Ladies & Gentlemen Were

Packaging quality and design earns 5 stars, as does the quality of music on this album. Audio quality is less than excellent.I rated this a 4-star review because I received two pressings of disc 2 and did not receive the first 7 tracks of this album. I have ordered a replacement.EDIT: I have deducted another 3 stars for this review as my replacement included 2 copies of disc 2... And the audio quality is atrocious.

LAGWAFIS is one of my all time favorite albums. As such, I had to add a vinyl copy to my collection.Sadly, this record sounds super flat. I've heard that Plain Records often does direct transfer from CDs. Well, this doesn't sound half as good as my cd copy or my mp3 files. The packaging is cool but this beautiful record sounds awful. Bummed.

I love this album... but there must have been an issue down the line somewhere. This album comes with two records, and I was given two of the SAME disc. Unfortunately, it seems like it's too late for me to return this product through Amazon, as I was only just now able to play it, only to realize I was given duplicates of the second disc after originally ordering in January. Do yourself a favor, don't be like me, CHECK to make sure you are given parts 1 and 2, and not duplicates.

This is a massive album. Symphonic, romantic, and psychedelic, like Wagner on acid. I think that's been properly established by other reviewers at this point. It's all well and good, but what puts it among my all-time favorites is the way such grandiose music can be so personal and poignant.As a fan of great storytelling, I have a tendency to interpret albums as concept albums. For example, when I first bought The Wite Stripes' "White Blood Cells", I thought it was actually a lo-fi rock opera about childhood romance. "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space" is the same way for me.But how so? In a single sentence, here's what I think: the album is a concept album about a troubled romantic type (presumably the band's brain, Jason Pierce) who relies on drugs and alcohol to cope with unrequited love.Track by track, it works out almost perfectly. The first track begins withe the line "All I want in life's a little love to take the pain away/Gettin' strong today/One giant step each day". As it progresses, the song blooms into an overwhelming chorus of repeating lines layered and overlaping over and into each other, like expanding circles. "I will love you all the time/And I will love you 'till I die".It's all very sweet, but things soon start to go downhill with track 2, "Come Together", a rocker with saxophones that, amazingly, don't sound like crap. About halfway through the song, Jason sings bitterly, "Now Little J's a ***ked up boy who dulled the pain and killed the joy/Those tracks of time/Those tracks are mine/Little J is occupied." Rhythmicly, it sounds sort of like iambic pentameter (the heartbeat pattern that Shakespeare uses). It represents the start of the character's drug use.Then comes my personal favorite, track 3, "I Think I'm in Love". At about eight minutes in length "I Think I'm in Love" has two basic segments. The first one is musically euphoric, with lyrics describing the nearly divine bliss of a heroin high. Some people have criticized it for glorifying heroin use, but in the conext of the rest of the album, its image as an eventually destructive escape method becomes pretty clear. The second part of the song features the familiar theme of a the woozy optimisim of the beginning stages of falling in love. However, a pessimistic side comment follows every love-dumb line. When Jason confidently sings "I think my name is on your lips!", a second Jason immediately follows, singing "Probably complainin'...". It's actually pretty funny, and one of the more original metaphorical 'love as a drug' songs. The heroin dream represents Jason's sincere feelings of love while his doubtful side comments represent reality creeping in. The music, of course, is perfectly evocative and beautifulThe two songs that follow, "All My Thoughts "Stay With Me", smoothly witness the slide from infatuation (or perhaps obsession, depending on how cynical you are about love) into desperation. Then comes "Electricity", another song apparently about a drug high. It's the fastest and most traditionally 'rock and roll' song on the album."Home of the Brave" is one of the more unusual songs on the album. Its music sounds like a melodic squal of noise, which reminds me of my beloved Shoegazers My Bloody Valentine and Ride. "Home"'s squall, however, acts more as a background for Jason's extremely vulnerable singing. Some of the best lines on the album are in this sad come-down song. "Sometimes have my breakfast right off of a mirror/And sometimes I have it right out of a bottle" . . . "I don't even miss you/but that's 'cos I'm ***ked up/I'm sure when it wears off that I will be hurting.""Home of the Brave" segues directly into "The Individual". This is the song that some of the more critical reviews have attacked. It's understandable, considering that it's not so much a song as it is about 5 minutes of noise. I personally don't mind it, and I see it as a symbol of the fuzzed out, confused nature of J's drug-addled brain.By track nine, "Broken Heart", the man is back in action, packing more despair into the song than all the songs that precede it combined. I see this as 'the sober song'. His delusions gone, J sings the brutal truths of his situation: "And I'm wasted all the time/I gotta drink you right off of my mind/I've been told that this will heal given time/But I have a broken heart/And I'm crying all the time/I have to keep it covered up with a smile/And I keep on moving on for a while/But I have a broken heart". Musicically speaking, the song is a flat-out ballad complete with strings and a French horn. No wonder it was used as a single.Track 10, "No God Only Religion", is another instrumental puzzler, and I admit that I'm a bit puzzled about what it's supposed to mean, if it means anything to begin with. It's noisy, but still more accessible than "The Individual", and has a weird symphonic musical phrase that repeats, almost like a march. If I had to compare it to another piece of music, it'd be Nine Inch Nails' "Pilgrimage" instrumental from "The Fragile".Track 11, "Cool Waves" sounds like a closing track with a big ol' gospel choir singing along as J seems to come to terms with his loss, singing sadly "Baby if you gotta leave, you gotta leave." It reminds me of "Goodnight", the song that ends The Beatles' White Album.. . . But it's not the closing track. Track 12, "Cop Shoot Cop...", is a menacing yet reserved 17 minute jam with long waves of heavy feedback. Kinda cool, but very out of place on such a personal album. It's as if "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space" was recorded as a double vinyl album, but wasn't long enough to have a fourth side, so "Cop Shoot Cop" was added as an afterthought.

