Slowdive - Souvlaki (Creation, 1993)

Now that Kevin Shields has seen god-like revival status and most music fans are tossing the term "shoegaze" around for any old indie rock band that uses reverb or delay, let's talk about the band that slipped through the cracks.

In May 1993, Reading, UK's own teenage band, Slowdive released their sophomore effort Souvlaki just a few months after Suede dropped their debut and the britpop movement was born. Their sound was distinguished from contemporaries in that they were sweetly and delicately melodic and densely layered. Slowdive didn't rely on any sense of noise. Sure, there was feedback but always controlled and focused. Sometimes the feeling of 60's pop folk even comes to mind. The dual vocals of Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell remain an eternally mesmerizing pair. With brilliant guitar work from Christian Savill, solid bass from Nick Chaplin and immensely tasteful yet powerful drumming from Ian McCutcheon and Simon Scott and the production of one Brian Eno, Slowdive crafted the cornerstone of the shoegaze / dream pop movement.

Rest easy, those of you who don't like your musicians to come across too seriously. Slowdive weren't pretentious. According to interviews with the band, the album was titled after an explicit skit on the first album by telephone pranksters The Jerky Boys, containing the line: "My wife loves that Greek shit. She'll suck your cock like souvlaki."

This is a must have. Falls somewhere in my top ten albums...ever.


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