The SHOEGAZING revival, starts.......HERE!!!! OH YES!!!

20 years! 20 GLORIOUS YEARS!!

IT's been 20 long years since the likes of Ride, Curve, Swervedriver, Pale Saints, Lush, Chapterhouse, Moose, Slowdive, Telescopes,The Catherine Wheel, and hell, even The Boo Radleys, not forgetting the twin UBER-gods of Shoegaze - MY BLOODY VALENTINE and HOUSE OF LOVE - all forged a guitar revolution in rock just before US Grunge and its imitators came along and blew it all away with its bad acne, lank greasy shaggy barnets and lumberjackoff shirts...and suicidal lyrical angst.

Who could forget the floppy fringes, the slow-motion blurred 'arty' videos, the neutral, sexless and indecipherable lyrics buried beneath tons of FX-treated guitar overdubs and all manner of dubious 'groove beats', not to mention the regulation 4-track 12" EPs with their one word titles (RIde, Play, Fall, Sway, Cack, Shit, Wank, Toss, Itch, Scratch, Throb, Phaze, Haze, Laze, and indeed Gaze and Shoe)....?? ;)

If the likes of PWEI, Neds, Wonder Stuff and their ilk can reform 20 years later to mark a milestone, then surely it is high time these much-maligned sonic purveyors of "nonchalant blankness" came out of semi retirement and re-staked their place in musical history.

Anybody here a fan of this rather dubious and admittedly androgynous 'movement' that at one point was seriously threatening to make big inroads into the pop charts at the start of the 90s.... ultimately derailed as it turned out, by the fall out from baggydom (which gave way to trance) and grunge-lite (which gave us Green Day) and the countless bandwagon jobs both of these latter genres spawned, much to the inherent disgust of the more sensitive footwear-ogling fret-stroking contingent.

List your favourite Shoegaze albums and singles here .......... if you dare!!

Come on, don't be afraid....

Biti too pissed and I'm the club at the mo to read all that in full but Sliwdive and Pale Daints dud a few fgood tunes. wil give fuller response the morrow Pale Saints' Sight Of You' was good

Ride - Nowhere

Still one of my favourite albums

I remember booking a triple header of I think The Family Cat, Pale Saints, and Chapterhouse c.1991 at So'ton.

The Family Cat were cool cos they played a version of the Reynolds Girls hit, 'I'd rather Jack' to the Family Cat..

Pale Saints were alright, but the seriousness had set in.. and bloody Chapterhouse were awful, constantly bombarded by abuse from us about giving us a smile.

Booked Lush later, who were just dazzling, especially afterwards.

So basically any shoegazing revival can f'off unless Lush reform and Ride, perhaps.

Does The Cure - Disintegration count? Great singles but, fuck me, theres some dour shit in between.

Gene wrote: Does The Cure - Disintegration count? Great singles but, fuck me, theres some dour shit in between.

You have a valid point, cos FatBob Smith admitted to loving Ride, so his next album Wish (which I would re-title as "Pish") was very much inspired by shoegazing stuff cos of the very long guitar intros on some of the tracks on it... zzzzzzzz.....zzzzzzzz.....zzzzzzzz.....

johnny wrote: Biti too pissed and I'm the club at the mo to read all that in full but Sliwdive and Pale Daints dud a few fgood tunes. wil give fuller response the morrow Pale Saints' Sight Of You' was good

Funny to relate, I have that first Pale Saints album - only cos I saw them support the Pixies and was actually quite taken in by their stuff. Agree that Sight Of You is a great song, but that first album had tones of great songs. One song (True Coming Dream) even reminded me of - shock - The Wedding Present.

I liked Lush as well simply because they were a kindergarten version of My Bloody Valentine. But much of the rest of those bands were just somewhat anonymous. A lot of them had their moments though, nevertheless. It's a strange one, this shoegazing lark.... but at least it brings back a lot of good memories.

Liked a few Slowdive tunes back in about 92 but listened to a couple recently and they sound cack.

Lush were alright yeah though i didn't view them as shoegazing like Slowdive etc

Get some of this into yer ribs.

I still get a twinge in my heart and a faint throb in my groin whenever I think of Rachel from Slowdive getting all sweaty at Stoke Poly in 1991. She is lovely.

This is still my favorite shoegaze song....

PS-It's about a car....

