One of the few musical incarnations of absolute beauty ever to exist in the world, the band Slowdive was formed in Reading, England, in 1989, by singer/guitarist Neil Halstead (b. October 7, 1970), singer/guitarist Rachel Goswell (b. May 16, 1971), bassist Nick Chaplin (b. December 23, 1970), guitarist Christian Savill (b. December 6, 1970), and drummer Adrian Sell.

No other band has ever sounded like Slowdive did, though many have tried. (Secret Shine, anyone?) Their wavey, hypnagogic, dreamy combination of guitars, guitar effects, soft drum beats and shadowy female and male vocals set them apart from their contemporaries in the mostly (but not equally) beautiful shoegazer movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s. They were softer and less blasé than the genre's forerunners, My Bloody Valentine, shinier than shoegazer contemporaries Lush, yet they were swifter and more textured than Moose, the minimalists of the genre.

The band was named for a word Chaplin had heard in a dream, though he couldn't remember exactly which word when he woke up. He was certain that it was either "slowdive" or "slowburn." Obviously the band chose "slowdive" and then began expanding on their dreamy origins by creating music to fall in love to, to lay comatose to, and to forgive someone to. Contrary to the opinion of some, the band did not take their name from the Siouxsie & The Banshees song "Slowdive."

Slowdive's first cache of EP releases, released on then-luminary label Creation Records, appeared in 1990 and 1991. First came Slowdive, a three-track 12", then the CD EP Morningrise and the 12" Holding Our Breath. All three were named Melody Maker Single of the Week upon their release.

Renowned BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel was highly enthusiastic about promoting the band and due to his influence they became more popular, and were loved by British music journalists. In 1991 Creation (UK/Europe) and SBK Records (USA) released the band's debut album, Just For A Day, to the wide acclaim of the music press.

Christian Savill recalls the following about meeting Alan McGee (then head of Creation Records) and getting signed:

"The Creation thing came about very suddenly. We had played a gig in Reading with Five Thirty and this strange guy approached me after the gig saying he really liked our show and asked if we had a tape. I didn't know who he was but a member of Five Thirty told me that he was Steve Walters, head of A&R at EMI and we should get him a tape immediately. Rachel went home and got him a demo from home. Steve was also good friends with Alan McGee and he played him the tape. Then a little while later Neil called me up to say we were meeting Alan McGee in a hotel in Reading and he wants to sign us up. I couldn't even begin to believe it. When we turned up and saw him at the bar of the hotel in his sunglasses, it was amazing. We had a short meeting and he told us that he wanted to sign us but we should go home and think about it then come up to the offices in the week and decide. Then he left and we celebrated, there was no decision to think about."

The early 1990s were a busy time for the band. Most of the time they were either on tour or in the studio. However, due to the shoegaze genre's inability to catch on in the USA, several tours there were planned and scrapped because SBK Records seemed to be against the band from the start. Their records received virtually no promotion in the States and sold poorly as a result, though the band did garner somewhat of a cult following there around this time.

By 1993, shoegaze was rapidly sinking as a favoured genre of music, for reasons I was never able to figure out. By this time the band had released a couple more EPs; Outside Your Room and the 5 EP, both on Creation (none of the EPs ever saw release on the other side of the pond), and their second full-length album, Souvlaki. In an odd move, SBK packaged Souvlaki and four of the five tracks from the 5 EP onto on CD and released it in the USA. In late 1993 the band was finally able to tour the States, and did so on a few occasions, with the bands Ride, and later Lush and Catherine Wheel. Both tours were a failure due to poor promotion on SBK's part, once again. In mid-1994 Slowdive financed a USA tour of their own, determined to not screw over their American and Canadian fans. It lasted only two weeks, but most of the dates sold out.

Early on, Adrian Sell left the band to persue academic endeavours, and he was replaced by Neil Carter for the recording of Morningrise, and then for a few years by Simon Scott, formerly of the band Eternal.

After a short break after the tours, the band entered the studio again to record what ended up their final album, the ambient-ish Pygmalion. Simon Scott left the band prior to its recording, and he was replaced by drummer Ian McCutcheon. Pygmalion contained just about zero contribution from anyone other than Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell. The rest of the band, not liking the ambient/experimental tack that Neil and Rachel were leaning towards, quit. After the album's release in 1995 (in the UK only -- SBK Records had gone bankrupt the previous year), Slowdive announced that they had not so much had broken up but had more reformed themselves with a new name -- Mojave 3. The new band, consisting of Neil, Rachel, Ian and pianist Poppy Gonzalez, had originally named themselves just "Mojave," but after quickly discovering another band had that name, they pinned the "3" onto the end of it, as they had been a trio at the time. Poppy Gonzalez didn't come along until the band were recording their first album as Mojave 3, entitled Ask Me Tomorrow, which was released in 1996, effectively tolling the bell for Slowdive. Mojave 3 ended up branching out into various genres in the intervening years, including country music, surf rock, and atmospheric jazz. Neil Halstead has also built a solo career, releasing the twangy country music album Sleeping On Roads in 2002 through 4AD, followed by some more of the same, although his first solo album was so uninteresting to me that I haven't bothered to listen to what came after it, untempered by the fact that Neil now sports a huge and utterly preposterous beard, complete with its own song, "Baby, I grew you a beard." This offends my delicate sensibilities. However, Rachel Goswell released her first solo effort, Waves Are Universal, in 2004, also a 4AD product; I thought it was very good.

