Spacemen 3, led by Pete Kember (Sonic Boom) and Jason Pierce have never been more influential, and now their distinctive style and sound can finally be properly recognized and enjoyed in their original form. As the first stage in Fire Records comprehensive Spacemen 3 reissue campaign, they are proud to release, for the first time on LP in the U.S. the band's unforgettable debut record, Sound of Confusion, the defining sound of the classic The Perfect Prescription, and the jaw-dropping live haze of Performance. All of the LPs have been restored to their original tracklisting and come in three special 180gram colored vinyl editions.

Spacemen 3 were psychedelic in the loosest sense of the word; their guitar explorations were colorfully mind-altering, but not in the sense of the acid rock of the '60s. Instead, the band developed its own minimalistic psychedelia, relying on heavily distorted guitars to clash and produce their own harmonic overtones; frequently, they would. 'Spacemen 3 have a limited edition (2000 copies) five track mini-album released by Space Age Recordings in cardboard sleeve wallet which features two previously-unreleased Spacemen 3 tracks, a radically different mix of the classic Spacemen 3 cover of the Red Krayola's 'Transparent Radiation' and appearing for the first time on CD, the ultra rare remix of 'I Love You' (originally only 50 promo white label vinyl copies were ever pressed).

Contains tracks

Spacemen 3 - Walkin' With Jesus by FIRE RECORDS

Spacemen 3 Dj Tones Ep Rarity Online

(Space Age)

And so the Spacemen return… on record, at least. Britain’s Space
Age Recordings, home to Sonic Boom’s Spectrum and E.A.R. and overseer of
numerous Spacemen 3 reissues and archival projects, offers up an intriguing
little flashback of symphonic ecstasy. The cheekily-titled DJ Tones – though there may be “tones” here ripe for sampling,
don’t expect any house-thumping beatz – brings together five tracks (two of
which have never been issued before) that perfectly recapture the cerebral S3
magic.

You know Spacemen 3: extant from the mid ‘80s to the early
‘90s, the Rugby, England, based outfit nicely bridged the garage/psych,
postpunk and shoegaze eras with a heady mix inspired by – as evidenced by the
covers they not only worked up but inhabited – the Velvets/Lou Reed, Suicide, the Stooges, the Red Krayola and other
avatars of primal, cortex-uncorking tuneage. The band subsequently begat the aforementioned
Sonic Boom’s (aka guitarist Pete Kember) projects, as it did Jason Pierce’s
Spiritualized. In S3’s critically hailed, timeless classic, 1987’s The Perfect Prescription, the stirrings
of those groups were clearly foreshadowed, although by some measures neither
man, though issuing scores of brilliant post-S3 records, has ever fully matched
that artistic peak. (There’s a reason we judge certain albums “timeless” and
“classic.”)

DJ Tones revisits The Perfect Prescription via two songs
indelibly associated with it, “Transparent Radiation” and “Ecstasy Symphony.”
The former, a Red Krayola song, is presented as a radical remix with guest Owen
John’s signature violin figure featured far more prominently than on the
original album or on the posthumous Forged
Prescriptions double-CD collection of demos and alternate takes; there’s a
shuddery, almost beatific quality that borders on gospel-blues, and the vocals,
likewise, take on a hushed, reverent tone that’s almost prayerful. The latter
appears to be the same 9:05 version from Forged
Prescriptions: shimmering, undulating, hissing, droning and, true its name,
swooning in harmonic ecstasy, the pillowy instrumental denouement to an
extended drug high.

Another old S3 fave makes a reappearance: a remix of “I Love
You,” originally from the band’s 1991 swansong “Recurring.” By this point
Kember had developed an overt fondness for the motorik vibe of Krautrock legends Neu! and Can, and it shows in the
throbbing, hypnotic pulse that runs throughout what’s otherwise a richly
melodic pop (love) song. Rounding things out are the aforementioned unreleased
cuts: “Modulated Tones” which, truth-in-titling, is a brief (1 ½ minutes) composition
comprising ebb-and-flow drone/fuzz guitar; and “These Blues,” a wonderful slice
of gently anthemic, Velvets-like dronepop featuring tom drums, maraca
percussion, an echoey violin (it may actually be a treated guitar) humming
along in the background, and an affecting, emotional vocal. “These Blues,” in
fact, is a hugely impressive addition to the S3 canon, and had it been issued
back in the day as a single it would have stood a good chance of charting.
Alas, ‘twas not to be, however, and Pierce would take the song with him,
radically reworking it as a surging, churning psychedelic wall-of-sound for
Spiritualized’s 1995 album Pure Phase.

Housed in a cardboard slipsleeve boasting yellow-black “3”
logo artwork guaranteed to make your eyeballs ache if you hold it too close to
your face, DJ Tones is a limited edition of just 2000 copies, so run, don’t walk,
to your browser and hit that Space Age link. Come down easy, kids.

Spacemen 3 Albums

Standout Tracks: “Transparent
Radiation,” “These Blues” FRED MILLS