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Public Service Broadcasting – The Race For Space

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What does it sound like?:

Woke up around three-ish with my foot throbbing (I’ve sprained my ankle) and couldn’t get back to sleep. After a bit of radio comedy, I stuck on The Race For Space for my second listen. Being in that space between sleep and awake allowed the music to seep in nicely. What’s coming through is the pathos. I don’t think the single version of Gagarin includes the mournful strings towards the end, signifying – so say the liner notes – his tragic death just a few years later. Fire in the Cockpit is obviously a downbeat moment of great solemnity but I was caught out by the tension in The Other Side when Apollo 8 goes out of radio contact during the first orbit of the moon. Given I knew full well it panned out the sense of relief when they get back in contact is quite tremendous. I don’t mind saying it quite dampened the eye.

On the more upbeat front Go! is another highlight, with the famous system check of the Apollo 11 ground crew providing the basis for an ebullient number. Valentina is a rather pretty tune, and the Smoke Fairies’ vocals are sublime but I can’t help but feel that a woman that had been chosen for such a task was probably quite a robust character and unlikely to have been as slight as the tune.

What does it all *mean*?

Space is cool?

I don’t know that it particularly means that much, but it’s certainly an interesting – and unexpectedly dramatic – way to spend an hour. One might call it informative, educative and entertaining.

Goes well with…

A sprained ankle and Co-codamol, apparently.

Release Date:

Might suit people who like…

Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds. Nerds. Hang on, that’s the same people.

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Comments

  1. I was a bit nonplussed when I heard Gagarin, but the early reviews on Amazon suggest great things. I’ll be buying it. Was thinking last night about these themed concept records – their music thus far seems to depend on these great iconic narratives of WWII, exploration and now space. Could this end up being too restrictive, and where can they go next?

    • Yes, the same thing had occurred to me. If they become successful enough, perhaps they’ll be able to afford more contemporary samples. I can’t see them dropping them altogether as it’s their USP. But perhaps they’re not envisaging doing more than another album or two?

  2. It’s actually really rather lovely. Gagarin is not quite a sore thumb (except I don’t much like having a sore thumb), but it sounds different in feel to most of the rest. Having listened for the first time last night, I think it’s a grower. And Fire In The Cockpit is really rather poignant.

    The Kennedy speech in the title track kinda fazes me though, as I always expect the extended version of Jean Michel Jarre’s fourth rendez-vous to start up afterwards as it uses that same famous part of the speech.

  7. First impressions – Interesting. Need a few more listens to maybe get the “feel”.
    Like what I’m hearing so far, but agree with Neil Jung that it is not up there with the first one
    (Maybe I need to re-adjust my expectations and consider it more as a single entity, not IEE Part 2)

    • Just given it two listens on Spotify. Bit discouraged now. Where are the actual tunes? It’s very sample heavy, but take these away and you are left with some pleasant if unremarkable backing.

      • I’m going to sound fanboyish (I am, so that’s ok) but I rather like the fact that they’ve taken a different approach from IEE with a lot of it.

        Musically it’s more *ahem* spacious and (in general) providing a narrative. Spitfire or Signal 30, for example, had samples but used them impressionistically.

        The new one is much more concerned with presenting a clear narrative of key beats of the space race, so you can’t really take them away and expect the backing to stand up by itself. The backing has to allow the samples to take the focus.

  8. It *is* different to the last one. There’s nothing as outrageously catchy as Spitfire but it somehow seems like a more even work. It’s growing on me. And the vinyl is a lovely package.

    Slightly disconcerting though, that Kennedy sounds so much like Mayor Quimby from The Simpsons.

    • Listenings over the week confirm that it is, indeed, a grower. Go! is probably the stand-out track for me however it all fits together well; an album that is greater than the sum of its parts. really looking forward to seeing it live in May.

  9. Given it a couple of listens and it’s growing on me. Loved Spitfire and the War Room EP but found the first album a bit of a ragbag which did not live up to the promise so pleased that this seems to have found some coherence. Was transfixed by The Other Side. I’m old enough to remember all that stuff. Must admit though that as I listened it reminded me successively of Wakeman’s JTTCOTE and then Tubular Bells and finally OMD.

    Seen them live a couple of times – once in a small club and once again at Glasto. The latter was way too loud and bombastic and you couldn’t see the visuals.

  10. It appears more polished than the previous album, but after three listens on headphones at work it has yet to grab me. That said, I’m more than content to persevere and track down a live show where the visuals will, as with IEE and War Room, add another dimension. Mostly harmless.

  11. How is it I’ve never hear of these guys until now? What with me being part of a musical wartime heritage act, i’m amazed I’ve never heard of the War Room EP until today. It’s brilliant. I wish I’d thought of it first!
    Inspiring stuff.

  12. Put the vinyl on this morning. First impressions: Less defined than IEE but, as has been said above, more than the sum of its parts. Anyone else having trouble getting the booklet and LP back in the damn sleeve?

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