SPACE WALTZ: THE ORIGINAL ALBUM, THE REISSUE, THE REVISION AND THE RE-MODEL (2023): Won't you please slow down . . .

Although Space Waltz only released one album – way back in 1975 – it has certainly been one to keep checking in on, not the least because it keeps changing.

As we've noted in this previous article the album originally appeared as Space Waltz by Alistair Riddell with just him on the cover, a image and attribution which didn't sit well with some in the band.

(The cover was intended to be a gatefold so the band, pictured on the back cover, would have been seen in the same image, however . . .)

The album opened with Fraulein Love then moved through Beautiful Boy, Seabird and the hit Out on the Street.

Side two was Angel, Open Up, Scars of Love, And Up to Now then closing with Love the Way He Smiles.

When the album was given CD reissue in 2002 the running order was tinkered with a bit: Out on the Street shifted up from fourth to third and Beautiful Boy pushed back to become the final track.

And the cover was a different photo again, again Space Waltz by Alistair Riddell but his face seen in slightly blurry profile.

There was another CD version in 2005 with the same running order and title but a different cover photo again, Riddell engaging the camera directly.

This year the landmark album has been given a long overdue and welcome vinyl reissue (same cover as the original but Eddie Rayner's name now spelt correctly as we noted).

But the running order has changed yet again.

Now Angel has moved right up the rankings to be the opener then it is Out on the Street, Scars of Love, And Up to Now and Love the Way He Smiles on the first side.

Fraulein Love opens the second then it's Beautiful Boy, Open Up and Seabird.

Let's hope Riddell has got it to his satisfaction this time, there's probably not going to be another chance.

At the same time as Space Waltz have returned to attention with the vinyl reissue there is also another album, Victory, which has been billed as their second album.

But it's not quite that clear-cut.

Victory drops four of the original songs (Beautiful Boy, the eight minute-plus epics Seabird and Love the Way He Smiles), retains five songs re-recorded (Out On the Street and the Roxy Music-influenced Fräulein Love among them) and adds seven recently written and recorded songs (two co-writes by Riddell and Rayner), played by the original band with additional guitarist Solomon Cole.

Despite the shuffling of old and new, Victory (a lamp on the front cover, the band appearing together on the back) it is actually a stronger album than the original for its consistency of tone and style.

As we've said, it drops the prog-rock in favour of new songs which are more consistent with those retained.

Is it a second album or Space Waltz 1.5?

Hardly matters. It's damn good.

I wonder if, when the vinyl version arrives, the running order will be the same?

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There is more on Space Waltz at Elsewhere starting here, which includes the false alarm of them performing again in 2021 . . . but then Covid hit. 

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