It’s always amusing when a member of a musical act branches off into some other work, yet the resulting recordings ostensibly ape the same sounds that the original group trucked in. That’s the case with Sonic Boom, his first group the Spacemen 3 and what would wind up becoming at least a portion of the Spectrum catalog.

As Sonic Boom (Peter Kember) and J. Spaceman (Jason Pierce) – who oddly enough share the same birthday – gained notoriety if not substantial fame in the UK based upon the litany of simple rock based stuff that Spacemen 3 worked in and around, it became clear that there wasn’t too much space left to explore. And no, I don’t mean outer-space, despite the fact that folks making use of the term ‘space-rock’ might want to tag the Warwickshire based group with such a term.

But as the ensemble grew to encompass more than just Stooges rip offs and Bob Dylan covers, the open and airy passages seemed to take on an ever important portion of the group’s palette. And by the end of the ‘80s, it became clear to both principals in Spacemen 3 that their time together was limited. Oddly, though as each sought to found a new ensemble, they would both wind up working in roughly the same territory – not exactly, but pretty close.

With only Recurring (1991) yet to be released, Sonic Boom assembled a backing group that consisted of his then band-mates in Spacemen 3 in order to create an even lighter and less formal music. In Spacemen 3’s latter and looser efforts, the impetus for this work can pretty easily be sussed out.

So before Spectrum was a proper group, there was Spectrum.

On this 1990 disc, Sonic Boom goes in on seven tracks, one of which being a Suicide cover. That aural head nod should give ample indication as to what’s going on here and how it differentiates from some of the ‘60s pop strain that ran through Spacemen 3.

Fortunately or not, the Suicide influence sits next to tracks like “You’re the One,” which basically sounds like a poorly constructed Spacemen track. There’s some muscular guitar stuff here that isn’t present elsewhere on the disc. And in the most aggressive moments of the song, it’s easy to remember why Spacemen remain such a revered act.

Of course, it can’t all be pseudo-Spacemen covers. So, when “If I Should Die” crops up as nothing more then a bunch of whirring and space noises, new comers can understand how Spectrum – not just the album, but the group – differs from Sonic Boom’s earlier project. It’s not horrendous, but listening to Spectrum should only result in folks wanting to toss on Perfect Prescription – it’d be a good idea.

Yeah, J. Spaceman would go onto to work in Spiritualized. And while that group didn’t fair too much better than Sonic Boom’s solo efforts and his work in Spectrum, neither can be faulted for branching out musically after spending the better part of the ‘80s playing three chords in various combinations.