In response to Davey’s posts about long lost classics in this thread and this thread, I decided to write out a couple reviews tonight.

As most of you already know I really enjoyed the whole shoegazer movement and was really wrapped up in the scene at the time, mainly seeing the bands live. You have the usually suspects of MBV, Ride, Swervedriver, Boo Radleys, Lush and Slowdive. One of the very best albums that came from this era is hardly ever mentioned.

Telescopes self-titled third album, the first for Creation Records, is one of the genes best albums. It has a warmth to it that is virtually unmatched by anyone else that put out similar records during this time. It based around an acoustic guitar and touched the same subject matters as a lot of these album did (sex, drugs, finding one self). The difference seems to be Stephen Lawrie was really out there on the same level as Jason Spaceman. They also had a female backing vocalist that seemed as beautiful and wasted as Bilinda Butcher. Sadly the broke up soon after this release but never toured America, Sony did end up putting it out but is long out of print in the U.S. They came back several years later as a band called Unisex and in 2001 The Telescopes did put out another record but wasn’t any good. Since Creation Records went out of business it was out of print but last year it was re-issued and called Untitled or something like that. Glad that this is available again, even if it’s just an import, because it truly is one of the long lost classic albums from the shoegazer time.

On second thought I’m not going to do my American counterpart on this subject because it’s late.

I've heard of the Telescopes, but never heard them. Ill see if i can find this on soulseek. Sometimes this board + slsk is overwhelming in regards to the amount of music i hear.

I love the A level shoegaze bands -MBV, Slowdive, Ride, Catherine Wheel more then just about anything, but there's such a great gulf between those bands and the also-rans of the genre - Pale Saints, Moose etc. I hope this is in the first not the second category

I love that album! Did a compilation a few years ago called Floating In Space and closed it out with "Splashdown". Great sound.

Floating In Space

1. Bach - Invention No. 7 in E minor from Music For A Glass Bead Game
2. Spacemen 3 - Honey from Playing With Fire
3. King Black Acid - I've Heard You're Still Alive from Loves A Long Song
4. Radiohead - Lucky from OK Computer
5. Grandaddy - He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot from The Sophtware Slump
6. Boo Radleys - Lazarus from Giant Steps
7. Tom Verlaine - Saucer Crash from Warm and Cool
8. Spiritualized - I Think I'm In Love from Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
9. Catherine Wheel - Fripp from Chrome
10. Slowdive - Souvlaki Space Station from Souvlaki
11. Red Stars Theory - A Sailor's Warning from Life In a Bubble Can Be Beautiful
12. Mercury Rev - Opus 40 from Deserter's Songs
13. Sigur Rós - Ny Batteri from Ágætis Byrjun
14. The Telescopes - Splashdown from The Telescopes

Hey, I'll do the American counterpart in the shoegazer field. Have you heard The Autumns? Cool little LA dream pop band in the early 90s, sounding a bit like the Cocteau Twins and Smiths meeting up with Slowdive. I never heard them until maybe '99 or so, but I picked up The Angel Pool from 1997 and love it. Yeah sure, a little past the peak shoegazer era but it still has some of those same epic touches being employed by many of the current britpop gang too so it doesn't really sound too far gone. If you see it for cheap definitely grab it.

I have it and I'm on high speed now with speeds in the 50s at times.

See my Moose post in the sleep thread, you haven't heard the right Moose. Even all music rates all their albums really, really high.

Allmusic rates every album higlhy though

Edit: Ill hopefully grab it off you as soon as soulseek reconnects me

Yes Moose were a very average shoegazer band. Those 12 songs on the first three ep’s really aren’t what they were all about. It wasn’t until they put away their effect pedals and let Russell’s beautiful voice come through that you can hear the real Moose. It such a shame that bands that are this good get passed over but when some people hear it, and not just a token once over MP3 listen, they become big fans of their music.

I’m a big fan of AMG and feel they are pretty close on most of their ranking that I have come across. Sure some of my favorites are ranked low for my taste but it’s my bible for music. It the best source for information on the web and taking the ranking with the review, because sometimes they don’t match, it’s pretty balanced throughout. I do use other sources like Obner, Pitchfork, friends and MP3’s for most of the newer stuff though.

<--- They also gave this Boo Radleys anthology a four and a half stars with a review that was spot on. "and a reason for fanatical devotion to still more."

i just discovered the telescopes earlier this year, and indeed this album is awesome. try to find their EP's too, as they are just as good.

unfortunately, their earlier album, taste, is crap.

I thought The Autumns were more harder edged? I'll have to check them out again cuz I would never have considered them on the shoegaze side.

Yeah, must be a different band you're thinking of cause they're definitely in that dreamy shoegazer mold. I only have the one CD but it's very nice. Don't know what they're up to now. Not the best type of music to play anymore if ya wanna be a rock star

Do you know Voyager One? They're up in Seattle and have a couple albums out that I really like. On Loveless Records. Guess who they sound like. The last one, Monster Zero, was one of my favorites of 2002. Very cool space rock. Even comes with a near definitive cover of Echo & the Bunnymen's "Bedbugs and Ballyhoo".

They do not sound like My Bloody Valentine. Very few sound like My Bloody Valentine. Who is it that you think they sound like? If anyone, they sound like that first Blur album...

PS I do like it, a great deal. I was just listening to Monster Zero and From the New Nation of Long Shadows the other day...

Well my fellow shoegazing spaceman, when I say that they sound like MBV I'm not quite implying that someone might mistake Voyager One for MBV. I wouldn't think much of them if that was the case. I'm saying that they pay homage to that sound, the way they use the reverb and phase tricks to give that wave action to the walls of guitars, and the distant vocals, and the bass grooves. The way the music washes over you and gets in your head. Yeah, it woulda been more accurate to say something like riyl MBV, but I really don't see how you can just dismiss the Loveless connection. The songs do usually have a little more in the way of muscular beats than MBV, even sometimes a little Massive Attack feel, but they can get pretty ethereal as well. Anyway, I think if you did a search for Voyager One and My Bloody Valentine you might find they often occur together in the same description. Mostly because ad writers and critics can get a little lazy, but also because there is some similarity. Or maybe not ... but at least we agree they are a very cool band



http://www.lovelessrecords.com/band_voyagerone.html

I think you hit the nail on the head here. Ad writers and critics have been hailing MBV as the flagship of the shoegazer movement when in fact they sound (to my ears, anyway) nothing like the rest of the genre. That first Blur album, Slowdive, et al -- to me, that is more stereotypical shoegaze -- I agree about the points about reverb and phase and wall-o'-guitar, but to me, MBV was on another plane. The things they did with distortion and loops and pitch-bend made it an altogether alien yet beautiful sound.

And I was just taking that moment to get up on the podium and repeat my stance on the subject. I'm done for now.