Does Chapterhouse's 'Whirpool' stand up today?

The single version of Pearl is way better than the album version so I never listen to it (the album version).

the backbeat off of 'pearl' i only found out recently had already been used on a PIL number about 3 years prior.

the backbeat off of 'pearl' i only found out recently had already been used on a PIL number about 3 years prior.

You've probably heard it on a million other songs too, it's from 'When The Levee Breaks' by Led Zepplin and according to urban legend is the most sampled drum break ever. (I'm sure the 'Amen' break must have been used much more by now, however)

*more* rachel goswell on backing vocals? crivens!

I listened to Whirlpool a few weeks ago - and I think about half of it has aged decently: Pearl, Treasure, Autosleeper, Breather, Something More. This could just be nostalgia though..

"Falling Down" did not fare so well.

The album is a dog's breakfast but I think a really good one, and "Mesmerise" the song is fine but the entire four song single is only sorta there.

x-post: thanks Ned, that's the one...and it's great.

it's on a Siouxsie song also, off Superstition, but now I can't remember which one

I agree though, the standout tracks are still standouts.

Which isn't anything against Whirlpool, whenever I get the urge for a shoegazer fix it's one of my top 10 picks.

see now that's the info i come onto ILM for.

Cannot compute... BZZtt...

I can't hear any manipulation of the 'When The Levee Breaks' break other than it has been speeded up. Unless you mean the bassline as well???

I played this album in its entirety sometime in the last year or so just to see if it did indeed still hold up. It wasn't too bad.

I did play the Mesmerise single last night it has held up surprisingly well, the only song I wasn’t too thrilled with was 'Summer Chill'. Looking forward to listening to Whirlpool later tonight.

The drums are, but there's a little break in the middle of "Pearl" that can also be heard in the intro to the Siouxsie track. I believe that's the mystery sample.

Consequently I own all six UK EP’s including the U.S. promo only of ‘Falling Down’ and ‘We Are the Beautiful.’ So I broke out the ‘Pearl’ single and there are two versions on it one at 5:16 and the other (edit) at 3:16. Than when I put on the album that version is 4:56 long. I didn’t play these back to back so I didn’t notice too much difference outside the edit version.

So to answer my own question on does it sound dated and I would have to say yes it does. Regardless that was part of the charm and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I did play it on headphones to get the full effect and was thinking that if my mind were altered I would totally be in love with their brand of psychedelic music. Not all the songs do work however but the majority of it was cool. I won’t be playing it again tomorrow but pretty happy that I broke it out tonight.

Meanwhile because of this thread I’m going to break out Blood Music and maybe even that extra remix album that came with it. I didn’t really like BM too much when it came out but because someone up post said that it sounds good today will give it a try.

I actually got to see them at the Whisky A Go Go on September 11, 1991.

Hm, you ARE me. Because guess who else was there in the crowd that night. ;-) (That actually makes three ILXors, since Brad Laner was there -- admittedly, on stage).

"Die, Die, Die" wasn't it? Chapterhouse never really recovered from being about the only non-US band on the Saturday (?) at the 1991 Reading Festival and, by all reports, being utterly blown away by Mudhoney, Nirvana, Sonic Youth et al. A few weeks later one of their two Town & Country gigs to promote "Mesmerise" was cancelled due to poor ticket sales and they quickly became a bit of a laughing stock in the inkies as the MM went grunge-mental, the NME burrowed deep into the indiest pit available and Sounds went bust.

I think they rode their luck to work with several hot producers at the time. I did love "Pearl" back then though.

Yup. And I got to see them do that live! (It was at the LA show previously mentioned.) It's thankfully on Rownderbowt.

I happened to be working for their record company when Blood Music came out, and I was delighted to actually be repping a band I liked, since most stuff on the label at the time didn't really interest me (except Spiritualized). I was disappointed, but still thought it was OK. I had all these limited edition double-vinyl versions and tons of other promo stuff, which got given away in various contests with a surprising amount of interest given this was a smallish University town in Canada... I never kept anything for myself, which I regretted a lot at the time, but sounds like I'm not missing much.

I still like to listen to Breather on occasion. And I still look in the used stores of Toronto for a copy of Whirlpool to call my own these days.

completely disappointed by the lp proper (a lot of which was the fact that three of the tracks had already been released as (better) singles. whereas Ride's Nowhere, which i always link with Whirlpool somehow, was completely new.)

