LET IT COME DOWN
BMG
As rumours of the forthcoming Spiritualized album suggest a rawer sound, it’s a good time to revisit their last two gilded recordings. Ladies And Gentlemen (1997) remains the obvious touchstone, the point where Jason Pierce’s ambitions to expand the sonic and emotional parameters of rock’n’roll?with free jazz, formal composition, gospel, voodoo blues?were most fully realised.
In most hands, such grandiosity would be folly. And, certainly, the dense orchestrations of Let It Come Down were sceptically received in 2001. Yet it sounds tremendous, as Pierce asserts his love of embellished classic song forms:Ray Charles’ Modern Sounds In Country & Western Dion’s Born To Be With You; Elvis’ “American Trilogy”.
Let’s hope the new direction proves as satisfying.