by Jamie
Just as I did in the last installment, I’ll be offering just quick synopsis of several Shoegazer acts with the hope that it will just be the beginning of a spirited discussion and discovery. Today’s entries should effectively wrap up the Shoegazer grouping as well with next week being the initial entry in a new subset.
As such, let’s dive right in.
London’s Lush formed in 1988 and soon became one of the movements central creative forces. Lush, however, wasn’t interested in the sheer bombast and explosiveness of the movement like My Bloody Valentine, Ride and others but leaned more on the Dream Pop side of things. Outfitted with an even 50/50 ratio of men to women Lush’s songs then glided across sounding something like the Cardigans or Sixpence None the Richer with a fuzzbox artistic bent. Now I’d assume ‘Lovefool’ with a Shoegaze makeover would arouse anyone who follows this Series from week to week, and Lush’s latter two releases do not disappoint. Today’s recommendation would be their 1994 release, the savagely honest relationship drama Split (with ‘Lit Up’ being the pop highlight, ‘Undertow’, ‘Light from a Dead Star’, ‘Desire Lines’ and specifically ‘When I Die’ being the introspective odes), but its slightly more sonically aggressive follow-up, 1996′s Lovelife is also highly recommended as well.
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I first discovered Catherine Wheel as I did so many other bands, by just blindly buying an album because my graphic designer’s eye found the cover visually striking. It’s why Meat is Murder was my first Smiths purchase and why I even have a prog rock collection at all largely. That 1993 release Chrome however proved that what was contained in the grooves was just as interesting and stimulating as the packaging it came adorned in.
Musically Catherine Wheel were as muscular as any even if their debut, Ferment was also one of the eras great beauties (the single ‘Black Metallic’, which eclipsed 7 minutes was called the “‘Like a Hurricane’ of the 90′s”). Chrome arrived thoroughly trashing any notion of a sophomore slump, and when you also considered the B-sides from the album do you realize that they had enough ideas to make an honest to goodness no filler double if they’d wanted to. ‘Crank’ and ‘The Nude’ are as beautiful (the tricky little morse code bleep solo on the former and the operatic density solo of the latter are particular highlights) as anything this beautiful genre produced in the few dense years of releases (say 1988-1996). Then there’s the added complexity of the introspective and spacey ‘Fripp’ (named after Robert?) and ‘Ursa Major Space Station’, and the thick heaviness of aptly titled ‘Kill Rhythm’ and the plodding ‘I Confess’ to further push their palette.
The band would slowly fade away (not after a few albums of B-sides and rarities offered the plentiful treasures in their catalog) as the Shoegazer genre grinded to a halt but amongst fans of the time, Catherine Wheel is seen in the upper echelon of technical prowess and creative dexterity.
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Moose is then a good band to also offer (with the pick being their 1992 debut …XYZ) as they represent the ‘other, other’ of the movement. Lush is the, well, lush dream pop side, whereas Catherine Wheel is the sonically explosive side full of guitar peddle experimentation and thundering tribal drumming. But then there is also the decidedly ‘indy’ jangle guitar sound of the movement too. Generally seen more in the American acts of the college radio scene of the mid 1980′s (the Replacements, REM, Galaxie 500, etc) there was a crop of bands that seemed hellbent on recreating the 12 sting jangle of the Byrds heyday (and god bless them, it’s one of rocks great textures). It’s strange too if you can track down the three EPs that preceded …XYZ (in order: Jack, Cool Breeze ['Suzanne' back tracks its way to transcendence], and [the best of the bunch] Reprise. Then after …XYZ, Sonny & Sam and Uptown again showed how great they were with the short form) as they offer a band very much in the more Ride/My Bloody Valentine/Catherine Wheel mold. Suddenly, when it seemed time to release their full length debut they’d already done over an albums worth of full material so things seemingly slowed down and became (often) acoustic.
