slowdive: classic or dud?

a tribe called quest for one :)

i loved m b v as well, but yeah

i saw them on the initial 2014 tour, which was pre-new material. i never saw them in the classic period, obviously, but it was a right fine show. and i've talked to folks who saw them in 1993 and then again in 2014 and all of them preferred the 2014 shows.

the atcq "reunion" album was a q-tip solo record that just happened to heavily feature members of the group. it was okay, at best.

Portishead's Third is up there for comeback albums too

yes, absolutely agreed.

and i've talked to folks who saw them in 1993 and then again in 2014 and all of them preferred the 2014 shows.

Quite by chance I'm wearing my 1992 Slowdive tour shirt today (still looks great and I can still fit in it, both key). The early 90s shows were great but generally they were playing opening slots or very small shows in sometimes inapposite venues. The reunion shows felt like they finally had the huge crowds they well deserved as well as the space to really go to town on the older songs, properly vast.

The reunion show I saw was sold out but not much bigger than the venue they'd previous played here in the early '90s, even with a draw like Low (!) opening.

Black Messiah up there on that comeback list too.

no no, you misunderstand: we're talking best comebacks.

Yes, yes. But there's a new Simon Scott album coming out.

Oh, sorry! Thought we were just talking about comebacks in general. Never mind!

we should probably circle back around to Slowdive at some point?

You don't have to.

I did not like the reunion album, sounded p generic 10s indie to me, but I only heard it once

I got what I wished for but now I don't want it

it's their second best album overall.

Love the first four tracks, second half not at the same level but enjoyable. Time for a relisten methinks

xpost to myself, they sound fantastic doing these tracks live in studio.

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

In love with good ol' Souvlaki again. They do pretty in a very special way

https://t.co/KFHA0lcsSj pic.twitter.com/FL4JVpJLdz

— Rachel Goswell 💙 (@RachelAGoswell) July 7, 2021

look nice and are all sold out. can't quite square the "50 hours each" with the £75 they cost though.

https://open.spotify.com/album/4JHDtnmaGvmssF1E5WHfCB

wow they've officially released a remastered version of "sleep", one of their many unreleased tracks that's been widely bootlegged. it's a great one and really makes you wonder how it never got a proper release. this sounds a little better than the bootlegs too.

i wonder if they're putting out an official compilation of all that material? i presume this is for something like that, or a deluxe reissue or something?

neil said in a recent interview that the new album is slowly coming together & they're hoping it'll be out by the time they're playing primavera next year.

ah i'd never looked into it before but it turns out "sleep" was written by christian savill & originally released by his previous band eternal on their only single in 1990

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

xxp I suspect the 50 hours includes 48 in the kiln

that eternal single rules

30 years old. i remember being given a flier for it at the borderline before a 4ad gig there (insides? ultra vivid scene?)

Classic.

Even when they suck they sound pretty

Gear up

LP5 https://t.co/gtDt1OZF3N

— Rachel Goswell 💙 (@RachelAGoswell) February 10, 2022

Nice. Hope they can and will tour again as well. Loved the show I saw from the reunion album tour.

nice. saw them pre-lp reunion tour and it was pretty stellar. looking forward to it.

Yes, the self-titled was very good certainly but it was the tour for it that convinced me they were truly back and in a better place than ever; absolutely found a way to build on the legacy, do things with their past work differently at many points, and respond so well to the now far, far bigger crowds they're getting, and from younger listeners too, than they did then. Absolutely think this will continue the upward path.

Someone played "Souvlaki" recently. It sounded really good, better than I remembered.

Very. Their albums viewed with time and distance simply sound great, period. I stand by my descriptions of the albums at 2 and 7 on this page

https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/9966-the-50-best-shoegaze-albums-of-all-time/?page=5

I have extremely fond memories of "Souvlaki." I was never a Slowdive fan - I blame the glut of shoegaze at the time - but I was a huge Eno fan, so of course picked up "Souvlaki" (maybe as an import?) ASAP. And while it never clicked as an album I pulled out all the time, I did used to listen to it as I fell asleep.

They were a very pretty band as well.

Souvlaki is the real best album of the 90’s - nevermind, loveless and okc move over

Souvlaki Space Station with video of deep space from the Hubble Space Telescope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0LIO138Z-A

awesome, now do "blue skied an clear"

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

Mind melt. One of my favorite songs ever

that’s great! would love to hear them do “song 1” or whatever it is…

that's completely remarkable, wow. they sound great too! hyped for the album.

unbelievable version, wow they still have ALL the magic and power. I’ve only heard that song as an iffy demo, was it ever fully recorded?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dDJKODC20g

yeah it was originally by savill's pre-slowdive band eternal

the slowdive version is a souvlaki-era demo covering it, but it got a ton of views on youtube and i guess the band noticed

the lyrics are different on the slowdive version though, they were obviously reworking it

it had lyrics?!?

So “Sleep” has 10M views on YouTube and looks like their most streamed song on that channel. Kinda bizarre. The live version posted above is great.

yeah it's just one of those quirk of the algorithm things as far as i can tell

Gorgeous!

Only a teaser but

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9RpHfPyEx8

Sounds promising! Does this also mean new album? I've been a bit disconnected.

Yeah it's been in the can for a bit so clearly a release is finally near.