Spacemen 3: Forged Prescriptions 2003

 

This two-disc release consists of various alternative mixes, demos, and covers from Spacemen 3's Perfect Prescription recording sessions. According to the Boom, the majority of these mixes were "considered by us to be too hard to replicate live and therefore reduced for the original release." This is admittedly kind of absurd, like saying these tracks were too good to be listened to, but there is some

validity in the sentiment. Whereas the disparity between the old and "new" mixes are perhaps subtle at best and practically indiscernible at worst, there is a difference in mood. If The Perfect Prescription often sounded extraterrestrial, it also just as often sounded like traditional Velvets-inspired indie rock. On Forged Prescriptions, though, the stratifications of guitar are even further attenuated to stunning single tones, the basslines float even more subliminally under the psychedelic mind-spinning noodling, and... well, okay, the drums are pretty much the same.
            

The gateway drug on this collection is the alternative mix to "Things'll Never Be the Same". If the original was a feedback dust-up, quenched in gravelly, occasionally Bob Mould-ish vocals and an abyssal thump, the new mix is so bombarded with combating guitar squeals, earthen drums, and Pierce's sustained tones it will excoriate your entire body. From the classic intro onwards, the guitars

are played backwards, forwards, sidewards, epiphanywards. The original was phenomenal strutting feedback stagnating in the void. This is a twirling tea kettle launched into orbit, feedback that goes somewhere, at a pressure that gives you the bends. By "Call the Doctor", the guitars are spewing their trajectories of cosmic refulgence farther than the ears can grasp. At one point, I accompanied this euphony with the "Rolling Fire" setting on Windows Media Player and my computer restarted itself. Truth.
         

The new "Walking with Jesus" is perhaps the most startling mix, taking the original into an even more incorporeal and immaculate sphere. The Perfect Prescription version used too many 80s-indie-rock guitars for my liking, and vaguely sardonic; this one is an anesthetic plunge into purgatory, equipped

with a choir instead of rock 'n' roll, and it's positively cultish-- the anthem of a Polyphonic Spree crossed with Heaven's Gate. "Come Down Easy (Demo Version)" is a filthy atomic 100-bar blues, oscillating echoes of birdman Pierce, our acidhead savior. You will bow down to him for his beatific benevolence and serenity. Except in this religion, the communion wafers are shrooms, the crucifix is the solar system, and the holy book is my hallucinations about Toad Demons: "It's 1987/ All I wanna do is get stoned."
             

But the second disc is the one that truly breathes new life into Perfect Prescription. The extended version of the Red Krayola cover "Transparent Radiation" replaces the angry muddle of the album

version with light and clarity. The demo version of "Walking with Jesus" is when the Son of God bought a shotgun, rockin' twine and fuzz battered by shivering engines. The demo version of the heralded "Starship" and the previously unreleased cover of the MC5's "I Want You Right Now" are bone-implodingly dense, perfect tributes to 60s psych-metal, plasma ghosts emerging from Sabbath's grave. As for those neophytes who ask if this album's any good if you're not on drugs, a better question might be whether drugs are any good without this album.
                             

Spacemen 3 – Forged Prescriptions
Label: Space Age Recordings – ORBIT 006CD
Format: 2 x CD, Compilation
Country: UK
Released: 2003
Genre: Rock
Style: Space Rock, Indie Rock

CD 1.

                 

01. Things'll Never Be The Same    5:54
02. Walking With Jesus    5:12
03. Come Down Easy (Demo Version)    6:01
04. Transparent Radiation (Single Version)    4:11
05. Ode To Street Hassle    4:45
06. Call The Doctor    4:11
07. Ecstacy Symphony    9:06
08. Feel So Good    5:27
09. Soul 1    5:43

CD 2.

