"Lazer Beam" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Super Furry Animals | ||||
from the album Love Kraft | ||||
Released | 15 August 2005 | |||
Genre | Alternative rock, indie rock, funk | |||
Length | 4:55(Album version) 3:36 (Radio edit) | |||
Label | Epic | |||
Songwriter(s) | Super Furry Animals | |||
Producer(s) | Mario Caldato Jr, Super Furry Animals | |||
Super Furry Animals singles chronology | ||||
|
"Lazer Beam" is a single by Super Furry Animals. It was the only single to be released from the Love Kraft album and reached #28 in the UK Singles Chart, and as of 2023, remains their last UK Top 40 hit. [1] The song is "about making your own reality" and tells the story of aliens coming down to earth to shoot humans with laser beams which "make them intelligent rather than being jerks". [2] Some of singer Gruff Rhys's lyrics were lifted from a speech made by Tony Blair at the Labour Party Conference in 2004. [3]
Although critical response to the track was mostly positive, with some journalists hailing "Lazer Beam" as a "return to form", [4] some reviews were scathing with the NME even going so far as to call it "the worst Furries song ever" in their review of 2007's Hey Venus! [5]
Two music videos were produced to accompany the song's release as a single. The first, directed by Palumbo & Coch, features a fluorescent cityscape with the band and a monster with their 'SFA' logo, appearing between the translucent buildings while the second, directed by Aurelien and Florian Marrel, [6] [7] features a fictional sideways-scrolling arcade beat 'em up in the style of Metal Slug and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. [7]
In a 2005 interview with The Big Issue Gruff Rhys claimed that some of the lyrics to the song are based on Tony Blair's speech at the Labour Party Conference in 2004, in particular his opening line 'a radical new vision is needed': "I've nicked that wholesale, but I am offering a radical new vision whereas he wasn't. He was offering a 19th century imperialist vision and "Lazer Beam" offers an end to Hollywood romantic comedies and imperial colonialist bastards". [3] According to guitarist Huw Bunford the song is "about making your own reality": "Today's reality is insane so we may as well make our own. It's about aliens coming down from space and zapping humans with amazing lazer beams that make them intelligent rather than being jerks. It's obviously a highly unlikely scenario". [2]
"Lazer Beam" was recorded in Figueres, Spain, and mixed in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro along with the rest of the Love Kraft album. [8] Elements of the song's backing track were built from a rough demo the band had begun working on during the recording of Guerrilla called "John Spex", which was brought up again for the Rings Around the World sessions. [9] According to Bunford, the band recorded "three versions of the song" before settling on the version that appears on Love Kraft. [2]
The album version of "Lazer Beam" is 4 minutes 55 seconds long and is in the key of A major. [10] This version appeared on all commercially released singles containing the track.
The track starts with 24 seconds of heavily effected guitar, drums and "bizarre sound effects" before the first verse begins, [4] rising in volume as a looping bass line joins the mix and Gruff Rhys speaks the lines "This song is daunted by a radical new vision, no more imperial colonial bastards, no more romantic comedies, this is a fanfare introduction to a high-powered, purposeful theme." [11]
A string section join on the chorus as Rhys's voice is augmented by falsetto harmony backing vocals. The chords for the chorus remain the same as those used in the verse, namely A and G. The song then breaks down to a lead guitar melody line at 1 minute and 8 seconds before another verse with Rhys this time singing his lyrics. Another chorus, verse and chorus follow in this fashion until "Lazer Beam" breaks down completely at 2:55 to keyboard swells with Debi McLean providing a "space vocal", [12] speaking the lines "we will conquer utopia in space chariots". [11] The song builds back up to a double chorus before the outro. The string section returns once Rhys has sung a final verse using a vocoder. "Lazer Beam" then breaks down for the last time to handclaps and keyboard swells and ends with a few seconds of isolated keyboard noise.
A radio edit of "Lazer Beam" was included on promotional cds sent to radio stations and was also used in both music videos. This version of the track is 3 minutes and 36 seconds long and omits both the 24 second introduction, first, spoken word verse and the first chorus, starting instead with the guitar melody line that occurs in the album version at 1 minute and 8 seconds. The rest of song is identical to the album version although it does not include the brief keyboard noises at the very end.