By 'Eck! My Neck! wrote: not forgetting the twin UBER-gods of Shoegaze - MY BLOODY VALENTINE and HOUSE OF LOVE -

Not sure i ever considered House Of Love to be shoegazers but any excuse to post some cracking tunes from 1992's Babe Rainbow album.What was the thing with Terry Bickers on that album? Is he on it but then left the band before its release or did he leave before they recorded it and not feature on it at all? My guess is the latter as the guitar work doesn't quite match up to the previous 'Butterfly' LP.

I think that Babe Rainbow album still stands up unlike the Ride debut,but Ride did release some good 4 track E.P.s I suppose. The main band of interest from that period for me remains My Bloody Valentine,they did create something special...

Loveless is just such a fucking strange record. I actually find it a very difficult record to describe in words.

I do find it very very odd - if not ironic - that the way they linked the tracks together with bits of guitar FX and ambient noises was NOT as unique and pioneering as they would have us believe.

Why? You may wonder?

Because PALE SAINTS bloody well did it first with THEIR debut album a year earlier.

Johhny - Bickers fucked off from HOL good 2 years earlier, never the same since. Was good to see em back doing the classics 4/5/ years ago when 'days run away' came out.

Always a big fan of Allison, Souvlaki space station etc.. by Slowdive. The rest bar, early ride stuff was SHITE.

Ah right, thanks Andrew. Regret never seeing HOL live. Was gutted to find out they'd even played a gig in my town once in 1990 ( Chadwick had apparently lived here for a while at one time so possibly why they played here) Only found out when I bought the Spy In The House Love b sides and rarities compilation - they had a gigography in the sleeve notes of their 89/90 tour dates . Some good tunes on that comp- Marble, Soft As Fire, Love 2, Baby Teen...

Kind of drifted off em just before Audience With The Mind came out in 93. Can't recall even listening to that album, like yer say Andrew they were never quite the same after Bickers left. Did he rejoin for Days Run Away and the gigs a few years back?

My Bloody Valentine - never seemed to get round to giving them much of a listen for some reason and still never have

Thanks to this thread I have rediscovered this by Slowdive..

Does anybody here remember a very elusive band that were on 4AD called SWALLOW , who were a duo and had one album out called BLOW - they sounded like a cross between Cocteau Twins and MBV circa 1991. Not sure what year this album of theirs came out (I discovered them by accident when I got a free 4AD sampler that came with something from their catalogue when I ordered a Pixies album.

They [Swallow] sounded very shoegaze if you don't mind me saying. In fact I know for a fact that they even got sampled by Chemical Brothers on a track on their first album...

By 'Eck! My Neck! wrote: Does anybody here remember a very elusive band that were on 4AD called SWALLOW , who were a duo and had one album out called BLOW - they sounded like a cross between Cocteau Twins and MBV circa 1991. Not sure what year this album of theirs came out (I discovered them by accident when I got a free 4AD sampler that came with something from their catalogue when I ordered a Pixies album.

They [Swallow] sounded very shoegaze if you don't mind me saying. In fact I know for a fact that they even got sampled by Chemical Brothers on a track on their first album...

Yeah, they were good - more than a hint of Hooky's bass sound in there too. I think I actually bought their album 'cos Paul Lester's review in "Melody Maker" said they were "a perfect amalgamation of [his] three favourite bands" (ie - New Order, MBV and the Cocteaus).

I even saw them live supporting Mazzy Star at Manchester UMIST in June 1994. They were very nervous and an absolute shambles: my girlfriend at the time was sure that the singer dashed off in tears at the end. Mazzy Star, however, were astonishing....

Clayhead Liberation Faction wrote:

By 'Eck! My Neck! wrote: Does anybody here remember a very elusive band that were on 4AD called SWALLOW , who were a duo and had one album out called BLOW - they sounded like a cross between Cocteau Twins and MBV circa 1991. Not sure what year this album of theirs came out (I discovered them by accident when I got a free 4AD sampler that came with something from their catalogue when I ordered a Pixies album.

They [Swallow] sounded very shoegaze if you don't mind me saying. In fact I know for a fact that they even got sampled by Chemical Brothers on a track on their first album...

Yeah, they were good - more than a hint of Hooky's bass sound in there too. I think I actually bought their album 'cos Paul Lester's review in "Melody Maker" said they were "a perfect amalgamation of [his] three favourite bands" (ie - New Order, MBV and the Cocteaus).

