ABOUT THIS ITEM

Slowdive were the leaders (if day-dreaming drifters could do anything as forthright; they'd probably rather stay in bed!) of the so-called "Shoe-gazing" scene of the very early Nineties. This was a bunch of introspective anti-stars, who were lovely with floppy fringes but prefered to stare at their FX pedals than put their foot on the monitors, so to speak! That's not to say they didn't make a noise. With My Bloody Valentine, The Cocteau Twins, and "Closer"-era Joy Division as their inspiration, the Shoegazers used swathes of sound, echo-drenched, shimmering and reverbed to the max. None did it better than Slowdive. A trio of EPs (all represented here) got eveyone over excited (gorgeous songs, long, otherworldly and with a pretty girl singing!) but their debut LP dissapointed. By the time of their meisterwork- the still stunning Souvlaki which brought Mary Chain pop melodies into the swirl- the scene had moved on, but the 8 tracks included here show that classic music is beyond genres: it's going to break your heart; it's going to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up! They then slid into more ambient waters, less song-based but just as mesmerising, and the best tracks are on here too. This is a superb compilation of a criminally over-looked band.