Hip Hop Rap Music : Songs in A&E

Songs in A&E

£4.50

  1. Harmony 1 (mellotron)
  2. Sweet Talk
  3. Death Take Your Fiddle
  4. I Gotta Fire
  5. Soul On Fire
  6. Harmony 2 (piano)
  7. Sitting On Fire
  8. Yeah Yeah
  9. You Lie You Cheat
  10. Harmony 3 (voice)
  11. Baby I m Just A Fool
  12. Don t Hold Me Close
  13. Harmony 4 (the old man ...)
  14. The Waves Crash In
  15. Harmony 5 (accordian)
  16. Borrowed Your Gun
  17. Harmony 6 (glockenspiel)
  18. Good Night Goodnight

The title Songs to Sing in A&E isn t simply a reference to Jason Pierce s chords of choice on this, the sixth album from Spiritualized. Rather, it s a blackly comic reference to the events that preceded this album s creation--specifically, a bout of pneumonia that saw Pierce fighting for his life from a hospital bed. Spiritualized, however, have always specialised in transforming personal travails into great art, and there s something morbidly compelling about a song like Death Takes Your Fiddle, a chilly blues song accompanied by the wheeze of an artificial respirator. There may be some unfortunate repercussions from Pierce s illness: his voice sounds somewhat frail in comparison to the brave soul we found on 1997 s Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space, and this rather seems to expose occasional shortcomings in his lyrics (to follow a song called I Gotta Fire with Soul on Fire and then Sitting on Fire suggests wells of inspiration may be running low). One thing s for sure, though, Pierce is a fine arranger. Lush strings, choirs and flourishes of percussion flesh out simple acoustic songs into impressive symphonies. Meanwhile, Yeah Yeah proves Pierce still has a way with an itchy, strung-out blues stomp. --Louis Pattison

Serious return to form - I ve never been one for the jazz themed white noise thrashouts so beloved of Mr Pierce, but always loved the droney cathedral rock of his earlier days (which I appreciate is just as unmusical to some ears - I absolutely love Pure Phase). Ladies and Gentlemen is undoubtedly his masterpiece (jazz themed white noise thrashouts notwithstanding), but why oh why did I not buy a second copy and keep the first fresh in its pill box?Anyway, post L&G the work declined. Some decent stuff on Let it come down, but I didn t bother with Amazing Grace. This is a return to form. I agree wholeheartedly with the reviewer who said he might need a bit more inspiration when it comes to song titles, but the songs and music are back. I cannot stop listening to Death Take Your Fiddle and Baby I m Just a Fool.Not his best, but not far short.

A healthy dose of soulful fire - The first that struck me about Songs In A&E was how grainy Jason Pierce s voice sounds. Anyone would think he had been ill or something ..... Putting aside such crass attempts at humour it s surely common knowledge by now that Songs In A&E was recorded after a life threatening dose of pneumonia for the Spiritualized front man. Indeed the album is dedicated to the staff at The Royal London Hospital . And he does sound different ....more fragile and hoarse ,but the music is still a wonderful blast of symphonic guitars, strident bursts of brass and honeyed strings with eddying choral vocals. This band have always had a knack of making pain -whether it be physical or emotional -sound like a rather marvellous place to be .Songs In A&E is no different here either .What s surprising is that the majority of the songs concern matters of love and faith ( in one another) rather than mortality though the life support machine breathing and cracked hymn blues of Death Take Your Fiddle relates to his experience directly. Sweet Talk opens the album ( After one of the four brief Harmony instrumental interludes) with an appropriately saccharine chorus of girly harmonies over deliberate bass and melancholic brass. It s really lovely. However it s not as good as the fabulous Soul On fire which blends tender bleeding strings into the glowing choral work . It s sound even more exquisite coming after the fuzzy wah wah surge of I Gotta Fire. Fire seems to be an important element here because we also have the brittle ballad Sitting On Fire which transmutes into a divine wash of overlapping strings. Yeah Yeah recalls Perfect Prescription ( Medical connection there) Spaceman 3. The grunged up blues striated chords of You Lie You Cheat comes as something of a shock before the mesmerizing incremental epic hymn Baby I m Just A Fool . Don t Hold Me Close is a hushed duet with Harmony Korine whose vocals are veiled slightly by the mix while The Waves Crash In rhythmically cleverly mirrors that of waves crashing in and showcases Pierce s true talent as an arranger to the full for the instrumental overloaded coda. Where Borrowed Your Gun fits into the thematic tone of this album is a mystery to me .Daddy I m sorry / I borrowed your gun again/Shot up your family . I take it Pierce is being metaphorical because then it makes more sense . Lyrically the album seems simplistic and repetitive at times but there are lightning bolt moments of poetic clarity .Closing song Goodnight Goodnight is a creaking chamber pop lament but ends on a note of cautious optimism. There s better things that you will know he croaks.Songs In A&E is a more uplifting album than I expected and is actually quite diverse musically ,which again is something I wasn t really anticipating . It alternates between bitterness, despair , defiance , compassion, resignation but always to the strident rhythm of a chock full human heart. In this respect it s a wonderfully apt connotation of what( i think) it would be to be seriously ill. It glows with a healthy dose of soulful fire.

