•
Rating:
"Feels like all the days are gone. Just catch the breeze.."
In the early nineties, in the land of Albion, "shoegaze" was the magic word that opened any damned door for the cunning scribes of music. It referred to those musicians literally bent over their instruments during the agonistic-executive trance of notes floating between feedback, psychedelia, and dream pop (which often happily and contentedly converged in a more or less distorted ambient). The infamous "shoegazers." "Shoegaze" was a curious neologism that helped Rob Fleming to shelf groups like Curve, Ride, Lush, and the ultra-sonic pioneers My Bloody Valentine of the ingenious Kevin Shields together. Enormous walls of guitar over melodic pop mantras, whoever wrote "..of Beach Boys on acid.." talking about Shields & co. was not wrong. I listened to "Loomer" and had an irresistible urge to pin my favorite Winnie The Pooh plush to the wall. Beautiful and instinctive, damn it. But there were others who further slowed down an original and edgy sound, creating real atmospheric oases of peace. Dreamy flights of bliss. An experience sometimes so intimately spiritual that it made a busload of pilgrims to San Giovanni Rotondo look like damn hedonists on a visit to the Luxor in Las Vegas (or to Graceland, take your pick). Slowdive was born in Reading in 1989, from the union of three young twenty-somethings: Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell, guitars and vocals, and bassist Nick Chaplin, who would receive the input for the band's future name in his sleep. With guitarist Christian Savill and numerous changes on drums (Adrian Sell, Neil Carter, and finally Simon Scott), these young lads, truly talented, were ready to release numerous EPs that showcased an already fantastic talent. Alan McGee's cunning Creation label signed them.
"Watch the waves so far away. They're washing 'cross the paths that I have made. Leaving all my sins, I turn away..."
Throughout '91, "Morning Rise", with the memorable interweaving of its title track and "She Calls", and "Holding Our Breath" (which includes an early version of "Catch The Breeze" and "Albatross") served as a delicious appetizer for the wonders of the masterpiece "Just For A Day", which would be released in September (a biblical month, folks). Rarely does an album cover so exemplarily visualize its content: the stunning slow-motion image of the young woman, veined in an overflowing and unfocused red, is a powerful mental context to the forty-three minutes of "Just For A Day". A dreamlike and sensual dance. A journey into the memories of our heart, on ethereal and remote landscapes. It is memory, which we detest (and rummage through) because it loves to disguise itself as a grouchy ragpicker of used goods. That memory that lives again in the gloomy progressive of "Spanish Air", in the enchantment and catharsis of "Celia's Dream", in the divine and human ascension of "Catch The Breeze", in the cosmic melancholy of "Ballad Of Sister Sue". Rachel's hypnotic song is a candle in the darkness ("The Sadman", reminiscent of Robert Smith from "Disintegration"), among incredible guitars that sound like keyboards in the crescendo of "Waves", it's a faint light at the end of the emotional and abyssal whirl of "Primal". After the end credits, such a work could have lowered the curtain on Slowdive, by then History had chosen its side. Instead, they followed up with "Souvlaki" (1993), "Pygmalion" (1995), and Mojave 3. Nothing would ever match the precious beauty of "Just For A Day", which continues to captivate as much as the world seen through a child's eyes. A daydream. Only for a day, yet infinite. The shoegazers always looked down, immersed in the waves of a celestial noise. This is what the legend tells. But their music flew incredibly high, beyond the exosphere.
"..And when it all looks brighter, just turn around and smile.."
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Spanish Air (06:06)
Screams that seem unreal
Shouts follow the sins
There's nothing here for me now
The wind blows for as far as I can see
I long for the sun
The midland air
For all that I have
There's written in waves
I know that now
There's left to be seen
I know that I've lost him
I'm leaving here
Fastest knife a sign
Feels so far away
There's nothing here for me now
The clouds fly, so far
I'm lost there now
I long for the sun
The midland air
For all that I have
Is written in waves
And now that I know
Is left to be seen
And now that I've lost him
I'm leaving here
02 Celia's Dream (04:12)
She flies
She's gone to ride an angel's breath
Gone to taste a dream
And every time I call her
A shadow crawls away
But she takes
She laughs him all [...there is...]