A wealth of unreleased material was collected over the years, enough to fill about three full albums. None of it saw the light of day until the year 2000, when it was distributed to fans of the band (myself included) by former guitarist Christian Savill, who around that time was forming the band Monster Movie. Most of the unreleased stuff is very, very good, though unpolished, as it's all demo quality. Some of these tracks evolved into Mojave 3 songs. There are a few tracks marking a collaboration with the Bald Wonder, Brian Eno. Fruit of that collaboration can be found on Souvlaki -- the song "Sing" features Eno on synths, though that's the only song from that session to make it to an official release.

Despite the stigma that the genre-whoring public and music press insist on inflicting on everyone, Slowdive transcended whatever they were labeled with, and meshed their way onto a lot of music-elitists' favourite band lists. I recommend starting at the beginning, if you mean to pick up some of their recordings, although all of the band's releases are now out of print. The albums are still relatively easy to find, however the EPs are not. Your best bet for the really early stuff is unfortunately P2P networks or iTunes.

1990 Slowdive (EP - Creation Records)

1. Slowdive
2. Avalyn
3. Avalyn II

1990 Beach Song/Take Me Down (Flexi 7" - Creation Records)

1. Beach Song
2. Take Me Down

1991 Morningrise (EP - Creation Records)

1. Morningrise
2. She Calls
3. Losing Today

1991 Holding Our Breath (EP - Creation Records)

1. Catch the Breeze
2. Golden Hair
3. Shine (also music video)
4. Albatross

1991 Just For A Day (LP - Creation Records/SBK Records)

1. Spanish Air
2. Celia's Dream
3. Catch the Breeze (also music video)
4. Ballad of Sister Sue (also music video)
5. Erik's Song
6. Waves
7. Brighter
8. The Sadman
9. Primal

1992 Blue Day (compilation of earlier EP tracks, now impossible to find - Creation Records)

1. Slowdive
2. Avalyn
3. Morningrise
4. She Calls
5. Losing Today
6. Shine
7. Albatross

1993 Outside Your Room (EP - Creation Records)

1. Alison
2. So Tired
3. Souvlaki Space Station
4. Moussaka Chaos

1993 5 (EP - Creation Records)

1. In Mind
2. Some Velvet Morning (Lee Hazlewood/Nancy Sinatra cover)
3. Good Day Sunshine
4. Missing You
5. Country Rain

1993 Souvlaki (LP - Creation Records/SBK Records)

1. Alison (also music video)
2. Machine Gun
3. 40 Days
4. Sing (feat. Brian Eno)
5. Here She Comes
6. Souvlaki Space Station
7. When the Sun Hits
8. Altogether
9. Melon Yellow
10. Dagger

1994 5 (In Mind Remixes) (EP - Creation Records)

1. In Mind (Out of Mind mix by Bandulu)
2. In Mind (The 147 Take by Reload)

1995 Pygmalion (LP - Creation Records)

1. Rutti
2. Crazy For You
3. Miranda
4. Trellisaze
5. Cello
6. J's Heaven
7. Visions of La
8. Blue Skied An' Clear
9. All of Us

Soundtrack contributions:

1. 1995 Doom Generation (song Blue Skied An' Clear)
2. 1999 Splendor (song Shine (Splendiferous Mix by Locust))
3. 2004 Mysterious Skin (songs Catch the Breeze and the band's version of Syd Barrett's Golden Hair)

1999 I Am The Elephant, U Are The Mouse (original motion picture soundtrack, never released)

1. Riverman 2 (#1)
2. Beginning (rough mix)
3. Beginning (final mix)
4. Ambient
5. Ambient (part 2)
6. Cranium (alternate version of Blue Skied an' Clear)
7. I Believe
8. Opening
9. Like Up (final mix)
10. Like Up (rough mix)
11. Money
12. Painting Lost
13. Untitled (Mexico)
14. Riverman (final version)
15. Riverman 2 (#2)
16. Riverman 3 (#1)
17. Riverman 3 (#2)
18. Riverman 3 (#4)

2004 Catch The Breeze (MORR Music - double CD - "greatest hits" compilation)

1. Slowdive
2. Avalyn
3. Morningrise
4. She Calls
5. Catch The Breeze
6. Shine
7. Golden Hair (Syd Barrett cover)
8. Spanish Air
9. Waves
10. Alison
11. So Tired
12. Sing (with Brian Eno)
13. Souvlaki Space Station
14. Machine Gun
15. Here She Comes
16. When The Sun Hits
17. In Mind
18. Good Day Sunshine
19. Missing You
20. Rutti
21. Crazy For You
22. Trellisaze
23. Blue Skied An' Clear

Other releases from former members of Slowdive (excluding Simon Scott's work with Eternal, which predated Slowdive):

Neil Halstead:

• Sleeping On Roads (2002, 4AD Records)
• Oh! Mighty Engine (2008, Brushfire Records)

Rachel Goswell:

• Waves Are Universal (2004, 4AD Records)

Christian Savill (as Monster Movie):

• Last Night Something Happened (2001, Clairecords)
• Monster Movie/Dreamend (2002, Graveface Records)
• To The Moon (2004, Clairecords)

Mojave 3 (Neil and Rachel, among others):

• Ask Me Tomorrow (1996, 4AD Records)
• Out of Tune (1998, Sire Records)
• Excuses For Travellers (2000, 4AD Records)
• Spoon and Rafter (2003, 4AD Records)
• Puzzles Like You (2006, 4AD Records)

The interview with Christian Savill, along with another interview with Rachel Goswell, can be found at the following URL:

http://www.creation-records.com/slowdive/

Also: http://www.myspace.com/rachelgoswell