Spiritualized
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| Spiritualized | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Rugby, England |
| Genre(s) | Space Rock Alternative rock |
| Years active | 1990-present |
| Label(s) | Dedicated Records Arista Records |
| Website | http://www.spiritualized.com/ |
| Members | |
| Jason Pierce Tom Edwards Doggen Thighpaulsandra John Coxon |
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| Former members | |
| Will Carruthers Jonny Mattock Mark Refoy Kate Radley Sean Cook Mike Mooney Gregg Hale Damon Reece Ray Dickaty Kevin 'Kevlar' Bales |
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Spiritualized are an English space rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Jason Pierce (who often goes by the alias J. Spaceman) after the demise of his previous outfit, space-rockers Spacemen 3. The membership of Spiritualized has changed from album to album, with Pierce - who writes, composes and sings all of the band's material - being the only constant member. Spiritualized have released five studio albums. The best known and most critically acclaimed of these was 1997's Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, which NME Magazine made their Album of the Year.
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[edit] Biography
Following a major breakdown in relations between Spacemen 3 co-frontmen Peter Kember and Jason Pierce, the group's bassist Will Carruthers, drummer Jonny Mattock and guitarist Mark Refoy decided to form a splinter group, before persuading Pierce to join alongside local friend Steve Evans to create Spiritualized. The band took their name from an adaptation of the text on the back label of a bottle of Pernod. Due to formation from a majority of Spacemen 3 members, a technical clause meant that Spiritualized had to maintain the Spacemen 3 recording contract with Dedicated Records.
The first Spiritualized release, in 1990, was a cover of The Troggs' "Anyway That You Want Me"; the record heralded the official split of Spacemen 3 following contractual wrangles over the band's name and its use in Spiritualized-related promotional material (initial copies of "Anyway That You Want Me" came with a Spacemen 3 logo on the sleeve).
Evans was replaced on keyboards by Pierce's then-girlfriend Kate Radley for the follow-up single, "Run"/"I Want You". A number of singles followed, before the band, in early 1992, released their first LP Lazer Guided Melodies, which had been recorded in Rugby over the previous two years. A second album, Pure Phase, was released in 1995, and a third Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space emerged in 1997 to notable critical acclaim and commercial success.
The musical style of Spiritualized relies heavily on sustained 'pedal' notes and drones. Lazer Guided Melodies and Pure Phase incorporate elements of the shoegazing style, drones and tremolo. The landmark Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space saw the influence of African-American gospel and blues beginning to show, while "walls of sound" modelled after the production styles of Phil Spector and Brian Wilson also made their presence felt. Such influences dominated Spiritualized's next album, Let It Come Down which included over 120 musicians. Amazing Grace favoured a more stripped down sound with the gospel, blues, and soul influences even more dominant than before.
After several years of work and a serious illness on Pierce's part in July 2005 [1], the forthcoming Spiritualized album was completed in September 2007 and is scheduled for an early 2008 release. [2] Pierce has also scored Harmony Korine's 2008 film Mister Lonely. ' The latest Spiritualized album is titled Songs in A&E and contains 18 tracks. It was released on May 26, 2008 in the UK, and on May 27, 2008 in the US. The first single from the album is "Soul On Fire". The release is backed by an Electric Mainlines UK tour beginning in May.
Pierce is quoted as saying in a 2008 interview that Spiritualized was scheduled to play the CERN collider. "They asked us to do it! We were gonna play in it before they’d thrown the switch. But it was a timing thing—their timings didn’t coincide with ours."[3]
[edit] Band members
Only Pierce remains from the original line-up of the band. Will Carruthers left the band in 1992 and now records as a solo project under the name Freelovebabies, Carruthers was replaced by Rugby musician Sean Cook from local band Electrahead. Mark Refoy departed in 1994 to concentrate on his own fronted band Slipstream. He was initially replaced by Kevin Cowen from fellow Rugby band The Darkside, before Cowen himself left to be replaced first by John Coxon (Spring Heel Jack, Betty Boo) and then later on by Julian Cope's former guitarist Michael Mooney (Coxon returned to replace Mooney following his eventual departure). Mattock played in The Breeders for a spell (during a lull in Spiritualized activities in 1991, he appears on the Safari EP) and left Spiritualized later in 1994 following the recording of Pure Phase, working as a session musician before joining Lupine Howl, he was replaced by Damon Reece. Kate Radley appeared for some initial dates promoting Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, before leaving the band in 1997 with a reported unspecified illness. ( Radley had married The Verve's singer Richard Ashcroft in 1995, however after a period apart, she had returned to Ashcroft by the time of her illness). Kate was replaced by Thighpaulsandra from Julian Cope's band Queen Elizabeth. Sax player Ray 'Moonshake' Dickaty was added to the lineup in 1997, and Gregg Hale (guitar) also augmented the band in 1997 and 1998.
