Shoegazers II - The Pale Saints

When I said in that shoegaze post that the Pale Saints had their moments that seemed a bit dismissive. I meant they had some superlative moments. The Pale Saints energy and dynamics were harvested to great affect on their recordings. Something about them was different from the Thames Valley bands. There was more to them than floppy fringes and stripe-y T-Shirts. They seemed just as informed by MOR and Wire as they were by My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus & Mary Chain. They had a vibe that was effortless and assured. Maybe they were just more talented than the rest and you felt like they could be stars because they were like real artists.

Hair Shoes with it's startling intensity, still sounds astonishing to this day. This is from their second album In Ribbons.

These Boots Are Made For Walkin'

Ooh la la Nancy, at your age!

Shoegaze

I saw that Slowdive were reforming on a website. I thought I'll dig out those early Slowdive tapes (no one ever stole tapes) and cds. The first 3 EPs Slowdive (90), Holding Our Breath (91) and Morningrise (91) plus most of their debut LP Just For A Day (91) I always rated. Listening back to them the other day revealed that I was perhaps correct, well I enjoyed them anyway. They had some stellar tunes Celia's Dream, Catch The Breeze, She Calls & the amazing epic Primal. They were definitely the most Cocteau Twins influenced of the shoegaze brigade whereas say Ride, early on, were probably more influenced by 80s noise rock. The meeting point for all these bands was My Bloody Valentine, they would be the centre of your Venn diagram. On the outside would be girl groups, stadium rock, cutie, goth, fx pedal worship, ambient, psych pop etc. Of those Ride tunes I recall diggin the first four EPs Ride, Play, Fall (all from 90) and Today Forever (91) as well well as like three quarters of the debut LP Nowhere (90) but only a couple of tracks from the follow up Going Blank Again (92). I saw Ride play live a couple of times and they were a powerhouse wall of noise band (gee the drummer was good) compared to their more sedate recordings, I liked that dichotomy. What about the others? The Pale Saints and The Boo Radleys had their moments, Chapterhouse didn't. I didn't hate Lush I just didn't buy their records.

Then there was Curve whose first couple of EPs were terrific but I don't think you were meant to like them. They were the corporate machine co-opting the underground once again and perhaps signalling the end of the scene. The lead singer of Curve Tony Halliday was one of these Allanis Morrissette, Robin Thicke types who was signed to a major label, had a failed pop career then somehow got a second chance as a totally different type of artist. There was even a shoegazing band from Sydney called Jupiter who I saw once in a South Melbourne pub. They had a great tune Sense (note to self track down that EP). There was a time circa 90/91 when you thought this thrilling bliss would last forever. America even had a go with The Drop Nineteens whose record Delaware (92) was pretty good (I listened to it the other day) as was Medicine's Shot Forth Self Living (92) LP. Anyone remember Smashed Orange (very vague memory of them) or The Belltower's Outshine The Sun? Some kind of award should go to Lilys who sounded so much like My Bloody Valentine it was preposterous. They were so absurd you couldn't help but admire their commitment see their LP In The Presence of Nothing from 92. There were many more I don't remember but when a girlfriend at the time showed up with a record by Revolver (a C-grade Ride rip off) you knew the end was near. I never bought Slowdive's Souvlaki (93) or the follow up Pygmalion (95). Some people rate these highly maybe I missed out, maybe I didn't. Worth missing out on though were The Boo Radleys Wake Up (95), Ride's Carnival Of Light (94) and The Pale Saints had lost it by Slow Buildings (94). After the release of Loveless in 91 My Bloody Valentine went AWOL for the rest of the 90s and even Lilys changed their style mid decade. The spirit of MBV lived on with Seefeel, Third Eye Foundation, Moonshake and Flying Saucer Attack making excellent music in other genres during the 90s. There have been resurgences and revivals over the years....some current groups probably consider the original wave of shoegazers an influence.

Award winning genuine fake.

Beaches - She Beats

When I write about an artist I usually try to evoke the sounds, ideas and feelings through words and not list influences. This is getting harder by the second particularly as we are now very late in the (rock) epoch.  I'm only a couple of listens in but I'm really diggin' She Beats. It's a guitar record. It's not really breaking any new ground but who is? My ears just love hearing those guitars and the melodies. They've definitely done stellar research*. Beaches belong the lineage of The Velvets/Stooges/Kraut/Hawkwind axis, the Paisley Underground, 80s Sydney Rock (The Church, Died Pretty) 80s into early 90s Flying Nun, Proto-Shoegaze (ie. Loop et al.) Shoegaze, 90s Kranky and  instrumental groups from the USA like Pell Mell & Cul-De-Sac and the more recent Yawning Man/Ten East. I have to say though with Beaches It feels more organic than that. This musical melting pot  has been brewing in their DNA for some time and can't help but ooze out of them when they plug in and play. As opposed to a group like Savages who seem to be mixing and matching influences like trying on clothes. IE. 'Does my Wire match my Siouxsie? Does my Banshee look big in this?'

Beaches still haven't captured the immensity of their live sound on tape and one wonders if they ever will. Someone should give them hundreds of thousands of dollars so they can create their very own Tusk or Starfish. They must be special if I'm willing to let a track like Granite Snake get past me as I swore a couple of years ago that if I heard another band being influenced by Neu (Neu are one of my all time favourite bands but does that mean every 2nd band should rip em off) I would smash the radio in. But Granite Snake blows my fucking mind, it's incredible  Who'd have thought we'd be listening to a band in 2013 that reminded us of Opal, The Pale Saints or the 3Ds? Possibly the best record of its ilk since Yawning Man's excellent Vista Point from 2007 (yeah yeah I know Vista Point is a compilation of records made in 2005, whatever).