Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (1997)

Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (stylised in sentence case) is the third studio album by English space rock band Spiritualized, released on 16 June 1997. The album features guest appearances from the Balanescu Quartet, the London Community Gospel Choir and Dr. John.

Background

The album's title is from the philosophical novel Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder, the context being:

Only philosophers embark on this perilous expedition to the outermost reaches of language and existence. Some of them fall off, but others cling on desperately and yell at the people nestling deep in the snug softness, stuffing themselves with delicious food and drink. "Ladies and Gentlemen," they yell, "we are floating in space!" But none of the people down there care.

The album itself was recorded shortly after the break-up of Spiritualized's Jason Pierce and Kate Radley, the band's keyboard player. Radley had secretly married Richard Ashcroft of The Verve in 1995. Pierce, however, maintains that much of the album, including "Broken Heart" and "Cool Waves", had been written before the breakup. "If you write a song like ['Broken Heart'], you have to make it feel like what it's like to have a broken heart," he said. "That's what making albums is all about. Otherwise it's just field recordings."

The title track features lines sung by Pierce through a high-pass filter imitating the spacecraft communications of the Apollo program, including the Quindar tones in between lines. Original pressings had a version of the song that incorporated the lyrics and melody of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love." The Presley estate initially objected to this, and a remixed version appeared on the commercial release, with new lyrics. However, Spiritualized continue to use both sets of lyrics in live performances. The 2009 reissue restored the version with the Presley lyrics, with the proviso that Presley's song would be included in the title with parentheses. Further reissues have since reverted the retitling.

Album closer "Cop Shoot Cop..." references lyrics from John Prine's "Sam Stone", incorporating variations on a key line from that song's chorus.

Recording

In the summer of 1995, Jason Pierce and Sean Cook entered Moles Studio in Bath, England, to start work on demo recordings with resident engineer Trevor Curwen. Pierce would develop his ideas into complete songs during this period. A few weeks later, recording of the album proper began in earnest, with all of the band members present. Working on 24-track tape synchronised to an Atari sequencer allowed Pierce to build up sequenced tracks from samples of live playing, coupled with some parts gleaned from the demo sessions. The full band line-up, including John Coxon on guitar, performed live over this sequenced backbone.

With the basic framework intact, Pierce moved the project to London to work with producer and engineer Darren Allison (My Bloody Valentine) on the recording of vocals, guitars, keyboards, gospel choir and brass section at The Church Studios. The pair worked on further vocal recording at Rooster Studios, before moving on to recording strings with the Balanescu Quartet at London's Olympic Studios. At this point, Pierce made a trip to the United States to record Dr. John's piano and vocal parts on the track "Cop Shoot Cop".

The mixing process involved various studios and personnel. Beginning at House of Blues in Memphis, Pierce returned to work again with Allison at The Strongroom Studios, John Leckie, and Curwen at Moles Studio. With the mixing phase complete, Pierce concentrated on post-production and editing with Mads Bjerke, and Ray Staff at Whitfield Street Studios took charge of the mastering process.

Music

The album's sound has been described by music critics and journalists, both in terms of the scenes Spiritualized pertained to and their influences at the time, as space rock, neo-psychedelia, shoegaze, gospel, and blues.

Releases

The artwork was designed by Pierce in collaboration with Mark Farrow. A special edition of the album was packaged in a box designed to resemble prescription medicine, complete with a booklet containing "dosage advice" and a foil blister pack containing the CD. A limited edition was also released, featuring each of the 12 songs in its own individually wrapped 3-inch CD, inside a large blister pack and box.

In 2020, record club Vinyl Me, Please announced they would reissue the album on blue colored vinyl in September of the same year. This was the first "artist-approved" vinyl reissue of the album.