Following promotional activity for Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, Sean Cook, Damon Reece and Michael Mooney threatened a strike in protest over low salaries and appearance fees. New contracts of employment were drawn up between Pierce and the musicians, and the same contracts were then used to fire them (to general disbelief by the music press at the time). In response, Messrs Cook, Reece and Mooney formed the ill-starred Lupine Howl. Ray Dickaty departed in 2003, quitting to play in the free-jazz Solar Fire Trio.
Retaining only keyboardist Thighpaulsandra (keyboards), Jason Pierce then debuted a new (and current) line up of Spiritualized, introducing classical percussionist Tom Edwards and former Julian Cope string arranger Martin Schellard on bass guitar. Completing the new Spiritualized line-up were guitarist Doggen of Brain Donor and the Julian Cope band, and drummer Kevin 'Kevlar' Bales, who is also ex-Julian Cope band. This line finished recording their newest album Songs In A&E in Nottingham and London.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Title | Format | Label | Release | Chartpos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lazer Guided Melodies | 2LP/CD | Dedicated | Mar 92 | UK #27 |
| Fucked Up Inside | LP/CD | Dedicated | Jun 93 | |
| Pure Phase | Sampler 12"/2x12"/CD/Ltd.CD | Dedicated | Feb 95 | |
| Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space | Cassette/2x12"/CD/Ltd.CD/12x3"CD | Dedicated | Mar 97 | UK #4 |
| Royal Albert Hall October 10, 1997 | 2LP/2CD | Dedicated | Oct 98 | UK #38 |
| Let It Come Down | 2LP/CD/Ltd.CD | Spacemen/Arista | Sep 01 | UK #3; US #133 |
| The Complete Works: Volume One | 2CD | Spaceman/Arista | Mar 03 | |
| Amazing Grace | CD/LP/3x12” | Sanctuary | Aug 03 | UK #25 |
| The Complete Works: Volume Two | 2CD | Spaceman/Arista | Jan 04 | |
| Songs In A&E | CD/Book/LP | Universal, Sanctuary | May 08 | UK #15; US #157; SWE #48 |
[edit] All releases
| Title | Format | Label | Release | Chartpos. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Anyway That You Want Me" | Promo 7"/7"/12"/CD | Dedicated | Jun 90 | UK #75 | |
| "Anyway That You Want Me" | Remix 12" | Dedicated | Jul 90 | ||
| "Feel So Sad/I Want You" | 7"/CD | Fierce | May 91 | ||
| "Feel So Sad" | 12"/CD | Dedicated | Jun 91 | ||
| "Run/I Want You" | 7"/12"/CD | Dedicated | Aug 91 | UK #59 | |
| "Smiles/Sway" | 7"/12"/CD | Dedicated | Nov 91 | ||
| "Run/Angel Sigh" | Promo CD | Dedicated | Mar 92 | ||
| "Feel So Bad" | Promo CD | Dedicated | Mar 92 | ||
| "I Want You" | 7"/CD | Dedicated | Mar 92 | ||
| Lazer Guided Melodies | 2LP/CD | Dedicated | Mar 92 | UK #27 | |
| "Medication" | 7”/12"/CD | Dedicated | Jul 92 | UK #55 | |
| Fucked Up Inside | LP/CD | Dedicated | Jun 93 | ||
| "Smiles/100 Bars" | 7" Flexi | Dedicated | Jun 93 | ||
