#141: Spacemen 3 - Playing With Fire (1989)

Zack: I don’t need to listen to Kevin Federline’s album to know that this is the best Playing with Fire album. That’s right. Apparently Britney’s ex-parasite put out an album and it was called Playing With Fire. I assume it’s either a reference to the difficulty he has urinating or his amateur arson (sort of explains Britney’s old bald look, providing it wasn’t absolutely clear to everyone that she shaved it off herself). This has been your weekly random factoid brought to you by Zack. Spacemen 3 were kind of like proto-Flaming Lips. They were spacey and psychedelic and sort of hit-or-miss. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they put on a killer show back in the day too.  Maybe with some giant inflatable rocket ships or something. I don’t know. Despite what you may think by my semi-confusing description thus far, Playing with Fire was sort of stripped down. The Spacemen 3 version, mind you. They really brought a lot out of some very simple ingredients. Nowhere is that more clear, and yet somewhat hypocritical, than their 11-minute-long supersong, Suicide. The first 6 minutes or so were all a mashing of droning guitar effects that sounded really cool. Then a human voice starts to come in…I think. It may just be the guitar effects but I think it’s a voice. And that’s it. I just gave you the complete description of that 11 minute song. But it still sounded cool! I know; weird. It’s kind of a hard album to explain so if any of what I said grabbed your attention, you’re better served just picking the album up and listening for yourself.

Favorite Tracks: Revolution; So Hot; Suicide 

Emily: Today, we have for your reading pleasure a review of some ‘80s Norwegian space rock. Oh, you’ve never heard it before? You don’t really want to either? That’s too bad, because as weird of a combination as it sounds, Spacemen 3’s Playing with Fire is surprisingly good. Space rock is pretty loosely defined (even by Wikipedia standards), but it’s related to psychedelic, experimental, and electronic music. All of those influences are clear on Playing with Fire. It’s a cool mix of ambiance, distortion, and other electronic effects. I know I usually say albums like this fade into the background, but this one didn’t, which put it a cut above the rest. What’s more is that, even though it was recorded in 1989, Spacemen 3 sounds super modern. One song in particular, Revolution, had an artsy noise-rock sound that would fit right in at some indie rock club today. Though I’m fairly sure most of you still aren’t apt to explore Spacemen 3, or other Norwegian space rock, for that matter, I hope you check out a song or two. Nothing wrong with expanding your musical (and geographic…sort of) horizons a bit.

Favorite Tracks: Revolution; How Does It Feel?; Suicide