Slowdive were chief pioneers of the oft derided shoegaze scene , A name that sort of clung to bands that were anywhere from near the Thames Valley at the time of the early 90's or had the courage to let the music take center stage and not some ape of a frontman. I saw these at the slough music festival in 1991, We went to see Ride and discovered Thousand Yard Stare and Slowdive instead !!
Neil Halstead and Rachael Goswell were the mainstays and went onto form Mojave 3 once slowdive had run its course. On this the bands first album release epic guitars and soaring vocals mix with lush arrangements and all in all make a perfect racket for a hot summers day, bands such as My bloody Valentine and Chapterhouse took up lots of column inches around this time but this really is where all the praise should have been,
A timeless classic.
Spanish Air
Celia's Dream
Catch The Breeze
Ballad Of Sister Sue
Erik's Song
Waves
Brighter
The Sadman
Primal
I must admit that I avoided all the Shoegaze stuff back in the early 90's. I was bang into the erm......"some ape of a front man type bands" plus I tended to avoid stuff that the music press fawnd over. So I ignored Sub Pop/Shoegaze/4AD/Grunge etc
ReplyDeleteI think that the time has come to give myself an early 90's history lesson with Slowdive/Chapterhouse/Ride/Lush & Galaxy 500.
This is my favourite Slowdive album. Soundscapes and soft melodies, pure shoegaze without the ambient leanings.
ReplyDeleteMust admit I sort of lost interest after this album, I never got into mojave 3 either which is to my own detriment as I'm sure I'd like them!
Delete