Bring me your "shoegazing" memories!

tibor · 15-08-2007 02:10PM

radiospan · 15-08-2007 02:29PM

Great thanks, I'm big into Mew, Nathan Fake and M83, must try out the rest.

funktastic · 15-08-2007 04:53PM

I forgot to mention Seefeel 'Quique'. Recently re-released with extra tracks. Really unique band. Excellent album.

SprostonGreen · 15-08-2007 06:56PM

Great thread.

Ah memories.

Taking magic mushrooms with soundtrack of Blur's song and Chapterhouse's mesmerise.

I absolutely to this day adore De-luxe by Lush and loved Miki and Emma, I will be making Ciao 89-96 my first ever download purchase.

Loved Ride too, had Vapourtrail as my MySpace for a while, love the fact that it was used in Sky One advert a few years ago.

Taping 120 mins on MTV on Sunday nights and finding out more about the bands I liked in Melody Maker.

Curve, the cocteaus, Catherine Wheel, Swervedriver(Rave down, hit the ground!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Boo Radleys, Chapertouse, MBV

- loved them all!

I'm a Cure fan, so it was a natural progression for me, to get into these bands, so atmospheric and dreamy, Lush and Slowdive especially.

Last year I went to see Brian Jonestown Massacre and the ******* and that could be described as shoe-gazing.

Who sang "how you satisfy me", that was great too???

Dudess · 15-08-2007 07:32PM

Hey Sproston,

A boy (girl??) after my own heart! I swear, your post brought tears to my eyes!

SprostonGreen wrote:

Taking magic mushrooms with soundtrack of Blur's song and Chapterhouse's mesmerise.

Ah, sounds blissful. Did you mean Sing by Blur? What a stunning piece of work.

I will be making Ciao 89-96 my first ever download purchase.

I hope you don't mind me giving a brief review of each track.

First tracks are from their later stuff - not as good as earlier.
1. Ladykillers - You probably know it. To be honest, a bit Avril Lavigne-y!
2. Single Girl - You probably know that one too. Really good.
3. Ciao! - Horrible. So what if it features Jarvis?!
4. 500 (Shake Baby Shake) - A nice pretty number.

It gets good from here:
5. Light from a Dead Star - heavenly!
6. Love at First Sight - not a Lush song, originally written by Stuart Moxham of Young Marble Giants/The Gist. Lush's take on it? Divine!
7. Hypocrite - fantastic. Lush rocking out.
8. Desire Lines - One of their long, epic numbers. Stunning.
9. Lovelife - A pretty little thing - very Cocteaus.
10. When I Die - Breathtaking. You'll have a lump in your throat.
11. Nothing Natural - not a favourite of mine. A bit dull. But it gets good at the end.
12. Untogether - Really good. Pretty on the surface but with a dark edge.
13. For Love - See above. Great bass-line.
14. Monochrome - Another melancholy number - exquisite.
15. De-Luxe - You know diddly know it, Neddy - magnificence!
16. Sweetness and Light - Vintage Lush. One of the songs that defined shoegazing - beautiful.
17. Thoughtforms - another pretty, Cocteaus-y number.
18. Etheriel - what a way to end. Sublime.

I would also recommend Gala (if it's available - may not be). It's a compilation of their early singles and B-sides. A few of them are on the best of but plenty of great numbers aren't. Spooky is their debut album - was criticised for heavy-handed production by the Cocteaus' Robin Guthrie and there's merit in that argument, but the tunes are still fantastic.
Split from 1994 is their best album. I wouldn't bother with 1996's Lovelife.

Loved Ride too, had Vapourtrail as my MySpace for a while, love the fact that it was used in Sky One advert a few years ago.

Yeah! That was surreal! I can't listen to that song without welling up...

Taping 120 mins on MTV on Sunday nights and finding out more about the bands I liked in Melody Maker.