Better than the Last Two - This is a very good album. Yes, it s a million miles from Lazer Guided Melodies and certainly no Ladies and Gentlemen... , but it has its own charm, honesty and some stand-out tracks.I found some fine songs on Let it Come Down (2001) but really struggled with Amazing Grace (2003), but I prefer this to either of those albums. Largely stripped down, with lo-fi production similar to that on Amazing Grace the songs are generally much better here. I m not surprised that on the band s MySpace page Eels are one of the top friends as the simple acoustic melodies , strings, world-weary vocals and the Melodies I-VI all remind me in style of that band s Blinking Lights album. Also think Gorky s Zygotic Mynci around the Blue Trees . Yes, there are songs which could have been on any of the previous 3 Spritualized albums, but this has its own identity and Death Take Your Fiddle , Soul on Fire , Baby I m Just a Fool , Don t Hold me Close and The Waves Crash In provide sufficient flashes of Spaceman s genius to make it an important acquisition for anyone with an interest in the band s output.

Poor prognosis - Having enjoyed the albums of the 90 s which were on a different level to most contemporary British music, I am afraid to say that the quality of output since LAGWAFIS has been in steady decline and unfortunately Songs in A&E does little to reverse this trend. Soul on Fire, Sweet Talk and You Lie, You Cheat are the most accessible tunes, the rest are directionless or trying to re-capture the magic of former glories-but ultimately failing. However, I judge this album by the impossibly high standards set previously by Lazer Guided Melodies and LAGWAFIS which is why it gets just two stars.

A black day shot with starlight - I m going to guess that the title of Songs in A&E refers to Jason Pierce nearly dying of pneumonia during the album s recording.It s a relatively appropriate title for Spiritualized s latest album, because the lyrics are all about illness -- not of the body, but the distrust and bleakness inside a soul. It s a relatively dark sound for the music -- a satiny mass of ethereal mellotron, brass, guitar and soaring strings, when Pierce isn t driving it into darker areas of rock n roll.Well, you sweet talk like an angel/With a heart full of lies, J Spaceman (aka Jason Pierce) creaks over a bittersweetly gorgeous pop ballad, backed by a suitably angelic-sounding ooooooooo-singing chorale. By the time the trumpets blast in, the song has built itself up to a truly epic climax -- and Pierce is still singing bleakly about how the lover who sweet-talks like an angel.Bask in the glow for a moment. There are plenty of songs in this vein, like the warmly psychedelic, unabashedly upbeat Soul Fire, as well as dramatic pop epics, some ghostly little folk ballads wrapped in mellotron and strings. And despite its un-intimate-sounding title, Don t Hold Me Close is a weirdly soothing little stretch of somnolent pop, which sounds like it was fed through an old radio.But not all these songs are feel-good ones. The unnerving folk Death Take Your Fiddle is punctuated with the respirator s creak, there are a couple of swirling psychpop numbers, and a Rolling-Stonesian blues-rocker Yeah Yeah! And near the end, Pierce drives us into creepsville with Borrowed Your Gun, a weird little number about a little boy telling Dad he s sorry I borrowed your gun again/shot up your family...And the entire album is peppered with these little Harmony interludes -- hesitant piano, delicate mellotron, angelic voices, wind chimes, accordion. The spasming violin of Harmony Four did nothing for me, though. And I m not sure what these noodling interludes are for, except just to... be there.Listening to Songs in A&E is like sitting in a cafe with an old friend who has had a tough year, and listening to the problems that have been troubling them. You see a few new lines from all the stress, with perhaps a few moments of bitterness, but a new strength shines from their eyes. It gets a bit painful at first, but then you start appreciating them more.And then there s the fact that the music is simply brilliant -- an orchestral tapestry of shimmering mellotron, eerie synth, blasts of smooth brass, and violins winding a gentle glowing path through the softer songs. Pierce grounds the music a bit with folky acoustics, as well as occasional blasting riffs and growling basslines. And you get a few other little touches -- wind chimes, triangles, accordion -- around the edges.Pierce sounds kind of tired in this album -- he sounds a bit like a worn-out blues musician, even when he rocks out in Yeah Yeah. But he definitely hasn t lost his knack for really brilliant lyrics, whether dark (morphine, codeine, whisky, they wo t alter/The way I feel the way now that death is not around) or beautiful (You were born on a black day shot through with starlight/and all the angels singing just about got it right).Despite a string of noodly interludes that contribute nothing, Songs in A&E streams from one excellent Spiritualized song to another, full of beauty, bitterness and great music.




Songs in A&E