Spirtualized: Royal Albert Hall October 10 1997(1998)

Let me start by saying on equal par to 'Echo & the bunnymen',Nick Cave & the bad seeds',
Spritualized are my favourite band...and my favourite album which captures the brilliance
of them is this one.Recorded in october 1997 this captures the band at their best,well before
jason decided to sack the band.
heres a except from wikipedia write-up on the band:



Following a major breakdown in relations between Spacemen 3 co-frontmen Peter Kember and Jason Pierce, the group's bassist Will Carruthers, drummer Jonny Mattock and session guitarist Mark Refoy decided to form a splinter group, before persuading Pierce to join alongside local friend Steve Evans to create Spiritualized. The band took their name from an adaptation of the text on the back label of a bottle of Pernod.

The first Spiritualized release, in 1990, was a cover of The Troggs' "Anyway That You Want Me"; the record heralded the official split of Spacemen 3 following contractual wrangles over the band's name and its use in Spiritualized-related promotional material (initial copies of "Anyway That You Want Me" came with a Spacemen 3 logo on the sleeve).

Evans was replaced on keyboards by Pierce's then-girlfriend Kate Radley for the follow-up single, "Run"/"I Want You". A number of singles followed, before the band, in early 1992, released their first LP Lazer Guided Melodies, which had been recorded in Rugby over the previous two years. A second album, Pure Phase, was released in 1995, and a third Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space emerged in 1997 to notable critical acclaim and commercial success.

The musical style of Spiritualized relies heavily on sustained 'pedal' notes and drones. Lazer Guided Melodies and Pure Phase incorporate elements of the shoegazing style, drones and tremolo. The landmark Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space saw the influence of African-American gospel and blues beginning to show, while "walls of sound" modeled after the production styles of Phil Spector and Brian Wilson also made their presence felt. Such influences dominated Spiritualized's next album, Let It Come Down which included over 120 musicians playing live for Pierce. Amazing Grace favored a more stripped down sound with the gospel, blues, and soul influences even more dominant than before.

I would also like to mention another essential live album to check out is 'Fucked up inside'.....but if you want to hear the band at their peak,then in my own opinion,this is the album to check out...i check it out quite frequently.