SLOWDIVE's second album originally released in 1993. Their best known record and a highlight in the shoegaze genre, taking the drifting ambience of their debut and adding more immediate structure. Brian Eno is both co-producer and collaborator on several songs.
Highly influential and appreciated British shoegaze from the early 90's on the Creation label.
Souvlaki was released on May 17, 1993 in the UK and on February 8, 1994 in the U.S. Widely regarded as their best album, it benefits from synthesizer contributions from co-producer Brian Eno on Sing (which he co-wrote) and Here She Comes. The album's U.S. release includes the previously unreleased cover of Some Velvet Morning (written by Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra in 1967) and three tracks from the band's 1993 5 EP, all of which feature on this edition.
Review
Everything is simplified, as if Brian Eno's presence on two songs -- he contributes keyboards and treatments and co-wrote one tune after turning down the band's invitation to produce -- hammered home the better aspects of "ambient" music. This is no Music for Airports though. On the opening "Alison," the largely uplifting "When the Sun Hits," and the darkly blissful "Machine Gun," Slowdive are still capable of mouth-opening, spine-tingling flourishes. They've found a way to be quiet, moving, and aggressive simultaneously, mixing trance-like beauty with the deepest delayed guitar sounds around, a sound at once relaxing, soothing, and exciting, and most of all harshly beautiful. - All Music 5/5
