Everything Was Beautiful

Jason Pierce, J Spaceman, is back. Somewhat surprisingly. 

Having been at deaths door, having said that 2018's And Nothing Hurt would be his last album, Pierce and his latest incarnation of Spiritualized is back with a stunning 7-song album - Everything Was Beautiful.

The bones of the album stretch back to an exceptionally fertile period Pierce experienced in 2013-14 when he wrote and demo'd enough songs for a double album. It's taken almost 10-years for the demos to be reworked and find their way into the wider world across 2 albums, with 3.5 years between them.

A Spirtualized album should always be celebrated. Indeed, J Spaceman's albums always are. We know what we're likely to get, but every single time we are moved by lullabies, melodies, invention, droning guitars, mantra's, dreamy and psychedelic soundscapes to get lost in. 

We're moved by Pierce pouring his heart out into his records with his lyrics of love, loss, heartache, drugs, death and reflection. They touch us deeply.

Beginning with a long intro, including morse code, Always Together With You eases us into the album. Never mind cold water therapy, this is like easing into a nice warm soothing bath. Pierce in full on dreamy romantic, anything is possible in love, mode

If you want a rocket ship, I would be a rocket ship for you

If you want another world, I would be another world for you

At 2-minutes 28 seconds the song lifts into the chorus with gorgeous backing vocals. As the song develops we get the sublime vocal layers that Pierce finds effortlessly. The instruments are also built up, like a modern day Pet Sounds. It's stunning, it's Spiritualized, it's just sublime, refreshing and suddenly everything seems better.

Best Thing You Never Had (The D Song) is spacey rock n roll with an infectious guitar riff, rattles of a tambourine in all the right places, flowing into a chorus with gospel singers lifting things in that classic Spiritualized way. There is a rip roaring guitar solo, a breakdown, lift and an extended intro, a tight rhythm with guitars and horns allowed to go crazy.

Honey, you're eyes rolled back, the best thing you've never done

Oh and your wasted time, you best let the water run

And then, with Let It Bleed (For Iggy) we're back into the beautiful dreamy lysergic lullaby space that Jason Pierce can create, interrupted dramatically as the song crashes (from nowhere) into the chorus. Pierce finds the sweet spot (as he so often does) with the extended mantra style outro.

Lay it down, lay it down, lay it down and let it bleed

Come on, come on, come on and lay it down, lay it down, lay it down and let it bleed

If anything, the song is faded too soon.

Crazy is currently my favourite song on the album. A psychedelic country tinged bluesy beauty. Upon first listen I simply tweeted the song with the words Oh J Spaceman.

It's just gorgeous, tugging on and playing a symphony on heart strings you didn't know you had. 

Darling I'm sorry, I must make amends

For messing around with you

We've all heard the story, we know how it ends

Darling, I wish it weren't true

The Mainline Song/The Lockdown Song is the complete opposite to Crazy. Space is filled, things feel claustrophobic and chaotic before a riff and melody burst from nowhere. And then you're rushing, flowing directly into the heart of Spiritualized as they find the groove and ride it. 

At just after 3-minutes Pierce comes in as the groove continues and new layers come in.

Hush, keep your voices down

Everyone is asleep uptown

And I wanted to know, if you wanted to go

To the city tonight

WOW! Just brilliant. This could be a live highlight.

The A Song (Laid In Your Arms) is beautifully grand, theatrical and bold. This is somehow a little bit like J Pierce fronting and conducting Queen! A crazy description? Judge for yourself. It all goes real Spirtualized in the end!

Before you know it, we reach the conclusion of the album, I'm Coming Home Again. Whereas the length of Spiritualized albums is a strength as there is always plenty of time to get lost in the music, Everything Was Beautiful is delivered in only 44 minutes. That's still an average of over 6 minutes per song!

Pierce stretches the song, introducing different characters and stories, again finding that sweet spot in terms of melody and groove, riding it into the sunset.

Spiritualized play SWG3 in Glasgow on Thursday 5th May.

Spiritualized at the Old Fruitmarket Glasgow

Jason Pierce, AKA J Spaceman and his 9-piece band who currently make up Spiritualized, played an astonishing show in Glasgow last night.

The packed Old Fruitmarket was gripped from start to finish, taken on a 2-hour journey into Pierce's world, his universe, his heart and his soul.