Reaction to the track was generally positive with several critics hailing "Lazer Beam" as a "return to form" including BBC Wales who claimed the track was "SFA's best single release since 2001's "Juxtapozed with U"". [4] [13] musicOMH thought "Lazer Beam" to be an "absolute powerhouse of a song" and the Sunday Herald saw the track as one of the few "great moments on Love Kraft". [14] [15]
However, Cokemachineglow described the song as "one of [the band's] weakest singles to date": [16]
An electronic mish-mash with a forgettable verse and shouted gibberish chorus, it might actually be annoying, a quality I would never otherwise associate with Super Furry Animals singles. It's also completely out of step with the mood of the album, and practically screams First Single! as a result. [16]
Two years after the song's release the NME described "Lazer Beam" as "the worst Furries song ever" in their review of the band's eighth album Hey Venus! . [5]
The "psychedelic" nature of the track was commented on by several reviewers with Mojo describing it as "acid-carnivalesque", [10] [17] The Times stating that it is a "kids TV theme heard through an acid-pop filter", [18] The Observer claiming it sounded like "a Jesus Christ Superstar outtake gone delightfully right", [19] and BBC Wales calling it "cosmic funk". [13]
Two music videos were produced to accompany the release of "Lazer Beam" as a single. Both feature the radio edit of the track
The "Tron-inspired" Palumbo & Coch directed video starts with the camera rushing across a fluorescent blue sea, [6] [16] then a road towards "a cityscape which looks like something between downtown Tokyo and a graphic equalizer". [6] Gruff Rhys appears on a floating electronic billboard singing the first verse and is joined by other members of the band playing along with the track.
At 33 seconds a neon monster, with the 'SFA' logo on his chest, appears amongst the translucent buildings. More shots of the band and the computer generated city follow before the monster reappears during the second chorus, this time with electric bolts shooting from his body. As the track reaches its middle 8 a multicoloured neon spacecraft appears.
More shots of the band, cityscape and 'SFA' monster follow until the final verse, when the view returns to the road from the beginning of the video. The camera then flies up inside a skyscraper made entirely of small images of a mouth singing the along with the track. As the song finishes the view again returns to the road. Small spaceships (similar to the one from the middle 8) gather at either side as the city is left behind and the road gradually disappears.
The Aurelien and Florian Marrel directed video begins with a shot of the band reflected in a television screen then cuts to the start screen of a fictional video game called 'Lazer Beam' which claims to have been made by the Kocakatpiece Corporation in 2005. [7] 'Arcade mode' is selected then two characters are chosen from a menu featuring four Super Furry Animals band member lookalikes before a brief 'How to play' screen is shown.
An introduction screen is then shown featuring a villain with folded arms towering over several skyscrapers with the legend "Evil is reigning over this city" before panning down to see the four men from the character selection screen with the subtitle "A band is here to change things". Next a " Final Fight style overlay map" appears with the 'City' ('Stage 01') section flashing. [7]
On 33 seconds the 'game' itself begins with the two player characters walking from left to right down a deserted street. As the first chorus begins several zombies enter from the right and are shot by the player characters. After 53 seconds the villain from the introduction appears and laughs before disappearing as the playing area is filled with zombies. The view changes to a cut scene showing close-ups of the two players sunglasses then pans out to show a spaceship illuminating the area with yellow light.
The video then cuts to a shot of the band playing the game before returning to the map screen as 'Docks' or 'Stage 02' flashes. The second level begins in much the same way as the first with the two characters shooting zombies who appear from the right. The villain again stands in front of the players, laughing before disappearing. A boat/submarine then enters from the right and begins firing bombs at the players who destroy it with laser beams. Another cut scene follows in which the crippled boat returns to a hangar in the sea with 'Evil' written above the entrance. The hangar explodes and disappears before flying out of the water, now with mechanical claws attached, and the video returns again to live action footage of the Super Furries playing the game.
The map is shown for the last time showing a third level, '???', flashing. The villain attacks the characters from above with his flying vehicle and has hit several times by lasers as he tries to hit the players with the machine's claws. A further cut scene then begins as one of the characters is seen activating a handset which calls the spaceship seen at the end of 'Stage 01'. The spaceship fires at the villain who flees his exploding vehicle stating "I'll be back" as he flies away.
The 'zombies' from levels 1 and 2, now looking perfectly fine, are shown lining the banks of a river, singing along to the tracks final verse. Balloons and rainbows are shown behind them and a whale jumps out of the water before the screen goes black and the words 'Game over' appear. More live action footage of the band follows with Huw Bunford raising his hands in triumph at completing the game and Guto Pryce being zapped by a laser. The final screen features the legend "F.B.I. winners don't use drugs!"
