ollieh19's Full Review: Spiders [Limited] by Space
When people think back to the now-infamous mid 㣾’s surge of British bands known as ‘Britpop’, they may think of bands such as Blur, Oasis, Pulp et al. Not many people remember the group of Scousers known as Space, which is surprising really because around their debut release, 1996’s Spiders, they were pretty damn big.
The CD kicks off with an amusing ode about their ‘Neighbourhood’. Such pearls as “In 666 There lives a Mr. Miller/ He’s our local Vicar/ And a serial killer” shows us just what we have to expect from these boys. Tommy Scott’s whispery vocals and Franny Griffith’s electronic keyboard noises are what makes Space work, and it does work a treat on this track.
With ‘Mister Psycho’, Tommy gets as close to rapping as he possibly can. I don’t think he’s trying to rap as such, just telling a story to music. A catchy chorus is backed by some brilliant Guitar-widdling from Jamie Murphy. And at this point I must mention the drummer at the time, Andy Parle, simply because I haven’t yet.
We continue to what is probably the band’s most famous single, the one you mention when describing the band, ‘Female of the Species’. Again, it’s all about electronic noises courtesy of Mr. Griffiths. Scott’s voice really shines through in what is ultimately a love song, but somehow seems to be more than that.
Something that Tommy excels at is characterisation, putting on various voices as if performing in a one-man operetta. In ‘Money’, he appears to be portraying the role of an evil and selfish con-artist-type. The lyrics put it across brilliantly and, although it’s quite chirpy in mood, it’s a pretty dark song.
This is followed by another single, the uplifting ‘Me & You Vs. The World’. Again, the focus is on witty lyrics, for example, “I first met you hanging knickers on the line”. It’s a charming little story with a wonderful spoken middle section that puts it all into context.
Step up to the mic Mr. Jamie Murphy, let’s see your take on things. ‘Lovechild of the Queen’ is quite a controversial title, and the song is, to a point, no different. It’s a strong, melodic piece of music, especially the chorus, and Murphy rasps his way throughout, expressing his disdain at the British Monarchy, with a few swear words in there for good measure. It takes one track from Murphy to tell the reason why they have two vocalists- they are very different styles and it helps to bring a bit of variety to the proceedings.
Jamie continues his reign as front-man with live favourite ‘No-one Understands’ (although the live version had a different, and in my opinion better, melody). Again, it’s heavier than Tommy’s stuff. Sounds a lot like ‘Lovechild...’, but that’s no bad thing.
‘Voodoo Roller’ concludes Murphy’s trilogy, although he does an encore a little later. It seems as this point that the songs are getting a little too silly. It’s a good track with a strong and infectious tag-line but the verses aren’t so strong and the lyrics are just downright ridiculous.
On Tommy’s return (although he was bassist at the time as well) he tries his hand at rapping again in the charming ‘Drop Dead’, a song about a deranged stalker. He is using his ‘whispery’ vocals, very much in the vein of ‘Mister Psycho’. Maybe it’s based on the same person?
‘Dark Clouds’ was released as a single but the band’s members don’t really like to talk about it. I sort of agree with them, it’s a good track but not quite single material. Tommy croons his way through this Spanish-flavoured song, after all it is about taking a break in Mexico.
‘Major Pager’ is another stab at controversy on Jamie’s behalf. Again, the chorus is really catchy and the verses are melodic but the lyrics...well, it’s just a bit of fun I suppose, but “Now Felix the Cat is on his back/ Oh, Felix the Cat, what a tw*t”? What’s that about?
‘Kill Me’ carries on in very much the same vein, nothing new here, but nothing to be ashamed of, all albums have fillers.
‘Charlie M ‘ is a bizarre roll-call of characters both real and fictional that Tommy claims he can see in equally bizarre situations. Not a clue what it’s about, but it’s not bad and the ‘Boomalaka’ chorus is amusing.
Final Track ‘Growler’ is Franny’s showcase which became a tradition on future albums. I’m not really into Dance music at all, but this has a nice piano start before it goes into the (over) repetitive vocal line and thumping beats.
A summary would be good at this point, but I’m not sure how I can. There is such a mixture of different methods amongst the various creative forces behind Space, it allows them to get into all the various styles that the aforementioned band of the era missed out on. Maybe that’s why they’re not so well remembered- one things for sure, as long as have this album, and the memories to go with it, it is planted firmly in my memory.
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