[Eisenhower]

I already have My bloody Valentine's CD's

What are the other top albums in this genre?

 

[Enverxis]

This might help but I can't guarantee it to be accurate.

 

[The Actual]

There are a few other threads from sometime last year that got me into shoegazer.

A few of my favorite non-MBV shoegazer albums are

Ride- Nowhere
Catherine Wheel- Ferment and Chrome, I'd recommend starting with Ferment
Slowdive- Souvlaki

 

[DarkAngel]

Ten best shoegaze albums (one album per group):

1)My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
2)Ride - Nowhere
3)Catherine Wheel - Ferment
4)Curve - Pubic Fruit
5)Slowdive - Just for a Day
6)Swervedriver - Raise
7)Lush - Gala
8)Majesty Crush - Love 15
9)My Vitriol - Finelines
10)Boo Radleys - Learning to Walk

11)Starflyer 59 - Gold
12)All Natural Lemon Lime Flavors - Turning Into Small
13)Pale Saints - Comforts of Madness
14)High Violets - 44 Down
15)Low Sunday - Elesgiem
16)Swirlies - What to do About Them

Check some of the past threads here:
Shoegazer

 

[gratefulshrink]

Here's my top five (in no particular order):

Ride - nowhere
Spacemen 3 - Perfect Prescription
Loop - Gilded Eternity
MBV - Loveless
Spacemen 3 - Sound of Confusion

 

[mbd]

I love shoegazer stuff, and there's a bunch of bands who are doing stuff now that follows on from it.

So, of the original 90s stuff, best five imo are:

1) MBV - Loveless
2) Ride - Nowhere
3) Chapterhouse - Whirlpool
4) Lush - Gala
5) Verve - Storm in Heaven

For more modern stuff, check out

- Ulrich Schnauss
- Northern Chorus
- Sianspheric
- Air Formation
- The Workhouse
- Televise
- Club AC30 compilation EPs

 

[bong]

hehe, another shoegaze thread... these seem to pop up every so often.

anyway, my top 10 shoegaze albums:
1. Ride - Nowhere (THE #1 shoegaze album, everyone else can duke it out for #2!

)
2. Catherine Wheel - Chrome
3. Slowdive - Souvlaki
4. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
5. Verve - A Northern Soul
6. Boo Radleys - Everything's Alright Forever (Learning to Walk is their best long player but it's an EP compilation)
7. Swervedriver - Mezcal Head
8. Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy (i still maintain this to be a more important album to the genre than MBV's Isn't Anything)
9. Elbow - Asleep in the Back
10. Ride - Going Blank Again

yeah, Ride gets two albums in my list, because it's Ride.

how about top 10 shoegaze songs?

oh, and nice avatar mbd.

 

[proglife]

For something up-to-the-minute current, check out Jesu...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=glance&n=5174

 

[proglife]

...and believe it or not, early Bardo Pond...like Bufo Alvarius Amen 29:15, is a bit shoegazy.

 

[eyeresist]

I'm so glad this music hasn't been forgotten!

Firstly, for MBV, you MUST have the "Feed me with your kiss", "Made me realise", and "Glider" EPs, as well as "Isn't anything". After these records, I actually found "Loveless" a bit lacking in melodic and sonic variety.

Ride: the early EPs (compiled as "Smile") and "Nowhere". Remember that only the first 8 tracks of the CD were on the original vinyl release; the subsequent songs are from B-sides. "Going blank again" might've been good if it hadn't been a double-album.

Lush: "Gala" is recommended, as is "Spooky". Their first LP "Scar" is recommended, but it may be a bit too raw to qualify as "Shoegazer".

Slowdive: I only have a couple of their early EPs. "Losing today" was awesome. Apparently their first album has been released with a bonus disc of tracks from their EPs - probably worth looking out for.

Pale Saints "Comforts of madness" is a sweet little LP, well worth the investment.

(And pretty much anything on 4AD is worth listening to.)

Yes, the J&MC (1st two albums) were basically the fathers of shoegazer, not only in use of noise and simple pop structures, but also in the "cool" attitude that won the genre its dodgy monicker. (Early MBV is in fact just 2nd-rate J&MC!)

I never actually heard Chapterhouse; I just remember they were pretty much a running joke in Melody Maker in the early 1990s.

A couple of Australian bands: Underground Lovers "Leaves me blind" is a forgotten masterpiece of the genre. Sounds Like Sunset is a 2nd generation band who put out a very nice album called "Saturdays" - sort of the noisier aspects of Ride crossed with the Beach Boys (or Boo Radleys, if you prefer).

Exclusions: of the previously mentioned, I would say that Swervedriver, Curve, Boo Radleys and Verve don't really qualify. I can't exactly quantify my reasoning, but I'm sure being "too rockin' " has something to do with it...

Edit: thanks for the link, DA. Very useful!

 

[DarkAngel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyeresist Exclusions: of the previously mentioned, I would say that Swervedriver, Curve, Boo Radleys and Verve don't really qualify. I can't exactly quantify my reasoning, but I'm sure being "too rockin' " has something to do with it... Edit: thanks for the link, DA. Very useful!

Bands like Swervedriver and Curve evolved after early albums into hybrid sound, but early works like "raise" and "pubic fruit" are classic shoegaze. Later Curve for instance starts to sound like early Garbage albums and by the time Swervedriver made "mezcal head" they were more like noise rock Sonic Youth sound.

