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The Spiritualized Electric Mainline was, for the most part, overlooked on its release, mainly because of lazy comparisons to the very different LGM, and consigned to “difficult second album” status.
It rarely gets a mention these days and seems largely forgotten.
Well, never mind the critics, here’s my two cents…………..
Despite the fact that that “Lazer Guided Melodies” and “Ladies and Gentlemen…” seem to have more “classic” Spiritualized moments, and more “immediate” production, I have always had a deep love for Pure Phase.
Overall there seems to be a much more tonal approach to the music here, which allows for more musical inventiveness and discord than the first album, but which I think ends up being more melodic than the third. This is possibly the result of paring down the guitars and drums, as well as making better use of Kate’s keyboards and strings (from The Balanescu Quartet).
Really the title says it all, as the 14 songs fade, phase, wash and flow from speaker to speaker. A kind of Spector-mantra for the dispossessed.
Yet it isn’t as easy going as the recent “Let it Come Down” album.
There are a number of moments of sonic abandon (Electric Phase, These Blues) that really help to balance the more muted frequencies explored here (Let It Flow, Feel Like Goin’ Home) and offer a more rounded appreciation of what the band are capable of (especially live).
And on top of that you get some of Jason’s most inspired moments (Medication, Take Good Care of It, the sublime Electric Mainline) and two pop gems in Lay Back in the Sun and Good Times. And as if that wasn’t enough, Spread Your Wings is the elegiac future echo of Broken Heart.
So there you go: probably not as accessible as Lazer Guided Melodies, not as out-there as Ladies & Gentlemen, not as classically minded as Let It Come Down.
But I think it just happens to be their most accomplished and emotional record to date.
To my ears, a very rewarding listening experience.
Go hear. |
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