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Track Listings
| 1. This Little Life Of Mine |
| 2. She Kissed Me (It Felt Like A Hit) |
| 3. Hold On |
| 4. Oh Baby |
| 5. Never Goin' Back |
| 6. The Power And The Glory |
| 7. Lord Let It Rain On Me |
| 8. The Ballad Of Richie Lee |
| 9. Cheapster |
| 10. Rated X |
| 11. Lay It Down Slow |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk review
Considering some of Jason Piece's beguiling (if a little bombastic) output over the last few years, Amazing Grace is a refreshing breath of raw sweat-laden air from Spiritualised. With the tracks recorded live and the whole album completed in just three weeks, gone are Mr J Spaceman's often grandiose orchestrations in favour of an urgency all but extinct on Spiritualised albums since 1992's Lazer Guided Melodies.
Opening with a 10-second slice of screeching feedback, "This Little Life of Mine" paves the way to the garage of rock with heaving guitars and Piece's growling vocals setting the album's standard. There is a delicious disregard for continuity throughout Amazing Grace, most notably when "Oh Baby" a neck-hair teasing ballad of listless beauty trickles into the rousing Stooges flavoured rock of "Never Going Back". But elsewhere it's back to gospel choir backed business as usual with "Lord Let It Rain on Me", which in isolation, remains a welcome ingredient. Diverse, vital and unpretentious throughout, Amazing Grace is a welcome return to roots and a bewitching album that itches to be played again and again. --Christopher Barrett
Product Description
SPIRITUALIZED Amazing Grace (2003 UK 11-track CD includes She Kissed Me picture sleeve SANCD214)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Jason Pierce has produced the fifth and most energizing Spiritualized album here. 'Amazing Grace' kicks off in a load of feedback before the spacedust settles on the remarkable 'Hold On'. Other highlights include 'Lay It Down Slow' and 'Lord Let It Rain On Me'.
See also both volumes of The Complete Works of Spiritualized to see just how this genius captures such vital magic.
See also both volumes of The Complete Works of Spiritualized to see just how this genius captures such vital magic.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Amazing Grace® joins that ever-growing elite of albums named after a song title that does not appear on that album, in this case Spiritualized's version of the old hymn Amazing Grace, which had appeared in 2002 on the single of Do It All Over Again. That single was taken from the 2001 album Let It Come Down, an album that had been four years in the making and had been generally regarded as slightly bloated and over-achieving, with gospel choirs and 100-piece orchestras eventually detracting from the beautiful compositions that lay at the core of the album.
By contrast, the majority of this album was recorded over just three weeks at Rockfield, with a line-up comprising Spaceman, John Coxon, Doggen, Thighpaulsandra, Tom Edwards and drummer Johnny Aitken. Regular drummer Kevin Bales had been taken ill at the end of the preceding tour and could not play on most of the sessions.
The band played live, without overdubs, and generally with no more than one day being devoted to complete each song, so that Amazing Grace® became, according to Spaceman, "a document of a recording of what it was like on each day". The result is a fresher, more spontaneous energy infusing the results, with each track contrasting or complementing the one before.
In some ways it sounds like the follow-up to Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space that we never had, the more upbeat tracks such as the excellent Crystals-referencing title She Kissed Me (It Felt Like A Hit) and its follow-up single Cheapster both recalling previous energy-bursts such as Electricity, while the slower numbers are held in check at four or five minutes in length.
Overdubs were added at the Roundhouse Studios and these included contributions from the British jazz alumni Evan Parker (sax) and Kenny Wheeler (trumpet). Spaceman and John Coxon had previously recorded with both as part of the Spring Heel Jack project Amassed. The instrumental The Power And The Glory has some of the best playing on the album, though perhaps as a result of the compressed recording time a couple of the songs and lyrics might strike the more fervent listener as Spiritualized-by-numbers.
By contrast, the majority of this album was recorded over just three weeks at Rockfield, with a line-up comprising Spaceman, John Coxon, Doggen, Thighpaulsandra, Tom Edwards and drummer Johnny Aitken. Regular drummer Kevin Bales had been taken ill at the end of the preceding tour and could not play on most of the sessions.
The band played live, without overdubs, and generally with no more than one day being devoted to complete each song, so that Amazing Grace® became, according to Spaceman, "a document of a recording of what it was like on each day". The result is a fresher, more spontaneous energy infusing the results, with each track contrasting or complementing the one before.