The show had originally been scheduled for the Kelvingrove Bandstand but had been moved, many debated if this was due to poor ticket sales, but the Fruitmarket was packed and it quickly became apparent that Spiritualized may have been moved as their show might have been too loud for the leafy West End.

The Old Fruitmarket is a truly beautiful venue in Glasgow's Merchant City and the audience seemed to collectively hold their breath as Spiritualized walked on to the stage with Pierce coming out last in leather trousers, a black shirt and shades, taking a seat side on to the crowd with his band placed in a horseshoe around the stage.

Last night was a real sonic, visual and soulful treat. Come Together was powerful, like an assault on the senses with a stunning light show. Shine A Light was spine tingling, the three gospel singers to Pierce's right took it to a holy place.

The lights went down and a starry sky displayed behind the band, the intro for Stay With Me sounded all phased and spacey, it felt like we were being heading towards the stars on J Spaceman's trip.

Pierce's ability to fuse rock n roll, gospel, psychedelia and gorgeous simplistic nursery rhyme style melodies was on full display. It was gripping, the raw emotion that soared with intensity and swooped with ease was quite breathtaking.

Soul on Fire was sensational. Pierce expresses himself so beautifully, often with real simplicity, always with complete honesty.

But freedom is just another word

When you've no-one left to hurt 

Baby, set my soul on fire

I've got two little arms to hold on tight and I want to take you higher

There was the sound of a broken heart, the sound of someone fragile and lost, the sound of someone looking for hope, someone finding hope and love ... there was the sound of Jason Pierce's life, mind, heart, soul and imagination.

If rumours are true, the And Nothing Hurt album could be the last Pierce releases, these shows, so sporadically spaced out, may be the last. I sincerely hope not.

My sister and I climbed to the balcony towards the end of the set and looked down on Pierce, the band and the audience. It was perfect. The sound, the lights, the songs, the emotion ... beautiful.

Pierce can find a hook or a chorus and keep it going, adding on layers, lifting it higher and higher, bringing it down and lifting it again. The encore began with So Long You Pretty Thing that was life affirming, it continued with an astonishing Out Of Sight and then went stratospheric with a cover version of Oh Happy Day that was joyous before Pierce and his sensational band ended with Hold On.

Spiritualized delivered a show to remember; it was raw, primal, soulful, rock n roll, gospel, jazz, psychedelia all mixed by a sprinkling of J Spaceman's special spacedust.

Hold on to me

Yeah I said hold on

Everything's gonna be alright

Just hold on to me tonight

And Nothing Hurt

I like to sit around and dream you up a perfect miracle

Part the clouds and have the sun proudly shining on you

Take the stars and line them up to spell, darling I love you

And little by little, watch it all come true

The broken, world and life weary, dreamy, psychedelic lullaby voice of Jason Pierce, AKA J Spaceman, ushers And Nothing Hurt, the new Spiritualized album in. And we're off to get lost. In classic Spaceman form, opener A Perfect Miracle builds with multiple vocal layers, strings and horns. It's a beautiful and soulful love song, classically dreamy and with Spaceman lost in love.

every time I close my eyes, I'm just dreaming of you

I'm Your Man was the single to launch the album and it built up expectations. Thankfully they have been exceeded. Pierce plays up to his image and lays his heart on the line, his guitar soars over horns.

I could be faithful honest and true, holding my heart for you

Dependable all down the line, devoted all the time

But if you want wasted, loaded, permanently folded, doing the best he can

I'm your man, I'm your man

Pierce's fragile voice can seem shattered at times, full of joy and wonder at others. Here It Comes (The Road) is the latter, it's full of love and the simplicity of driving with the radio on, eventually leading to his house and the brilliant lyric;

And you can see my house from here

And the way my heart is beating

You'll hear the sound

It'll wake the sleeping

Pierce conjures such emotion through his lyrics, voice and music. Let's Dance is a gorgeous ballad that tips a nod to Big Star in the lyrics. It builds beautifully, the music sounds like it could be from the Beach Boys Pet Sounds sessions. Pierce allows plenty of space and time for the music to play and flow at the end. 

On The Sunshine is more of a psychedelic rocker but it's the fragile, tender ballads that are capable of building, soaring and swooping, that dominate and stand out on And Nothing Hurt.  One of them is Damaged and after a few songs where Pierce is in love, this is one where he's had his heart broken. No-one can write a song about losing in love quite like Pierce, Broken Heart from the seminal Ladies And Gentleman We Are Floating In Space album is the closest I have heard to the sound of a broken heart on record.