F*ck yeah!!! And in Cork, we only had MTV every night from 9 for some reason. Heck, I wasn't complaining! 120 Minutes - where else would show Einsturzende Neubauten (apart from Snub TV - but this was MTV!!! Home today of My Super Sweet Sixteen, Cribs and similar sh1te!)

I'm a Cure fan, so it was a natural progression for me, to get into these bands

I specifically remember Robert Smith singing the praises of Ride, Lush and Curve in a big interview to mark the release of Wish.

Who sang "how you satisfy me", that was great too???

Wasn't that Spectrum? Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3's later group.

Incidentally, did you take your username from The Charlatans' song? Great tune. Some Friendly was the first good album I bought.

nlgbbbblth · 15-08-2007 11:14PM

This guy's blog is great.

Includes a shoegazing mix - Does This Hurt?

Dudess · 15-08-2007 11:24PM

Yeah, great find!

I love the way he mentions the Sega Megadrive! I totally associate Sonic the Hedgehog with that era.
Forgot to mention The Telescopes earlier too - important part of the scene.

Oh, You Made Me Realise! Must dust off that 12" - it's knocking around at home in Cork somewhere.

nlgbbbblth, do you remember Rage magazine? I used to collect it religiously every month (or it might have been fortnightly). Then it just vanished off Irish shelves. The same happened with Vox magazine several years later.

John · 16-08-2007 11:30AM

The only thing I know by The Telescopes is the 7" (Night Terrors) released last year, very haunting sounds and a brilliant sleeve (the reason I bought the single in the first place).

radiospan · 16-08-2007 02:07PM

Dudess wrote:

Wasn't that Spectrum? Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3's later group.

On another board I was looking for albums similar to Erol Alkan's Bugged In CD, and I was recommended a compilation called Spacelines by Sonic Boom. Gonna order it soon. Maybe you know it?

SprostonGreen · 16-08-2007 05:20PM

Dudess, yeah boy of 33.

It is indeed from Some Friendly, one of the best debuts every.

I used to have Spooky(I think) on 10" vinyl and some taped stuff too. I had For Love on a compilation but some gimp lost it on me.

Spectrum! that was it, lovely layer hammond sounds.

Speed to my side was played on Phantom on the way home work, just now, cool.

Remember Single girl being the theme music to the sit-com Game on?

Dudess · 16-08-2007 06:01PM

I'm 29. No difference now but back in '91 you were 17 and old enough to go to gigs. I was only 13 and jealous as hell of your age group!

I bought Some Friendly on cassette when I was 12 and played it to pieces. Must get it on CD. Gorgeous stuff. 'Then' - what a song! If The Charlatans had been called Shimmer or something and came from Oxford, they would DEFINITELY have been lumped in with shoegazing!

I remember watching Game On a few times but never realised Single Girl was the theme music. Ideal song for it too.

nlgbbbblth · 16-08-2007 06:32PM

Dudess wrote:

Yeah, great find!

I love the way he mentions the Sega Megadrive! I totally associate Sonic the Hedgehog with that era.
Forgot to mention The Telescopes earlier too - important part of the scene.

Oh, You Made Me Realise! Must dust off that 12" - it's knocking around at home in Cork somewhere.

nlgbbbblth, do you remember Rage magazine? I used to collect it religiously every month (or it might have been fortnightly). Then it just vanished off Irish shelves. The same happened with Vox magazine several years later.

My favourite Telescopes song is To Kill A Slow Girl Walking. It's from 1989. Not really heard their revival material.

Dudess - Rage Magazine. I remember buying an issue of it in 1991, around the time that Morrissey was touring because there was an interview with him in it. Don't think I picked up any more issues. I got a few Voxs alright. In those days NME and Melody Maker ruled.

Lime Lizard was another good one. There was an excellent free tape which showcased US indie from 1994 - Idaho, Polvo, Grifters, Shudder To Think, Liz Phair etc.

Neon Magazine c1997/98 - good for movies.

Dudess · 16-08-2007 06:39PM

Oh yeah, Shudder to Think. They were great.

