| Description |
ARTIST: Spiritualized
TITLE: Songs in A&E
LABEL: Universal
GENRE: Indie
BITRATE: 170kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 51m total
RELEASE DATE: 2008-05-26
RIP DATE: 2008-05-20
Track List
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1. Harmony 1 (Mellotron) 0:24
2. Sweet Talk 4:04
3. Death Take Your Fiddle 3:13
4. I Gotta Fire 2:28
5. Soul on Fire 4:08
6. Harmony 2 (Piano) 0:42
7. Sitting On Fire 4:38
8. Yeah Yeah 2:28
9. You Lie You Cheat 3:04
10. Harmony 3 (Voice) 0:18
11. Baby I\'m Just a Fool 7:07
12. Don\'t Hold Me Close 3:08
13. Harmony 4 (The Old Man...) 1:32
14. The Waves Crash In 4:08
15. Harmony 5 (Accordion) 1:03
16. Borrowed Your Gun 3:47
17. Harmony 6 (Glockenspiel) 0:51
18. Goodnight Goodnight 4:38
Release Notes:
As the old cliche goes; reports of Jason Pierce\'s demise have been greatly
exaggerated. His recent escape from double pneumonia has been widely talked of,
but it may be wrong to place too much emphasis on the whole brush-with-death
aspect of Songs In A & E. Most of these songs were written before his bout with
illness with the newest material here being some gorgeous instrumental
interludes (H1-6) composed in honour of friend, Harmony Korine for whom he
composed the score for last year\'s film, Mister Lonely (and whose wife, Rachel
duets with him on Don\'t Hold Me Close). Yet it was the songs\' very prescience
that made returning to the project such a source of turmoil. \'\'Think I\'ll drink
myself into a coma, I\'\'ll take every way out I can find\'\' he croaks on Death
Take Your Fiddle. The song even has the faltering breath of a patient on a
respirator as its accompaniment. The grim reaper\'s boney fingerprints are all
over this album.
But Songs In A&E is ultimately positive and strangely life-affirming despite
ending with the words: \'\'funeral parlour, funeral parlour...\'\'. He\'s been
brought back to us with a sense of renewed purpose and even vigour. The gospel
choir is still here as is the orchestra and, despite the constant reference to
fire and flames, this album is more heavenly than demonic.
Since Ladies And Gentlemen... Pierce has been toying with American song forms,
from gospel to rock. Now with an abundance of acoustic-driven songs he adds a
backwoods folk ambience. But with the Spaceman now the only remaining member of
the original clan, and with two of Julian Cope\'s sidemen involved on a regular
basis it makes perfect sense that the most hopped-up moments here are
reminiscent of early Can. Pierce\'s voice, ravaged by illlness and time now
resembles that of the krautrock legend\'s first singer, Malcolm Mooney. On the
rattling wah wah fest of I Gotta Fire it sits somewhere between pleading and
resignation and lifts these two chord vamps into testaments of spiritual and
emotional exorcism. A song like Sitting On Fire has him paying for past crimes.
New love is pitted against an old flame that threatens to drag him back from the
edge of release and redemption. But such honesty just conveys a maturity that\'s
been missing from his more hedonistic excesses in the past. Kevin Shields has
been quoted talking about how Pierce/Spaceman has a \'realness\' that sets him
apart and maybe it\'s this quality that\'s finally come to the fore.
Yes, the huge slabs of Phil Spector-on-acid noise that he conjured up on Let It
Come Down have been tamed somewhat, but those worried that this is some
unplugged affair will be pleased to know that Pierce still doesn\'t know the
meaning of restraint, when it matters. The album\'s central wig-out moment, Baby
I\'m Just A Fool, builds from simple strumming to a free jazz blow out.
This was always Pierce\'s genius: The ability to take such simplicity and make it
seem effortlessly affecting. And while the final song, Goodnight Goodnight, may
return us to the post-sartori come down that he specialises in, you feel that
what drives him now is more emotional than chemical, just as he always
protested. Now, more than ever, Spiritualized are less about the trip into the
outer limits and more about the frailty of love and mystery of individual
existence. As such, Songs... may be his finest moment.
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