Spacemen 3 - For All The Fucked-Up Children Of This World We Give You Spacemen 3 (Album Review)

 

Spacemen 3 - For All The Fucked-Up Children Of This World We Give You Spacemen 3

(1995)

My copy: 2018 reissue by Superior Viaduct.

Spacemen 3’s journey began when they recorded these five songs back in 1984. Very much the sound of a band desperately trying to find its way, For All The Fucked-Up Children Of This World We Give You Spacemen 3 is a choppy collection of brittle guitar, howling vocals and basic drums. 

“Things’ll Never Be The Same” starts the blues-rock connection throughout the record with a sharp and jagged riff that is repeated behind a simple drum beat and two other layers of guitar. The band featured no bass at the time and so these recordings are bright and at times quite prickly. The blues worship continues into “2:35” with a walking riff and provocative vocal performance.

This very early version of “Walkin’ With Jesus” shows signs of promise and signals to the dense layering the band would go on to be known for in later releases. Slide guitar harmonizes with the vocals and harmonica peaks up over the guitar and drums. “T.V. Catastrophe” is an urgent bolero of distortion and would be a major highlight if it evolved interestingly or was shorter in length. “Fixin’ To Die” is the longest track and features jangled, poppy guitar chords over a spiritual call and response vocal display. 

The final two tracks are just remixes of the first two, this time benefitting from a tighter EQ job that draws out some bass tones.

This first set of recordings is largely unimportant to anyone who isn’t a fan of future Spacemen 3 releases. There are moments of cleverness, however crude and ill-recorded. I’d only recommend this to those who are already fans as it’d do little to convert the uninitiated. 

This reissue is good quality and is widely available.