Pure Phase

PURE PHASE includes tracks from Spiritualized's ELECTRIC MAINLINE EP.
Spiritualized: Jason Pierce (vocals, guitar, dulcimer); Kate Radley (vocals, piano, Farfisa organ); Sean Cook (harmonica, bass).
Additional personnel: Caroline Crawley, Marilyn McFarlane, Helen White (vocals); Mark Refoy (guitar); Leon Hunt (banjo); Stuart Gordon (violin); The Balanescu Quartet (strings); Bammie, Simon Clarke (saxophone, flute); Tim Sanders (saxophone); Tam Tam, Roddy Lorimar, Stephen Sidwell (trumpet); Rico (trombone); Chris Sharrack (drums); Jon Mattock (percussion).
Engineers: Mike Long, Andy Wilkinson, Julian Withers, Barry Clempson, Mads Bjerke.
Much of the reason that the Pure Phase album seemed a tad disappointing upon its 1995 release was that the Electric Mainline teaser EP issued over a year earlier was so fantastic -- its three tracks possess an organic vitality and soulful grit that the overly fussy versions reprised on Pure Phase sorely lack. "Good Times" exists at the intersection of cosmic rock & roll and salt-of-the-earth R&B, fusing a chugging, hypnotic guitar riff with backing vocals and horn arrangements channeled from some off-planet franchise of Muscle Shoals Studios. "Lay Back in the Sun" somehow manages to achieve exit velocity despite (or maybe because of) a grinding, circular melody that actually goes nowhere, and the two-part instrumental title cut captures the same arriving-without-traveling zeitgeist. Jason Pierce advises in the liner notes to "play loud 'n' drive fast" -- words worth heeding at all times. ~ Jason Ankeny