In the vast infinity of space, there appears to be an endless number of bands who have chosen to call themselves Space. Here is a selection of the ones I could find... before I ran out of space.
SPACE #1
We start with a songwriter called Sterling Storm who began his career as a member of Californian surf rock band Eddie & The Showmen, and who would later go on to join 80s New Wave band The Humans. Here he is in 1968 with his sole release as Space.
SPACE #2
Next - how about a whole album of Latin psychedelic rock from 1970... because I can't find individual tracks? They were from Puerto Rico, where they also went by the name The Living End. It's only 38 minutes, I'm sure you've not got anything better to do with your time.
SPACE #3
In 1975, the Tremeloes, long after Brian Poole had buggered off to pursue a solo career and the hits were but distant memories, released an album with the rather desperate title Don't Let The Music Die. Perhaps to distance themselves from the past, the record was originally credited to Space... although it was reissued later under The Tremeloes name. Here's the sole Space single...
1977. Disco. French disco. Didier Marouani (aka Ecama) and Roland Romanelli. #2 in the UK charts. And a video that was cutting edge at the time. Daft Punk were clearly taking notes.
SPACE #5
No date on this one, or any information I can find (Ernie might know better), but it's jazzy... and a hell of a lot better than the next offering, which is also jazzy. If you like this, there's one copy going for £240 on discogs.
SPACE #6
Jazz. Hardcore free jazz, that is, from 1984. Roscoe Mitchell, Tom Buckner, Gerald Oshita were Space... and if this is what passes for conversation first thing in their house, I'm glad I skip breakfast.
SPACE #7
If you thought the free jazz was bad, imagine how bad a techno version of Purple Haze would be. This is why 1990 was not a good year for music. The best I can say about it is that the vocalist is called Doreen Waddell. There's not enough Doreens in pop music.
SPACE #8
The Scouse Space, who I saw live a few times during the high times of the 90s, looked like the archetypal Britpop band with their shaggy moptop hairdos that recalled their 60s predecessors far more than those lunkhead brothers from Manchester. Their music veered off on weird tangents though, with echoes of Brel, Gainsborough and other less conventional 60s acts. Lyrically, they were more adventurous than many of their peers too, though this was sometimes hard to swallow for the anthem-craving masses. Two of their biggest hits, The Female Of The Species and the tune below, didn't sound like anything else on the radio... and they were clearly Lloyd Grossman fans. Who lives in a house like this?
SPACE #9
And so we reach The Final Frontier!
Australian singer-songwriter Jason Smith now lives in LA, where he goes under the name Space. Here's a song about Brian losing his last battle...
Which ones would you find Space for in your record collection... and which ones deserve to be shot into space?
That techno Purple Haze is the very definition of abysmal. Aural sorbet required.
ReplyDeleteMy goodness, there is some rubbish there. I'm going for #4 as it takes my back to my youth and I remember thinking how cool the video and spacesuits were at the time. I like #2 as well.
ReplyDeleteAs for #5, assuming the Addie Douglas who wrote (and possibly sang) both sides of the single is the same Addie Douglas who was featured on "Jay Jasmine T Presents" then the answer would seem to be Florida in the late 1970s.
Worth looking at the back cover of the album just for the photo of Johnny Easter. He really should put a shirt on:
https://www.discogs.com/release/14177269-Various-Jay-Jasmine-T-Presents/image/SW1hZ2U6NDUzNDM1MDg=
As always, Ernie your research puts mine to shame. I have a number of questions about that back cover though, starting with whether Johnny Easter and Deryle Hughes are actually the same guy, pictured with and without a shirt. As for the Ironia photo... the mind boggles.
DeleteLike Ernie I'm going for #4, but mainly for nostalgia reasons as I remember it well from my youth. Other than that I liked #3, very Britpop-y (20 years too soon, or 10 years too late if trying to be Beatles).
ReplyDeleteThe jazzy #5 is very good but you can keep your #6 free jazz!
I liked Scouse Space number 8, bought there first 2 albums and thought there was some great tunes on them, however purely on the strength of the song itself which i still thinks some great i am also going with French Space number 4 and Magic Fly
ReplyDeleteIt's #4 all the way for me, I never tire of listening to this song! I'd liked #2 as well but may tire of it after a few plays.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Scouse Space, I thought Neighbourhood was bobbins when it came out, but quickly warmed to their other singles. Never did buy any of their albums, though.
There is a Space #7a from 1990 as well aka Jimmy Cauty from The KLF who released an 8-track self-titled album. This was allegedly meant to be The Orb's debut until Jimmy parted ways and excised Alex's contribution. Like #2, it's on YouTube as a continuous album https://youtu.be/QPjzZXdskpg
As for #7, Doreen Waddell provided backing vocals on The KLF's Justified & Ancient but her story took a very sad and tragic turn, leading to a sad end in 2002. https://www.nme.com/news/music/nme-1982-1372661
I agree that the version of Purple Haze isn't great but... give it a rinse and remix by David Holmes, bring in his band The Free Association and suddenly you have this https://youtu.be/K5aBDALtl1k (which I think is great)
Thank you, Khayem. I was intrigued by the Orb related track and would have included that if I'd found it, but after 7 or so pages if Space-related artists on discogs (and many more to go), I'd almost lost the will to live. Very sad end for poor Doreen.
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