The last few years has seen a return of 1990s shoegazing indie bands, including Ride, My Bloody Valentine and Lush and now it’s the return of Slowdive. Last week I wrote about it for God Is In The TV but just in case you didn’t hear it, you really need to have this song ‘Star Roving’ in your life. Take the time to listen.
Their long-awaited fourth album (and first since 1995’s Pygmalion) should be with us shortly…
Here are ten songs today from the legendary Festive Fifty compiled by John Peel. As yesterday’s entry focused on the eighties, it seemed only fair to do the nineties today. Some of the records were obscure, but other artists went on to do massively well. Much like the eighties, in fact.
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy -‘Television: The Drug Of The Nation.’ mp3 (1992 Festive Fifty No.38)
Dawn Of the Replicants -‘Science Fiction Freak.’ mp3 (1999 Festive Fifty No.29)
The Orb -‘The Box.’ mp3 (1996 Festive Fifty No.7)
The Fall -‘Bill Is Dead.’ mp3 (1990 Festive Fifty No.1)
Nirvana -‘Where Did You Sleep Last Night?’ mp3 (1994 Festive Fifty no.27)
Hefner -‘The Hymn For the Cigarettes.’ mp3 (1999 Festive Fifty no.2)
Orbital -‘Blue Room.’ mp3 (1992 Festive Fifty No. 20)
AC Acoustics -‘I Messiah Am Jailer.’ mp3 (1997 Festive Fifty no.19)*
Slowdive -‘Catch the Breeze.’ mp3 (1991 Festive Fifty No.20)
Paris Angels -‘All On You(Perfume).’ mp3 (1990 Festive Fifty no.6)
* OK, I’m aware that there were only thirty-one records in the chart that year due to restrictions on John Peel’s time. But you get the point, yes?
Well, it feels like ages since I’ve done a ‘proper’ covers only post. Let’s get going…
Sons & Daughters -‘Killer (Adamski/Seal cover).’ mp3
Pet Shop Boys -‘Always On My Mind (Elvis Presley cover).’ mp3
Yo La Tengo -‘Dreams (Fleetwood mac cover).’ mp3
Tralala -‘Never Understand (Jesus and Mary Chain cover).’ mp3
Slowdive -Some Velvet Morning (Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra cover).’ mp3
The Shins -‘We Will Become Silhouettes (Postal Service cover).’ mp3
BTW, two bits of info that may be of interest to you:
1) This afternoon I did a ‘phone interview with James Allan of Glasvegas fame (see below) and will write that up a.s.a.p.
2) This afternoon I received an email from Colin at And Before The First Kiss, asking if I would like to be involved with another mp3 blog he is assembling called Fun and Heartbreak. Well, obviously, yes! I haven;t yet posted over there, but I will.
Watch this space…
(it’s really not far off this in Scotland now)
OK, don’t know how much I’m going to be able to post over the next few days, so here are seven covers for today. No linking theme, but hope you like them:
Muse -‘House Of the Rising Sun (The Animals cover).’ mp3
Big Star -‘Femme Fetale (Velvet Underground cover).’ mp3
The Pretenders -‘I Go To Sleep (The Kinks cover).’ mp3
Madness -‘It Must be Love (Labi Siffre cover).’ mp3
The Wedding Present -‘Felicity (Orange Juice cover).’ mp3
Slowdive -‘Some Velvet Morning (Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra cover).’ mp3
Big Black -‘The Model (Kraftwerk cover).’ mp3
I have been discussing music with a fellow teacher a lot at work, and disocvered much in common in terms of music, particularly stuff from the pre-Britpop era. having spent today listening to Slowdive, how could I not encourage others to listen to?
The first Slowdive album Just For A Day was released in 1991, at the height of shoegazing, or as the Americans called it -‘Dreampop.’ This latter label seems quite appropriate when applied to this album. These two tracks are taken from there:
Slowdive-‘Spanish Air.’
Slowdive-‘Catch The Breeze.’ mp3
1993 saw the release of Souvlaki, which suggested a bit more of a dub feel. Whilst some sections of the music press were more preoccupied with grunge (on both sides of the Atlantic), there were those who fell for the charms of its dub influences, which showed the band had built upon the success of their debut.
Slowdive-‘Alison.’ mp3
Slowdive-‘When The Sun Hits.’ mp3
By 1995, the music scene had changed drastically. Kurt Cobain had died, and Britpop held sway in the UK, not only in the ‘indie/alternative’ scene but in the national pop charts too. Their Wikipedia entry denies that labelmates Oasis had insisted they leave the label, but this album was released a mere week before they were dropped. a shame, because this might even be my favourite of their three albums, representing truly adventurous music that’s just as out there as their (former) labelmates My Bloody Valentine had been when they released Loveless in 1991. This is ambient and dub becoming ever more important in the sound, though to be fair, the Boo Radleys -who had reinvented themselves in line with the times, had hints of it on their earlier albums.
Slowdive-‘Rutti.’ mp3
Slowdive-‘J’s Heaven.’ mp3
After the release of Pygmalion, the band more evolved than split into Mojave 3, who had far more of an Americana-influenced sound and who still prosper today.
Slowdive’s official website is here.
As always, the mp3s will be up for one week only. If you like what you hear, please go and buy the music, be it from Amazon, or your local indpendent retailer.