All songs by Super Furry Animals.
A Danger Mouse remix of the track was also made available as a free download from the Love Kraft album website. [24]
Chart | Peak position |
---|---|
European Hot 100 Singles | 85 [25] |
UK Singles Chart | 28 [1] |
Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys, Huw Bunford, Guto Pryce, Cian Ciaran, and Dafydd Ieuan. An earlier incarnation of the band featured actor Rhys Ifans on lead vocals. The band are considered to be part of the renaissance of Welsh culture which emerged in the 1990s: other Welsh bands of the time include the Manic Street Preachers, Stereophonics, Catatonia and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci.
Gruffudd Maredudd Bowen Rhys is a Welsh musician, composer, producer, filmmaker and author. He performs solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals, which obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He formed the electro-pop outfit Neon Neon with Boom Bip. Their album Stainless Style was nominated for the 2008 Nationwide Mercury Prize. He won the 2011 Welsh Music Prize for his album Hotel Shampoo, which was followed up by American Interior in 2014, accompanied by a film, a book and a mobile app. His most recent album, Sadness Sets Me Free, was released in 2024. He is considered a figurehead of the era known as Cool Cymru.
Phantom Power is the sixth album by Welsh indie rock band Super Furry Animals, released on 21 July 2003 by Epic Records in the United Kingdom. The record was originally conceived as a ten-song concept album using D-A-D-D-A-D guitar tuning, but the band chose to abandon this idea during recording as they didn't want to constrain themselves. The group did attempt to create a "more coherent" album than their past efforts by choosing songs which worked well together. Phantom Power was recorded at the band's own studio, AV Happenings, in Cardiff with the Super Furries producing and engineering themselves for the first time. The album features a range of musical styles, from country rock to techno, although many of the tracks are based around the acoustic guitar. According to chief songwriter and vocalist Gruff Rhys, the album's lyrics deal with "broken relationships and war".
Love Kraft is the seventh studio album by Welsh indie rock band Super Furry Animals, released on 22 August 2005 through Epic Records in the United Kingdom. The album was recorded in Spain with producer Mario Caldato Jr and was something of a departure for the band, with all members contributing songs and lead vocals alongside Gruff Rhys who had been main songwriter for the Super Furries until this point. In selecting tracks for Love Kraft a conscious effort was made by the band not to choose songs on their individual merit but rather to pick those which went well together in order to create as cohesive an album as possible. The album's name was taken from a sex shop, Love Craft, near the Cardiff offices of the Super Furries' management team and is also a nod to American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.
Hey Venus! is the eighth album by Welsh band Super Furry Animals. It was released on 27 August 2007 in the United Kingdom. Hey Venus! is the band's first full-length release on current label Rough Trade Records and, at just over 36 minutes, is also their shortest-running studio release. The title is taken from the first line of the song "Into the Night".
Ice Hockey Hair is an EP by the Welsh alternative rock band Super Furry Animals, released in 1998. The record contains four songs which the band felt did not fit in with either their previous album, 1997's Radiator, or its follow-up Guerrilla. The title track refers to an alternative name for the mullet hairstyle. The EP's opening song, "Smokin'", was commissioned by British television station Channel 4 for a programme about sloth presented by Howard Marks. "Ice Hockey Hair" was later included on 'greatest hits' compilation Songbook: The Singles, Vol. 1, issued in 2004, while "Smokin'" appeared on 1998's B-side and rarities compilation Out Spaced.
"Northern Lites" is the ninth single by Super Furry Animals. It was the first single to be taken from the Guerrilla album and reached number 11 in the UK Singles Chart after its release on 10 May 1999. The song was written by singer Gruff Rhys and was inspired by the El Niño phenomenon. The track's title refers to the Aurora Borealis, a natural light display which the band were convinced they had seen prior to the song being written. Rhys wrote the melody for "Northern Lites" several years before it was completed but only decided on a calypso style after he wrote the lyrics. The steel drums on the track are played by keyboardist Cian Ciaran and were added on the spur of the moment after the group saw them "lying around" Real World Studios during recording.
