SPIRITUALIZED
AMAZING GRACE
FAT POSSUM
★★★☆
Eager to avoid the four-year gestation of 2001’s gospel-heavy Let It Come Down LP, in 2003 Spiritualized’s Jason Pierce opted for a more spontaneous approach to his band’s fifth studio album. Recorded in just three weeks, Amazing Grace is certainly rough and ready, with This Little Life Of Mine kicking off in filthy stoner fashion and She Kissed Me (It Felt Like A Hit) exhibiting a Stooges-like energy. There’s more grit in Never Goin’ Back and fury in Cheapster but, as usual, the band are best at their most awed (Oh Baby) or intimate (Lay It Down Slow).