Having talked up the ballads, The Morning After is brilliant psych garage rock that sounds like The Velvet Underground jamming with Phil Spector's Wrecking Crew. The psych jam adds in Miles Davis and the MC5.

We dive back into the serene calm of The Prize and Pierce is contemplating leaving (dying? - see below re his illnesses) and debating if love is the prize from life. It's lush, it's dreamy, it's hypnotic

Some reports indicate that And Nothing Hurt may be the final Spiritualized album. If it is, then Sail On Through is a fitting finale. Pierce has been through a tough time in the 6-years since the last Spiritualized album, suffering from double pneumonia and also from liver disease.

Pierce is at his dreamy psychedelic lullaby best as he creates a rich sonic wonderland to get lost in.

If I could hold it down

I would sail on through for you

If I weren't loaded down

I would sail on through for you

And Nothing Hurt is a rich, deep, soulful and lush album with lots to discover and plenty of scope to get lost in. Expect it to feature high in my end of year list of favourite albums from 2018.

Spiritualized are playing live shows, with only one UK gig (London) confirmed at present. They have shows in America and on the continent. Fingers crossed J Spaceman comes to Glasgow - potentially for the last time.

Feel So Sad by Spiritualized

Spiritualized are a band/artist that I have loved since I fell for their Ladies And Gentleman We Are Floating In Space album in 1997. Jason Pierce (J Spaceman) was (and is) a visionary; a true artist.

I checked for previous albums and remember buying Lazer Guided Melodies and Pure Phase out of FOPP on Union Street. I always looked forward to new releases and shows. There were never that many shows, but there was one particularly memorable Barrowland Ballroom show with Pierce playing side stage, hiding in the shadows and just letting his music, band and lights take control.

J Spaceman and Kate Radley

What I didn't do - was delve deep into the back catalogue of Spiritualized. That would have highlighted a number of pre Laser Guided Melodies releases.

Two months ago I did something I said I would never do. I signed up to Spotify! I wrestled with my conscious for a while, but quickly forgot about it when I discovered entire back catalogues were at my fingertips. I'll continue to buy records and cd's and support artists. They can't survive without the help of their fans.

When you search for an artist on Spotify you are presented with their 5 most popular tracks. I was amazed I hadn't heard of Feel So Sad (Glides and Chimes) which was far and away the most popular Spiritualized song with over 6 million plays. So I checked it out.

Feel So Sad was originally released in June 1991. Discogs lists it as Space Rock/Psychedelic Rock. The 12-inch single had the A:side as Feel So Sad (Rhapsodies), lasting an epic 13 minutes and 18 seconds, with the B:side Feel So Sad (Glides and Chimes) lasting 6 minutes and 30 seconds.

This is a prime example of me buying something if I like it on Spotify. That 12-inch is mine.

Feel So Sad (Rhapsodies)

This is soulful, hymnal, lysergic, uplifting, soothing, beautiful....timeless. The feeling and production is sublime. J Spaceman's voice sounds wasted. As in many of the Spiritualized songs that were to follow - he's in a reflective mood and talking to God.

Sweet Lord is this my fate

To live my life in this state

Sweet Lord it's a sin

To live this life sufferin'

I feel so sad

It is what happens when Pierce stops singing that is truly mind blowing. It is majestic. The arrangements, melodies, riffs and feel that is conjured up over the course of the song is mind blowing. It floats, it soars, it comes back to almost nothing, just soothing ambience.

Pierce comes back in at around 7-minutes. His fractured, wasted, delicate vocals sound dreamy and like they are floating. Things then build, pulse and combine so that by 10 minutes and 40 seconds there are 4 or 5 gorgeous melodies entwined and sounding like heaven.

Feel So Sad (Rhapsodies) is special, it is incredible! Just listen to it, it is a work of art. 13 minutes and 18 seconds of beautiful sounds. Feel So Sad (Glides and Chimes) is a shorter instrumental version, although still clocking in at 6 minutes and 30 seconds. The beautiful layers are there for all to hear - just stunning.

J Spaceman with Kate Radley; 

a girl who inspired Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating In Space

and The Verve's - Urban Hymns