In some ways it sounds like the follow-up to Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space that we never had, the more upbeat tracks such as the excellent Crystals-referencing title She Kissed Me (It Felt Like A Hit) and its follow-up single Cheapster both recalling previous energy-bursts such as Electricity, while the slower numbers are held in check at four or five minutes in length.
Overdubs were added at the Roundhouse Studios and these included contributions from the British jazz alumni Evan Parker (sax) and Kenny Wheeler (trumpet). Spaceman and John Coxon had previously recorded with both as part of the Spring Heel Jack project Amassed. The instrumental The Power And The Glory has some of the best playing on the album, though perhaps as a result of the compressed recording time a couple of the songs and lyrics might strike the more fervent listener as Spiritualized-by-numbers.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Too much is being made of this album's supposed foray into garage rock. This is still unmistakably Spiritualized medicine. The rock tracks 'This Little Life..', 'Cheapster' and 'Never -Goin' Back' have some White Stripsey production values if you really want to go that route but it still sounds like Spiritualized to me, if anything it's leaning more towards Spacemen 3 than the previous two Spiritualized albums. Only 'The Power and the Glory' loses the plot but fulfils the necessary 'rambling freeform jazz instrumental' quota for the album. The rest of the record moves from the basement to a higher place.
Those who favour the more blissed-out side to Jason Pierce will not be disappointed, 'Hold On' (doing a sterling job reinforcing the message given by The Flaming Lips' on 'Do You Realise') , 'Rated X', 'The Ballad...' and 'Oh Baby' are classic Spiritualized laments but display some degree of restraint with none of the tracks going much over the 5 minute mark. 'Lord Let It Rain Down' is the gospel offering, Pierce (never knowingly undersold) is looking for both an epiphany and the rapture.
My favourite is the soaring album closer 'Let It Down Slow', which is so instantly familiar that one wonders if it's not a re-recording of an earlier song (no, he didn't pull that trick again this time). The lyrics provide instant succour and medicinal relief "if you've got pain in your heart/ why don't you share it with me/ and we'll just wait and see if it's half of what is used to be".
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Spiritualized 'Amazing Grace'
Epic space rock, with touches of everything from country & r&b through soul to gospel & even jazz hints. Read more
Published on 16 July 2009 by Small Paul
Great stuff from Jason Spaceman
This is a great album for those who found the previous record a bit tame .There's some really fast full on rock which is quite garrage-y and some really slow , mellanchollic songs... Read more
Published on 28 Nov 2007 by Steam
a few really good moments
That's about it though really. some of the orchestral parts take the sound further than on ladies and gents and are a bit more sensitive, but by and large this doesn't really... Read more
Published on 15 Nov 2007 by C. J. Cowie
Blistering!
This album is a complete departure from the previous lush, orchestral Spiritualized sound. It's garage punk rock 'n' roll. And it's amazing!!! One of the best Spiritualized albums. Read more
Published on 9 Jun 2007 by Severin
Amazing! (grace?)
I really like this album. Out of my spiritualized collection, this is one of the albums i play the most. The first two tracks are very trashy but still enjoyable spaceman stuff. Read more
Published on 29 Nov 2006 by I. James
Disappointing stuff that still hasn't caught my attention
I've probably only listened tothis album twice in about 3 years. Unheard of with all of their previuos releases. Read more
Published on 24 Aug 2006 by Man Under Glass
very nice
it's very nice
it's not a remake of a previous spiritualized album
it's not a copy of another group
it's different in it's objectives
it's quite... Read more
it's not a remake of a previous spiritualized album
it's not a copy of another group
it's different in it's objectives
it's quite... Read more
Published on 19 Nov 2003 by Mr. Douglas Ferguson
A Simpler Approach
This is probably a more satisfying album for long term Jason Pierce fans than it is for Spiritualized newcomers. Read more
Published on 23 Oct 2003
Stripped down to reveal....nothing
Having made the flabby, orchestral hit of 'Let it Come Down'
where could they go next?. I'm dismayed to see the have they have followed the expected rock and roll... Read more
where could they go next?. I'm dismayed to see the have they have followed the expected rock and roll... Read more
Published on 10 Sep 2003 by T. Robinson
It has grace, but it's not amazing
Things have been moving fast in the world of rock and roll in the past two years. First there was the emergence of a new breed of rock and rollers with a firm eye on the past (The... Read more
Published on 13 Aug 2003 by HerbieKing
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