                 

01. Transparent Radiation    7:52
02. Come Down Easy    6:42
03. Walking With Jesus (Demo Version)    3:57
04. Things'll Never Be The Same (Demo Version)    5:54
05. We Sell Soul    5:55
06. Starship (Demo Version)    5:01
07. Take Me To The Other Side (Demo Version)    3:49
08. Velvet Jam    4:45
09. I Want You Right Now    6:10

MEMBERS

          

Bass [Bass Vibrations] – Pete Bassman
Electric Guitar [Fender Telecaster], Electric Organ [Farfisa], Slide Guitar, Vocals – Jason
Engineer – Graham Walker
Percussion – Rosco
Producer – Jason, Sonic Boom
Violin – Owen John
Vocals, Electric Guitar [Fender Jaguar], Performer [Feedback, Vox Conqueror], Electric Organ [Farfisa], Effects [F.x.] – Sonic Boom

MP3 @ 320 Size: 231 MB
Flac  Size: 615 MB

Spacemen 3: The Perfect Prescription 1996 + Taking Drugs To Make Music To take Drugs To... 1990

 

Formed in 1982 in the town of Rugby by Pete Kember (Sonic Boom) and Jason Pierce (J. Spaceman). Spacemen 3 (along with Jesus And Mary Chain) were the pioneers of the shoegaze and drone-rock

scene which blossomed in the UK at the close of the 1980s. But while both bands showed an obvious affinity for the pioneering sounds of The Velvet Underground, they otherwise found different sources of inspiration, with Sonic Boom and J Spaceman eschewing the The Beach Boys influenced pop symphonics favored by the J&MC's Reid Brothers and instead channeling noisy minimalists ranging from John Lee Hooker to Red Krayola to Suicide. Both founding members have enjoyed considerable success with their respective subsequent projects: Spectrum and Spiritualized.

SPACEMENT 3 - THE PERFECT PRESCRIPTION 1996

                       

Drawing together some earlier material and a slew of new songs, Spacemen 3 tied everything together on the brilliant Perfect Prescription, the clear point of departure from tribute to psych inspirations and finding its own unique voice. Planned as a concept album, Perfect Prescription works where so many other similar efforts failed due to the strength of the individual songs, as well as the smart focus of the

concept in question -- a vision of a drug trip from inception to its blasted conclusion, highs and lows fully intact. The bookending of the album makes that much clear -- "Take Me to the Other Side" is a brash, exultant charge into the joys of the experience, a sharp, tight performance. "Call the Doctor," meanwhile, is a pretty-but-wounded conclusion, husky singing and a drowsy mood detailing the final collapse. The many highlights in between beginning and end are so striking that the album is practically a best-of in all but name.
      

Sonic's eventual work with Spectrum and E.A.R. gets clearly signaled via the majestic reprise of the Transparent Radiation single, here introduced by the swirling flange of an edited "Ecstasy Symphony," also originally from that release. Sonic's breathless delivery of the Red Krayola classic, combined with the elegant arrangement, is a marvel to hear. "Walkin' With Jesus," meanwhile, is practically the birth of

Spiritualized, the much different earlier takes now become a reflective combination of acoustic guitar, two-note keyboard lines, and Pierce's yearning, aching desire. The intentionally nasty flip to that is the storming charge of "Things'll Never Be the Same," a call to arms (or injecting something into them) that's as disturbing as it is energetic, the compressed, violent rage of feedback and rhythmic charge a gripping listen. Guest performers from the Jazz Butcher family tree, including Alex Green on sax, help expand the record's sonic range even further. Further reissues include a rotating series of bonus tracks from contemporary singles.
[by Ned Raggett]

Spacemen 3 – The Perfect Prescription
Label: Taang! Records – TAANG! 94
Format: CD, Album, Reissue
Country: US
Released: Feb 1996
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Indie Rock

TRAXS

                     

