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Avg: 4.0 (118 ratings)
- Date Released: January 1, 1995
- Genre: Alternative/Punk
- Style: Indie Rock
- Label: Slowdive / Setanta Songs
When drum machines and ecstasy attack (shoegaze bands)!
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We Say...
Neil Halstead had always been the leader of Slowdive, but on 1995's Pygmalion he basically was the band. The band's third album features some vocals from Rachel Goswell and light drumming from Ian McCutcheon, but little else contribution-wise from the rest of the group. (Former percussionist Simon Scott had left the band after the 5 EP because he presumably saw the writing on the wall when Halstead got more and more interested in drum machines.)
It certainly sounds like a solo record. “Rutti,” the spacious and slow-moving opener, is the Durutti Column's Vini Reilly filtered through ambient techno, while “Crazy for You” similarly spends much of its running time luxuriating in Halstead’s titular incantation. Indeed, much of Pygmalion is luxurious — given the room to stretch out, Halstead songs feel less like you’re listening to them and more like you’re living in them.
Unfortunately, the label heads at Creation Records were looking for a pop album on the order of previous works like Just for a Day and Souvlaki — and they quickly dropped Slowdive after the release of Pygmalion; the group broke up shortly afterward. It was to be expected, really. When a record by a shoegaze band comes along that’s this good, how are you supposed to follow it up? Just ask Kevin Shields. -
They Say...
Pygmalion is the most abstract of Slowdive's albums; after moving from the sugary pop of Just for a Day to the more mature and more experimental Souvlaki, the band began to incorporate even more elements of ambient electronica -- drum loops, samples, and songs even less tangible than on previous releases. There seem to be two prevailing opinions of the album, among Slowdive fans: either (a) it's disappointingly "out there," since it doesn't work with the conventional pop underlying the sounds of Souvlaki, or (b) it's absolutely brilliant, taking their sound into the realms it was always destined to go. The second opinion seems a little more reasonable; tracks like "Blue Skied and Clear" and "Crazy for You" demonstrate that the songs are still in there, somewhere -- they're just buried under more abstract sounds than before. The album is not for those seeking a direct and solid song under the surface -- but for anyone who appreciates the indirect and intangible, it's a stylistic masterpiece.
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| 01. |  |
Rutti |
10:08 |
|
| 02. | |
Crazy For You |
6:02 |
|
| 03. | |
Miranda |
4:51 |
|
| 04. | |
Trellisaze |
6:23 |
|
| 05. | |
Cello |
1:35 |
|
| 06. | |
J's Heaven |
6:47 |
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| 07. | |
Visions Of LA |
1:48 |
|
| 08. | |
Blue Skied An' Clear |
6:56 |
|
| 09. | |
All Of Us |
4:09 |
|
09 Total Tracks, 48:39 Total Length
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Credits
- Slowdive - Producer // Slowdive - Engineer // Slowdive - Main Performer // Chris Hufford - Producer // Chris Hufford - Engineer // Rachel Goswell - Vocals // Neil Halstead - Guitar // Neil Halstead - Vocals // Ian McCutcheon - Drums // Nick Chaplin - Bass // Christian Savill - Guitar // Steven Woodhouse - Cover Illustration
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