JAMC
Are for sure primal influence for later shoegaze bands.....especially some early less known noisy works contained on "barbwired kisses" collection

 

[gratefulshrink]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkAngel JAMC Are for sure primal influence for later shoegaze bands.....especially some early less known noisy works contained on "barbwired kisses" collection

Sorry for the long post, but I just copied this info about JAMC re-releases from Othermusic.com weekly update:

Psychocandy THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
$18.99 CD Psychocandy - DualDisc
[29]Buy (Rhino)

Darklands [34] "Never Understand"
$18.99 CD
[30]Buy THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
Darklands - DualDisc
Automatic (Rhino)
$18.99 CD
[31]Buy [35][IMG] "Darklands"

Honey's Dead THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
$18.99 CD Automatic - DualDisc
[32]Buy (Rhino)

Stoned & [36][IMG] "Blues from a Gun"
Dethroned
$18.99 CD THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
[33]Buy Honey's Dead - DualDisc
(Rhino)

[37][IMG] "Reverence"

THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
Stoned and Dethroned - DualDisc
(Rhino)

[38][IMG] "Sometimes Always"

Let me start off by saying that the Jesus and Mary
Chain changed my life. Back in 1985, my high school
girlfriend first introduced me to the band when she
played the "Never Understand" single on her stereo,
and I was hooked from the first note. Taking cues
from both the Velvet Underground and Phil Spector,
the track was also filled with the most basic
percussion (only one snare) and squalls of feedback,
but underneath it all was this gem of a song. It
blew me away and I wondered why somebody hadn't
thought of this before. I instantly became obsessed
with the Reid Brothers and ran out and bought the
12" the next day. From that point on, upon the day
of any JAMC release, I would head to my local import
shop and then rush home to my turntable to hear what
my high school idols had in store for me. After
numerous singles, JAMC then blessed us with their
debut full-length, Psychocandy , and still to this
day, I can not think of a more perfect album. The
record had it all: the songs, the attitude, the
image and, most of all, the feedback. It was a
brilliant debut and is definitely heralded as a
classic.

Fast forward to 1987, and JAMC had a brand new
single out, entitled "April Skies." Of course, after
handing the record store clerk my money, I
immediately ran home and played it. Boy was I in for
a shock...NO FEEDBACK! Gone were the squalling
guitars, gone was the simplistic drumming, but there
was still the song. "April Skies" was another
brilliant track, albeit one that threw every JAMC
fan for a loop, yet still just as incredible as
their debut. After a few more singles, JAMC released
their second full-length, Darklands , a gorgeous
Velvet Underground-inspired gem of an album that was
no less gripping than their first one. At this point
in time, I had never experienced a band that had
dumped their trademark sound (especially the one
that made them famous) for something entirely
different while still keeping their integrity
intact. It was true, the Reid brothers were
geniuses!

Though the Jesus and Mary Chain continued to flirt
with change throughout the rest of their career, I
loved every album that they released. Their third
record, Automatic , had some major hits for the band
("Head On," "Blues from a Gun") and so did their
fourth album, Honey's Dead ("Reverence"). But their
fifth full-length, Stoned and Dethroned , yielded
them their biggest song yet with "Sometimes Always,"
a brilliant duet between Jim Reid and Mazzy Star's
Hope Sandoval. Hits aside, JAMC released some
fantastic records that, unfortunately, have not been
in print in the US for quite some time, until now.
Finally, their first five full-lengths have been
reissued in America, all of them re-mastered as
dual-discs, with the videos from each album included
in the package. Thank you Rhino for giving more
people a chance to hear (and see) the amazing legacy
that the Jesus and Mary Chain left behind. I, for
one, will never be the same. Some truly essential
music here. [JS]

 

[Masonjar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyeresist Exclusions: of the previously mentioned, I would say that Swervedriver, Curve, Boo Radleys and Verve don't really qualify. I can't exactly quantify my reasoning, but I'm sure being "too rockin' " has something to do with it... Edit: thanks for the link, DA. Very useful!

Eh, I don't have a problem with "rockin'" shoegazer music. Hell, Ride rocked by socks off back when I saw them in 1992 (with Slowdive opening hee hee).

Pretty much everything listed is great. Other albums that may or may not have been mentioned:

Loop - FADE OUT
Cocteau Twins - BLUE BELL KNOLL
Pale Saints - IN RIBBONS
Verve - STORM IN HEAVEN
Kitchens of Distinction - STRANGE FREE WORLD
Spiritualized - LAZER GUIDED MELODIES
Moonshake - EVA LUNA
Moose - SONNY & SAM
A.R. Kane - SIXTY-NINE
Bailter Space - ROBOT WORLD
Medicine - THE BURIED LIFE
Swirlies - BLONDERTONGUE AUDIOBATON
Darling Buds - EROTICA

 

[mbd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyeresist Exclusions: of the previously mentioned, I would say that Swervedriver, Curve, Boo Radleys and Verve don't really qualify. I can't exactly quantify my reasoning, but I'm sure being "too rockin' " has something to do with it...

Have a listen to Verve's early stuff, particularly songs like 'Blue' on their first album. Same goes with Curve - try their 'Frozen' EP and you'll hear some shoegaze in there...

 

[mbd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkAngel Later Curve for instance starts to sound like early Garbage albums

I think you'll find it was Garbage who 'borrowed' their sound from Curve, rather than the other way around. Garbages 1995 album (their first) sounds a lot like Curve's Doppelganger in parts, which was released in 1992...