Kinda bummed that the pressing I got has the non-Fools Rush In title track but I couldn't not give this album 5 stars. Everything else about it is great. Great packaging and beautiful audio quality.

No longer a universal feature on "Ladies And Gentleman, We Are Floating In Space", the deliberative, note-perfect depth that characterized all of "Lazer Guided Melodies" and the vast majority of "Pure Phase" is still present on the gorgeous, anthemic title track as well as several other cuts, but as if reflective of the dichotomous effects that heavy narcotic use as a coping mechanism can generate, the peaceful feeling it evokes initially is offset by the destructive and corrosive effects it is sure to produce later, translated aurally on this release through at least three tracks that dissolve into near-chaos or skirt the edge of utter discordancy.Some of the tracks on "Pure Phase" had either a bit of an aggressive, nearly menacing tinge ("Electric Phase" and "These Blues"), but were redeemed through the fluid progression of the material within which those rough edges were embedded. Most of the tracks, however, nearly approached the universal cohesiveness of "Lazer Guided Melodies". Indeed, 'Ladies And Gentleman, We Are Floating In Space", "I Think I'm In Love" "All Of My Thoughts", "Stay With Me", "Broken Heart", and "Cool Waves" are full of the richly layered, sensitively integrated melody lines that rival anything on the first two releases, and "I Think I'm In Love" and "Cool Waves" are singular in their particular sweep and depth.An insistent, aggressive dynamic informs "Come Together" and "Electricity" and "Home Of The Brave", and while none of these cuts manage to shake loose the hook they are arranged around, a great deal of tension exists within all three. "The Individual" and "No God Only Religion" have no real formative sense of organic flow and devolve into squalling, squonking freak-outs, while "Cop Shoot Cop", initially a slow-burning, hook-laden track driven at a deliberate tempo, loses its coherence after about seven minutes and drags on for another ten before closing everything out.Marking a very negative transitional period in Jason Pierce's life, "Ladies and Gentleman....." reveals an artist in torment through Pierce's brutally confessional lyrics. "All I want in life is just a little bit of love to take the pain away", the primary refrain from the title track, is uneasily juxtaposed with "Love, in the middle of the afternoon/ just me, my arm, my spike and my spoon" from "I Think I'm In Love"; both reflect the longing for points in his life of special significance that can never be recaptured, either through wistful longing or the temporary panacea of (heavy) drug use. For the most part this is probably his most complex work, even if it's not his most cohesive, and it's lavishly produced. Fans of "Lazer Guided Melodies" and "Pure Phase" will still find a number of patiently constructed, heavily orchestrated tracks that seem to reveal new wrinkles even after years of listening; I stretch back to 1997 with this CD, which I just recently replaced. I can definitely recommend this CD. Pick up a copy, you won't regret it.