01. Take Me To The Other Side    4:28
02. Walkin' With Jesus    3:43
03. Ode To Street Hassle    4:01
04. Ecstasy Symphony    1:54
05. Transparent Radiation (Flashback)  (Written-By – Barthelm, Thompson, Cunningham)  9:03
06. Feel So Good    5:16
07. Things'll Never Be The Same    6:05
08. Come Down Easy    6:46
09. Call The Doctor    3:52
10. Soul 1    5:41
11. That's Just Fine    6:49
12. Starship  (Written-By – Pierce, MC5, Kember, Sun Ra)  11:26
13. Live Intro Theme (Xtacy)    8:56

MEMBERS

Bass [Bass Vibrations] – Bassman
Guitar, Effects [Tremolo], Organ, Vocals – Sonic Boom
Guitar, Organ, Organ [Farfisa], Vocals – Jason
Percussion – Rosco
Producer, Arranged By – Jason, Sonic
Recorded By – Graham Walker
Saxophone – Alex Green
Trumpet – Mick Manning
Violin – Owen John
Written-By – Pierce (tracks: 1 to 4, 6 to 11, 13), Kember (tracks: 1 to 4, 6 to 11, 13)

MP3 @ 320 Size: 165 MB
Flac  Size: 445 MB

SPACEMEN 3 - TAKING DRUGS TO MAKE MUSIC TO TAKE DRUGS TO 1990

                 

Never has a record been so aptly titled, or so perfectly descriptive of a band's particular vision of the universe. For all that, the original appearance of Taking Drugs was in fact a bootleg on the semi-legendary/semi-notorious Father Yod imprint in 1990, later supplemented with contemporary outtakes and cuts for the Bomp reissue in 1994 and one further song for the Space Age version in 2000. The

original seven tracks, dated January 1986 and the first recordings to feature Pete Bain on bass, are collectively known as the Northampton Demos, understandably named for the recording location in a studio outside said English city. Both Sonic and Pierce have been on record as long preferring these takes to the eventual versions that surfaced for the most part on Sound of Confusion. Certainly it's a fine set of performances, showing a definite step toward the more familiar sound of the group and away from the rougher takes on For All the Fucked Up Children of the World.
             

"The Sound of Confusion," aka "Walkin' With Jesus," rips along with fierce energy, Pierce's singing and the rampaging, primitive wail and rumble of the band just wonderful. "Losing Touch With My Mind" takes things to an even higher level, a huge wallop of feedback and beat (Natty Brooker's drumming in particular delivers just what the doctor ordered), Pierce delivering the lines with a flat, cutting drawl.

On the slightly lighter tip, "Come Down Easy" is more or less fully in place (aside from singing about it being 1986!), possessing a more upfront but less vocally distinct feel than the Perfect Prescription take. The tracks that surfaced on the later reissues come from a variety of different sessions, including the original take on "Feel So Good" and a good live version of "Things'll Never Be the Same," one of several cuts featuring Brooker's drumming replacement Rosco.
[by Ned Raggett]

Spacemen 3 – Taking Drugs To Make Music To Take Drugs To
Label: Space Age Recordings – ORBIT056CD
Format: CD, Reissue
Country: UK
Released: 2018
Genre: Rock
Style: Space Rock, Psychedelic Rock

TRAXS

01. The Sound Of Confusion    5:54
02. 2.35 (Version 1)    3:50
03. Losing Touch With My Mind    5:16
04. Amen    4:53
05. That's Just Fine (Vocal Version)    7:35
06. Come Down Easy    6:58
07. Mary Anne  (Written-By – Campbell, Juicy Lucy)  4:19
08. Feel So Good    5:04
09. 2.35 (Feedback Version)    3:50
10. Hey Man    4:49
11. It's Allright  (Written-By – Elias McDaniel)  7:42
12. 2.35 (Version 2)    3:40
13. Things'll Never Be The Same    6:09
14. Transparent Radiation (Organ Version)    4:14

Bass [Bass Vibrations] – Pete Bassman
Electric Guitar [Fender Telecaster], Vocals – Jason
Engineer – Carlo Morocco
Guitar [Burns Jazz Guitar], Effects [Vox Conqueror], Vocals – Sonic Boom
Percussion – N Brooker
Producer – Jason, Sonic
Written-By – Pierce (tracks: 1 to 6, 8 to 10, 12 to 14), Kember (tracks: 1 to 6, 8 to 10, 12 to 14)

