Customer Reviews

Lazer Guided Melodies

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The only Spiritualized album to live up to the name of the band. Which isn't to say that Jason's subsequent outings have not been good, but relative to this one they don't even get four stars from me. Lazer Guided Melodies is a sound unto itself, the pinacle of a genre whose antecedents are fictions you can only posit. To me Pure Phase and especially Ladies and Gentlemen are rooted too much in this world and are mastered by their influences more than they master them; they are overproduced and try to trick out emotions in the listener the way movies sometimes use soundtracks to do their work for them. LGM, on the other hand, is a masterpiece of economy and expression. All the sounds are perfectly placed in space, where silence and simplicity are as crucial as the more complex instrumentation. It is authentically emotional, making the listener a voyeur of sorts listening in on the thoughts and feelings of a man trying to articulate, with true-to-life imprecision, his thoughts and feelings to himself. The music is the emotion the lyrics attempt to describe. Beautiful. A must own.

I agree with the last reviewer, this is indeed the greatest album ever made. After hundreds of listenings, it sounds as beautiful and fresh as the first time. Jason Pierce has created a major masterpiece here, and his influences are heard-Spacemen 3, Pink Floyd, Velvet Underground, Brian Wilson, etc.- but this album is truly original. He never drifts into excess, unlike many of his heroes. The songs are beautiful, etheral and lush and the tunes are very musical and memorable. Being something of an audiophile, I can tell you the recording is as close to perfect as any I've ever heard. The album is electronic but also very organic. The gorgeous strings and horns are integrated perfectly, not sounding like an afterthought or posturing.All of Spiritualized's albums are great, but this one is the pinnacle. I doubt Jason can ever top this. It's tough to follow up your masterpiece, particularly since it was his debut. If you remember Jason from his Spacemen 3 days, and you weren't too enthralled with Spacemen 3, don't worry. Spacemen 3 only hinted at the talent that Spiritualized exhibit. Do your self a huge favor. Buy the CD today. If you are a fan of "art rock", "prog" or "space rock" or just good music, you won't be dissapointed.

Lazer Guided Melodies is one of the few albums I can think of that just redefined all expectations for good music. While many people were aware of Jason Pierce's contributions to Spacemen 3, I don't know that many of us were prepared for the epic soundscape that became this album. It is grouped nicely into four suites (the original US CD printing - now out of print - had each track separate) that have an amazing flow. While the song structure really isn't tremendously complex, it's the sounds that are produced that are so amazing. Loops, riffs, patterns, and rhythms (or lack thereof) all combine to make something that can really send you on an aural trip. My personal favourites are 'If I Were With Her Now' (I'd give anything to hear this one live with its hammered dulcimer bit), Take Your Time, and 200 Bars (both with its stumbling from bar-to-bar imagery and because the song is exactly 200 musical bars long - intriguing!). Some people may prefer other Spiritualized albums over this one - and that's fine - but for me this one is to be treasured. A damn fine album!!

If you listen to Spaceman's songs on "Recurring" you can see his direction, and on this album it comes to fruition. Most of these songs were over 2 years old by the time this hit the stores. If you are searching for the best lyrics, or singing voice of all time, this album is NOT for you. But if you are a fan of studio perfection, album flow, and getting lost in a soundscape (see Smashing Pumpkins: Siamese Dream and My Bloody Valentine: Loveless)this may be the best there is. All true music fans should have a copy of this album. I could review each track pro's and cons but instead here is a first hand account of what happened to me the first time I dropped this cd in the tray..........

Imagine yourself slipping on headphones and 30 minutes later you feel as if you just completed a journey. You are wiped out from the experience, you ask yourself "is what I just heard really that good?" You know it must be something as usually when you have on the headphones you wonder if the phone has just rung, if someone is knocking at the door, what do I have to do tomorrow etc... yet this time you were completely eraptured in the music to a point where your mind is completely free of anything but the music you hear. Cue your CD player up to "Symphony Space" and let it play until the very end, after that ask yourself "how do I feel right now?"

Rating Lazer Guided Melodies wasn't hard at all,

Five stars for originality

Five stars for musical quality

Five stars for expanding on what music is

I would have to say that this album is a lot about setting the listener into a different state of mind. It is a strange feeling that I have never encountered before, just listen to the WHOLE album. To a first time listener this album is very unobtrusive, in fact it may seem like background music however eventually this album will just grab your attention and you will just be craving for more - I recomend you try it!!!!!

In the years to come, "Lazer Guided Melodies" will be remembered as a peak of 90s psychedelia, an almost picture-perfect album of new sounds that take the listener to places never before encountered in rock. The songs all meld together somehow; they might start out as simple 'ballads', picking away, and then gradually explode into a full-on electronic rush--or they might dissolve into a dresser-drawer of sparkling ambient sounds that sound like stars twinkling in the night sky. The phases, whooshes, and drones heard here are all designed to cure that headache, with every note sounding bright and clean; even the fuzz guitar and sax squeals are so elegantly recorded as to have a calming effect. Not recommended for speedfreaks, but a masterpiece of its kind, of which there are too few out there.

confidently working my way back through their discography, i was drawn into this from the first listen. like being kissed by an angel, the music washes over you to leave a feeling of thrill and fulfilment. yes, i know i may be going slightly grandeuse with the description but that is the only way to say it. for falling in and out of love to, for those soul searching moments at 3 in the morning or for sheer redemption in the great thing they call music. beautiful.

Perfect. The dizzy space sound takes me into Spiritualized's enourmous musical galaxy. If you get in; it don't let you out. Besides, it never lets you down either. I'm an addict. Every song is a classic. Believe me. The best Spiritualized album.

But: DON' SKIP SONGS!!!!!!!! Just insert the cd, and let it play through.

For every music enthusiast; this is a must-buy.

Spiritualized gained worldwide critical acclaim with Ladies and Gentlemen we are Floating in Space, and it was deserved, but not because of that album. Lazer Guided Melodies eclipses that record on most levels. The flow on this album is so fluid, it's like listening to liquid white light in the middle of the night. The 12 songs are divided into four tracks, maybe to prevent skipping. But if you could skip, which ones would you remove from the playlist? Cetainly not the lovely-but-sad You Know it's True, with its harp and reverb interplay. Not the upbeat anthem Run which segues effortlessly into Smiles and Step into the Breeze. You couldn't touch the third track featuring Take your Time and Shine a Light, a beautiful couplet which highlights the album. And you'd have to listen to track four which perfectly closes this masterpiece album.

Though Spiritualized's first album has the usual echoes of Spacemen 3, it already shows that Jason will easily move beyond the minimalist sound by that pioneering band. For example, the second track, "If I Were With Her Now," moves more than any of S3 tracks and features a sax. The sound is almost jaunty at times on this album, and melodic through basically the whole album. The best track, though, has to be "Shine A Light" which is truly awe-inspiring. The band also does rock out for those who always hated later Spacemen 3 for not doing that; check out "Angel Sigh" as an example. It's not a perfect album ("Symphony Space" is inconsequential filler, and "200 Bars" might last a bit too long) but it is damn great, indeed.