REVIEW: Spiritualized, Live At The Royal Albert Hall (Arista)
- Tim Mohr
Burn, burn the cartoon-version of the rock and roll dream put about by the likes of the Verve and Embrace. Gut the pompous arrangements that smooth the rough patches of bloated, over-produced Oasis tracks. Envision the future, the past, the totality of rock in its purest form--Keith Richards' ashes adrift on the fetid breeze of time. A mournful organ line, a sincere lament, then the cacauphony of a full orchestra.
Yes, indeed, Spiritualized are joined by an orchestra - used to create striking juxtapositions with the threadbare, minimalist melodies laid down by the Spiritualized core. Melodies that, in sheer emotional power, rival the roar of the hundred instruments that occasionally punctuate them.
This live recording captures Spiritualized's dream project, the ultimate reading of their three-album song-book. The band and orchestra's noisy crescendos relegate the quiet passages to a previously unimaginably distant pole--giving their normal lyrical desolation a heightened ability to chill the blood.
Just a scan through the song titles reveals that the obsessions of Spiritualized are those of rock bands since the dawn of the genre: "I Think I'm In Love," "Broken Heart," "Electricity." And with the recurrence of religious imagery - coupled with the gospel chior - Spiritualized deliver a perfect summation of rock doctrine, touching upon the word and the spirit.
But be prepared: Spiritualized approach the project with reverence and sincerity. There is none of the punk extremity and post-punk irony of Jon Spencer or the Make-up. There is also none of the artiness of Tindersticks, and none of the literate despair of Low.
Live At The Royal Albert Hall has nothing to lend it indie-cool: it is an unabashedly rock and roll record. Spiritualized relinquish the right to point to their own (indie) lineage - Spacemen 3 - by conjuring the legacy of rock itself.
Fortunately, Spiritualized succeed where so many have failed: Live At The Royal Albert Hall transcends the cheesy excess of the Verve or Oasis, and the pathetic wannabe-ur-rock attempted by U2 on Rattle and Hum. The scale of the Spiritualized double live album, however, warrants such comparisons: Live At The Royal Albert Hall makes the arena rock of latter day Verve, Oasis, and the Rolling Stones sound like dime-store knock-offs of the genuine item.
