NOT a greatest hits, so much as a picture-completing appendix to Spiritualized's narcotic albums.
Over 24 tracks and more than two mesmerising hours on Volume One, space captain Jason Pierce takes a dreamy trip through his tower-building, symphonic back catalogue from 1990 to 1993, lifting the cream from every EP and single release up to Electric Mainline. Cover versions of Anyway That You Want Me - Spiritual-ized's long-deleted debut single after the messy collapse of Spaceman 3 - and Why Don't You Smile Now are bettered by Pierce's 'covers' of his own glazed work, not least the speeding single rendition of Run and its B-side I Want You. Meanwhile, Good Dope/Good Fun is rescued from its former throwaway status as a Greenpeace single. The three variations on Feel So Sad (seven inch, Rhapsodies and Glides And Chimes) mirror the Anthology excavation of The Beatles' experiments, while charting Pierce's restless quest for sonic nirvana before he went over the Rick Wakeman edge with 100-piece orchestras on 2001's Let It Come Down. Good news: he is to return from that prog-rock wilderness on his next studio album this autumn, as evidenced by Spiritualized's stripped-down performance, shorn of horns, at York Barbican last March.
Updated: 09:26 Thursday, April 03, 2003
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article