Raise (studio album) by Swervedriver

First off, the review below mine is one of the best reviews I’ve ever read, on this site or otherwise. Thank you for taking the time to write it. I agree with his sentiment as well, this is a very American sounding album. It really stands out amongst the many great Shoegaze albums. The guitar work on here is amazing. I also love how the album has an upbeat and aggressive sound which is a stark contrast to most of the genre. As a “car guy” I can’t help but smile at the numerous references to fast cars and driving. A very enjoyable listen.

From Repo 01/12/2018 06:37

'91:6 The Marionettes
aka Speedballing Down The Interstate

I’m just telling you what I remember. It’s not much. Mostly a blur. A memory of a memory. Faded and bleached. By the years. By the drugs too, I guess. But mostly by the years.

It was 1991. I was young. Headed off to Manhattan to conquer the world. I was already a music junkie by them. Hell. I had been for years. I headed to CBGBs as I did pretty much every night. Picked up a 40 oz of Olde English (my favorite back then) at one of those no-named Asian convenience stores that dotted the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I’m sure they’re probably all gone now. You’d always pop in there before going out to pick up a forty. They’d put it a paper bag for you so you could drink while taking the subway or even just walking the streets. Great way to get a buzz for like two dollars in one of the most expensive cities in the world.

Anyways, this particular night stood out…

Remember moshing? Well I was a professional. I could just give my body over to the pit. That was the secret. Become this rag doll. It’s not like I was afraid to push back or anything. I was pretty built back then. But that wasn’t the point. The point was to relax and just let go. Become this happy bouncing electron careening about. Driven by forces outside of you and in you. That’s where the high came from. You see people forget. Moshing brought you closer to the music. It was the ultimate surrender. The music would come off the stage and just take over you. And the crowd. The best thing was just to let go. And smile.

And Swervedriver concocted some of the best music I’ve ever moshed to. The guitars would seemingly ping-pong back & forth and ricochet every which way. Pushing the crowd this way and that. Adam Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge, the guitarists, were like the greatest marionettes ever.

As I said, the memory’s mostly gone. But, what was clear was that Swervedriver ROCKED that night. But, let’s be fair. Almost all the shoegaze bands back then rocked pretty hard. Ride. Lush. MBV. They all kicked serious ass in concert. (Well except for Slowdive. They decidedly did NOT rock. But, they were great in their own way) No. What made Swervedriver different, what made them stand out, was their ginormous debt to the American indie scene. They were easily the most American of all they peers. Sure. My Bloody Valentine’s Isn’t Anyting may have been the most important album in their record collection. But sitting right next to it - in plain sight - was Dinosaur Jr.’s Your Living All Over Me.

Ok. Here it goes. Laugh if you must. But due to Adam Franklin’s laid back vocals and dreads, I always thought of Swervedriver as “that shoegaze band fronted by that reggae dude”. He was like some kind of California surf rat. It always sounds like he had just took a long drag on some spliff. Eternally stoned. And THAT was their secret ingredient. Swervedriver were like the ultimate speedball. Heroin + cocaine. Franklin’s lysergic vocals buried underneath all those swirling, driving guitars. It was like every single receptor of my cortex was being fed with something. Gaba. Beta. Alpha. Lol. Clearly it was like the best Greek party ever going on in my brain. Every single receptor being landed on & triggered at once resulting in the quintessential high.

To be honest, I loved this album so much, I had the hardest time getting into Mescal Head when it came out. It just seemed like Raise Lite. I still prefer Raise today.

From what I remember.

Grade: A+. Essential. LittleM nailed it. It’s the perfect mix of shoe gaze and grunge. I never thought of it that way. To me it was just shoegaze. Shoegaze fronted by that reggae dude. lol. It’s only now in retrospect that I realize how much of the American Underground those cats were taking in. And sure. My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless is the best shoe gaze album of 1991. I’ll give you that. But this is number two.

best album of 91. Every track is perfect. If you like Sonic Youth, Ride, Dinosaur Jr, Superchunk, Hum or My Bloody Valentine you need to check this (and Mezcal head) out as soon as you can.

From exileonthehell 10/24/2015 22:56

Shoegazing in here is just wow.

Fantastic album