Floating in Space

Spiritualized's Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space pretty much sound-tracked my final year at University. From the moment Kate Radley's dead-pan and dreamy announcement kicks off the album, I am soaring amongst the comets.. and so it was when we went to see Jason Pierce (and some people who might or might not be official members of Spiritualized) play the whole record from start to finish. Live. At the Radio City Music Hall.

A splurge on the most expensive tickets was the best credit card purchase I've ever made. We were so close to the stage, and the gospel choir, and the Spaceman himself. The sound was phenomenal. It felt like we had climbed inside the record. It's a heart-break album, but it's also a survival record - with Come Together's galvanizing power, and the indestructible swell of I Think I'm in Love.

I cried at least three times and had goose bumps throughout. Sometimes I wish I had the power to slow time right down. Then I could have enjoyed every note a little more.

Mr Big Stuff

Thankfully, it's many years since I needed a good heartbreak song, but today walking along with my ipod shuffling, I was struck by the important role music played in my youth, when I'd been treated appallingly by some indie boy with good hair and a half decent record collection.

Jean Knight's Mr Big Stuff was always a firm favorite back in the mid 90s when I always seemed to get hug up on the wrong sort. Luckily, I went to clubs where I could belt out the words to this classic - typically followed by Aretha, socking it to us R.E.S.P.E.C.T style. Listening to Jean all these years later, I am still bowled over by the power of music linked to memory and how I am suddenly transported from the streets of Brooklyn to a sweaty nightclub in Liverpool in 1996. Also, I still get the same feeling of being ten feet tall, surrounded by my girls and completely empowered - who needs stupid boys and their black polo necks/chain smoking/ philandering ways when you can dance? Plus, I defy you to listen to Mr Big Stuff right now and try not to walk with a self-confident swagger!

My ipod helpfully gave me the male perspective next with Lee Dorsey's Get Out my Life Woman. Of course, McAlmont and Butler brought the 'screw you I don't need you' up to date (for my late teens anyway) with Yes.. and it's immortal line "I feel well enough to tell you what you can do with what you've got to offer". Take that indie boys!