the forgotten shoegaze album from the 90s | shoegaze documentary

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let’s talk about the forgotten shoegaze album. when discussing
shoegaze albums in the early scene, the conversation typically doesn’t get further than my bloody valentine’s loveless, ride’s nowhere & slowdive’s souvlaki. today i’m diving into an album that’s often overlooked, the debut effort from the verve, who would later go on to score mainstream success with urban hymns & bittersweet symphony. the verve’s a storm in heaven is an album crafted around nick mccabe’s guitar textures, alesis quadraverb reverbs & roland space echoes. like other shoegaze guitarists mccabe eschews the common guitar hero archetype for something that serves the song, textures abound & solos out of sight. the low vocal mix, use of textural effects & vintage rack units & overall performance on this album all hint to the shoegazing scene. subscribe for more shoegaze music , shoegaze guitar tone , shoegaze gear , dream pop playlist , shoegaze documentary & beyond on our channel | shoegaze album mbv loveless slowdive everything is alive shoegaze band dream pop playlist shoegaze playlist shoegaze compilation
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[@pedalpartners]

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[@shoegazer93]

The Boo Radleys - Everything's Alright Forever (1992). 14 tracks of bliss. TRUST ME

[@pedalpartners]

hey mate! boo radleys early stuff is decent, will probably have to do a video at some point. hope you're well :)

[@crapsharkify]

It's fabulous. Giant Steps is better though!

[@dozicusmaximus]

I love this album. Probably my favorite shoegaze album. Every time I recommend it to someone they wave it off, “The Bittersweet Symphony band? Nah…”

[@pedalpartners]

they're one of the first shoegaze bands i listened to. i actually like most of their work, stuff like 'bittersweet' actually gives me immense nostalgia for 00s uk. simple times.

[@dozicusmaximus]

@@pedalpartners Bittersweet came out right before I turned 13. I was way into metal by then so didn’t care for it, but it definitely brings the nostalgia now.

[@ouroldhouse3674]

When they played live, Slide Away's intro was done without an Ebow, just Mccabe playing with feedback. You can see hear it on the 1992 live at Camden dvd that came with the 2016 remaster.

[@matthewtop]

One of my favorite music memories was tripping on LSD and listening to "A Man Called Sun." Utterly mindblowing that EP is. That song taught me "Yes George Carlin, wind chimes ARE a musical instrument!"

[@pedalpartners]

i am always here for your stories lmao

[@stickyfin5338]

blonder tongue audio baton and they spent their wild youthful days in the glittering world of the salons by swirlies

[@YouMissedJolyne]

this album is so nice need more music like this

[@pedalpartners]

definitely have a look around my channel for more like it ;)

[@RyanMichero]

Young Gen Xer here, I lived through it, and yeah, I strongly endorse the idea of Verve's A Storm in Heaven as a underappreciated shoegaze classic. Nick McCabe's quote about it is right on--nothing else they released afterwards quite captured what they captured there. I want to mention that, while their recorded sound is brilliant and I've listened to ASIH countless times, their live sound and presence was that but more immediate, absorbing, and overwhelming. There is this remarkable document that exists from a live show I attended in Austin, TX, in 1993 on the American leg of their A Storm In Heaven tour--it's on KZbin and linked below. (The) Verve was not my favorite band, these are not my favorite songs, but man this is probably still my favorite live band performance that I've ever experienced to this day. Standing there in front of McCabe's amps and stacks, feeling the vibration in your body, the wash of sound ebbing and flowing...it seemed like every crash of volume and intensity brought out goosebumps on my back. It was amazing, transporting...and I wasn't even high! Very cool to be able to relive it decades later. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqK6e3ywZ5KLgdk

[@pedalpartners]

ah that's awesome to hear! i'll have to go check out that performance, thanks for sharing loved hearing from you.

[@treesurgeon2441]

I would've personally gone with In the Presence of Nothing by Lilys or one of the various Swirlies albums.