MP3 @ 320 Size: 171 MB
Flac  Size: 472 MB

Spacemen 3 on Urban Aspirines HERE

Spacemen 3: Playing With Fire 1989 ( 2 CD Remastered 2003)

 
Formed in 1982 in the town of Rugby by Pete Kember (Sonic Boom) and Jason Pierce (J. Spaceman), Spacemen 3 were to become one of the most important bands of the eighties, with their offshoots destined to spread out and become equally as vital in the nineties. Spacemen 3 and Jesus And Mary

Chain were the godfathers of the shoegazer and drone-rock scene which blossomed in the U.K. at the close of the '80s. But while both bands showed an obvious affinity for the pioneering sounds of The Velvet Underground, they otherwise found different sources of inspiration, with S3 masterminds Sonic Boom (Pete Kember) and J Spaceman (Jason Pierce) eschewing the The Beach Boys influenced pop symphonics favored by the J&MC's Reid Brothers and instead channeling noisy minimalists ranging from John Lee Hooker to Red Krayola to Suicide. Both founding members have enjoyed considerable success with their respective subsequent projects: Spectrum and Spiritualized.
                                                       

[Artist Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Spacemen 3 were psychedelic in the loosest sense of the word; their guitar explorations were colorfully mind-altering, but not in the sense of the acid rock of the '60s. Instead, the band developed its own

minimalistic psychedelia, relying on heavily distorted guitars to clash and produce their own harmonic overtones; frequently, they would lead up to walls of distortion with overamplified acoustic guitars and synths. Often the band would jam on one chord or play a series of songs, all in the same tempo and key. Though this approach was challenging, often bordering on the avant-garde, Spacemen 3 nevertheless gained a dedicated cult following. After releasing several albums in the late '80s, the band fell apart after in 1991.
                                                                                                         

In 1982, Sonic Boom (guitar, organ, vocals; born Pete Kember on November 19, 1965) and Jason Pierce (guitar, organ, vocals; also born November 19, 1965) formed Spacemen 3 in Rugby,

Warwickshire, England. Sonic Boom and Pierce added a rhythm section comprised of Pete Baines and Rosco, and spent the next four years rehearsing and jamming. In 1986, the group released its debut album, "Sound of Confusion", on Glass Records. At first the band sounded a bit like a punked-up garage rock band, but their music quickly evolved into their signature trance-like neo-psychedelia. Spacemen 3's second album, 1987's "The Perfect Prescription", was the first to capture the group's distinctive style.
                                                                                      

Following 1989's "Playing With Fire", Baines and Rosco left the group to form their own band, the Darkside. They were replaced by Will Carruthers and Jon Mattock. Despite the addition of new blood

to its lineup, the band was beginning to fray because of in-fighting between Sonic Boom and Pierce, as well as the former's increasing drug dependency. The new lineup struggled through a final album, 1991's "Recurring", which featured Boom's songs on side one and Pierce's on side two. By the time of the release of Recurring, Pierce was performing with Carruthers and Mattock in a new band called Spiritualized. Shortly after the release of Recurring, Spacemen 3 split, and Spiritualized became Pierce's full-time band, eventually earning a cult following of its own.]
                                                                                         

Spacemen 3 ‎– Playing With Fire
Label: Space Age Recordings ‎– ORBIT 011CD
Format: 2 × CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered 2003
Country: UK
Released: 1989
Genre: Rock
Style: Space Rock, Psychedelic Rock