No, it wasn't. First track on side 2 of nowhere was Dreams Burn Down which was also the first track on the Fall EP released about a month before the album.

Chapterhouse never really recovered from being about the only non-US band on the Saturday (?) at the 1991 Reading Festival and, by all reports, being utterly blown away by Mudhoney, Nirvana, Sonic Youth et al. A few weeks later one of their two Town & Country gigs to promote "Mesmerise" was cancelled due to poor ticket sales and they quickly became a bit of a laughing stock in the inkies as the MM went grunge-mental, the NME burrowed deep into the indiest pit available and Sounds went bust.

Sounds went bust back in about March or April 1991, long before the Reading festival.

I was just about to move back to my apartment in San Francisco but I got a job offer that will keep my in So Cal after all. So I look forward to meeting you sometime in the future, possibly at a gig.

I did use the search feature for this thread but only typed in Chapterhouse. Either way it turned out to be pretty good I think.

I'm aware of that - I have the last issue somewhere (The Wonderstuff are on the cover). I was just jamming Sounds in there to complete the thought.

i'm real surprised how much this stuff stands up.

slowdive on the other hand...

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/chapterhouse/whirlpool.htm

Does anyone know if this is remastered as well? Don't think it needs it but was wondering none-the-less. Also wondering what seven songs were added to this, as Amazon doesn't say?

And yet another reissue... This time from Space Age Recordings

CAT NO: ORBIT047CD
FORMAT: CD
PRICE: £10.00
RELEASE DATE: 27th APRIL 2009

PRE-ORDERS TAKEN NOW FOR DISPATCH ON MONDAY 20th APRIL

PRE-ORDER NOW

INFORMATION:

Hailing from Reading in the late 80's/early 90's, Chapterhouse were leaders in the British Shoegazing movement. Rehearsing for well over a year before committing anything to demo for record companies, Chapterhouse quickly reached the top of their game with their peak arguably being a performance following Nirvana at the 1991 Reading Festival.

Releases from Chapterhouse have been very hard to track down, due to being out-of-print for many years. Thankfully Space Age Recordings is about to rectify this. A re-issue of the original Whirlpool recordings from VHF Studios Rugby, Sawmills Cornwall, Stoneroom Studios London and Refuge in Reading is set to be released for physical distribution and via iTunes. Featuring three extra tracks, including the never before released 'Thrasher' and longer/alternate mixes of 'Something More', 'Rain' and 'Guilt'.

Tracklist:

1. Breather
2. Pearl
3. Autosleeper
4. Treasure
5. Falling Down
6. April
7. Guilt
8. If You Want Me
9. Something More (ambient version)
10. Rain (alternative version)
11. Thrasher
12. Guilt (long version)

Not sure too many people regard that as their peak.

I was about to say, from what I recall most of the reaction to that show made it seem the band went 'great, we have to follow Nirvana mere nano-seconds after they perform and right when "Smells Like Teen Spirit" got released'

the other Whirlpool that was released in 1991...
http://www.kompaktkiste.de/cd/_123/_1/15911912.jpg

Saw 'em live in 93 or so and they pwned, tho it is probably pretty hard not to sound awesome in a cavernous room with three guitarists and a bazillion effects pedals.

Oh God! Dr Phibes, I really loved that band, they were great live too, didn't Howard the singer/guitarist kill his mother or something?

Wow, wasn't Dr. Phibes House of Wax Equations or something? They had a decent single, if memory serves.

Chapterhouse's "Pearl" still stand up, despite dated-sounding, at the time de-rigeur breathy vox.

yes, Howard King killed his ma, and yes, they had a decent single ("Hazy Lazy Hologram")...I wanted to love them more than I did, mainly because of their name and image...

That's the one ("Hazy Lazy..."). I have a live recording of it on some compilation. He killed his mother? Jeez.

Haha! Dr. Phibes. I'm delighted someone else remembers that record besides me. I really dug it back in the day. I used to have it on cassette but got it on vinyl only a couple years ago. I think I'll pull out my CD-R in a minute here. Don't want to think about the guy killing his mother, though.

I saw Chapterhouse live back then and they were awesome. I was really poor at the time and I remember thinking "do I really want to go to this, or spend the money on food" because I was really hungry. I decided to go to the gig anyway. Spitfire opened, if memory serves. They weren't a particularly remarkable band.

