DO YOUR THING BUT DON'T TOUCH OURS

This is the first official live album I heard from this fine Swedish psychedelic rock band. I was quite interested to get it, as I found this group when attending their live concert in Helsinki, and that performance made a great impression on me. This album's concert was recorded in 1999 at a Swedish commune with two microphones connected directly to a CD-R recorder. Considering this, I think that the audio quality is very good. The majority of the songs follow each other without any pause, only the final track "Euphoria Euphoria" stands apart from the other songs, which form a single musical entity. The set begins with the slow blues "Upon Which Areas May The Circles Be Drawn?", which paints some euphoric forms to float around the listeners imagination. It has a very beautiful melody, but it is so hazy and slow that it's almost depressing. This suicide blues morphs into a "Jam", which is a freeform improvisation with same bluesy rhythm as the starter. Bassist plays much, which is fun as it keeps the music moving forward. The improvisations of The Spacious Mind are not as adventurous as the King Crimson blows, but there are some slow changes, and the number of instruments paint beautifully flickering rich wall of sound. "The One That Really Won The War" from their "Organic Mind Solution" album starts to roll, as it's opening riff is heard from the improvisation. I think this is much better version, than the one on their studio album. Then this Hawkwind resembling music turns as "Interplanetarian Lovemachine Pt. III" from their "Mind of A Brother" album, which has also a nice melody on it. After this aural massive the music stops for the first time, and the last song on this CD, "Euphoria Euphoria" begins. I must confess that I'm not very happy about this particular version. The one on their vinyl release "Garden of A Well Fed Head" is much better and dynamic, and it even has a neat outro included. I also think there are some flaws in the playing of this one. Maybe the guys were already weary of their playing marathon? This song is not even complete, but fades out in the middle of it, as the CD-R ran out about fifteen minutes before the set was through. Maybe this torso should have been left out, but of course it's not very difficult to skip the last track from the CD. Nevertheless I think this is a very good live album, and I would recommend it for the fans of psychedelia, improvisation and acid rock.

This is the first live album from THE SPACIOUS MIND. It was recorded in this village called Skogsnas deep in the northern Swedish forests.There's a picture in the liner notes of the cool looking building they played in.The band chose this recording as their first live album because this gig "renewed the band's belief in itself, and it also made them realize that in terms of jamming, they had still only scratched the surface. Since then new musical universes have been conquered,but the launching pad from which THE SPACIOUS MIND really took off for good, is the performance on this recording". I should mention that although these are songs they've played before, they improvise alot making these tracks very different from the studio albums they came from. Also all these songs blend together giving the impression your listening to one long 72 1/2 minute jam.

The album opens with some applause as the band comes in softly and slowly on this first song called "Upon Which Areas May The Circles Be Drawn ?" from the album "Garden Of A Well Fed Head". Sounds start to slowly build. This is fairly slow paced and trippy with lots of dreamy and spacey sounds. Beautiful. It blends into "Jam" where this sound continues until it settles around 7 minutes and the spacey vibe leaves. Drums start to become prominant and the tempo picks up until we get another calm after 11 minutes. It's spacey late as it blends into "The One That Really Won The War" from "Organic Mind Solution". The guitars and drums start to dominate and this sounds incredible. It settles before 11 minutes and blends into "Interplanetarian Lovemachine Part III" from "Mind Of A Brother". Great sound here as it builds. Gorgeous sound 7 minutes in. Solo organ to end it as it blends into Euphoria Euphoria" from "Garden Of A Well Fed Head". The organ continues as guitar comes in gently. It's very psychedelic 2 minutes in. Drums 4 minutes in as it builds.They continue to jam.

This is laid back, repetitive, psychedelic jamming at it's best. A special album.