-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Ambient * Ethereal *
Artist..: Slowdive
Album...: Just For A Day
GENRE....: Indie
STYLE....: Shoegaze
LABEL....: Intercord SCENE.....: 2015-12-06
BITRATE..: 800 kbps avg STORE.....: 1991-00-00
ENCODER..: FLAC 1.2.1 -8 -V TRACKS....: 9
SIZE.....: 251.0MB SOURCE....: CD
URL..: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slowdive
- TRACKLIST
1 Spanish Air 6:06
2 Celia's Dream 4:12
3 Catch The Breeze 4:21
4 Ballad Of Sister Sue 4:34
5 Erik's Song 4:27
6 Waves 5:54
7 Brighter 3:50
8 The Sadman 4:47
9 Primal 5:29
Total Playtime: 43:40
'Upon its release, copies of the album were labelled with a sticker that read
"like a mind altering substance, without the risk."' Whoever wrote that
sticker should get a promotion -- this is soft as snow, but warm inside.
It's 1990. It's been a year since the last Stone Roses album, and it will be
4 more until the next one. Nirvana has yet to hit the mainstream. It's been a
year since the last Jesus and Mary Chain or Cure album, and we don't even
have U2's "Achtung Baby" yet. So what's to be excited about? Is there any
hope for music at this moment?
Then you begin to hear of this band called Ride. They have really loud,
swirling guitars, and really soft, sleepy vocals. You look around on the
charts, and there's nobody like them, except for awe-inspiring My Bloody
Valentine, but they've been out of the music scene for two years. This is
completely new music. This is the next generation of "shoegazing."
Now it's 1991. Suddenly this unknown band shows up in the charts, from
Reading, England, with a few amazing EP's. This band is getting raves upon
raves of critical acclaim, and after giving them a listen it's certain -
there is absolutely nothing out there like this. You thought Ride was
something else, but this, this is something completely different. Completely
unique. Nobody has tried this before. This is Slowdive.
As loud as The Jesus and Mary Chain, but less abrasive. As soft as Eno, but
with vocals.
Just For a Day, which was released in September 1991 after a string of highly
successful EP's, was warmly greeted in it's home country by the public, and
by the critics with fairly mixed but positive response. 20 years later, it is
generally considered to be a very good start for a band which would
eventually leave a very large and unmistakable influence upon alternative
music.
The sound of this record could be defined as two things: dreamy and warm.
This album flows very, very well. If you come into this album expecting lots
of anger and punk rage, you're in the wrong place. Slowdive was one of the
first bands of the 90s to show no traceable punk influence on their music.
However, although the album on a whole oozes light-as-air guitars (Brighter)
and swooning vocals (Celia's Dream), it doesn't hesitate to delve into the
darker aspects of despair, as is evident on Spanish Air and Primal.
The album's main strength is in it's atmosphere. Each song on this album is
superb on it's own, but in the context of the album, a very strong atmosphere
is formed. This is epitomized in the absolutely spell-binding Erik's Song,
named after one of Slowdive's strong influences, the classical composer Erik
Satie. Each instrumental wave seems to waft through your soul almost
effortlessly.
Another great asset to the band in this particular recording is the use of
two lead vocalists. Now, unlike Slowdive's later work, early on the vocals
were by and large separated from each other. So, Rachel Goswell's beautiful
voice would float along at the head of the pack in Brighter and The Sadman,
while Neil Halstead would provide fairly front-and-center choruses on Waves
and Ballad of Sister Sue. On this album, it seems to work very smoothly, but
shining moments do occur more effortlessly and beautifully when the two sing
together, as on Catch the Breeze and Primal, both of which (along with
Celia's Dream) would point in the new breathtaking direction Slowdive would
take with it's next masterstroke, Souvlaki.
When it comes to lyrics, many "shoegaze" bands weren't exactly renowned for
their ingenious songwriting, but for Slowdive it was different. Before this
album was begun, the lead songwriter, Neil Halstead, went to university for
English Literature, so this shouldn't come as much of a shock. Much of the
lyrical content on Just for a Day, while swooning and breathless, seems to
focus much of its energy on either love or suicide. Halstead's abstracted
lyrics sometimes blur the two together, but that is certainly not a hindrance
on this gem of an album. Very rarely, if ever, does anything seem out of
place in context of the sounds of this album when it comes to the lyrics.
Slowdive should be commended for purposefully trying to be creative with
their lyrics, something many other bands of their type seemingly had no time
with.
Finding negatives or missteps on this album is hard, and any such missteps
are few and far between, if there at all. Perhaps the only thing I can advise
on really depends on your taste in music, and your willingness to be caught
and drifted away by it. If you don't like slower music, and you hate Brian
Eno (although I wonder how that is possible!), then maybe Slowdive isn't
where you want to be. Aside from that, to anyone else there is little I can
find too negative about this album. Perhaps only that it can get carried away
by its own prettiness, but is that even a criticism?
While arguably not a masterpiece like any of their later records, Just for a
Day still towers in meadows in the sun, simply floating along, with sounds
like a waterfall - a great start for one of the best and most consistent
bands of the 90s. Just for a Day is a great record to be cherished.
-=- SHGZ -=-
P.S.
** Thanks ***
*** BCC FNT IPC SSR ***
*** For Knowing Where The Music Is At ***
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* NuHS we miss you! *
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