Review:

on 2011-03-24 CharlesMartel Said:

Some things are great in small packages. Once you have more than a certain amount of certain things, then the appeal of it is lost. Take for instance the delicious Turkish baklava. Layers of pastry, almonds and honey coming in cubes of about an inch. Delicious. Try eating ten such cubes at one sitting and you'll pretty quickly find that the sweetness becomes sickly and the confection becomes heavy on the stomach.

I tend to find Slowdive rather like baklava. In small doses I find Slowdive rather enjoyable. However, too much Slowdive at one go and I switch off, cease to take it in. Coming from the dream pop end of shoegaze, Slowdive manage to paint dreamy soundscapes, full of swirls and layers of music which seep into you rather than hit you full in the face. It starts off soothing and relaxing but after a while it becomes soporific, even tedious. And that is the problem I have with this remastered version of Slowdive's opening effort "Just for a Day".

The original album would have clocked in at a respectable forty plus minutes - perfect. But then the reissue adds another CD of at least that long and probably more. EP's, off-cuts and three tracks taken from a John Peel session in 1992 make up the contents of that CD. Now listen to one, either one, on its own, and it's fine. Listen to both, one after the other, and the aforementioned effect takes place. And that is the problem I have with this album. Not that there is anything wrong with the contents. It's just that there is too much of them.

But put that aside for a while, and enjoy (in small doses) the music. Slowdive start off as they mean to go on with the slow paced "Spanish Air", remarkable for the fact that it probably has the most distinct rhythm of any track on the album. By the time you get to the masterful "Catch the Breeze" you feel wonderfully relaxed. And the album pretty much ends in the same way as "Primal" closes out with its pulsing rhythm. In the middle is the instrumental Erik's Song where Slowdive take to the limit what it is that they want to achieve - a sound that is more about texture than any coherent structure or melody.

Once you have rested and taken a break from Slowdive for a while, then go back and listen to the second disk. The same distinctive features are there, but perhaps more so. The two versions of "Avalyn" become strangely hypnotic in their effect. After a while you begin to detect subtle changes in the repetition, but you are not sure if they are really there or if your mind is playing tricks on you. I found myself drawn into "Avalyn 2" as if it were a place of comfort, a sort of womb which would shelter and protect you while forming, to an extent, an actual part of you. Of all the tracks on the album, this one surprised me more than any other.

And so the second disk closes out with three tracks form a Peel Session in 1992. Of course, "Catch the Breeze" is the highlight of this. This quasi-live format is interesting for it shows how the band went about recreating their sound outside of the studio. The result is a certain loss of cohesion and a great emphasis on melody and tempo rather than just the texture of the layering of sound.

What you have then is a remastered and extended album which stretches the limits of an individual's ability to take it all in. I found the same with the extended and remastered version of "Souvlaki" I have as well. Whether that is a fault of mine or that Slowdive are best taken in small doses I don't know. But it is advisable to proceed cautiously.
Rating: 7/10