ON STAGE

I feel like this band has come a long way since their 2010 debut. They have actually become known for the incredible cover art they have used on their recordings since 2016's "Liquid Sun". My hunches don't always pay off but my thought process was that THE SPACELORDS might be even better live with an audience to feed off of. Five tracks worth just over an hour and this was released in 2019. All of the music from the previous release "Water Planet" is on here along with two of the three songs off of what was then a future album "Spaceflowers" released in 2020. Now if you have the vinyl version of this then you get the bonus of having "Black Hole" from "Liquid Sun" an earlier release.

Five stars seems high for a live recording but the sound quality is perfect and there is no weaknesses here as far as my tastes go. The guitar sounds amazing, the reverb, echo, effects. The drummer I just found out today is from ELECTRIC MOON and plays on "Stardust Realities" my favourite from them. Then the bass man just kills also adding effects. In the liner notes it says "This album was recorded at a private event called "Spaceparty". It took place in a garden that actually was more like a park. A really spaced out place. Extraordinary plants, art and lighting everywhere. The design of the stage was trippy. What a fantastic place to perform!"

The band certainly were inspired that evening as this album could not possibly be more consistent and great. The interesting thing for me is not knowing these songs previously as the few albums I own by this band are before "Water Planets" and all good but not that consistent like this one. I like that you can hear the crowd, usually after and before a song and briefly but it puts me in that mood. This is Krautrock man in the guise of Spacerock. Okay not really but I just feel this is a band who can be proud of what they have created over the years building a discography that sits nicely with some of the great German psychedelic bands of the past.

The album opens and closes with tracks from "Spaceflowers" and the three in between are from "Water Planets". So consistent! The drummer adds soundscapes to all the "Water Planet" tunes while the other two add effects throughout. Sounds like a lot of synths on here and at one point I swear I hear sitar which isn't credited. That would be early on track three. I really felt like this band deserved at least one album in my "best of" psychedelic list but until I heard this one I didn't think that was going to happen. This is a light show at times folks but also trippy and spacey with sounds that echo, some excellent contrasts. An incredible show!