Lazer Guided Melodies

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").

Lazer Guided Melodies
Studio album by Spiritualized
Released	30 March 1992
Recorded	November 1990 – July 1991
Studio	VHF Sound Centre, Rugby Moles Studio, Bath Far Heath Studio, Northamptonshire
Genre	Experimental rock space rock dream pop
Length	61:17
Label	Dedicated
Producer	Jason Pierce
Spiritualized chronology
Lazer Guided Melodies (1992) Fucked Up Inside (1993)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[2]
Los Angeles Times	[3]
NME	9/10[4]
Q	[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[6]
Select	4/5[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's 2010 list of "ten unusual CD-era gimmicks".[8]

By 1995, the album had sold 10,000 copies in the USA.[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.[4]

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

Lazer Guided Melodies was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[10] In 2018, Pitchfork ranked the album at number 11 on its list of "The 30 Best Dream Pop Albums".[11]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Jason Pierce, except where noted.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	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"	Pierce J. J. Cale	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"	Pierce Mark Refoy	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. Track 4, "Run", contains elements of "Call Me the Breeze" by J. J. Cale and "Run Run Run" by The Velvet Underground.

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.[12]

Spiritualized 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 Additional musicians Simon Clarke – flute Roddy Lorimer – trumpet Will Gregory – saxophone Colin Humphries – cello Martin Robinson – cello Owen John – violin

Technical personnel Jason Pierce – production, mixing Barry Clempson – mixing, engineering Angus Wallace – engineering Declan O'Regan – engineering Mike Long – engineering Paul Adkins – engineering Chris Blair – mastering Gavin Lindsay – artwork Pete Gardner – photographer Andrew Sutton – sleeve design Albert Tupelo – sleeve design

References

1. Phares, Heather. "Lazer Guided Melodies – Spiritualized". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
2. Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
3. Hochman, Steve (12 July 1992). "Spiritualized, 'Lazer Guided Melodies,' RCA". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
4. Mulvey, John (28 March 1992). "Spiritualized – Lazer Guided Melodies". NME. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
5. "Spiritualized: Lazer Guided Melodies". Q (364): 115. October 2016.
6. Stewart, Allison (2004). "Spiritualized". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 769–70. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
7. Linehan, Graham (May 1992). "Love Bombing". Select (23): 72.
8. https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/7856-a-feature-about-nothing-the-1990s-in-lists/?page=2/
9. "Billboard". 18 February 1995.
10. 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.
11. "The 30 Best Dream Pop Albums". Pitchfork. 16 April 2018. p. 2. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
12. Lazer Guided Melodies (liner notes). Spiritualized. Dedicated Records. 1992. DEDCD 004.CS1 maint: others (link)