Spacemen 3's Big City was released in January 1991, not long after the band broke up. Relations between Pete and Jason had grown increasingly strained and on the fourth and final Spacemen 3 album, Recurring, the two men had a side of the album each, barely even being in the studio at the same time. The sole song they appear on together is When Tomorrow Hits, a Mudhoney cover. Big City came in various lengths according to format and release- the album and 7" had a short, edited version, the 12" and CD singles had the longer eight and a half minutes one. And then there is this one, all glorious ten minutes and fifty one seconds of it
Big City (Everybody I Know Can Be Found Here)
Pete had been caught up in rave culture a little and the kick drum, throbbing bassline and synths all nod to acid house and dance music. Over the pulsing, blissed out music, and the psyche guitar line that runs through it, Pete whispers 'Big city/ Bright lights/ Cool people/ Everybody I know can be found here' and then 'let the good times roll', and most aptly, 'Waves of joy' and then finally, 'Yeah I love you too'. I played this song at The Golden Lion on Saturday afternoon- it sounded ace through the Lion's wonderful sound system. Later on, the pub packed out for David Holmes' latest appearance at the Lion, he played it too and with the volume pushed up for Saturday night and dancing, it sounded even better.
6 comments:
It's such a good song. Swc.
It never seems to age either- still sounds fresh
The best SM3 track and that is a very high bar. Superb stuff
I was reading something somewhere a bit back that mentioned that this track, like a lot of Spacemen 3’s tracks, might charitably be described as an homage to some other track. I immediately started to Google but came up with nothing and now can’t remember who it was I was Googling. They do rip people off left, right and centre (brilliantly) so it seems plausible. I don’t know if there aren’t vibes out there that the Sonic/Jason split may be thawing slightly, which leaves me wondering just how much I’d pay for ticket for a reunion gig.
Artog! Long time no see, welcome back. I was also musing about a S3 re- union recently- what size venue I'd like and what I'd pay.
Well, the smaller the venue the better. But realistically I imagine it’d be the type of venues that Spiritualized currently play - Brighton Dome, New Century Hall, about 2,000-ish. You can normally get tickets if you go for them in the first couple of days. Though the buzz of a reunion would make things go a bit mad I’m sure. Bit like My Bloody Valentine. I reckon I’d pay up to £100, which is double what I’ve ever paid to go to any other gig.
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