Sonic Boom's initial dip into the waters of solo work was the excellent "Angel" single, combining his regular approach of speaking rather than singing the lyrics (see
Spacemen 3's "Ode to Street Hassle" and "Revolution") with a very
Spiritualized-like build of relentless arrangement and orchestration. This wasn't in itself too surprising, since nearly all the early members of
Spiritualized -- including
Jason Pierce -- helped out on the performance, with
Perfect Disaster/future
Breeders member
Josephine Wiggs adding cello as well. The single itself contains both the album version of the cut from
Spectrum as well as an even longer take for maximum enjoyment. The remaining cut is another alternate version from
Spectrum, in this case the "drum mix" of its opening track "Help Me Please," adding not merely drums but a little extra guitar undercurrent to the proceedings. It's not radically different, but it does make for good listening nonetheless.
–
Ned Raggett, Rovi