[@pedalpartners]

this is a new series, we'll be covering more artists soon, be on the look out! we love lilys, swirlies & many others!

[@zalibecquerel3463]

From the title, I was thinking Lush, or Doppelganger by Curve, but after your opening paragraph, I *knew* it was going to be Verve! "Slide Away" is fantastic, I'm sure I've heard a few different recordings of it.

[@pedalpartners]

'slide away' is also on the 2004 compilation, i'll have to go listen, but other tracks from this album, such as 'blue' were mixed to be more pop than they are on the og album, might be the case with that one too!

[@MagicPants647]

was hoping you were going to mention this album! such a hidden gem. I discovered it a few months back when I decided to revisit the verve.

[@pedalpartners]

it's got some great tracks on it. we've got some really interesting videos lined up which i've been wanting to do for years :)

[@jasper-byrne]

has always been one of my top 5. i bought my H3000 based off it

[@Sheabonez]

All the singles/EPs leading up to Storm were equally epic.

[@pedalpartners]

yep, very cool stuff :)

[@Si_G]

Great album, one of my all time faves. Worth checking out the 8min version of Gravity Grave off their singles compilation. It’s all about the outro.

[@taronb1992]

The Alesis Quadraverb+ is responsible for some of the most iconic serene soundscapes of the 90s'. Chapterhouse - Whirlpool and Kitchens of Distinction - Strange Free World along with Verve. It was one of the first pieces of gear I owned in 92' when I started creating shoegaze music like my heroes. I didnt buy a reverb pedal until about 2018 as none could compete with what I could create with this magical machine. All hail the king of ambiance - Alesis Quadraverb+ and Quadraverb GT.

[@pedalpartners]

that's why we have taken our time while crafting our upcoming reverb pedal that's in development stage, it's gotta be up there on the level with the sounds we love so much from our rack units. we have a film on the quadraverb coming! ✨

[@taronb1992]

@@pedalpartners The only downside is the reverse reverb algorithm does not sound as good as the Midiverb. I look forward to your new endeavor in reverb pedals and your QVerb fan film. This music has been my life since the 90's and I enjoy seeing you geek out on it like I used to do back in the day when all I had was NME and Melody Maker and Guitar Player Mag to learn about who was gazing.

[@chrisetzler2384]

Yes! I ran my Quadraverb stereo into 2 vox ac30s (60s) in 1990 as a big shoegaze fan, especially into Ride, Lush, Chapterhouse. Saw all those bands while living in LA at the time. I saw the Verve too but was not impressed.

[@taronb1992]

@@chrisetzler2384 I was using Roland JC120's back then until I realized that I needed a Marshall JCM800 like Kevin Sheilds and Billy Corgan. Never been happier. I do miss my JazzChorus though. I have bandmates who have ac30s and JC120s so I get my fill when I can. Replaced my QV with a Meris Mercury 7 and a Keely Caverns, gotta run them both to get the QV sound though.

[@chiefbucknell]

So, not a Starflyer 59 album, then? 😉 Fantastic video, as always!

[@pedalpartners]

thank you! & haha, will get round to starflyer at some point. i need more hands to do all the videos i want to at once! & more pedals, always more pedals ;)

[@daneleslie9534]

Absolutely one of the greatest. A pillar in its respective sound

[@chrisNJLiverpool]

This album and Ferment added an element of rock and seduction that was lacking from a lot of other shoegaze entries. They are my two favorite records in the genre - I do love the big three as well.

[@absolutemadlad6041]

Love you guys so much

[@pedalpartners]

we love you too boo x

[@averylangs]

A really good shoegaze band from the 90s that REALLY went of the radar were Starlight Conspiracy, they only released one album but god it's so good.