| "Good Dope, Good Fun" | 7" | Greenpeace Records | Oct 93 | ||
| "Electric Mainline EP" | 7"/12"/CD | Dedicated | Oct 93 | UK #49 | |
| "Let It Flow" | Promo CD/10"/CD1/CD2/CD3 | Dedicated | Jan 95 | UK #30 | |
| Pure Phase | Sampler 12"/2x12"/CD/Ltd.CD | Dedicated | Feb 95 | UK #20 | |
| "Lay Back In The Sun" | Promo CD/7"/CD | Dedicated | Sep 95 | ||
| "Anyway That You Want Me" | 7" | Sub-Pop | Oct 95 | ||
| "Pure Phase Tones For DJs" | 12" | Dedicated | Feb 96 | ||
| Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space | Cassette/2x12"/CD/Ltd.CD/12x3"CD | Dedicated | Mar 97 | UK #4 | |
| "Broken Heart" | Promo CD | Dedicated | Jul 97 | ||
| "Electricity" | Promo CD/7”/CD1/CD2 | Dedicated | Aug 97 | UK #32 | |
| "Supplementary Dosage EP" | CD | Arista/Dedicated | Oct 97 | ||
| "I Think I'm In Love" | Promo 12"/CD | Arista/Dedicated | Nov 97 | ||
| "I Think I'm In Love" | 12"/CD | Dedicated | Feb 98 | UK #27 | |
| "Come Together" | Promo CD | Arista/Dedicated | Mar 98 | ||
| "Abbey Road EP" | 12"/CD | Deconstruction | Jun 98 | UK #39 | |
| "Abbey Road EP" | CD (Germany) | Deconstruction | Aug 98 | ||
| "Abbey Road EP" | CD | Arista/Dedicated | Aug 98 | ||
| "Come Together Remix Single" | 12" | Dedicated | Aug 98 | ||
| Live At The Royal Albert Hall | Promo CD 4-track album sampler | Dedicated Spirit017CDP LC 8280 | 1998 | ||
| Royal Albert Hall October 10, 1997 | 2LP/2CD | Dedicated | Oct 98 | UK #38 | |
| "Electricity/Come Together" | DVD | Arista | Dec 00 | ||
| "Stop Your Crying" | Promo CD/12”/CD | Spaceman | Aug 01 | UK #18 | |
| Let It Come Down | 2LP/CD/Ltd.CD | Spacemen/Arista | Sep 01 | UK #3; US #133 | |
| "Out Of Sight" | 12"/CD | Spaceman | Nov 01 | UK #65 | |
| "Do It All Over Again" | 7"/CD1/CD2 | Spaceman | Feb 02 | UK #31 | |
| "KFSD Presents The First-Ever Spiritualized Radio Session" | Promo CD | Spaceman | Apr 02 | ||
| "Amazing Grace" | 12" | Spaceman | Nov 02 | ||
| The Complete Works: Volume One | 2CD | Spaceman/Arista | Mar 03 | ||
| Amazing Grace | CD/LP/3x12” | Sanctuary | Aug 03 | UK #25 | |
| "She Kissed Me (It Felt Like A Hit)" | 12"/CD | Sanctuary | Sep 03 | UK #38 | |
| "Cheapster" | 7" | Sanctuary | Jan 04 | ||
| The Complete Works: Volume Two | 2CD | Spaceman/Arista | Jan 04 | ||
| "Soul On Fire" | 7"/CD | Universal, Sanctuary | May 08 | ||
| Songs In A&E | CD/Book/LP | Universal, Sanctuary | May 08 | UK #15 |
[edit] References
- ^ Spiritualized Star Hospitalised | News | Nme.Com
- ^ http://www.nme.com/news/spiritualized/31174"
- ^ April 2008 Interview with L.A. Record
[edit] External links
- Spiritualized Homepage
- Official Spiritualized Message Board
- Official Spiritualized MySpace page
- Photo Gallery From NYC Performance @ The Apollo 11.23.07
- Spiritualized Songs in A&E Review
- Spiritualized Harmonies: Past & Present
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