DISC 1


01. Honey    Kember    3:00
02. Come Down Softly to My Soul    Pierce    3:46
03. How Does It Feel?    Kember    7:58
04. I Believe It    Kember    3:20
05. Revolution    Kember    5:56
06. Let Me Down Gently    Kember    4:30
07. So Hot (Wash Away All of My Tears)    Pierce    2:38
08. Suicide    Pierce, Kember    11:03
09. Lord Can You Hear Me?    Pierce    4:34
10. Suicide (Live)    Pierce, Kember    12:25
11. Repeater (How Does It Feel?) (Live)    Kember    5:31
12. Ché     Martin Rev, Alan Vega, Kember    4:31
13. May the Circle Be Unbroken    Traditional arr. Pierce    3:46

MP3 @ 320 Size: 169 MB
Flac  Size: 390 MB

DISC 2

 

01. Honey (Demo)    Kember    3:24
02. Let Me Down Gently (Drum Mix)    Kember    4:51
03. How Does It Feel? (Alternative Version)    Kember    8:25
04. Suicide (Alternate Mix)    Pierce, Kember    11:51
05. Lord Can You Hear Me? (Demo Vocal)    Pierce    4:41
06. I Believe It (Alternate Mix)    Kember    3:20
07. Any Way That You Want Me (Demo)    Chip Taylor    3:21
08. Girl on Fire (Demo)    Phil Parfitt    2:06

MP3 @ 320 Size: 98.2 MB
Flac  Size: 244 MB

CREDITS

Artwork [At Tundra] – Andy
Bass [Bass Vibrations] – Willie
Cello – Josephine Wiggs
Engineer – Graham Walker, Pat, Paul Adkins
Mastered By [Cut By] – G. Porky Peckham
Photography By – Phil Nicholls, Steve Double
Producer – Jason, Sonic
Violin – Michael Bentham
Vocals, Guitar [Fender Telecaster, Rickenbacker] – Jason
Vocals, Guitar [Vox Starstreamer, Fender Jaguar], Organ [Vox Super Continental] – Sonic

REVOLUTION LYRICS

 

Well, I'm sick
I'm so sick
Of a lot of people
Trying to tell me
What I can't
Or can't do
With my life

And I'm tired
I'm so tired
Of a lot of people
In a lot of high places
Who don't want
You
And me
To enjoy ourselves

Well I'm through with people
Who can't get up their ass
To help themselves
Change this government
And better society

So hold on a second
I smell burnin'
And I see a change
Comin'
Round
The bend
And I suggest to you
That it takes
Just five seconds
Just five seconds
Of decision
To realize
That the time
Is right
To start thinkin' about
A little
Revolution...

Spacemen 3 on Urban aspirines HERE
Spiritualized on Urban Aspirines HERE

Spacemen 3 : Recurring 1991

Spacemen 3 were an English alternative rock band, formed in 1982 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Peter Kember and Jason Pierce, known respectively under their pseudonyms Sonic Boom and J Spaceman. Their music is known for its brand of "minimalistic psychedelia".

They gained a reputation as a 'drug band' due to the members' drug-taking habits and Kember's candid interviews and outspoken opinions on recreational drug use. Kember and Pierce were the only members common to all line-ups of the band. Both founding members have enjoyed considerable success with their respective subsequent projects: Sonic Boom/Spectrum and Spiritualized.

In 1984 they made their first studio recordings at the home studio of Dave Sheriff in Rugby. This material – which included early iterations of the songs "Walkin' with Jesus", "Come Down Easy" and "Thing'll Never be the Same" – was used for a short demo tape entitled For All The Fucked Up

Children Of The World We Give You Spacemen 3. They got a few hundred cassette copies made and produced their own artwork and booklet to accompany it, selling the tapes for £1 at a local record shop. Spacemen 3's music at this stage had a loose, swampy Blues feel; some songs included harmonica and slide guitar, and their style sounded akin to The Cramps. These early demo recordings, which Kember later recalled as being "really dreadful", would later be released unofficially in 1995 on the Sympathy for the Record Industry label, thus providing an insight into the band's embryonic sound.

