Spirea X were an alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band from Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, formed by Primal Scream

Primal Scream

Primal Scream are a Scottish alternative rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie and Jim Beattie and now based in London. The current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes , Martin Duffy , and Darrin Mooney...

 founding member Jim Beattie

Jim Beattie (musician)

Jim Beattie is a Scottish musician who founded Primal Scream and later went on to form Spirea X and Adventures in Stereo.-Biography:Beattie formed Primal Scream in 1982 along with Bobby Gillespie...

 in 1990.

History

After six years in the band, Jim Beattie left Primal Scream in 1988. Two years later he formed Spirea X, the name taken from a Primal Scream b-side (an instrumental track that he had written), announcing "We're going to do it...by having better songs, better melodies, better arrangements, better everything. By sheer force of ideas". The band's first demo prompted 4AD

4AD

4AD is a British independent record label that was started in 1979 by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, funded by Beggars Banquet Records, and is still active today...

 to sign them, their first release eagerly anticipated, with BBC 2's Snub TV

Snub TV

Snub TV or simply Snub was a alternative culture television programme that ran from 1987 to 1989. Originally produced as a part of the Nightflight in the USA, it went on to success in the UK and other countries...

 featuring an interview with them and a couple of live tracks before they had released a single. The band's original bass player and guitarist (The McGovern brothers) soon left, with guitarist Robert forming cult underground Glasgow indie punk band Dresden and his bass playing brother Tony becoming a well established member of Glasgow band Texas. Jamie O'Donnell and Thomas McGurk joining Beattie, his girlfriend Judith Boyle, and Andy Kerr in 1991. Debut EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 Chlorine Dream was released in April 1991, the title track inspired by the life of Brian Jones

Brian Jones

Lewis Brian Hopkins Jones , known as Brian Jones, was an English musician and a founding member of the Rolling Stones....

. This was followed up by "Speed Reaction" and the album Fireblade Skies (the name taken from a volume of Arthur Rimbaud

Arthur Rimbaud

Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...

's poetry), both in 1991. Fireblade Skies met with positive critical reaction, Lime Lizards Nick Terry stating: "If Jim Beattie's last longplaying endeavour, Primal Scream's Sonic Flower Groove, was a thoroughly flawed masterpiece, he's found his groove with Fireblade Skies". Beattie was known for his self-confidence, verging on arrogance, once proclaiming himself to be God

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

, and stating "David Icke

David Icke

David Vaughan Icke is an English writer and public speaker, best known for his views on what he calls "who and what is really controlling the world." Describing himself as the most controversial speaker in the world, he has written 18 books explaining his position, and has attracted a substantial...

 is my bestest friend", later saying "Yeah, I thought I was God before, but now I feel more like Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

". Beattie rejected comparisons with other bands of the era, stating "I don't think we fit in anywhere, really", and "I don't think we're egotistical like Ride

Ride (band)

Ride were a British alternative rock band that formed in 1988 in Oxford, England, consisting of Andy Bell, Mark Gardener, Laurence "Loz" Colbert, and Steve Queralt. The band were initially part of the "shoegazing" scene. Following the break-up of the band in 1996, members moved on to various other...

 are. I don't need to be egotistical, because I've got the music to back it up".

The band was subsequently reduced to a duo of Beattie and Boyle, and were dropped by 4AD in 1992, the band splitting the following year.

Beattie and Boyle resurfaced in 1994 with a new band, Adventures in Stereo

Adventures in Stereo

Adventures in Stereo were a band from Glasgow, Scotland, formed by Primal Scream founding member Jim Beattie in 1994, after his previous band, Spirea X split up.-History:...

.

Albums

• Fireblade Skies (28 October 1991) 4AD, CAD 1017
  • Released on 4AD in the US on 23 June 1992 with new artwork and different track listing

UK track listing

• 1. "Rollercoaster"
  2. "Chlorine Dream"
  3. "Fire and Light"
  4. "Spirea 9"
  5. "Speed Reaction"
  6. "Confusion in My Soul"
  7. "Signed D.C." (Arthur Lee
     Arthur Lee (musician)
     Arthur Lee was the frontman, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist of the Los Angeles rock band Love, best known for the critically acclaimed 1967 album, Forever Changes.-Early years:...
     
     cover)
  8. "Sisters and Brothers"
  9. "Sunset Dawn"
  10. "Smile"
  11. "Nothing Happened Yesterday"

US track listing

• 1. "Smile"
  2. "Nothing Happened Yesterday"
  3. "Rollercoaster"
  4. "Chlorine Dream"
  5. "Fire and Light"
  6. "Spirea 9"
  7. "Speed Reaction"
  8. "Confusion in My Soul"
  9. "Signed D.C."
  10. "Sisters and Brothers"
  11. "Sunset Dawn"
  12. "Spirea Rising"

Singles/EPs

• "Chlorine Dream" (8 April 1991) 4AD, BAD 1004
  1. "Chlorine Dream"
  2. "Spirea Rising"
  3. "Risk"
• "Speed Reaction" (20 May 1991) 4AD, BAD 1006
  1. "Speed Reaction"
  2. "What Kind of Love"
  3. "Jet Pilot"
  4. "Re: Action"

External links

• Spirea X at The History of Rock Music