A New Standard (Let It Come Down - Spiritualized)

Member Name: DrunkenDuncan

Product:	Let It Come Down - Spiritualized
Date:	25/10/01 (36 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Godlike

Disadvantages: Will make the rest of your CD collection seem redundant, Where do they go from here?

In 1997 Spiritualized released their recording "Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space" to massive critical acclaim. In a year which included The Verve's "Urban Hymns" and Radiohead's "OK Computer" it even managed to pick up album of the year awards in some quarters- no mean feat. My own opinion was that there were some truly great tracks- the title track and "Broken Heart" to name just two- but there were also parts I just didn't get. However it was obviously an excellent piece of work.

Four years later and Jason Pierce has seen his ex-girlfriend marry Richard Ashcroft, sacked all previous members of the group, recruited 100+ new musicians and returned with "Let It Come Down". 63 minutes of sound packaged in a plastic box with the face of a pigtailed young girl embossed on the front.

But is it any good? No. It's awesome. This is not so much a rock album as a symphony with 11 movements. The term songwriter does not do this man justice- he is a composer who, had he been born 100 years ago, would have been granted the status of any classical composer you care to mention. The album can be listened to, and enjoyed, any way you wish. Either as individual songs or as a complete work. Each song perfectly complements its predecessor and successor. It has been superbly considered without being over thought. The lyrics are beautiful, heartbreaking, uplifting and humorous. Nothing is wasted nor overplayed. Every single aspect of every single song enhances the collective.

Plinky-plink piano opens the first track, "I'm On Fire", before taking us on a fast-paced, rolling sing-along with Jason sounding extremely optimistic and confident in his own life and abilities- he really does sound like he actually feels he's on fire.

"You gotta hope for the best and the best looks good now baby" opens up second song "Do It All Over Again." An
other rocker with horns, guitars and Christ knows what else in there- brilliant again.

"Don't Just Do Something" tones it down a bit. Another great opening line- "Sometimes, we say that love is blind- but I think that dumb is what they had in mind". Slow but massive. Big chorus. Introspective but still hopeful- building up to a crescendo- before finally going quiet again and finishing with the immortal "...And life ain't good without cigarettes."

As I'm writing this I'm fast realising I'm going to run out of superlatives very quickly. I want to describe every moment of every track, but I couldn't do it justice. Haven't felt this good about an album in years.

"Out Of Sight" is just huge. Again quiet beginnings but leading to a glorious finale. Contains possibly the best lyric on the album- "If I am good I could add years to my life- I would rather add some life to my years." I could sit at this keyboard for the rest of my own life and not come up with anything half as good as that. (Yes, all right, I know. Stating the bleeding obvious.)

"The Twelve Steps"- police sirens, punk rock, "...and I don't give a fuck about Jesus Christ." Says it all really.

Favourite song next- The Trouble With The Straight And The Narrow". A bit of a swayer and another "all join in chorus". And the trouble with the straight and the narrow?- "It's so thin I keep sliding off to the side."- Glorious.

"I Didn't Mean To Hurt You" is a gorgeous love song. JP repeating again and again the line "I love you like I love the sunrise in the morning" along with other similar sentiments, over strings, more horns and a pounding drumbeat.

"Stop Your Crying" is next. The first single released. Another love song with more heart string tugging, pain inducing and yet relieving ly
rics. Backed with what sounds like every classical musician in Britain. Again- sheer beauty.

"There's no use in crying about the damage that you've done inside" says "Anything More". More of the same really. Carries on from the last song both in feel and sentiment even says to us "Don't cry". In fact these last two tracks could easily have been treated as just one song, with one morphing into the next.

Some people shy away from long songs. My own view is that if a song feels like its natural length then the precise number of seconds it lasts doesn't matter. "Won't Get To Heaven The State I'm In" is ten and a half minutes long, but any less would feel like it had been cut short. First half quiet insecurity, second half raucous gospel choir- it's the perfect set-up to close the album with a re-worked version of the Spacemen3 classic.....

....."Lord Can You Hear Me?" Church organ background, more gospel choir, 100% soul. A plaintiff cry to the Almighty. There's a rumour going round that the Devil has all the best tunes. Well if The Big Man upstairs really can hear this song (and the record as a whole) He would be well advised to snap it up quickly to use in his defence.

This review has sort of gone on a bit. I don't like describing individual tracks one by one- I prefer to give a general feel of an album rather than a cold analysis. But this release really does merit it. The feel is in the way each song knits together with each of the others. This work really is genius.

In 2001 I have bought many good/very good albums (Nick Cave, Charlatans, Witness.... even Travis). Indeed, in my opinion, it has been the best year for consistency in many years. My only complaint is that this release raises the benchmark so high as to make all other releases irrelevant.

To ask whether this is the best album of the year, or even of the last te
n years is to insult it. It patently is. The only valid questions are "Is this the greatest rock/pop album of all time?" and "Is this the greatest musical composition of all time?" It certainly comes close.

I quite like it.

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