SPACEMEN 3 Playing With Fire BOMP LP psych feedback

$

43

SPACEMEN 3

Playing With Fire
Sonic – vocals, vox starstreamer, fender jaguar, vox super continental,
Jason – vocals, fender telecaster, rickenbacker
Willie – bass vibrations

Vintage, Original and Genuine

1989 American release on BOMP! Records out of Los Angeles California
Still in its original shrink, but open
with sticker on the front from BOMP "...The Revolution is here. The Apocalypse is now. Spacemen 3 are coming."

ASTONISHING AMAZING 'strange radiance...'

The tracks on this record are:
Honey / Come Down Softly To My Soul / How Does It Feel? / I Believe It / Revolution
B/W
Let Me Down Gently / So Hot (Wash Away All My Tears) / Suicide / Lord Can You Hear Me?

US LP
Catalog Number: Bomp BLP 4032

Record: Near Mint Condition / Sleeve: Near Mint Condition

Spacemen 3 have kicked out the aimless jams, opted for colour, space and sensuality, and come up with the last word in English psychedilia. And they’ve done it by the simple expedient of avoiding the Loophole altogether, and digging up the courage, from God only knows where, to radically alter the face of their own noise. From the very first note of ‘Honey’ you hear the new Spacemen 3. Gone are the huge sonic assaults and the psychotic rounds of guitar war(p)s. In their place is a tiny, tremulous thing of beauty, a flower where there used to be a landmine. This is a music of stillness, quietness, whispers and sighs. It still throbs and vibrates like the S3 of old but where that was the noise of the earth sundering itself, it’s now the sound of a single proton pulsing, alone and unique. And, dusted with Sonic ‘n’ Jason’s wistful, depressed vocals, it’s all rather moving. I nearly said ‘religious’ and the lowing organ that stalks at least three of these songs make that a lot less ludicrous than it might at first seem. I really can’t imagine what the heaven or hell’s been going on in the Space station; but the results are startling. Devotees of the S3’s former style will find some comfort from the fact that two tracks (their last single, the slightly nutty ‘Revolution’ and the seemingly interminable instrumental, ‘Suicide’) do conjure up the old storm, but in truth both merely serve to highlight the strange radiance of their newer cousins. I really didn’t think that Spacemen 3 had the bollocks to break the losers mould that they’d volunteered themselves for, but ‘Playing With Fire’ has proved me wildly wrong. It is a curious, brave, intriguing record, quite unlike anything that you’re likely to hear elsewhere. And it’s no mere novelty; more, I reckon, a minor triumph. (8 ½)
From Danny Kelly, NME.

Appropriately preceded by the mind-melting crunch of the "Revolution" single, Playing With Fire proved to be the end of Spacemen 3 as a functioning band, but in truly spectacular fashion. Exploring both the depths of serene, agog beauty and sheer tape-shredding chaos, Playing With Fire pushed the extremes of The Perfect Prescription to an even further edge. It's little surprise that Pierce and Sonic couldn't find themselves properly working together after it, but even less that hordes of bands to follow would rank Playing With Fire as the equal (or better) of psychedelia's '60s/'70s forebears. Sonic himself is quoted as feeling the album "was the refining point of a lot of my theories on minimalism being maximalism" — as apt a description as any. One of his songs, "How Does It Feel?," sums it up by using a series of notes echoing off into the distance, again and again. With future Spiritualized bassist Will Carruthers in place of Bain, the trio (and uncredited drummer) created glazed, liquid songs with subtle arrangements and sheer reveling in aural joys. Flange is everywhere, as is echo, full dynamic stereo mixes and more, a feast of sound. When aiming toward a gentler, hushed sound, most notably on Pierce's compositions, the incorporation of gospel power filtered through the band's own perspective results in wonders, as heard on "Come Down Softly to My Soul" and the album closing "Lord Can You Hear Me?" As for the louder end of things, besides the awesome "Revolution" itself, a slow burn blast that just keeps getting more and more obsessive and frenetic as it goes, Sonic calling for a release of energy in a mere five seconds, the other complete freakout is "Suicide." An instrumental tribute to the New York synth pioneers, Spacemen 3 keep the minimalism and up the feedback with astonishing results. —
Reviewed by Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

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