I bought a couple of copies of Lime Lizard all right. Think it was actually just a fanzine but the producers had access to really good publishing facilities. This was a good bit before anyone could just purchase QuarkXpress or Adobe InDesign and create a highly professional-looking magazine in their front room.

SprostonGreen · 16-08-2007 06:44PM

nlgbbbblth wrote:

My favourite Telescopes song is To Kill A Slow Girl Walking. It's from 1989. Not really heard their revival material.

That was a deadly song, so was Flying.

Damn, I've got a tape somewhere that my mate and drummer in the old band made for me, it has 90% of the bands mentioned on it. WTF IS IT???

Dudess · 17-08-2007 12:16AM

Other influences I should have included in my opening post are:

The House of Love. Yes, they were also contemporaries of the shoegazing bands but they did precede them - even if only by a few years. In the same way that MBV, the Cocteaus, the J&MC, Sonic Youth and Spacemen 3 (briefly) were contemporaries as well as pioneers. To be fair, Lush were around a small bit before many of the others too, releasing their debut in 1988. Getting lumped in with shoegazing annoyed them, but they did have that sound.
"Christine" is the prototype of a shoegazing track. What a song.

Pink Floyd. It wasn't cool to say so at the time, but Floyd's influence cannot be denied. Comfortably Numb sounds pretty darn shoegazey to me!

nlgbbbblth · 17-08-2007 06:00PM

Dudess wrote:

Other influences I should have included in my opening post are:

The House of Love. Yes, they were also contemporaries of the shoegazing bands but they did precede them - even if only by a few years. In the same way that MBV, the Cocteaus, the J&MC, Sonic Youth and Spacemen 3 (briefly) were contemporaries as well as pioneers. To be fair, Lush were around a small bit before many of the others too, releasing their debut in 1988. Getting lumped in with shoegazing annoyed them, but they did have that sound.
"Christine" is the prototype of a shoegazing track. What a song.

Pink Floyd. It wasn't cool to say so at the time, but Floyd's influence cannot be denied. Comfortably Numb sounds pretty darn shoegazey to me!

The House Of Love - mmmm. So good. That first LP and Destroy The Heart 12" are utterly sublime. Second album is good too [aside from the limp remake of Shine On] and the third Babe Rainbow is surprisingly underrated. Actually I listen to most of all now. LP #4 Audience With The Mind is dull and got around six plays on my stereo and has been gathering dust since 1993.

Their 2005 comeback record Days Run Away is solid enough though. I missed the Dublin show around then - did anybody go?

Pink Floyd - loved them then and still do now.

Great thread. Nice one Dudess!

Dudess · 17-08-2007 08:29PM

Aw cheers! Yeah I'm really enjoying the reminiscing.

Yep, the House of Love came to Cork as well for that tour in 2005. I went to see them all right. Not that great to be honest. The Wedding Present came to Cork around the same time - again, not a tremendous gig. I was working for a newspaper at the time and was asked to write a feature on the two of them and the music scene they came from - good God, getting paid to do that?! Unfortunately it didn't get published in the end, but I still enjoyed doing it immensely.

Dudess · 19-08-2007 09:07PM

And another great memory from then - Teenage Fanclub's albums Bandwagonesque and A Catholic Education. They're amazing! Not strictly "shoegazing" but there was a bit of it in there, and they certainly shared some of the older influences (like The Byrds and The Beach Boys).

Ah, Star Sign and Everything Flows - two perfect songs.

DerekD Goldfish · 20-08-2007 09:01AM

Dudess wrote:

And another great memory from then - Teenage Fanclub's albums Bandwagonesque and A Catholic Education. They're amazing! Not strictly "shoegazing" but there was a bit of it in there, and they certainly shared some of the older influences (like The Byrds and The Beach Boys).

Ah, Star Sign and Everything Flows - two perfect songs.

Teenage Fanclubs whole back catelouge is fantastic( well except for that Jad Fair album)
One of my all time favorite bands

Dudess · 20-08-2007 12:21PM

Agreed. But I'm just focusing on the late eighties/early nineties.

