If you're going to be transparent about your influences, then you can't go far wrong with the Velvet Underground, the Stooges and Suicide. Little wonder that I loved Spacemen 3 from the moment I first heard them. That said, it occurred to me that I didn't know all of their records equally well - which is where this Quietus piece by Danny Passarella, which "distils Spacemen 3's sprawling catalogue into ten entry points", came in, singling out highlights and offering useful pointers.
Passarella devotes particular attention to the practically posthumous LP Recurring, identifying 'Hypnotized' as "a clear signpost of the direction Jason [Pierce] would take with Spiritualized". I would argue that that direction was already clear from 'Lord Can You Hear Me?' on 1989's Playing With Fire. (It was a revelation to me to discover, separately, that the track was covered in typically sublime fashion by Low for a 1998 tribute album also featuring Mogwai, Arab Strap and Bardo Pond.)
Passarella's more on the money about 'Big City', which sounds like "a psychedelic rock band playing acid house" and hints at where they might have gone had they been able to hold it together for another album or two.
The list also features 'Losing Touch With My Mind' (from the brilliantly titled Taking Drugs To Make Music To Take Drugs To), giving me an excuse to share a link to the muscular version that the Icarus Line recorded as an early B-side, which devolves into what seems like the very literal sound of confusion.
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