Really like the extra discs on this as it reveals the process behind the beautiful layering and overdubs that make this album so compelling - not to mention great songs

Bought as a requested gift.

Simply sublime, every last second of every disc in it. I lay in hospital facing horrendous choices and this music lived with me. I don't know about God, I don't care for nostalgia but I do believe in soul and art that touches the soul is infrequent. Spiritualised have produced many great pieces of music, but this album and this exploration of the music of the album is revelatory. Now forgive, I must go and play the album and give it my full attention.

Apologies, but this is a cut and paste of my review for the original album...with a notable addition at the end:Forget OK Computer, this is THE album of the 90s (OK don't, just get Radiohead next). The imminent re-release has made me listen to this again recently, and I now realise how amazing it is; like vintage wine, some albums better with age (either of the record or the listener - see Pink Floyd).This is a 70 minute sonic landscape, combining noise (and what a racket it is at times, particularly during the album's epic finale Cop Shoot Cop) with the most gorgeous guitar and piano whispered melodies that you will find anywhere. Ever. Add into the mix strings, free jazz, choirs and Spaceman's voice and it really is the perfect prescription for a night in, LISTENING to music. It is an album to listen to in its entirety, from the whispered words of "Ladies and Gentlemen, we are floating in space" (spoken by Kate Radley, later to become Mrs Richard Ashcroft) to the sonic noise terror of the aforementioned Cop Shoot Cop, rather than in iSnippets (i.e. "random") on your MP3 player of choice. You would not read random chapters of a novel now would you, or only admire an eighth of a picture?Few artists will ever deliver the full set of human emotion (and an awful lot more) in their careers worth of recording than this does on a single album.Personally, I do not believe Spirtitualized have or will ever better this, although Lazer Guided Melodies , their début does run it close, but that is more relaxing, with less noise.Buy it and play it from start to end, loud.1997 was obviously a very good vintage.The Re-release:-Is it worth a re-release? I have bought the single disc version, without all the out takes (etc), so the only unreleased track on here is the title track, now building up to the climax of Elvis' "I Can't Help Falling In Love With You" as a full sample (as I believe originally intended but due to legal issues was amended just prior to release), in a manner similar to Gavin Bryars' "Jesus Love Never Failed Me Yet" but over 4 minutes, rather than the aforementioned 76. As a "completeist", yes it is worth it, but this version contains nothing extra (other than that) than the original, as Jason Pierce believes the original was damn near perfect (and he may be right). It does however prevent me from ruining my original "Pill" case, everytime I want to play the album!

I love it because its Spiritualized and Jason Pierce can do very little wrong for me. But not even a gatefold cover when we know what time and thought went into how this album was originally presented. I can't believe I'm complaining about this issue, because the sound makes me swoon. I just expected to paw the cover for hours whilst listening.

An otherwise great album ruined, in my opinion, by the inability to bring each song to a close without 2 and a half minutes of swirling guitar feedback. Could have cut 10 minutes off the album and improved it greatly.

It's not an everyday occurence that I put an album in my personal top 50, but have done so with Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space. I wonder how this record has eluded my attention for so long; still a classic as far as I am concerned.