There should be a Microsoft Word macro/wizard for these press releases now. Clippy says "I see you are reforming a band, would you like some assistance?"

October 12, 2009:: Chapterhouse tour information
The band has told me that they will play in the US and Japan in 2010. "It will be a very concise tour of the major cities" in the US, New York, California and Williamsburg(!) are probable areas. No dates have been announced as they aren't sure if they will be playing the US in February or May of 2010. They will be playing Japan in April 2010. Once I get info about UK dates, I will let you know. Here is what Stephen said, "We never anticipated doing this but we are doing it for the enjoyment of playing together again and for fans of the band to see us play live once more".

The band asked me to spread the word. "This is a one-off thing for us so we hope to get it out to as many people as possible within our limited timescale".

weird... i bought this album yesterday in a bargain bin for 1 euro..

i never bought it at the time, despite seeing them live at least once. My initial listen tells me the drum machines sound a little dated.

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2010/02/reformed_chapte.html

Chapterhouse play Japan in April before heading to America. May 3, 2010 show at the Bell House in Brooklyn is the only U.S. show announced so far but expect more cities soon.

the london show : 18th march @ the scala with engineers according to advert in new mojo.

I still haven't seen the reformed Chapterhouse. I'm kinda scared. I'm tempted by the Engineers support, but hasn't half the band quite/been sacked since the last show? (I know they seem to do this every few years off and on but still.)

From the official site:

2010 Shows

UK

18th March - Scala, London (with Engineers & Air Formation) **BUY TICKETS**

JAPAN

6th April - Ebisu Liquid Room, Tokyo, Japan (with Ulrich Schnauss)

8th April - Osaka, Japan (with Ulrich Schnauss)

9th April - Super Deluxe, Tokyo, Japan (with Ulrich Schnauss)

USA

1st May- Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto (with Ulrich Schnauss)

3rd May - The Bell House, Brooklyn, NY (with Ulrich Schnauss)

5th May - Lincoln Hall, Chicago (with Ulrich Schnauss)

6th May - Tractor Tavern, Seattle (with Ulrich Schnauss)

7th May - Troubadour, LA (with Ulrich Schnauss)

8th May - Mezzanine, San Francisco (with Ulrich Schnauss)

(The band have tried to fit as many US dates as possible into the limited time they have available & apologise that these dates are so few in number. Now the gigs are confirmed we hope that fans will make an effort to travel to their nearest show)

Whoa!

and SUPER DUPER UGH at the realization that I have three classes and two papers to hand in on May 3

I'm going to the London show on Thurs.

I don't know anything about the Engineers, but people seem to like them.

really intriguing band. i recently came across a song of theirs called 'come heaven'. it sounds like radiohead's 'street spirit' dragged through a storm cloud. obviously it's far more interesting as a result.

whirlpool is quite the loose canon. it comes stocked with a slew of curve balls and never quite snags a uniform feel or sound. i think it benefits as a result. while it borrows from other bands' sounds, it also defies the one-trick method, which was often applied in the shoegaze genre to stagnating effect. 'breather', for instance, fuses the flat-out verve and urgency of ride's best work with the languor of just for a day era slowdive, forging something quite unique in the process.

I wonder sometimes if they would have just been captured best live.

i think they have all the elements in place to be an exhilarating live band. i'm sorry i wasn't able to catch one of their shows last year.

i think this was the first thread i ever started on ILM

i love whirlpool. that's all. it all went wrong when the drummer mentioned that he had a song.

I wonder sometimes if they would have just been captured best live.

After seeing them last year, I would agree.

when the drummer mentioned that he had a song.

i hope you mean bates and not simon scott

I'm generally not too big on the Blood Music-era recordings either, but, echoing the sentiments of others, those songs sounded pretty terrific live iirc.

right well the version of Something More on the reissue isn't the one that was on the original CD/ tape. and it's not the ambient version, that's something else.

THIS version, is nowhere to be found

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vJghdFjk7g

W and indeed TF?

i guess the reissue switched the (Guthrie produced?) album version for the single mix which is this and which i'd NEVER heard until just now. 20 years after it came out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tpDpgiyzf4

they did a re-recording of pearl for a japan floods benefit album. it's serviceable

this album really needs to be polled

were it polled, pearl would surely win by a substantial margin.

