OFF: Spacemen3

[K Henderson]

Hey Folks...

Um, if I might interrupt the boc-l 'tech' list for a moment, I have a
question about music.  :)

I was listening to a CD (Fade Out) by the band Loop (pre-Main) yesterday
(thanks to Stephan for that), and was thinking that they (and Main also, at
least 'Motion Pool' the only disc I have of theirs as well) were a little
like the one Spacemen3 CD (Sound of Confusion) I had.  Only Loop is better
(than both of these other discs) IMHO.  Sort of raw, fuzzy, edgy repetitive
rhymthic rock.  The earlier Circle CDs (eg Meronia) were of the same ilk too
(though they're yet better IMHO).

Anyway, I didn't really care much for that Spacemen3 CD and haven't picked
up any others, to date.  Too high of a noise-to-signal ratio for my tastes.
I think they're standing too close to their amps or something.  Of course,
nowadays, Mr. Pierce is getting pretty darn syrupy sweet...though the first
couple Spiritualized discs are quite nice.  So, anyway, I was a little
confused by the issue date of that Spacemen3 CD...for a long time, I didn't
realize that it was not really a 1992 release, but rather their first
cassette or something finally put onto disc.

So I gather that some of the true 'turn of the decade' stuff is quite a bit
more 'musical' if you will.  And after reading the All Music Guide report on
them, they seemed to suggest the same.  So maybe I've been selling them
short.  And I have a 'two-CD' rule of thumb about bands.

Well, I was just confirming with you all the facts on these matters wrt
Spaceman and the Sonic Boom.  Are these ratings supported by others here?
Playing with Fire is the one they recommend to newbies.

Grakkl (FAA), a W3.11 user (at least it's a Pentium) :)

>From www.allmusicguide.com

***     1986  Sound of Confusion    Taang
****1/2 1987  Perfect Prescription  Taang
****    1988  Performance           Rough Trade
****1/2 1989  Playing with Fire     Taang
****1/2 1990  Dreamweapon: An Evening of Contemporary... [live]
                                    Fierce
****    1990  Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs To
                                    Bomp
****    1991  Recurring             Dedicated
***     1995  Performance: Live at the Melkweg 6/2/88
                                    Taang
***     1995  Live in Europe 1989   Space Age