And everything she owes me
She gives
She told me that she loved me
Love, just for a day
And all the time I feel her
I feel her fade away
But she takes
She gives him all the fakes
And everything feels good
And clouds like shadows pass
She's passing like a day
She takes
She gives him all the [...shadows...]
And everything feels good
And clouds like shadows pass
She's passing like a day
03 Catch the Breeze (04:21)
feels like all the days are gone
just catch the breeze
you know you've had your fun
rain washes waves down
and i, i want the world to cry
and i, i watch the winds you fly
you can't believe in everything
you can't believe it all
hey are you feeling something new
just watch the rain
it helps in all you do
the breeze it blows
it blows everything
and i, i want the world to cry
and i, i want the sun to shine
you can't believe in everything
you can't believe it all
04 Ballad of Sister Sue (04:34)
You tell me I'm lost and I don't seem too sure what to do (x2)
There's a fire in my head and I'm blinded by bullets (x2)
Dancing to nowhere, I'm losing my head and I'm (x2)
And the man at the bar that night recall that he needed me x2)
Sister, I've lost all the feeling
I'm lost and I'm sold
I lay down beside you
Sister, I'm blinded
It's only my eyes
I've sold them before
The man said the drinking is handled by pouring it right (x2)
And It seemed much the same when he pointed the gun at his head (x2)
Who'd need me then
In raise of much noise and I checked out the time, yeah
Let all my face down in the words of a stranger, no
Sister, I've lost all the feeling
I'm lost and I'm sold
I lay down beside you
Sister, I'm blinded
It's only my eyes
I've sold them before
06 Waves (05:54)
watch the waves so far away
they're washing cross the paths that i have made
leaving all my sins i turn away
like soaring birds i watch my sorrows play
don't you know
i've left and gone away
you're knocking on the door i closed today
and everything looks brighter
the waves they just soothe my pain away
it felt so good to see the sun
i'll choose my time before i choose the one
floating cross the waves the silence runs
my thoughts can go but now my sorrows done
(repeat chorus)
07 Brighter (03:49)
She don't understand you
Her birth made of grain
She can now see the sun
And everyone said, yeah
You're better off dead but
She didn't know we were alone
And when it all looks brighter
Just turn around and smile
When it's looking better
Just leave it all to time
Just leave it all to time
She said don't you know, yeah
There's people in places
And places is what made her see
And everyone said yeah
She's better off dead but
She looked like she wanted to live
And when it all looks brighter
Just turn around and smile
When it's looking better
Just leave it all to time
Just leave it all to time
When it all looks brighter
Just turn around and smile
And when it's looking better
Just leave it all to time [repeat 3]
09 Primal (05:29)
Today
I lost a [...colours fray...]
Watch the games you play
And when it all force down you
Don't forget the days
When the sunshine fades away
Remember what they say
Remember what they say
The right time
She calls
To tell
Every time
She says she's falling
And every time
She call us friends
Because
To the right time
She calls
To tell it would
Every time
She says she's falling
Every time
She call us friends
Can't believe
She says she's [...]
Can't believe
[...Disgusted...]
[...Disgusted...]
I can't believe it
[...Scares me...]
[...Can't believe it...]
[...]
[-----------------------------------------------------------------------------]
[ Transcribed by listening to the CD a *number* of times ]
[ Corrections, whatever, E-Mail me or write your own! chief@lysator.liu.se ]
[ ----uXu File #113 Update #2---- ]
[-----------------------------------------------------------------------------]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Underground eXperts United 1993
ftp: ftp.lysator.liu.se directory: /pub/texts/uxu
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By serestoppone
Their sound weaves dreamlike visions, settling deep within the soul, between the breath and the heartbeat.
The whispered words of 'Catch the Breeze' convey feelings of loss, depression, and dejection; 'Ballad of Sister Sue' is heartrending.
