Review Preview: Spiritualized L&G Reish

Deluxe edition of Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space isn't available in the US but we still have a sneak peek at it for you.

By Fred Mills

While yours truly previously declared, in a review of Spiritualized's 2008 album Songs In A&E, that "the 21^st century hasn't been especially kind to Jason Pierce thus far" - citing myriad illnesses, band woes and creativity blockages the band's frontman had been going through, that album still signaled a clear, welcome return to form for the songwriter. I also noted that A&E, in all its sonic majesty juxtaposed with sinewy rawk, represented the studio effort that should have followed 1997's masterwork Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space.

Now fans get an opportunity for a reappraisal of that earlier record via a choice deluxe reissue, which as previously announced in this space comes in three formats: a super-limited Collector's Edition featuring twelve 3-inch mini CDs and two bonus discs; a Special Edition featuring the original album on one CD plus the two bonus discs (that is not as limited but will still be deleted eventually); and a standard, unlimited one-CD version. You can read more about the details, along with the complete tracklistings, here.

At the moment there does not appear to be a U.S. release scheduled, but in the UK it hit stores on November 30 and BLURT is lucky enough to have obtained a copy of the Special Edition. Watch our website for a full review later this week, but in the meantime, we thought we'd offer up a few initial impressions, preview-wise. View the artwork below as well.

Ø      The three discs and liner notes come housed in an outer 6" x 6" x ¾" box decorated with black and silver art that roughly corresponds with the white and blue art of the original release (instead of the front legend reading "1 tablet 70 min" it now says "3 tablets 180 min").

Ø      The album proper - presumably remastered from the original tapes, although no notations in the liner notes specifically say this - is additionally housed in a foil/blister packet similar to how the 1997 UK release was packaged. This means, of course, that if you're a totally obsessed collector, you'll automatically devalue the album if you crack open the packet. Sob! No bonus tracks on the album, but...

Ø      Discs 2 and 3 amount to a full 110 minutes' worth of bonus material, 18 tracks on Disc 2 (a/k/a Spiritualized SP 50) and 17 tracks on Disc 3 (Spiritualized SP 60). There range from a 7-song "suite" of sorts composed of the title track (including a gorgeous a cappella rendering of the "Can't Help Falling In Love" theme, the band sounding like a gospel choir backing Pierce's fragile lead vocal) and a pair of wild demo takes of "Come Together" (in different keys, no less); to a tingly recording of just the strings arrangement for "Broken Heart" that segues into the "vocal harmony/Angel Corpus Christi" version of the song and a spooky demo for "Cop Shoot Cop" that's immediately followed by a track labeled "Dr. John ‘The National Anthem'" (which is indeed The Night Tripper himself tinkling the ivories against the backdrop of noise that, on the original album, eventually grew so fearsome that it obscured his contribution to the track). Via the assorted demos and isolated backing tracks you begin to get a fly-on-wall perspective of what exactly went into the making of the whole record.

Ø      Those two bonus discs, incidentally, are pressed on solid black CDs, and they are housed in their own mini-LP styled gatefold jacket with track annotations.

Ø      The liner notes come as a fold-out insert and more or less duplicate the liners from the '97 release, although added to the myriad "instructions" and "precautions" related to taking a "dose" of Spiritualized is a short section outlining how the three "tablets" should be "stored." Hint: in a dry, safe place "where children cannot see or reach them." Pay attention, parents!

To be... continued...