The album opens with two great examples; the flamenco inspired ‘Slip and Slide’ and the bouncy and brilliant ‘Little Bird (Are You Happy In Your Cage)’. By the time the rest of the album settles in, the band is able to fully incorporate both acoustic and full Shoegazer styles (the western tinged ‘Soon Is Never Soon Enough’, ‘Everybody’s Talkin”, ‘I’ll See You In My Dreams’ and ‘Screaming’ are highlights). The band would return to the guitar effect sound on later releases (Moose released good to great records into the 2000s), but their debut (and three early EPs) remain a great entry to their diverse sound.
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I was set to wrap up the Shoegazer movement with a formal discussion on the Cocteau Twins, one of the UK’s great underrated acts. One that is every bit the equal to many that have garnered huge acclaim and had gallons of ink written praise thrown at their feet. And yet Cocteau Twins are usually just a blip in the casual Rock fans intellect. Hailing from Scotland however, I’ve decided to give the Cocteau Twins a longer essay when the Series turns to Scottish acts proper. But rest assured they haven’t been forgotten.
In the meantime, along with all I’ve thrown at you the past three weeks (skipped one, but offered 6 bands in the sandwiching weeks) I’d add one more highly personal selection. It’s a slightly different day for me then all others (looking back at last years calendar I skipped this week then returned with an entry on the Jam/Paul Weller), for reasons I don’t care to get into, but needless to say I’ve spent today listening to a great English record as I’ve done this day for at least the past three years. Though made by an American, Major Lance’s Greatest Hits (Live at the Torch) is a seminal British disc. Recorded at the Torch club in Northern England, for the early 70′s burgeoning Northern Soul scensters it bristles with palpable energy and heartfelt emotion. Major didn’t realize that his early and mid 60′s records had had such an impact half a decade later (and half the globe away) but upon doing his hits to a raucous crowd that night he was reduced to tears several times, and it’s evident on the record. It takes him at least 5 minutes to offer his thanks at the close of the sublime ‘Monkey Time’ and it made me realize something: that’s me, to a degree. Half a world away, in an era after the fact, this music from a culture I’m not apart of offers so much.
If you need an outlet to track this record down (it comes in and out of print), let me know. The initial burst of ‘Monkey Time’ at about 32 seconds in (as he barely audibly can be heard saying “I hope y’all remember this one….”) makes this place worth sticking around in. He was a Chicago expatriate too.
Happy listening, see you next week.
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Wow, this does look like another stupendous presentation, Jamie. I can only say that as tomorrow is another day off, I will spend some time on you-tube with your recommendations before responding.
Oh Jamie I really love Catherine Wheel and I do agree, their second album is not a let-down from the first and sometimes I think it’s better. I’m also glad to hear that Cocteau Twins will be getting a formal write-up in the future! They are one of my favorite bands and their sound is so penetrating. You’re right, they are definitely a pre-curser or originator if you want to put it that way, of Shoegazer. Looking forward to that!
Well, I still haven’t gotten to all the groups on this astonishing holiday round-up (I’m figuring the break has much to do with the seeming lack of attention by readers in the comment section) but I just spent the past hour or so with “Lush” another group in your monumental study that got by me in the years where I obsessed over the same groups over and over. The core that had me held captive? The Beatles, The Who, the Stones, Simon & Garfunkle, the Beach Boys, CSNY, CCR, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, the Kinks, Elvis costello, Leonard Cohen, and others. When there was clearly so much more I obsessed. I guess that there are others will may well make teh same admission.
Anyway, the otherwordly song “Light From A Dead Star” blew me away. It was a mesmerizing, achingly beautiful, otherworldly song that was as musically alluring as it was entracingly sung. The bouncy and optimistic pop song “Lit Up” was terrifc, and of the others I liked “Undertow” and “When I Die” best. This album is really a keeper, and I can well understand why this band made their mark in the day. I’m going to order a copy. I do need to get to your other recommendations over teh weekend too.