4. Spiritualized - Sweet Heart Sweet Light

Spiritualized may have made the best record of their career on this one. It certainly features some of the best songs he's ever written: "Hey Jane," the 10 minute powerhouse, in all it's guitar driven glory, "Little Girl," with it's wondrously feel-good chorus and the classic, guitar solo as the melody trick, to the overly sappy, but lovely nevertheless "Too Late." And that is just the first half of the album. I love how "Headed To The Top Now" is not only classic Spiritualized, but classic Spaceman, just pummeling you with those two notes over, and over, and over... "The Freedom" is the sweeter side of Spiritualized, and "So Long You Pretty Thing," (which sadly, sounds like a farewell,) is so depressing, but set to one of the best outros/choruses I've ever heard. I mean I seriously teared up the first time I listened to it. The long running themes of substance abuse, depression, salvation, etc. that ARE Spiritualized are abundant on Sweet Heart Sweet Light but with Jason Pierce, now much older, these themes come across as more sincere, more heartbreaking. Will J. Spaceman ever get his shit together? Is this the last we will ever hear from Spiritualized? It's an album that leaves more questions than answers, and I absolutely love the appropriate art work.