Meditate, Levitate, Recreate (Let It Come Down - Spiritualized)

Member Name: Jon V

Product:	Let It Come Down - Spiritualized
Date:	20/01/02 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Epic, Breathtaking, Heaven

Disadvantages: Too long and overblown for some

Spiritualized is the brainchild of Jason Pierce, a gentleman who amazed and surprised many by making some of the most atmospheric, blissful and beautiful music of the 1990s. What could he possibly do to top a trio of jaw-dropping, genre-defining, awe-inspiring albums? He sacked his entire band and started again with a new one. Well, it worked for Jimi Hendrix.

'Let It Come Down' is a towering achievement - both musically and emotionally. As usual, Pierce has drawn his inspiration from a wide pool - everything from Ray Charles' country and western LPs made at the end of the '50s to Dennis Wilson's heartbreak album 'Pacific Ocean Blue'. The result is a beautiful 70 minute swathe of densely orchestrated, richly symphonic sound. Gone are the free-jazz detonations that characterized previous opus 'Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space' , replaced by a grander, more reflective sound that sees Pierce finally staking his claim as a classic songwriter.

This album has been billed as Pierce's rehab record largely on the strength of titles like 'The Straight And The Narrow' and 'The Twelve Steps'. Actually, it's nothing of the sort. Pierce sounds full of life and comes accross as an elated craftsmen hell-bent on a quest to conquer. This isn't the sound of a man on the wagon.

This is a work of intense emotional resonance. Pierce mixes junkie jokes about burning holes in his clothes ('Do It All Over Again') with his usual wry sense of opiated self-obsession. The album ends with a burning 10 minute gospel called 'Won't Get To Heaven ('The State I'm In')'. It's breathtaking and ironically too brief. As an encapsulation of Pierce's ever more expansive sonic manifesto (much of this album was recorded live at Abbey Road with up to 100 musicians) it's difficult to see how it could have been topped.

Unlike Radiohead , wh
o responded to 'OK Computer' being heralded as the best record of their career by retreating into avant-garde electronica, Pierce has confronted the challenge of bettering 'Ladies And Gentlemen...' head on. 'Let It Come Down' isn't the sound of a band touched by genius, it's the sound of one born with it. This is music as it's meant to be: raw, colossal and awe-inspiring. No wonder everything else just pales in comparison. Some claim it takes time to tell of genius. The 70 minutes it takes to listen to this album is time enough.

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