Still In A Dream doesn't set itself out to be the definitive record of the first shoegaze movement. As its subtitle says it's a story, not the story. There are bound to be minor controversies over inclusions and exclusions - were The Jesus And Mary Chain ever considered shoegaze? Not as far as I knew. But, including as it does both the influences and the influenced of the scene, those that stuck it out for their whole career or the ones who'd gone in a different direction by 1995 (such as scene-setters Ride) there's enough breadth here to satisfy those in need of some nostalgia and those wanting a fast-track into where the new crop of such acts first heard the sound they love.

Across the five discs of the set some 85+ bands are featured, a bunch of which are as unknown to me as they may well be to you. Therein lies the beauty of such a collection as it's as educational as it hopefully is fun to listen to. To aid that element the booklet has band biographies etc. amidst 12,000 words on the genre. Very nice it is too, at least as a pdf.

For the nostalgia hounds there's the chance to hear bands you may have previously assumed to be goths (The Ecstasy Of Saint Theresa), those whose albums you bought late and realise you hardly ever played, for good reason (Moose) & you can ask yourself why you ever found the precocious child vocals of Cranes affecting. You can also discover gems such as 'Godlike' by The Dylans, whose organ-heavy sound then leads you to wonder why the Inspiral Carpets aren't included as genre boundaries seem to be getting blurred by somebody. Then again you can't include everything & licensing agreements may not be available.

Listening to over five hours of shoegaze straight through is quite a task & not something I've managed to do at one sitting in the writing of this review but it's safe to say that, should you wish to do that very thing, this set from Cherry Red Records should be your first port of call before you try to branch out and create your own mega-playlist on the streaming service of your choice (assuming of course that any one such service has all the necessary tunes).

Still In A Dream is available from amazon.

Things have probably gone on too long as they are for Andrew Stockdale to start just releasing albums under his own name rather than the Wolfmother moniker (Keep Moving aside) but Victorious, in an extension of the numerous personnel changes the project has undergone, is just him with drafted in drummers etc. where required. The name's a brand though I suppose and fair weather fans might get confused. Best not to rock the boat.

Victorious certainly doesn't do that, although obviously it does rock. Straight off the bat ‘The Love That You Give’ continues where previous album New Crown left off with the signature, near-timeless riffing and pounding pace that you’d recognise anywhere as Wolfmother. After which it’s business as usual as one song follows another, sounding as if they could be from any period in the project’s existence. Which is fair enough & what you pay your money for.

That’s not to say though that there are no mis-steps amongst the ten songs of Victorious. Lyrically ‘Gypsy Caravan’ is utter codswallop. Clearly referring to gypsies of an H.E. Bates type rather than that of Tyson Fury it’s a step far too far into whimsy although the riffs persist. ‘Pretty Peggy’ is also a rather drippy, Bee Gees inspired piece of balladry. Think back to Extreme mooning around on that acoustic ‘More Than Words’ and you get the idea. Hideous.  

Still, when it’s good Victorious sits comfortably alongside its forebears & will no doubt spawn a successful tour or two, garner the odd meaningless award & at least meet its sales projections so everyone involved can be happy they’ve created a decent piece of work. As it rocks to a close with the sludgy 'Eye Of The Beholder' you can help but feel there's plenty more where this came from. 

Victorious is available from amazon & iTunes.