Recurring

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By the time Recurring was recorded, Pierce and Sonic had all but come to blows, and the end result shouldn't be considered an album proper so much as two EPs, with completely different personnel supporting their individual creations, Sonic's tracks appearing first. That they were even able to release it as a Spacemen 3 album at all seems to have been a fraught affair, but somehow it happened, with original drummer Natty Brooker providing the cover art. The respective musical obsessions that would define Pierce and Sonic's post-Spacemen work were perfectly apparent in both sections -- while there have always been plenty of clear links between the two, the more individual parts of their natures started to flourish in full. Pierce's obsession with orchestration, gospel, and blues as transposed into psychedelia and proto-punk energy was in full swing, while his backing musicians would shortly thereafter form the initial Spiritualized lineup. Feel So Sad, later recorded by Spiritualized as a dramatic 15-minute epic, is already well on its way via heavy space and echo on Pierce's vocals combined with sweeping arrangements. Sonic, again recording with Jazz Butcher associates (including the Jazz Butcher himself on flute) and with future Spectrum member Richard Formby, moved toward a more overtly experimental approach. They're still obsessively structured compared to many later Spectrum and E.A.R. explorations, but with the familiar wash of compressed yet dynamic production well in place, as the astonishing Why Couldn't I See shows. His lead-off track Big City is one of his best, Kraftwerk's propulsion filtered through Suicide's roughness and his own evanescent bliss, building to a soaring climax. An interesting inclusion was his cover of Mudhoney's When Tomorrow Hits, originally recorded for a split single with them until he heard some irreverent lyric changes they did for their take on Revolution. As with nearly everything the band released, Recurring, All Music Guide