[@Imsosaditsgottenthis]

Verve + Spiritualized + MBV 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@pedalpartners]

gotta do something on spiritualized, love "ladies & gentleman" top tier album. paige finds the intro speech "ladies & gentleman we are floating in space" funny, i find it terrifying lol

[@dollarsaurus01]

⁠@@pedalpartnersThe backstory behind Ladies and Gentlemen is wild, there was apparently a lot of drama between Spiritualized and The Verve because Jason Pierce’s girlfriend left him for Richard Ashcroft. Hence all the lovesick lyrics on the album

[@pedalpartners]

@@dollarsaurus01 yeah something like that

[@mazesvga4669]

Thx for your vid. Nick McCabe is my guitar hero.

[@pedalpartners]

ah that's awesome, thank you!

[@dantasia721]

I requested this like four days ago. You know your audience!

[@pedalpartners]

& my audience knows me! but for real, i just like being friends with y'all & discussing the things we love amongst ourselves - the scene that celebrates itself! ;)

[@bengoldman5519]

It’s a shame they couldn’t find a way to keep melding Ashcroft’s soul with McCabe’s sonic explorations but Britpop was “join or die.” McCabe is still putting out some great ambient stuff on Bandcamp

[@pedalpartners]

there was a big trend of shoegaze/dream pop bands turning into brit pop outfits. if you listen to 'forth' it's almost an evolution of this sound, nick's using a lot of reverb & reverse effects, but at the same time ashcroft's vocals are way too high in the mix for my ears. like i mentioned in this video, the first version i heard of 'blue' was actually the 2004 compilation version, still a great track but they've mixed it to be more mainstream, with the vocals above the textures rather than underneath the textures as on their debut.

[@georgesandchopin299]

You guys and anyone reading should check out Teenage Filmstars album "Star" made by ex-Television Personalities member Ed Ball. It was released on Creation and was a direct attempt to emulate Loveless. It's pretty damn g. :)

[@georgesandchopin299]

Great call with the Verve btw, must be said- peace n love

[@t3642h]

Very interesting listen. Please, more like this!

[@pedalpartners]

yo thanks xoxo

[@absolutemadlad6041]

Was wondering if you guys are working on any new pedals loved the violet oscillation pedal but was wondering if you were working on anything else soon :)

[@pedalpartners]

we have a couple of things up our collective sleeves ;) it just takes us a bit of time sometimes as we're a super small team, for the most part that's great as we're genuinely passionate & invested in the pedals we make, but things do be taking time sometimes. thanks for the support! we post all new things to our mailing list shoegaze.store

[@MeatMedia]

the best record ever

[@matt23012301]

really hoped it would be bark psychosis hex

[@pedalpartners]

good album that

[@synthzz9178]

I am 46 and i discovered shoegaze on a rental VHS with the ending titles of Doom Generation, the song was Blue skied an clear. It was probably the only time that i happily paid the fine for returning the VHS on delay. Shoegaze is the only rock scene from the 90s that i can say i really like as a whole - ofc i love different stuff like 90s Swans, Labradford, 90s Coil, Unwound, Fugazi, Scorn, Godflesh, Slint, Stars of the Lid ...but i am picky, i can't say the same for the other bands playing post hc, post rock or whatever post- Labradford were playing. I appreciate this type of deep dive videos about important albums or bands - i'd like to hear your opinion about Disco inferno - last year i upgraded my reissues to vinile and after more than 20 years, i still don't understand what was going on inside the skull of Ian Krause.

[@pedalpartners]

thanks for watching. 'blue skied an clear' is a special one for me, i have specific good memories for a lot of slowdive songs & that one is no exception. loved seeing it played live with paige. shoegaze, post-rock & dream pop are sometimes used interchangeably. i find genre names not so important, a lot of the time it's just marketing teams using buzz words, at least nowadays. that's to say i find music is best listened to in order to form a genuine & unique connection. slowdive are my favourite band of all time & one of the shoegaze pioneers, very close to my heart & also close geographically lol. definitely check out the rest of 'pygmalion' an underrated gem of an album, the new stuff is great too. 'souvlaki' is the ultimate shoegaze masterclass 💗