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Lazer Guided Melodies was the first album by the British space rock group Spiritualized. Recorded by the inaugural line up of the band, consisting of Jason Pierce (vocals, guitars), Mark Refoy (guitars), Will Carruthers (bass), Jonny Mattock (drums) and Kate Radley (keyboards). The album was recorded, mostly in VHF studios in Rugby, from 1990 to 1991, and mixed by Pierce in London. The album was first released on Dedicated Records in March 1992, on cassette, Compact Disc and Vinyl (2 x LP, with initial copies containing an additional free 7").
Initially released on CD and on two 45rpm vinyl LPs, the album's twelve songs are segued together into four color coded (red, green, blue, black), cross-faded suites.
Lazer Guided Melodies is unique in Jason Pierce's oeuvre as it simultaneously explores motorik, minimalist music, and space rock while subtly using "meticulously detailed, layered instrumentation, the sumptuous deployment of horns and strings" to create cinematic, textured, and deeply narcotic soundscapes.[4]
As critic Simon Reynolds observed in his Melody Maker review The 'Ized Of March:
"Spiritualized's music quivers with Apollonian attributes - airiness, fleetness, radiance, serenity...at times, Spiritualized recall the Kraut version of freeway rock known as motorik, in particular Neu..."Run" is all about the exhilaration of cutting loose, of goalless propulsion..."If I Were With Her Now" is throbbing motorik too...swathed by scintillating guitar chimes like the world whooshing by...along with motion, Spiritualized's other consummate metaphor for release is ascension...
"Step Into The Breeze"...a Wiltshire water meadow...pastoral bower of bliss..."Symphony Space" an amorphous flux of orchestral resonances that hover and ache, swim and brim, for a small eternity. The sound of heaven...at times, Spiritualized are making 21st Century gospel."
Track listing
- "You Know It's True / If I Were with Her Now / I Want You" - 13:12 (Red)
- "Run / Smiles / Step into the Breeze / Symphony Space" - 14:45 (Green)
- "Take Your Time / Shine a Light" - 14:09 (Blue)
- "Angel Sigh / Sway / 200 Bars" - 18:54 (Black)
Personnel
- Jason Pierce - guitar (Fender Telecaster, Eko Rocket, acoustic guitar), dulcimer, autoharp, piano, vocals
- Kate Radley - keyboards (Vox Continental, Farfisa, piano), vocals
- Mark Refoy - guitar (Gretsch Country Gent, Epiphone Casino, Fender Telecaster), acoustic guitar, dulcimer
- Will Carruthers - bass (Gibson Thunderbird)
- Jonny Mattock - drums, percussion, dulcimer
- Simon Clarke - flute
- Roddy Lorimer - trumpet
- Will Gregory - saxophone
- Colin Humphries - cello
- Martin Robinson - cello
- Owen John - violin
- Produced by Jason Pierce
- Mixed by Jason Pierce and Barry Clempson at Gooseberry Studio, London, January 1992 (except "Symphony Space" and "200 Bars", mixed at Comforts Place Studio)
- Engineered by Angus Wallace, Barry Clempson, Declan O'Regan, Mike Long and Paul Adkins
- Mastered by Chris Blair at Abbey Road Studios, January 1992
- Artwork by Gavin Lindsay
- Photography by Pete Gardner
- Sleeve design by Andrew Sutton and Albert Tupelo
[1]
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