Still In A Dream: A Story Of Shoegaze 1988-95 / 5CD box set

£7 cheaper than amazon, from speedyhen, with free delivery too.
The days of amazon being the cheapest are now long gone. Most companies are now undercutting them on cheaper cds too, by offering free delivery even on items under £20. Sorry for having to say it, but Amazons greed has started to be its downfall.

Glad to see bands that weren’t strictly ‘shoegaze’ (Seefeel, Bowery Electric, Black Tambourine) represented on this compilation. IMO they evolved the sound in ways that was much more interesting than the more well-known MBV-soundalikes (Curve, Spirea X). But in that regard, I’m surprised to see The Ecstasy Of Saint Theresa missing from the list. Also would’ve been nice to have seen Christian Savill’s pre-Slowdive band, Eternal, on this compilation too. ‘Sleep’ is an unheralded shoegaze anthem if there ever was one.

WTF with this aficion of putting aside the Latin shoagaze? do you hear about the album “Dynamo” by Argentinean band “Soda Stereo” they had some of the greatest shoagaze songs ever like “En remolinos”, ” Texturas” or “Toma la ruta” its really a big shame to read this list without finding any reference to this fabulous album.

The The The were a pretty good band around this era, fronted by Matt Johnson. The The The weren’t shoegaze though, though.

Such a pet peeve of mine, but there is no band called “The” Cocteau Twins. It’s just Cocteau Twins. #pedantic

The Dylans were definitely not shoegazers by any stretch of the imagination. They couldn’t licence MBV – “They block all requests”. They also lost Stereolab, who I wouldn’t consider shoegaze either.

That price won’t attract the casual purchase and won’t the hardcore have most of the stuff they want already?

The Flaming Lips shoegaze? Really? Mind you, I never considered Swervedriver a shoegaze band either. There a half decent documentary doing the round on Vimeo called ‘Beautiful Noise’ if anyone’s interested about the genre.

Even if some of the music in this box is not, strictly speaking, shoegaze, it’s still an attractive set and a good collection of songs and bands that represented the same musical period well. It looks nice!

Not a bad selection, yes pity about the non-inclusion of MBV, but quite few gems otherwise. Might be worth a punt….

needs some, any, Mazzy Star

The Hinnies are on there but Cut Cut Emma who south London greatest exponents are not even though shared same label is criminal….they have even been mentioned on BBC 6 recently….Cherry Red are usually spot on as well……

My favorite genre…will probably have to get this even though I have most of the songs. Love the recent reformations of Slowdive, Ride, and Lush!!

Agree with Dav about MBV omission. For me, disc 1 is great, Disc 2 still quite good. Kind of goes south after that. Lots of bandwagon jumpers.

No My Bloody Valentine? I guess they were just a little later.

Pre-ordered. Nice set ; takes a general overview and looks at influences on either side. A bit like the fantastic glam box Oh Yes We Can Love.

I am working on a personal 5CD sophisti-pop set at the moment. Spanning 1982 – 1992.

No matter how much you try to broaden the church of Shoegaze, it was never big enough to accommodate 5 CDs! Probably over 50% of this compilation could not remotely be classified as Shoegaze: The Dylan’s, The Prayers, Drugstore, The Belltower, Drop Nineteens, 14 Iced Bears – the list goes on and on. This compilation would have been better described as: ‘Some Shoegaze records along with many, many other indie rock/ indie pop songs that were around at the same time’. Feels like one extended version of the Chart Show Indie Top 10.

This is unlikely to attract new fans to the genre – more those folk who were into this music at the time, long since sold their records (/cassettes) and want to reminisce about when they had long fringes, and wore long-sleeved cotton tops with their favourite band emblazened on them.

A better approach would have been to include more music influenced by the 1989-1994(?) Shoegaze era. Bands such as Asobi Seksu, Tamaryn, Echo Lake, I Break Horses, Fever Dream are just a few bands that spring to mind. I am sure there are many more since 1994 that could have fitted this bill.

The 1-CD Shoegaze compilation ‘Like A Daydream’ was not much less representative of this genre than this bloated effort. That didn’t include MBV either.

And even though i lived it, i dont recognise half the bands. Memory going….

Looks like a good purchase to collect the songs by the lesser-known bands. Not so good for representing the more popular bands. I would have definitely chosen different songs for Ride, Lush, Catherine Wheel, and the JAMC, among others. Favorite lesser-known gem: Waiting for the Angels by the Darkside.

Never realised I was a shoegazer until I saw this tracklist and the amount of bands on there I am into! The Pale Saints COM is long overdue being back in print or even remastered/expanded as it’s great.

Some curious selections here. I can’t imagine how you consider A.C. Marias shoegaze; her one album is essentially a Wire side project. Velocity Girl and Kitchens of Distinction are straight-up pop.

That said, there’s a lot of great music here, and I’m happy to see the collection include some lesser-known stuff like loveliescrushing, An April March, and especially the brilliant Alison’s Halo.

It kind of plays fast and loose with its definition of ‘shoegaze’.

Cocteau Twins yummy! Don’t try to understand what Liz is saying, just listen to the sublime noise they make……

Interesting tracklisting although MBV conspicuous by their absence (and probably the most influential band of them all). The first Adorable album definitely needs a reissue.