Spiritualized
Amazing Grace
Jason Pierce has in essence been writing the same song again and again since his days in Spacemen 3, and there’s really nothing wrong with that: It’s a very good song. The secret to his band Spiritualized has always been the presentation, the bombastic arrangements rich with strings, gospel choirs and guitars dripping with reverb.
Pierce tones a lot of that down for the fifth Spiritualized disc, capturing the pared-down band at its most invigorating and explosive. Unfortunately, Pierce’s take on garage rock isn’t a match for his brand of heavenly space rock, and with few exceptions the songs on “Amazing Grace” sound rough and ragged where usually Pierce’s songs soar.
Take away: Junk blues
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and Drew Sottardi (dsottardi@tribune.com)
