Slowdive
3 vinyl records found
Slowdive formed in Reading in 1989 as a dream pop and shoegaze outfit, channeling the atmospheric textures of Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine through thick guitar effects and restrained vocals. Though their debut Just For a Day landed in the UK top forty, critical reception was mixed as the British press pivoted toward grunge; their second album Souvlaki would eventually emerge as their most enduring work.
About Slowdive
The band's early run was marked by promise and frustration in equal measure. After the Slowdive EP and two well-regarded EPs in 1991 (Morningrise and Holding Our Breath), Just For a Day arrived in six weeks of writing and recording but landed during a shift in critical taste away from introspective shoegaze sounds. SBK Records, their American label, botched the rollout with a disastrous marketing campaign and delayed the release, leaving the band to tour the US without product to support. Souvlaki, recorded with clearer intent and featuring contributions from Brian Eno on two tracks, proved a different proposition: songs like When the Sun Hits and Alison refined their approach while experiments like Souvlaki Space Station pushed into dub reggae territory. Yet SBK stalled that release too, forcing another American tour with no album behind it.
By their third album, Pygmalion in 1995, Slowdive had drifted toward minimalism and ambience, a direction the label could not abide. Creation Records dropped them a week after release, having warned Halstead to deliver a pop record or face severance. The band slipped into hiatus later that year. Halstead, Goswell, and McCutcheon regrouped under the name Mojave 3 on 4AD with country-influenced material, while Savill formed Monster Movie and Scott eventually launched Televise. All three Slowdive studio albums were reissued in late 2005 with expanded material, including the John Peel session from March 1991 and early EP tracks. The Groove Hunter catalog tracks 5 editions of Slowdive vinyl, including Souvlaki, Everything Is Alive, Just For A Day, Just For A Day Red Marbled, and Blue Day Blue & White Marbled.