Kember and Pierce opted to upgrade their guitar equipment ahead of recording the new demos. Kember purchased a Burns Jazz electric guitar and 1960s Vox Conqueror amplifier; whilst Pierce bought a Fender Telecaster and a 1970s HH amplifier. Both of their new amplifiers included distortion/fuzz and tremolo; these two effects were key components of Spacemen 3's signature sound.

In January 1986, Spacemen 3 attended the Studio Morocco based at the home of Carlo Marocco at Piddington, outside Northampton, to record their new demo tape. They spent three-and-a-half days at the 16-track studio. Recording live as a group, with minimal overdubs, they managed to get demos for approximately seven songs. Kember and Pierce handled the production. with studio manager Dave Howard dealing with the technicalities. These "fine set of performances" (Ned Raggett, AllMusic) would later be unofficially released as the vinyl album Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs To on the Father Yod label in 1990 (albeit described incorrectly as "rehearsals in Rugby").

Spacemen 3 managed to obtain a record deal shortly after producing their new demos.
The Spectrum album was advertised as being by the "founder member/leader of Spacemen 3".
Also in January, Pierce was developing ideas for forming a new band or side project of his own. He invited Spacemen 3 compatriots, Refoy, Carruthers and Mattock, to jam and rehearse with him at a

small church hall and his flat. Initially it was informal, but this was the origin of Pierce's Spacemen 3 'splinter' band, Spiritualized, comprising all the same members as Spacemen 3 except for Kember. In February 1990, this new grouping recorded "Anyway That You Want Me". This was recorded at VHF Studios; the purpose of these sessions was kept secret from Kember who was still working there. Speaking in 1991, Pierce explained the purpose of starting Spiritualized.

Recurring was the fourth and final Spacemen 3 studio album, finally released (after considerable delay) in February 1991, some time after the band had broken up. By the time the album was recorded, relations between the band had soured to the extent that the record is in 2 parts - the first side by Peter Kember, and the second by Jason Pierce.

The album included "Hypnotized", a Pierce composition that was a minor hit in the UK in 1989.
The only track on which both Pierce and Kember appear is "When Tomorrow Hits", a cover of a Mudhoney song, originally intended for a double A-side split single, with Mudhoney covering "Revolution" from Playing With Fire. This release was scotched when Kember caught wind of the fact that Mudhoney had fitted "Revolution" with somewhat irreverent lyrics about methadone suppositories. The Mudhoney recording eventually surfaced as a b-side. There's a subtle continuity between both tracks, specifically duelling references to The Stooges; the Spacemen 3 track opens with the "look out!" invocation that began "Loose", and "When Tomorrow Hits" is mostly a rewrite of "I Wanna Be Your Dog".

TRAXS

01. Big City (Everybody I Know Can Be Found Here) 6:35

02. Why Wouldn't I See 5:31       

03. I Love You    5:32

04. Just To See You Smile     3:28

05. Set Me Free / I've Got the Key    5:11

06. When Tomorrow hits 4:26

07. Feel So sad 2:48

08. Hypnotized    5:58

09. Sometimes    6:38

10. Feelin' Just Fine (Head Full of Shit)    4:34

11. Billy Whizz / Blue 1    5:09

Label: Dedicated ?– ZD 74917

Format: CD, Album

Country: Germany

Released: 1991

Genre: Rock

Style: Indie Rock, Space Rock

 Paul Adkins : Engineer

 Pat Fish : Flute

 Richard Formby : Lead Guitar

 J. Spaceman, Sonic Boom (2) : Producer

 Alex Green : Saxophone

 Owen John : Violin

Peter Kembe :  Bass, vocals and guitars

Jason Pierce : Vocals, guitar, bass, piano, keyboards, percussion

Mark Refoy : Guitars (Played as singer/guitarist for The Tell Tale Hearts (UK), Spacemen 3, Spiritualized, Pet Shop Boys, currently in Slipstream.)

Roswell Jonny Mattock : Drums, Guitars, Vocals.

MP3 @ 320 Size: 127 MB

Flac  Size: 348 MB

SPIRITUALIZED HERE