Something More is the correct answer, tho

yeah.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-DkizO0o88

I played it many times over about a fortnight ago. It holds up marvellously if you like this kind of thing. In fact maybe it sounds better now than it did then?

i think this is the first thread i ever started on ILXor, did post in other already started threads before this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OMoJl2Q41c

Chapterhouse - live at The Reading Festival, UK 23rd August 1991

i was there. memories are that the sound got blown around by the wind and it wasn't great. the t-shirts were though.

(can't find a picture. think classic motorhead tshirt but with the face of a kitten instead of the skull)

You can hear the sound moving around, period festival recordings off the floor are rarely good.

(the band before were nirvana, the band after were mudhoney, neither of which i remember)

(oh, not mudhoney, dinosaur jr)

This one runs a little fast, I think, decent quality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckJ1B1JBJmQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8GNe2rEu90

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OMEVPsETmM

What a fine idea!

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/chapterhouse-chronology-albums-singles-b-sides-remixes-demos-6cd-deluxe-box-set/

DISC ONE
FREEFALL, SUNBURST & WHIRLPOOL
1. ECSTASY II
2. NEED (SOMEBODY)
3. INSIDE OF ME
4. SIXTEEN YEARS
5. SOMETHING MORE (SUNBURST)
6. SATIN SAFE
7. RAIN
8. FEEL THE SAME
9. BREATHER
10. PEARL
11. AUTOSLEEPER
12. TREASURE
13. FALLING DOWN
14. APRIL
15. GUILT
16. IF YOU WANT ME
17. SOMETHING MORE

DISC TWO
PEARL, MESMERISE AND COURTYARD DEMOS
1. COME HEAVEN
2. IN MY ARMS
3. MESMERISE
4. PRECIOUS ONE
5. SUMMER CHILL
6. THEN WE’LL RISE
7. FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH (DEMO)
8. CONFUSION TRIP (DEMO)*
9. RAISED FROM INSIDE (DEMO)*
10. GET TO ME (DEMO)*
11. DREAM ON (DEMO)
12. NEVER ENOUGH (DEMO)*
13. IN THE WAY (DEMO)*
14. IF YOU TRY (DEMO)*
15. UNTIL YOU TRY (DEMO)
16. WALK WATER (DEMO)*

DISC THREE
BLOOD MUSIC AND B-SIDES
1. DON’T LOOK NOW
2. THERE’S STILL LIFE
3. WE ARE THE BEAUTIFUL
4. SUMMER’S GONE
5. EVERYTIME
6. DELI
7. ON THE WAY TO FLY
8. SHE’S A VISION
9. GREATER POWER
10. CONFUSION TRIP
11. LOVE FOREVER
12. PICNIC (NEW EDIT)
13. AGE
14. FROST

DISC FOUR
PENTAMEROUS METAMORPHOSIS (BLOOD MUSIC
RETRANSLATED BY GLOBAL COMMUNICATION)
1. ALPHA PHASE
2. BETA PHASE
3. GAMMA PHASE
4. DELTA PHASE
5. EPSILON PHASE

DISC FIVE
RARITIES AND REMIXES

1. ECSTASY I (DEMO)
2. FALLING DOWN (FREEFALL)
3. IT WON’T BE WRONG
4. LOSING TOUCH WITH MY MIND
5. DIE, DIE, DIE
6. MESMERISE (EXTENDED REMIX)
7. PRECIOUS ONE (EXTENDED REMIX)
8. WE ARE THE BEAUTIFUL (SPOOKY EXTRAVAGANJA MIX)
9. WE ARE THE BEAUTIFUL (SPOOKY’S UGLY AS SIN MIX NEW EDIT)
10. DON’T LOOK NOW (DRUM CLUB’S SITAR TRANCE MIX NEW EDIT)
11. MONTPELLIER FREEWAY*

DISC SIX
DEMOS 1994-1995
1. TOO LATE (DEMO)*
2. OCEAN ARMS (ACOUSTIC DEMO)*
3. HELP YOURSELF (DEMO)*
4. MORE THAN I CAN TAKE (DEMO)
5. LET THE SUNSHINE IN (DEMO)*
6. EVERY GIFT (DEMO)*
7. FEEL (DEMO)
8. WE CAN FLY (DEMO)*
9. ANOTHER LIFE (DEMO)*
10. MEDUSA (DEMO)*
11. I SAW YOU (DEMO)*
12. BRIGHTER (DEMO)
13. MAKE A WISH (DEMO)*
14. ZERODOWN (DEMO)*
15. LOOKING BACK (DEMO)*
16. CRAZY KANE (DEMO)
*previously unreleased

Also, wow at that Cherry Stars Collide box set, and kudos to Cherry Red for having absolutely minimal song overlap amongst their many comps.

whoooooooaaaa!!