"Fire in My Heart" is the tenth single by Welsh rock band the Super Furry Animals. It was the second single to be taken from the group's 1999 album Guerrilla, and reached number 25 in the UK Singles Chart after its release on 9 August 1999. The track, originally titled "Heartburn", has been described by the band's singer Gruff Rhys as a country and western song with lyrics that offer "soul advice".
"Do or Die" is the eleventh single by Super Furry Animals. It was the third and final single to be taken from the Guerrilla album and was the band's last release for Creation Records. The track reached number 20 in the UK Singles Chart after its release on 17 January 2000. The group had originally wanted to release "Wherever I Lay My Phone " as the final single from Guerilla but Creation instead chose "Do or Die", a decision which the band claimed not to understand.
"Ysbeidiau Heulog" is the twelfth single by Super Furry Animals. It was the only single to be taken from the album Mwng and was released as a limited edition 7" vinyl on the band's own Placid Casual label on 1 May 2000. It was the band's first single to chart outside the UK Singles Top 75 peaking at number 89. The Welsh language song has been described by singer Gruff Rhys as "throwaway pop" and likened to the music of ELO, The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and Os Mutantes.
"Juxtapozed with U" is the thirteenth single by Super Furry Animals. It was the first single to be taken from the Rings Around the World album and reached number 14 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in July 2001. The song was initially conceived as a duet but, after both Brian Harvey and Bobby Brown turned the band down, lead singer Gruff Rhys sang the entire track, using a vocoder on the verses to imitate another person. Musically "Juxtapozed with U" has echoes of Philadelphia soul and the "plastic soul" of David Bowie's album Young Americans and was inspired by the Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder track "Ebony and Ivory". Rhys has claimed that he sees "Juxtapozed with U" as "fairly subversive" because its polished pop style was in stark contrast to the "macho" guitar music the band felt was prevalent in 2001.
"(Drawing) Rings Around the World" is a song by Super Furry Animals and was the second single taken from the band's fifth album, Rings Around the World. The track reached number 28 on the UK Singles Chart on release in October 2001. Singer Gruff Rhys has described the song as being about "rings of communication around the world. All the rings of pollution".
"It's Not the End of the World?" is a song by Welsh band Super Furry Animals. It was the last single to be released from the Rings Around the World album and reached number 30 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in January 2002. Singer Gruff Rhys has variously described the track as being about the extinction of mankind and as "a romantic song about growing old".
"Golden Retriever" is a song by Super Furry Animals. It was the first single to be issued from the album Phantom Power and reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in July 2003. The song is about the relationship between singer Gruff Rhys's girlfriend's two dogs and was written in the same key, with the same guitar tuning and around the same time as several other songs from Phantom Power.
"Hello Sunshine" is a song by the Welsh band Super Furry Animals from their album Phantom Power. It was the seventeenth single released by the group and reached number 31 on the UK Singles Chart in October 2003.
Slow Life is an EP by the Welsh alternative rock band Super Furry Animals, released in 2004. The EP was made available as a free download and also saw a limited CD release, bundled with remix album Phantom Phorce. Lead track "Slow Life" appeared on the 2003 album Phantom Power and was originally composed as a purely electronic song by keyboardist Cian Ciaran several years earlier. The band were keen to finish the track and Ciaran encouraged them to jam over his original version—this jam was then edited and made into the finished song. The track "Motherfokker" is a collaboration between the Super Furry Animals and rap group Goldie Lookin Chain.
"Show Your Hand" is a song by Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals and was the first single from their 2007 album, Hey Venus!. The single was made available for download on 16 July 2007 as an iTunes exclusive and was later released in physical formats on 13 August in the UK. The track failed to penetrate the UK singles chart's Top 40, peaking at #46.
"Run-Away" is a song by Super Furry Animals and the second single taken from their 2007 album, Hey Venus!. The song is an homage to the 'Wall of Sound' production made famous by Phil Spector, particularly in his work with 1960s girl groups.
"The Gift That Keeps Giving" is a song by Super Furry Animals taken from their 2007 album, Hey Venus!. It was given away as a free download single from the band's official website on Christmas Day 2007.
The discography of Super Furry Animals, a Welsh indie rock band, consists of nine studio albums, four extended plays, twenty three singles and three video albums. Super Furry Animals were formed in 1993 in Cardiff, Wales by Gruff Rhys, Huw Bunford, Guto Pryce, Cian Ciaran and Dafydd Ieuan.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link){{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)