I even saw them live supporting Mazzy Star at Manchester UMIST in June 1994. They were very nervous and an absolute shambles: my girlfriend at the time was sure that the singer dashed off in tears at the end. Mazzy Star, however, were astonishing....

YOwsa! another Mazzy Star nut...I salute you! :) LOve them so much too - perfect and essential " late night slo-mo velvet curtain and blue medicine bottles " listening experience! Must try and listen again to the debut Swallow ep (didn't get the album BLOW - think it's completely out of print now).....and I will play She Hangs Brightly for afters!!!

It's kinda weird cos I like a lot of that electronica stuff like Mouse on Mars, Add N to X, Stereolab, Two Lone Swordsmen, a lot of the Warp acts etc etc.... but I also have a lot of time for the early 90s guitar revolution bands!!!

Don't start the SHOEGAZING revival without me! I'm, like, the shoegazing guy and have the CDs and ticket stubs to prove it. And an Alesis Quadraverb GT loaded up with custom shoegazing presets. And Dean Garcia's bass pick in a little shrine.

Here's a link to photos of Kevin Shields' pedalboard if you think your puny computer monitor can handle it.

Gnu Odor wrote: Don't start the SHOEGAZING revival without me! I'm, like, the shoegazing guy and have the CDs and ticket stubs to prove it. And an Alesis Quadraverb GT loaded up with custom shoegazing presets. And Dean Garcia's bass pick in a little shrine.

Here's a link to photos of Kevin Shields' pedalboard if you think your puny computer monitor can handle it.

Well you know what to do sir - JUMP ON BOARD NOW!

:p

How about starting by listing your favourites so we can see.

here's a few of mine:

Pale Saints - Comforts Of Madness/Barging Into The Presence of God/Half Life/Flesh Balloon... MBV - Loveless/Tremolo/Soon Swallow - sampler EP Lush - Mad Love EP / Gala LP / Scar EP Southpacific - Constance Bowery Electric - Vertigo / Beat / Fear Of Flying / Empty Words

One of my favourite eras in music - I love most of the groups who were associated (some more loosely than others) with the shoegazing tag, although I remember the Melody Maker also calling it The Scene That Celebrates Itself.

The noisier and the dreamier the better as far as I was concerned! It was a shame it burnt itself out by about 1992/93 and got flattened by Britpop, but all good things come to an end and most of the music still sounds great today.

Favourite groups were/are: My Bloody Valentine, House Of Love (Guy Chadwick was a genius songwriter), Lush (had a huge crush on Emma), Ride, Slowdive, AR Kane (more weird dreampop than shoegaze but they made a fearsome noise), Bleach and Moose. Never really liked Chapterhouse though.

Saw Lush and House Of Love live, sadly none of the others.

Christ, this is making me feel old.:)

Ahhhhh... Don't forget ADORABLE!

I was playing the first Pale Saints album again last night - what a coincidence that this thread should re-appear!!

RE: that album - one of my favourite bits is the little section where the band go apeshit between the tracks Insubstantial and A Deep Sleep For Stephen.....

Such a classic debut album, and sadly all but forgotten now.

:)

It's got to be Sonic Youth, although they were the precursors...

I've seen them twice in the last few years and they are definitely bringing it back!

Vive the revival!

Canadia wrote: It's got to be Sonic Youth, although they were the precursors...

I've seen them twice in the last few years and they are definitely bringing it back!

Vive the revival!

They may have been the innovators of that fx-guitar sound but I don't think Sonic Youth have much to do - if anything - at all with the 'shoegazing' thingy..... they operate on a completely different level.

Most of these shoegazing acts hailed from the Thames Valley part of the UK....and around Oxford....well, with the obvious exception of Radiohead of course!!

I think the Shoegazing revival started HERE to be fair ;)

There have been some nice Slowdive demos circulating recently, some of which would have made for a very interesting follow up to Souvlaki, but then we wouldn't have Pygmalion

M1 wrote: I think the Shoegazing revival started HERE to be fair ;)

There have been some nice Slowdive demos circulating recently, some of which would have made for a very interesting follow up to Souvlaki, but then we wouldn't have Pygmalion

This Swallow act are possibly the missing link between Cocteau Twins, MBV and Seefeel...... sad that they vanished without trace though....