Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space |
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Released: June 16, 1997 Peak: -- US, 4 UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.10 UK Genre: neo-psychedelic art rock |
Tracks:Song Title [time] (date of single release, chart peaks)
All songs written by Jason Pierce, except the first, which is co-credited to George David Weiss, Hugo Peretti, and Luigi Creatore. Total Running Time: 70:03 The Players:
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Rating: 3.681 out of 5.00 (average of 18 ratings)
Quotable:This “might be the closest cousin to Sgt. Pepper that the 1990s ever gave us.” – Paste magazineAwards:(Click on award to learn more).
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The Impact“Spiritualized’s third collection of hypnotic headphone symphonies is their most brilliant and accessible to date.” AM Because of it, “space rock changed forever. From the moment that the opening title-track clocks in, you’re immediately transported someplace beautiful and celestial.” PMThis is frontman Jason Pierce’s “classic rock album.” AM It “very well might be the closest cousin to Sgt. Pepper that the 1990s ever gave us.” PM It “more than cemented Spiritualized as one of the best bands we’ve ever had.” PM “A masterpiece.” AM The Music“The album is a supernova of electricity and ambient static and crushing noise.” PM “Largely forsaking the drones and minimalistic, repetitive riffs which have characterized his work since the halcyon days of Spacemen 3, Jason Pierce re-focuses here and spins off into myriad new directions; in a sense, Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, with its majestic, Spector-like glow, is his classic rock album.” AMInfluences“Spiritualized incorporate elements of Elvis Presley and John Prine songs into the album’s framework, and contributions from the Balanescu Quartet, London Community Gospel Choir and Dr. John fill out the soundscape.” PMLyrics“Lyrically, Pierce is at his most open and honest” AM as he “writes his hymns for lost souls.” TM He wrote the album before and after his breakup with Kate Radley, the band’s keyboardist. She would go on to marry The Verve’s Richard Ashcroft. “Space sounds like a broken heart and a hot party all at once, draping itself in a tapestry of multi-dimensional, emotive brilliance disguised as a rock record.” PM “The record is a heartfelt confessional of love and loss.” AMDrugsThe album “is pointedly explicit in its description of drug use,” AM “legal or otherwise, as helpful in easing the pain of a devastating romantic setback. Or to obliterate nasty memories.” TM Even the album cover is designed to look like the label on prescription pharmaceutical packaging in the UK, complete with a warning that says, “For aural administration only…Use only as directed by a physician” TM and “the sleeve notes are written in the style of medical instructions.” RDThe Songs“Beginning with the dreamy waltz of the title track, Ladies and Gentlemen careens through a wide variety of styles.” RD The “old-fashioned idealistic Come Together” TM “is gospelized heavy metal.” RDThat song “and the blistering Electricity” AM “with its brutal punk power” RD “are his most edgy, straightforward rockers in eons.” AM On All of My Thoughts, Pierce “tries introspection.” TM “The stunning I Think I’m in Love” AM “is an astonishing sickbed lament by somebody confused by symptoms that indicate either amour or imminent death” RD It “settles into a divided-psyche call-and-response R&B groove.” AM “Elegiac euphoria (Stay with Me, Home of the Brave, Broken Heart) comes in waves.” RD On “the swirling instrumental No God, Only Religion,” TM Pierce “spends some time in pursuit of more abstract notions,” TM “pushing the music even further toward the kind of cosmic gospel transcendence it craves.” AM By the last song, “the junkie’s testimonial Cop Shoot Cop,” RD Pierce is “poking around some shady alleys, seeking transcendence” TM in “voodoo blues.” AM |
Reviews:
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First posted 11/18/2008; last updated 10/17/2026. |
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