Spacemen 3 had the dictum "taking drugs to make music". Kember has articulated the maxim: "One chord best, two chords cool, three chords okay, four chords average". This minimalist musical approach typically represented compositions consisting of the repetition of simple riffs based around the progression of only two or three chords, or simply using just one chord. Spacemen 3 were adherent's to the "minimal is maximal" philosophy of Alan Vega. Kember described it as "very hypnotic and minimal every track has a drone all the way through it". Their earlier record releases were guitar 'heavy', sounding Stooges-esque and "a bit like a punked-up garage rock band" (Stephen Erlewine, AllMusic) whilst their later work was mostly sparser and softer with more textural techniques and augmented by organs, resulting in "their signature trance-like neo-psychedelia" (Stephen Erlewine, AllMusic). Sonically, Spacemen 3's music was characterised by fuzzy and distorted electric guitars, stuttering tremolo effects and wah-wah, the employment of 'power chords' and simple riffs, harmonic overtones and drones, softly sung/spoken vocals, and sparse or monolithic drumming. Spacemen 3 were sometimes compared to Loop, much to Kember's annoyance. Pierce has enjoyed considerable success with his subsequent band, Spiritualized. Kember and Pierce were the only members common to all line-ups of the band. They gained a reputation as a ‘drug band’ due to the members’ drug taking habits and the candid interviews and outspoken views of Kember about recreational drug use. However, they disbanded shortly afterwards, releasing their final studio album posthumously in 1991 after an acrimonious split. Spacemen 3 came to prominence on the independent music scene around 1989, gaining a cult following. Their music was "colorfully mind-altering, but not in the sense of the acid rock of the '60s instead, the band developed its own minimalistic psychedelia" (Stephen Erlewine, AllMusic).
With such winners as the full 17-minute monster rampage through the 13th Floor Elevators' "Rollercoaster," the nearly as lengthy remake of the MC5's "Starship," and the original versions of "Feel So Good," "Walkin' With Jesus," and "Ecstasy Symphony" to recommend it, Singles is definitely not a boring listen.Spacemen 3 were an English alternative rock band, formed in 1982 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Peter Kember and Jason Pierce. Taang itself didn't help matters any, given that they had already released the contents of Walkin' With Jesus as bonus tracks on its version of the Sound of Confusion album, making it not much of a bonus for the label's presumed buyers! However, given all the discographical weirdness the band suffered from in the first place, it's still a great collection and makes a good starting point for newcomers as well. Depending on what versions of which Spacemen 3 albums one owns, Singles will either be a useful place to get a lot of rarities or a mix of obscurities and already-available cuts. The whole collection closely parallels the U.K.-released Transparent Flashbacks, right down to the artwork, except that this U.S.-released effort also includes "Things'll Never Be the Same," one of the original cuts from Transparent Radiation.
In order, the contents of the original Walkin' With Jesus, Transparent Radiation, and Take Me to the Other Side EPs are reproduced, along with the cover art and credits of those releases. Not in fact an entirely accurate title - it does certainly consist of band singles, just not all of them - Singles is a slightly redundant collection of the first three such releases from Spacemen 3.