Wow, Alan McGee had some knack for spotting talent (apart from Oasis - damn you, Alan!!) Screamadelica of course also came out in 1991 - again, not really "shoegazing" but there are some tracks on that album that aren't a million miles away from it either - in particular, the incredible Higher Than The Sun.

funktastic · 20-08-2007 03:07PM

http://www.shoegaze.co.uk/shoegazeforum/ This forum is pretty good.

DerekD Goldfish · 20-08-2007 03:28PM

Dudess wrote:

Agreed. But I'm just focusing on the late eighties/early nineties.

Wow, Alan McGee had some knack for spotting talent (apart from Oasis - damn you, Alan!!) Screamadelica of course also came out in 1991 - again, not really "shoegazing" but there are some tracks on that album that aren't a million miles away from it either - in particular, the incredible Higher Than The Sun.

ive said id before and i'll say it again Bobby Gilespie is quite possibly the lease tallented individual to ever step inside a recording studio he did however appear on 3 fantastic albums J&MC-Psycocandy, Primal Scream-Screamadelica, Primal Scream- Xtrmnrt he just has a knack of working with some tallented people now and again.

Dudess · 20-08-2007 04:01PM

What are you basing that claim on?

funktastic · 20-08-2007 05:19PM

I've nothing against him but his voice is quite weak and his lyrics usually pretty makeshift. The last album was piss poor.

DerekD Goldfish · 21-08-2007 09:44AM

Dudess wrote:

What are you basing that claim on?

The Fact most Primal Scream albums are terrible apart from the great Screamadelica and XTRNTR and the good vanishing point.
Even on a good primal scream album the lyrics and vocals are dredfull

Blackhorse Slim · 21-08-2007 10:18AM

wow, reading this thread brings back memories. I actually played in a Dublin band called Sunburst at that time, late eighties, very much influenced by Loop, Spacemen3, MBV etc as well as the beatles and Floyd. I'd also like to give the Whipping Boy a mention, great bunch of lads who had a great sound, and their 'Noise at 3' afternoon gigs in the Underground, which was on Dame Street, were incredible.

I regularly went to the Reading festival in those days too, saw Loop, Spacemen3, MBV, Sonic Youth and many others. I was lucky enough to bump into Kevin Shields the night before they played the main stage in Reading, I think it was 1989, and had a brief chat. The roadies were setting up the stage and the lights. He was nervous, but itching to get up there. They were very good, but somehow to me most shoegazer music worked better in smaller, darker venues.

Shoegaze/dreampop became very popular in the US college circuit around 1998-2000, one the best US bands to come out of that scene were The Autumns. Their Angel Pool album is well worth checking out for anyone who likes this music.

I'd also like to mention The Church, and The Blue Aeroplanes (not quite shoegaze but an amazing band of the era). Oh, and of course Dead can Dance.

loyatemu · 21-08-2007 10:55AM

not an enormous shoegazing fan, but I did see Ride at the tivoli in (I guess) 93 and they were absolutely awesome - my ears have been ringing ever since.

Dudess · 22-08-2007 05:36PM

funktastic wrote:

http://www.shoegaze.co.uk/shoegazeforum/ This forum is pretty good.

Ooh, thanks a mil for that, funktastic!

Yeah I do agree that Bobby Gillespie's voice ain't the greatest. But I don't know, those classic songs just couldn't have any other voice on them. He does seem like an obnoxious sh_it all right though.
Whatever about their entire back catalogue, I think Primal Scream's weak moments can be forgiven purely on the strength of Screamadelica and XTRMNTR. I absolutely love Vanishing Point. And I quite like Give Out But Don't Give Up and Riot City Blues. Don't know their pre-Screamadelica stuff. Although what I've heard of it, they were basically a different band.

