SPIRITUALIZED

'Spiritualized' are an English rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Jason Pierce (who often goes by the alias J. Spaceman) after the demise of his previous outfit, space-rockers Spacemen 3. The membership of Spiritualized has changed from album to album, with Pierce - who writes, composes and sings all of the band's material - being the only constant member.
Spiritualized have released five studio albums. The best known and most critically acclaimed of these was 1997's ''Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space'', which NME Magazine made their Album of the Year.

Contents

Biography

Band members

Discography

Albums

All releases

External links

Biography

Following a major breakdown in relations between Spacemen 3 co-frontmen Peter Kember and Jason Pierce, the group's bassist Will Carruthers, drummer Jonny Mattock and guitarist Mark Refoy decided to form a splinter group, before persuading Pierce to join alongside local friend Steve Evans to create Spiritualized. The band took their name from an adaptation of the text on the back label of a bottle of Pernod. Due to formation from a majority of Spacemen 3 members, a technical clause meant that Spiritualized had to maintain the Spacemen 3 recording contract with Dedicated Records.
The first Spiritualized release, in 1990, was a cover of Evie Sands' "Anyway That You Want Me"; the record heralded the official split of Spacemen 3 following contractual wrangles over the band's name and its use in Spiritualized-related promotional material (initial copies of "Anyway That You Want Me" came with a Spacemen 3 logo on the sleeve).
Evans was replaced on keyboards by Pierce's then-girlfriend Kate Radley for the follow-up single, "Run"/"I Want You". A number of singles followed, before the band, in early 1992, released their first LP ''Lazer Guided Melodies'', which had been recorded in Rugby over the previous two years. A second album, ''Pure Phase'', was released in 1995, and a third ''Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space'' emerged in 1997 to notable critical acclaim and commercial success.
The musical style of Spiritualized relies heavily on sustained 'pedal' notes and drones. ''Lazer Guided Melodies'' and ''Pure Phase'' incorporate elements of the shoegazing style, drones and tremolo. The landmark ''Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space'' saw the influence of African-American gospel and blues beginning to show, while "walls of sound" modelled after the production styles of Phil Spector and Brian Wilson also made their presence felt. Such influences dominated Spiritualized's next album, ''Let It Come Down'' which included over 120 musicians. ''Amazing Grace'' favoured a more stripped down sound with the gospel, blues, and soul influences even more dominant than before.

Band members

Only Pierce remains from the original line-up of the band. Will Carruthers left the band in 1992 and now records as a solo project under the name Freelovebabies, Carruthers was replaced by Rugby musician Sean Cook from local band Electrahead. Mark Refoy departed in 1994 to concentrate on his own fronted band Slipstream. He was initially replaced by Kevin Cowen from fellow Rugby band The Darkside, before Cowen himself left to be replaced first by John Coxon (Spring Heel Jack, Betty Boo) and then later on by Michael Mooney (Coxon returned to replace Mooney following his eventual departure). Mattock played in The Breeders for a spell (during a lull in Spiritualized activities in 1991, he appears on the ''Safari'' EP) and left Spiritualized later in 1994 during the recording of Pure Phase, working as a session musician before joining Lupine Howl, he was replaced by Damon Reece. Radley appeared for some initial dates promoting ''Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space'', before leaving the band in 1997 after a spell of illness. She was replaced by thighpaulsandra from Julian Cope's live band. Ray Dickaty (Saxophone) was added to the lineup in 1997 and Gregg Hale (guitar) also augmented the band for touring purposes through 1997 and 1998.
Following promotional activity for ''Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space'', Sean Cook, Damon Reece and Michael Mooney threatened a strike in protest over salaries and appearance fees. New contracts of employment were drawn up between Pierce and the musicians, and the same contracts were then used to infamously fire them (to general disbelief by the music press at the time). In response, messers Cook, Reece and Mooney formed Lupine Howl. Ray Dickaty departed in 2003, and has more recently appeared to play live with Refoy and Mattock in Slipstream.
Pierce then debuted a new (and current) line up of Spiritualized, featuring thighpaulsandra (keyboards), Doggen (guitar), Kevin Bales, Tom Edwards (percussion) and Martin Shallards.
This current line up have been recording a new album in Nottingham and London, currently scheduled for a late 2007 release.

TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
ImageSize = width:850 height:350
PlotArea = width:800 height:300 bottom:20 left:20
Colors =
id:canvas value:rgb(1,1,1)
id:grid1 value:rgb(0.5,0.5,0.5)
id:grid2 value:gray(0.5)
id:bars value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9)
BackgroundColors = canvas:canvas
Period = from:1988 till:2007
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1988 gridcolor:grid1
BarData=
barset:Bands
LineData =
at:1990 color:grid2 layer:back
at:1992 color:grid2 layer:back
at:1995 color:grid2 layer:back
at:1997 color:grid2 layer:back
at:1999 color:grid2 layer:back
PlotData=
# set defaults
width:15 fontsize:S textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) color:bars
barset:Bands
from:1990 till:end text:"Jason Pierce"
from:1994 till:1997 text:"John Coxon"
from:1999 till:end text:"John Coxon"
from:1990 till:1997 text:"Keyboard: Kate Radley"
from:1997 till:end text:"thighpaulsandra" (Tim Lewis)
from:1990 till:1994 text:"Guitar: Mark Refoy"
from:1995 till:1999 text:"Mike Mooney"
from:1997 till:1999 text:"Gregg Hale"
from:1999 till:end text:"Doggen"
from:1990 till:1992 text:"Bass: Will Carruthers"
from:1992 till:1999 text:"Sean Cook"
from:1999 till:2003 text:"Martin Shellard"
from:1990 till:1994 text:"Drums: Jonny Mattock"
from:1995 till:1999 text:"Damon Reece"
from:1999 till:2004 text:"Kev Bales"
from:1999 till:end text:"Tom Edwards (Percussions)"
at:1990 text:
from:1997 till:2003 text:"Saxophone:Raymond Dickaty"
at:1990 text:

