Lazer Guided Melodies
| Lazer Guided Melodies | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Spiritualized | ||||
| Released | 30 March 1992 | |||
| Recorded | November 1990 at VHF Sound Centre, Rugby, May 1991 at Moles Studio, Bath and July 1991 at Far Heath Studio, Northamptonshire ("Angel Sigh")[1] | |||
| Genre | Space rock, experimental rock | |||
| Length | 61:17 | |||
| Label | Dedicated | |||
| Producer | Jason Pierce | |||
| Spiritualized chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music |  [3] |
| Los Angeles Times | [4] |
| NME | 9/10[5] |
| Q | [6] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [7] |
| Select | 4/5[8] |
Lazer Guided Melodies is the debut studio album by English space rock band Spiritualized. The album was 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) from 1990 to 1991, and mixed by Pierce in London in January 1992. 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 two 45rpm vinyl LPs, the album's twelve songs are segued together into four colour coded (red, green, blue, black), cross-faded suites. As such, the album was included in Pitchfork Media's 2010 list of "ten unusual CD-era gimmicks".[9]
Background
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.[5]
As critic Simon Reynolds observed in his Melody Maker review of the album, entitled "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."
Legacy
The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[10]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "You Know It's True" | 3:39 |
| 2. | "If I Were with Her Now" | 5:44 |
| 3. | "I Want You" | 3:47 |
| 4. | "Run" | 3:51 |
| 5. | "Smiles" | 2:14 |
| 6. | "Step Into the Breeze" | 2:43 |
| 7. | "Symphony Space" | 5:54 |
| 8. | "Take Your Time" | 6:52 |
| 9. | "Shine a Light" | 7:15 |
| 10. | "Angel Sigh" | 5:46 |
| 11. | "Sway" | 6:53 |
| 12. | "200 Bars" | 6:15 |
| Total length: | 61:17 | |
On the LP edition, tracks 1–3 are the "Red" section, tracks 4–7 are the "Green" section, tracks 8–9 are the "Blue" section, and tracks 10–12 are the "Black" section.
Personnel
Credits adapted from liner notes.[1]
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References
- 1 2 discogs credits
- ↑ Phares, Heather. "Lazer Guided Melodies – Spiritualized". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
- ↑ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.
- ↑ Hochman, Steve (12 July 1992). "Spiritualized, 'Lazer Guided Melodies,' RCA". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
- 1 2 Mulvey, John (28 March 1992). "Spiritualized – Lazer Guided Melodies". NME. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
- ↑ "Spiritualized: Lazer Guided Melodies". Q (364): 115. October 2016.
- ↑ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. p. 770. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- ↑ Linehan, Graham (May 1992). "Love Bombing". Select (23): 72.
- ↑ http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7856-a-feature-about-nothing-the-1990s-in-lists/4/
- ↑ Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (23 March 2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN 978-0-7893-2074-2.