from late-night listening to all-out rockin'. The tracks range from dreamy psychedelic wanderings (Honey, How Does It Feel, So Hot) to feedback-laden assaults (Suicide, Revolution). I've seen a lot of comparisons to the Velvet Underground in the reviews and I have to agree. It's got a very British garage-band minimalistic sound mixed in with incredible post-production and downright guitar genius.

I'm a huge fan of Spiritualized and I am totally enjoying digging into the band's roots. I've also been checking out the other post-Spacemen outfits: Reverberation, Spectrum/E.A.R., Sonic Boom, and have liked all of it so far.

This album is definitely worth buying.

This IS nice reissue, but disappointing. It's 2 CDs--the first CD has the exact same track listing as the excellently-done Taang! reissue of "Playing With Fire", while the second disc brings together some alternate takes/ demos in very lousy sound quality. Although this is a fine addition to the collection of a diehard Spacemen 3 fan, you're really not missing out on anything by not owning disc 2. More than anything, the demos illustrate how crucial the execution factor is to this music, & to put it simply, they don't stand a chance against the originals, and again, the sound quality is really subpar. They were amazing at pulling their tracks off on record, making them one of the all time great bands. There seems to have been a bit of revisionism, with some fans saying their demos often surpassed the original versions (e.g. on "Taking Drugs To Make Music To Take Drugs To") which goes right over my head--the demos tend to sound punchless opposed to the originals, but then again, if those fans are all a bunch of stoners who don't want to be jolted, maybe it makes more sense.

But back to this release. I don't really have too hard of feelings about this 2 disc set--after all, we ARE talking about Spacemen 3 here. But the single disc Taang! version is a much better value & also has a brief quote from Sonic Boom missing here. This disc also may understandably get people thinking, "Why are they releasing a watered-down version of this still available album instead of reissuing 'Recurring'?"

(Note: Disc 2 contains a demo version of "Anyway That You Want Me", a Troggs remake that was Spiritualized's debut single.)

Playing with Fire steps away from Spacemen 3's distortion- and reverb-soaked early albums and instead takes on a more orchestral feel. With a good mix of covers and originals, loud (on a few) and soft, Spacemen 3 expanded their M.O. on this album and lay groundwork for the current 'explosion' of orchestral-pop records. Soothing and brilliant, Playing with Fire has a nearly timeless quality that you will appreciate now and years from now.

From the opening chord on "Honey" through "May the Cricle be Unbroken," this album is Spacemen 3's best. Honey opens the album with a plaintive pop song in the most twisted sense and goes to "Come Down Softly to My Soul" another quiet song in the orchestral vein of songs off "The Perfect Prescription." The CD continues through more quiet, contemplative songs with the exception of Suicide and Revolution, both songs fleshed out on the "Performance" album. "Let Me Down Gently" and "Lord Can You Hear Me" display the influence American gospel had on Spacemen 3, but don't let it scare you. These songs are some of the best they ever did and show just how great they were. Still in the underground, they will never break through, but that's the best thing: to be part of something so great that only a few people know about.

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.

Playing with Fire signaled the beginning of the end for the group as a whole. You can already hear the different approaches that Sonic and Jason are trying.
Sonic's songs like HOW DOES IT FEEL and LET ME DOWN GENTLY are droney and heavily distorted minimal tones.
While Jason's are more dreamy pop songs like COME DOWN SOFTLY TO MY SOUL and SO HOT.
Still this is a great album of dreamy minimal space music the only exceptions are the rockin' REVOLUTION and the 11:00 drone noise epic SUICIDE co-written by both Spacemen.
Keep in mind this is 1988 which makes it even that much more revolutionary.

this is a truly beautiful album. most of the songs are low key and hypnotic with only revolution and suicide truly kicking out the jams. great cuts include honey, how does it feel and so hot. having the live suicide is a drawback, its not all that different from the original and its not all that great to start with. overall, this is terrific, a step below perfect prescription perhaps, but well worth owning.

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"

In my opinion this is not only their masterpiece but it is also a personal top 20 favourite. They never did anything better before or after. I saw them at the Neew Morning in 80-something and was completely blown away. Seeing them play Suicide live for what seemed like 30 minutes was quite something.

Sonic tonic of a similar strength to Alabama 3's serenely crunchy Exile on Coldharbour Lane, Spaceman 3's trippy fusion of slinky plinky slow burners with stunning squalls of Fender bender sound is nothing less than blissed out balm for the banjaxed brainbox. Playing With Fire ain't exactly Ernest Shackleton's banjo but it's still vital mental medicine at any volume.