He dreamed of another world ...

The Earth would be round and the blonde Moon ... Or something like that because it not carburait at Vichy strawberry Jason Pierce. Because despite a bloated cast (the Spiritualized have assistants strings, brass, big bands and several famous guests, such as Dr. John, who is not accustomed to travel for baltringues), there is no doubt that this disc is first his.
Moreover, to show that we are there in the experience, and that this music before recording it in the studio, Jason Pierce has heard many times in his head, it was renamed, and stupidly not very modestly "Spaceman". And rather than a tribute to the Byrds or Babylon Zoo (?), We must see this new choice patronymic little sly settling scores with his former accomplice Pete "Sonic Boom" Kember, his alter ego in the Spacemen 3. Pierce seems somewhat modestly assume the entire legacy of his former band, which seems somewhat presumptuous and disproportionate ... And all this is finally quarrel playground ...
Nevertheless, this "Ladies and gentlemen ..." is for me the best of Spiritualized. Already the packaging is a wonder of discovery. The cover design pastiche of a box of medicine, and the booklet becomes the reference (active formula, dosage, administration recommendations, side effects, persistent symptoms, ...). Gimmick great to amateurs of all colors pills ...
The overall tone of the disc rests on trippy melodies "spatial" embedded in echo and reverb, registered design and patented by the beginnings of Barrett Floyd ... we remain in the "family" (fans of substances). The complainers say that all this is only shoegazing idle ("I think I'm in love" is just about the only title that corresponds to that definition), that would be to ignore a lot of work to play in all shades of rock guitars, whether accompanied by furious or slow ballads. "Ladies and gentlemen ..." is a much more varied disc you might think.
We go from "Come together" that has nothing to do with the Beatles, but rather with the Stones, and certainly takes things where near enough cousins ​​Primal Scream had left them with "Screamadelica" or of "Electricity" (obviously not a resumption of Orchestral Manaeuvres) while guitars that reminds me Clapton when he was the soloist of Bluesbreakers circa 1965 to securities more appeased (the treacherous "Stay with me" slow ballad which eventually engulfed in a maelstrom of guitars, "Broken heart" that could pass for the best post title "Wall" Floyd.
And between rage and calm, you are entitled to the full panoply of musical emotions, the black hole "Home of the brave", in which all instruments seem aspirated, followed with title "The individual" very marked it by the noisy Krautrock (Can Faust, Amon Düül, that kind ...). Obviously a disk Jason Pierce would have a sense of unfinished business if there were not some mystical soaring gospel prayer or genre. Here it is "Cool waves" that sticks to it, and even if expected, it does, this title is one of the best on the disc. In fact, there is in my opinion a blunder that hides behind a good title ("No God only religion"), a sort of free jazz manouche ugly ...
The conclusion of this "Ladies and gentlemen ..." is a long piece (17 minutes anyway), started by a jazzy piano (Dr. John?), Zebra by zeppeliniennes chorus guitars, which crashed into a puree electric peas, before returning to the original theme. Nice styling exercise still a bit vain but that will delight fans of prog (if it remains).
The masterpiece of Jason Pierce and his Spiritualized, and as it says in the booklet:
For aural administration only
Protect from light
Keep out of reach of children ...