Spacemen 3 The Perfect Prescription LP

An intense neo-psychedelic gem that journeys through serenity before collapsing into its own itchy comedown. A glorious amalgamation of discordant psyche, Lou Reed hustle and Gospel surrealism. A kaleidoscopic blueprint for everything that followed, with lovingly restored artwork.

Spacemen 3's second album is a remarkable departure from the band's 1986 debut, Sound of Confusion. Reduced to a trio (guitarists / keyboardists Pete "Sonic Boom" Kember, Jason "Spaceman" Pierce, and bassist Pete Bassman), Spacemen 3 makes an asset out of the newfound lack of percussion, giving The Perfect Prescription a considerably less rock-oriented sound with much more open space in its varied, subtle arrangements.

Pitchfork Media listed it at #50 in their list of the greatest albums of the 1980s.

Drawing together some earlier material and a slew of new songs, Spacemen 3 tied everything together on the brilliant Perfect Prescription, the clear point of departure from tribute to psych inspirations and finding its own unique voice. Planned as a concept album, Perfect Prescription works where so many other similar efforts failed due to the strength of the individual songs, as well as the smart focus of the concept in question — a vision of a drug trip from inception to its blasted conclusion, highs and lows fully intact. The bookending of the album makes that much clear — 'Take Me to the Other Side' is a brash, exultant charge into the joys of the experience, a sharp, tight performance. 'Call the Doctor,' meanwhile, is a pretty-but-wounded conclusion, husky singing and a drowsy mood detailing the final collapse. The many highlights in between beginning and end are so striking that the album is practically a best-of in all but name.

the album can't be regarded as anything other than a bona fide classic

Like taking an acid bath in the dungeon of the mind.