Blackhorse Slim wrote:

wow, reading this thread brings back memories. I actually played in a Dublin band called Sunburst at that time, late eighties, very much influenced by Loop, Spacemen3, MBV etc as well as the beatles and Floyd. I'd also like to give the Whipping Boy a mention, great bunch of lads who had a great sound, and their 'Noise at 3' afternoon gigs in the Underground, which was on Dame Street, were incredible.

I regularly went to the Reading festival in those days too, saw Loop, Spacemen3, MBV, Sonic Youth and many others. I was lucky enough to bump into Kevin Shields the night before they played the main stage in Reading, I think it was 1989, and had a brief chat. The roadies were setting up the stage and the lights. He was nervous, but itching to get up there. They were very good, but somehow to me most shoegazer music worked better in smaller, darker venues.

Shoegaze/dreampop became very popular in the US college circuit around 1998-2000, one the best US bands to come out of that scene were The Autumns. Their Angel Pool album is well worth checking out for anyone who likes this music.

I'd also like to mention The Church, and The Blue Aeroplanes (not quite shoegaze but an amazing band of the era). Oh, and of course Dead can Dance.

Hey Blackhorse! Thanks a mil for sharing your memories as someone who was actually "there"! Oh how I longed to go to Reading! And remember the Slough festival in 1991? Ride and Curve were there. The closest I got to Reading around that time was on a family trip to England that year and listening to the John Peel Show broadcasting live from it. I remember Swervedriver being interviewed.
Kudos for getting to chat with Kevin Shields. That must have been surreal.
I don't like the way the genre has been given the name "dream-pop" in the States. "Shoegazing" is bad enough!
Oh the Blue Aeroplanes are amazing! Jacket Hangs is one of my favourite songs of all time. I just know one number by Loop - Arc-Lite. I have it on The Best of Indie Top 20. Good track.
I only know The Church from their appearance on the Donnie Darko soundtrack. Would they be also considered goth?
Dead Can Dance - I know they seemed suited to it, but they aren't really what one could lump in with shoegazing. But yeah, to be fair, their sound and the fact that they're on 4AD makes it difficult to disassociate them from it. But they're kind of still around - which is something they certainly DON'T have in common with the other shoegazing bands! And they formed in 1981. No doubt they were a big influence.

Blackhorse Slim · 23-08-2007 09:51AM

I wouldn't consider the Church goth - and I like goth. They are much more Byrds-influenced, jangly psychedelic guitar sounds similar to Primal Scream's first album.

I know what you mean about Dead Can Dance, but their first album was much more like the Cocteau Twins than their later stuff. Not as good as the Cocteaus IMO, but DCD went on to become something entirely different.

Speaking of Primal Scream, I once went to see the Jesus and Mary Chain (post-Bobby Gillespie) in the Top Hat in Dun Laoghaire, then jumped on a train back to the city to see Primal Scream play a late gig in Trinity College. It was just after the second (eponymous) PS album had been released. I was a little disappointed, I expected to hear jangly psychedelic pop and instead they sounded like Led Zep wannabes! Although I later came to like that album. When Bobby came out on stage one of my mates shouted 'Hey Bobby! We just came from the Jesus and Mary Chain gig. Jim says you're a ****!' He heard it, and didn't look impressed.

Also when Eamonn Doran's opened in Dublin - I think it had a different name then, something with 'Rock' in the name? - I saw the Blue Aeroplanes and Spiritualized there in the first couple of weeks. It was one of Spiritualized's early tours, they were still doing quite a few Spacemen numbers at the time, and Jason was playing his Spacemen 3 guitar with the huge 3 on it. Good times...

Dudess · 23-08-2007 01:50PM

Aw, sounds fantastic!

Blackhorse Slim wrote:

When Bobby came out on stage one of my mates shouted 'Hey Bobby! We just came from the Jesus and Mary Chain gig. Jim says you're a ****!' He heard it, and didn't look impressed.

I've always said I was born at the wrong time - 1978, too late. I was "there" for nothing! Apart from that horrible media-created "movement" between 1994 and 1997 that I refuse to name.

Bring me your "shoegazing" memories!

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