Spacemen 3 - Translucent Flashbacks (The Glass Singles) FLAC album

Here we have some of the more interesting (and even enjoyable) music of the second half of the 1980s...the stretched out covers of MC5 and 13th Floor Elevators obviously nodding to influences (and the SM3 versions not at all redundant), the music also seems to come out of other late 60s' sources, namely the more free-reeling moments of Pink Floyd, the Doors, Hendrix, and VU, when those bands weren't focusing on catchy pop tunes. While the 80s and into the 90s saw a renewed interest in so-called psychedelic music, this band was burning through the haze with full-fledged acid rock. This anthology of the Glass singles will give you a window into that world without having to fork over bucks for the originals (or this may serve as a realization that you want to fork over your hard-earned cash from those singles).

If per chance you’re one of those people who’ve done as their parents requested, staying away from those who are strange and unusual, and of late have been finding yourself rather boxed in ... well welcome to the best of the strange and unusual. A bit of a warning if I may ... dropping this disc of neo-psychedelic gems, from what’s known as the Glass Singles, into your stereo will instantly transport you to a rather high bluff some 27 miles outside of Las Vegas, where with the last long fingers of the sun stretching out behind you, Vegas turns into a shimmering dancing pool of light, smack dab in the middle of nowhere.

And if you’re like me, knowing that any excuse for “Walkin’ With Jesus” will make you “Feel So Good,” and as you sit there bathed in the “Transparent Radiation” of your dashboard lights, with the music washing over you like an “Ecstasy Symphony,” feeling the engine rumble beneath the floorboards, preparing to jettison you like a “Rollercoaster,” where you have barely enough time to adjust the rearview mirror, and like some demented “Starship” captain, give the command, “Take Me To The Other Side,” and you’re already gone, your “Soul” lost in the ozone of morphing musical masterpieces, a compilation of Spacemen 3’s finest numbers ... and as the acid hits full throttle, and so do you, you’ll realize just how stunningly magnificent the strange and unusual can actually be.

Review by Jenell Kesler