Customer Reviews

Solar.3

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

 

 

This bailterSpace album is their moodiest in some time, despite the pop smash, "Right Now." With the (long) exception of "Tide," the second half (side?) is a dark, heavy, masterful nightmare. Bold. The first side contains some great rockers.

Despite what the below reviewer wishes for, this album WAS recorded by Brent, as well as Alister and John. No one else had a hand in making this album until the mastering. Both Capsul and the brilliant EP Photon were recorded under varying degrees of circumstantial limitations. This album allows the 'Space to shine fully.

I have to agree with the music fan from Manhattan, the music on Vortura and Capsul albums was uneven, with wildly amazing songs some of the most beatiful ever made mixed with hardcore that sometimes worked and sometimes deserved to be B-sides. But with Alister taking over vocal duties for all songs this album and the band producing, they sound focused and back to form. They have always sounded best with themselves (especially with Brent) producing. "Right Now" is quite possibly the best Space song ever made, and the sum of this album is better than the individual parts. Other highlights are "liveForYou" and "Tide". Now if they could just bring more of Alister's amazing guitar playing to the front of the mix which Brent always did and concentrate on their pop narcotic like they did on "right now" I'll be even more of a happier camper on the next album. Hint:please let Brent Mclachlan record and produce the next one, the only other person I'd like to see record the band is Steve Albini, his mike system could capture the band live. But ultimately its the band's decision and if they ever read this they'll probably think something else. If you're new to the Space, I'd check out this album, Robot World, Tanker, The Aim, and Wammo. Robot World is their best and in my opinion the best rock album ever made. (the only other band to challenge it with a great record has been swervedriver)

There are some groups I don't recommend to my friends because their bad or mediocre songs outnumber the good. Bailter Space fits this category: They've got some terrific songs (i.e., "Dome"), but also a few I never want to hear again (i.e., "Projects" and every other song the lead singer yells his way through).

So I was startled to decide that "Solar 3" is one of the best records of 1999. It's mature, it's exciting, and it has maybe one mediocre track on it. Like great albums -- "OK Computer", "Ladies and Gentlemen We're Floating in Space" -- the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

Now I'm hearing a lot of other groups in the sound: Joy Division and Jesus and Mary Chain particularly. Two of the songs are long and atmospheric and -- something I've never heard in Bailter Space before -- find and keep a dark groove.

In short, if you've been waiting for that great Bailter space record, this is it. If you're new to them, this is the record to get.

..than their earlier albums, which tended to veer about with more abandon, for better or worse. This reminds me of Wire mark 2, in their late-80s phase. Like Wire, Bailter Space creates gloomy, low-key laments not so much howled as moaned. The trio does sound winded here after a previous and prolific stint of more and more intense, and introspective, records that probably did not gain them the larger audience they deserved in the wake of so many second-rate black-clad sullen merchants of drone. But, if you like their other albums, this is worth seeking out. My three stars are only in comparison to their earlier, and in my opinion, riskier and more rewarding, fresher, punchier efforts.