Spacemen 3 - Taking Drugs To Make Music To Take Drugs To

Few records are as honestly titled as this one. Originally appearing as a "semi-legendary" bootleg in 1990, Taking Drugs To Make Music To Take Drugs To captures Spacemen 3 at their most primal and focused. These January 1986 recordings—the "Northampton Demos"—mark the first appearance of bassist Pete Bain and represent a bridge between the garage-rock grit of their earliest material and the sprawling, hypnotic drone of their later masterpieces. Notably, both Sonic Boom (Peter Kember) and Jason Pierce have long claimed these raw, minimally treated takes are superior to the official versions found on Sound of Confusion.

This Space Age Recordings 2LP reissue elevates the collection further. Remastered specifically for vinyl by John Rivers at Woodbine Studios, the audio restores the "huge wallop of feedback" and the cutting drawl of the vocals with audiophile precision. Housed in a wide-spined sleeve with a refreshed artwork layout, this edition includes the expanded tracks from the 1994 and 2000 reissues, plus a bonus track ("Repeater - Demo") not found on the standard CD version.