Discography

Albums

''Lazer Guided Melodies''	2LP/CD	Dedicated	Mar 92	UK #27
''Fucked Up Inside''	LP/CD	Dedicated	Jun 93
''Pure Phase''	Sampler 12"/2x12"/CD/Ltd.CD	Dedicated	Feb 95
''Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space''	Cassette/2x12"/CD/Ltd.CD/12x3"CD	Dedicated	Mar 97	UK #4
''Royal Albert Hall October 10, 1997''	2LP/2CD	Dedicated	Oct 98	UK #38
''Let It Come Down''	2LP/CD/Ltd.CD	Spacemen/Arista	Sep 01	UK #3; US #133
''Complete Works Vol. 1''	2CD	Spaceman/Arista	Mar 03
''Amazing Grace''	CD/LP/3x12”	Sanctuary	Aug 03	UK #25
''Complete Works Vol. 2''	2CD	Spaceman/Arista	Jan 04

All releases

Title	Format	Label	Release	Chartpos.
"Anyway That You Want Me"	Promo 7"/7"/12"/CD	Dedicated	Jun 90
"Anyway That You Want Me"	Remix 12"	Dedicated	Jul 90
"Feel So Sad/I Want You"	7"/CD	Fierce	May 91
"Feel So Sad"	12"/CD	Dedicated	Jun 91
"Run/I Want You"	7"/12"/CD	Dedicated	Aug 91
"Smile/Sway"	7"/12"/CD	Dedicated	Nov 91
"Run/Angel Sigh"	Promo CD	Dedicated	Mar 92
"Feel So Bad"	Promo CD	Dedicated	Mar 92
"I Want You"	7"/CD	Dedicated	Mar 92
''Lazer Guided Melodies''	2LP/CD	Dedicated	Mar 92	UK #27
"Medication"	7”/12"/CD	Dedicated	Jul 92
''Fucked Up Inside''	LP/CD	Dedicated	Jun 93
"Smiles/100 Bars"	7" Flexi	Dedicated	Jun 93
"Good Dope, Good Fun"	7"	Greenpeace Records	Oct 93
"Electric Mainline EP"	7"/12"/CD	Dedicated	Oct 93
"Let It Flow"	Promo CD/10"/CD1/CD2/CD3	Dedicated	Jan 95
''Pure Phase''	Sampler 12"/2x12"/CD/Ltd.CD	Dedicated	Feb 95
"Lay Back In The Sun"	Promo CD/7"/CD	Dedicated	Sep 95
"Anyway That You Want Me"	7"	Sub-Pop	Oct 95
"Pure Phase Tones For DJs"	12"	Dedicated	Feb 96
''Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space''	Cassette/2x12"/CD/Ltd.CD/12x3"CD	Dedicated	Mar 97	UK #4
"Broken Heart"	Promo CD	Dedicated	Jul 97
"Electricity"	Promo CD/7”/CD1/CD2	Dedicated	Aug 97
"Supplementary Dosage EP"	CD	Arista/Dedicated	Oct 97
"I Think I'm In Love"	Promo 12"/CD	Arista/Dedicated	Nov 97
"I Think I'm In Love"	12"/CD	Dedicated	Feb 98
"Come Together"	Promo CD	Arista/Dedicated	Mar 98
"Abbey Road EP"	12"/CD	Deconstruction	Jun 98
"Abbey Road EP"	CD (Germany)	Deconstruction	Aug 98
"Abbey Road EP"	CD	Arista/Dedicated	Aug 98
"Come Together Remix Single"	12"	Dedicated	Aug 98
''Live At The Royal Albert Hall''	Promo CD 4-track album sampler	Dedicated Spirit017CDP LC 8280	1998
''Royal Albert Hall October 10, 1997''	2LP/2CD	Dedicated	Oct 98	UK #38
"Electricity/Come Together"	DVD	Arista	Dec 00
"Stop Your Crying"	Promo CD/12”/CD	Spaceman	Aug 01
''Let It Come Down''	2LP/CD/Ltd.CD	Spacemen/Arista	Sep 01	UK #3; US #133
"Out Of Sight"	12"/CD	Spaceman	Nov 01
"Do It All Over Again"	7"/CD1/CD2	Spaceman	Feb 02
"KFSD Presents The First-Ever Spiritualized Radio Session"	Promo CD	Spaceman	Apr 02
"Amazing Grace"	12"	Spaceman	Nov 02
''Complete Works Vol. 1''	2CD	Spaceman/Arista	Mar 03
''Amazing Grace''	CD/LP/3x12”	Sanctuary	Aug 03	UK #25
"She Kissed Me (It Felt Like A Hit)"	12"/CD	Sanctuary	Sep 03
"Cheapster"	7"	Sanctuary	Jan 04
''Complete Works Vol. 2''	2CD	Spaceman/Arista	Jan 04

External links

★ Spiritualized Homepage