''Pure Phase'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Spiritualized Spiritualized (stylised as Spiritualized®) are an English rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire, by Jason Pierce (often known as J. Spaceman), formerly of Spacemen 3. After several line up-changes, in 1999, the band centered on Pierc ...

, released on 28 March 1995. The album was recorded in the Moles Studio in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, and features contributions from The Balanescu Quartet. Initial CD copies were sold in a glow-in-the-dark, encapsulated CD case. The lineup fluctuated during recording, with the band eventually reduced to a core trio of Jason Pierce, Kate Radley and Sean Cook. Previous members Mark Refoy and Jonny Mattock performed the main guitar and drums sections respectively, but by the time of album release, both men had been sacked from the band. At the time of release, Pierce had renamed the band as "Spiritualized Electric Mainline", the name that appears on the album cover, before reverting to the Spiritualized name shortly afterwards. The track "Pure Phase" was the basis for a limited edition release called "Pure Phase Tones For DJs", which consisted of 16 versions of "Pure Phase", four on each side of the single, playable at both 33 and 45rpm. The tracks were in the keys of C/F; D/G; E/A; F/B-flat; G/C; A/D; B/E; and C/F, at varying frequencies. Pierce intended that they were to be used as a set, in order to make

chords Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord (as ...

. The 'Pure Phase Tone' still features heavily in Spiritualized's live set to this day, playing in between songs and before they go onstage, acting as their entrance music.

Music

The album's sound is described as

space rock Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drummin ...

noise pop Noise pop is a subgenre of alternative and indie rock that developed in the mid-1980s in the United Kingdom and United States. It is defined by its mixture of dissonant noise or feedback with the songcraft more often found in pop music. Shoegazi ...

, and

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...

Critical reception

In 2014, ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' included the album in its list of "30 Glorious

Albums That Deserve a Reissue Pronto."

Track listing

All songs by J. Pierce except "Born Never Asked" by

Laurie Anderson Laurel Philips Anderson (born June 5, 1947), known as Laurie Anderson, is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and ...

Personnel

* Jason Pierce – vocals, guitar (

Gibson Firebird The Gibson Firebird is a solid-body electric guitar manufactured by Gibson beginning in 1963. History The Gibson Guitar Corporation released several new styles during the 1950s to compete with Fender's solid-body instruments, such as the Telecas ...

, Fender Thinline), dulcimer * Kate Radley – keyboards (

Vox Continental The Vox Continental is a transistorised combo organ that was manufactured between 1962 and 1971 by the British musical equipment manufacturer Vox. It was designed for touring musicians and as an alternative to the heavy Hammond organ. It supp ...

Farfisa Farfisa (Fabbriche Riunite di Fisarmoniche) is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy, founded in 1946. The company manufactured a series of compact electronic organs in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Compact, FAST, Professiona ...

, piano), "tones, drones, tremeloes", backing vocals * Sean Cook – bass (

Fender Precision Bass The Fender Precision Bass (often shortened to "P-Bass") is a model of electric bass guitar manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In its standard, post-1957 configuration, the Precision Bass is a solid body, four-stringed instrum ...

), wha-monica * Mark Refoy – guitar * Jonny Mattock – drums * Chris Sharrack – drums on "Lay Back in the Sun"inner credits
/ref> * Leon Hunt – banjo * Simon Clarke – flute, saxophone * Tim Sanders – saxophone * The Balanescu Quartet – strings * Claire Connors – string arrangement * Roddy Lorimer, Stephen Sidwell – trumpet * Stuart Gordon – violin * Helen White, Marilyn McFarlane – vocals on "Let It Flow" *

Caroline Crawley Caroline Crawley (8 August 1963 – 4 October 2016) was an English singer who sang for various bands. Career Caroline Crawley was the co-founder of Shelleyan Orphan alongside guitarist Jemaur Tayle. They met in their mutual home town of Bour ...

– vocals on "The Slide Song" * Produced by Jason Pierce * Engineered by Mike Long, Andy Wilkinson, Julian Withers, Barry Clempson and Mads Bjerke * Assistant engineers: Scott Powell and Richard Baker * Mixed by Jason Pierce, John Coxon and Mads Bjerke * Mastered by Chris Blair at

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...

References

{{Authority control 1995 albums Spiritualized albums Noise pop albums