Yeah I've had Cherry Stars Collide on preorder for a bit. Inspired idea: too much stuff got squashed into the shoegaze area retrospectively when there was just a more varied and unusual set of approaches going on.

cherry red and another of their only-available-as-an-expensive-box releases

Which is kinda why I love them; I won't buy all (or even a fraction) of these box sets, but I'm glad there are still things that exist as physical artifacts only.

(was talking about the chapterhouse specifically. i was looking for a copy of the first house of love recently and that's the same, 5cds or nothing)

Cherry Stars Collide is a great Spotify playlist but, you know... I already own like 90% of the tracks. The Chapterhouse box set though, hell yeah.

i guess you've all heard this, from 1972

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnQ5Pt1sLEU

That's gorgeous, didn't know it was a sample.

Really wished they made more music, it seemed like they might have gone a lot of different places.

There's a Scott Walker version too but it's very different.

I listened to the Global Communication remixes a couple of weeks ago. If there was a better randomly weird/great ambient/indie collab in the 90's, I've yet to hear it.

slowdive in-mind remixes?

Mu-Ziq/Auteurs comes to mind. Less ambient tho.

Also, Aphex Twin/Seefeel.

Also Aphex/Jesus Jones

Not better but definitely randomly weird and, I guess, not what the label were looking for

Surely Aphex/Seefeel is less randomly weird than all that, for Aphex it almost sounded like a collaboration.

Yes, definitely weighted toward the great ambient/indie collab side of the scale.

Uh Cocteau/Seefeel on the otherness ep hello

NEVER HEARD OF oh wait

I was coming here to post about Autetchre's remix of Saint Etienne and that if we expand the discussion to one-off remixes rather than EP's.

But Seefeel + Cocteau Twins is the winner, my mistake.

Unless we focus on the "random" bit -- Seefeel were huge Cocteaus fans and those remixes were a fitting way to give back, whereas who could have predicted mu-ziq/Auteurs?

...that if we expand the discussion to one-off remixes rather than EP's, we'll be here *forever*, I should have said.

35 years old today and somewhat aptly, I saw them live in a tiny venue last night playing the album in its entirety together with a few other favourites

Four guitarists on stage and they were extremely loud and extremely good, although there was a massive dichotomy between how they appear in my head (all long hair and sharp cheekbones circa 1991) and how they appear now in reality (although Andy may have a portrait of himself in his attic)

They're heading stateside after tonight's show in London and definitely worth catching if they're passing your way

I went to the London gig, it was good but I dislike gigs where they play the classic album in order, usually wish they just did a regular set that leans heavily on that album. In this case it means they play my favourite songs on the album first when they haven't sorted the sound out yet. It was nice to see Rachel Goswell come out to sing the oohs in Pearl though.

That sounds more negative than I intended, I did enjoy it, especially later on when the sound was good

I'm vaguely tempted to see their show next month here but since I saw their LA show for that album back in 1991 and all I kinda think I want to keep that in my head. (Stellar show including a concluding rip through "Die Die Die.")

Ha I wish they played Die Die Die

I'm going as mentioned here I've got to satisfy my POLL - Chapterhouse - Whirlpool poll I was also at the same show in 1991 that Ned is referring to. I'm excited now after those reviews!

The other thing I remember (above and beyond the songs themselves, including a rendition of "Breather" in particular that was a perfect then-and-there moment to experience live, crowd crazy but not violent, a lot of fun dancing/thrashing about, kinda glorious) is that between songs one of them busted out the opening riff of "Interstellar Overdrive" briefly.

Totally happy to have seen one of the shows in 2010 with Ulrich Schnauss and leave it at that

So I finally saw them for the first time this week (in London), with a brief guest appearance from Rachel Goswell to do the backing vocals on Pearl.

Oops. I looked at this thread about a week ago and saw it hadn't been posted to for several years - just made my post above without noticing the flurry of posts this week.

especially later on when the sound was good

It took me a while to realise they were playing Breather as the main guitar line seemed to be completely missing