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Certain Songs #2421: Spiritualized – “Medication (Royal Albert Hall, Oct 10, 1997)”

August 15, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Royal Albert Hall October 10 1997
Year: 1998

. . .

One of the highlights of the titanic Royal Albert Hall October 10 1997 album was “Medication,” which had been the opening track on Pure Phase, but because I first heard it on the live album, that’s the version that I love the most.

Either way, “Medication” is a textbook class in quiet/LOUD/quiet, drifting on on the shimmering connective tissue of Thighpaulsandra’s shimmering keyboards, over which J Spaceman sings about drugs. If you can believe that.

Everyday I wake up
And I take my medication
And I spend the rest of the day
Waiting for it to wear off
Every night I stay up late
And make my state more desperate
And I spend the rest of the night
Waiting for it to wear off

Whoa. That’s some pretty serious shit, but you might not even notice it because he’s singing so quietly, enveloped in the gauzy haze of the song. Which is why the choruses are so striking: they’re like “snap out of it!” slap in the face, exploding with guitars, horns and drums.

I’m waiting for a time
When I can be without
These things that make me feel
This way all of the time

And so “Medication” goes, alternating fuzziness with white light fervor: drifting off then speeding away, drifting off then speeding away, over and over and over. It’s as gorgeous as it is terrifying, no more so than in the end as Spaceman screams

Medicate my days
Medicate my eyes
Medicate my life

as the whole band creates a hellscape noisefest all around him and you realize that he might never actually free himself from any of it.

“Medication (Royal Albert Hall October 10 1997)”

“Medication” Live on MTV

/barefootjim”> @barefootjim

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Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Royal Albert Hall October 10 1997, Spiritualized

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Previously on Medialoper

  • Certain Songs #2694: that dog. – “minneapolis”
  • Certain Songs #2693: that dog. – “never say never”
  • Certain Songs #2692: Terry Allen – “The Beautiful Waitress”
  • Certain Songs #2691: The Tenants – “Sheriff”
  • Certain Songs #2690: Tenacious D – “Tribute”

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