Re: New Spiritualized album
 

It is the final master - there's a guy over on the Spiritualized forums who had the unmastered version back in February and then had the final master about mid-March - and it's not long after that that the leak happened. I suppose it could be because of the pneumonia that Jason's voice doesn't sound the same.

The album seems to be dividing opinion over on those forums too and you have to wonder how many of those saying that they love it are like the UW fanboys we get here...

Re: New Spiritualized album
 

i'm listening jason pierce since spacemen 3. his voice is just changing like neil young. :-)

i love the new album: its full of mantras, dark gospel, hymns.. for me its an album about healing yourself. its different album, written way before near death experience. i think most people were expecting the next "ladies and gentleman" but i'm happy that he is not repeating himself.

as a big spiritualized fan for years, i love him more now.

Re: New Spiritualized album
 

I lurk in that forum and have never posted, though I have a log in.

It's funny that you mention to UW fanboys approach we have here at dirty as that very notion dawned on me while reading some of the polarizing replies in the threads about Songs in A & E. It was like a flashback to Sept. 07 with the release of OwB.

You're very right about the difference in vocal sounds being related to Jason's bout with pneumonia. But I also seem to recall reading that the album was pretty close to completion over halfway completed before Jason came down with pneumonia. Whether or not that completed sections were scrapped and new tracks were recorded would be interesting to find out.

Re: New Spiritualized album
 

A co-worker echoed similar sentiments in regards to people wanting another 'ladies and gentlemen...' and have been wanting another one since then. I like that he's not repeating himself and constantly changing and adapting. I just found myself more drawn to Let it come down more than Amazing Grace and Songs in A & E. However, seeing, and hearing some of the songs off Amazing Grace performed live changed my opinion quite a bit. I found them much better live.

Re: New Spiritualized album
 

I'm actually really enjoying this album now and think it's a worthy addition to the Spiritualized catalogue

I've had the album in a random downtempo playlist that I've been listening to in work for the last few weeks and the songs have wormed their way into my heart. I think that once you get past the change to Jason's voice there's a lot of good stuff to be found within.

Definitely worth revisiting if you haven't listened to it since it leaked...

Re: New Spiritualized album
 

Liking it a lot, always good stuff from the Spritualized camp. I lost out on getting a promo for a magazine I write for to. D'oh!