Customer Reviews

Ejector Seat Reservation

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

No finer band has had as many career troubles as Swervedriver. Whether it was labels dropping them, labels dying underneath them, or personnel changes, Swervedriver consistently faced seemingly arbitrary obstacles that prevented them from blowing up into the phenomenon they deserved to be. Nowhere is this more apparent than on this record, a departure from their earlier "shoegazer meets the MC5" sound and a move towards an incredibly complex, mature songwriting style. This record did come out at the beginning of the Oasis-driven Brit-pop revival period, and some of the songs seem to bear the stamp of that time. But that's not because Swervedriver were imitating Oasis. What the band was doing was writing thoughtful, melodic pieces that fell solidly into the English singer-songwriter tradition. And, whereas Oasis simply reproduces that tradition verbatim, Swervedriver attempted to move the tradition into a new direction shaped by the sound of Swervedriver's earlier albums. The middle section of this record, including "I Am Superman", "Bubbling Up", "Ejector Seat Reservation", and "Candy" pull this off most effectively. "Bring Me The Head Of The Fortune Teller" and "The Other Jesus" bear the most resemblance to Swervedriver's earlier sounds; "Son Of Jaguar E.", despite its title's allusion to the Swervedriver classic "Son of Mustang Ford", actually veers away from the early sound and straight into traditional Brit-pop, as does the masterpiece, "Last Day on Earth." Naturally, Swervedriver's knack for undeserved label trouble prevented this record from being released in the states. It is worth every penny of the import price. And while you're at it, buy all their other albums, too.

War, famine, poverty are all pretty bad. But lets face it, the biggest injustice ever is that swervedriver aren't the biggest band in the world. They should have achieved it with mezcal head (or even raise) but this album was the one that should have made them a household name. It didn't, for a number of reasons: 1 - they got dropped by creation about two weeks after it's release, 2: It wasn't released in America, 3: No support from radio or MTV, 4: Oasis released one of the biggest albums in the history of british rock the same year. The truth is that Swervedriver were destined to be the biggest band in the world, but somewhere along the line they got screwed - repeatedly. This album was overflowing with potential hits and should have made them stars. It's not fair - But hey, life's not fair. Adam, Jimmy, Steve and Jez should have been the new Beatles. This album is criminally overlooked/underrated.

They'd already mastered blazing sonics over Raise and Mezcal Head, so Swervedriver push into new pop turf (read: less shoegazery, though they always rocked much harder than the rest of that scene) on ESR with astounding success, only to be dropped by their US label just prior to release. Creation released it in Europe but didn't support it one measly whit. Some record store kid had an import stashed under the counter way back when, and for whatever reason saw fit to sell it to me.

Every Swervedriver record is some degree of awesome (well, maybe 99th Dream tops out at "great"), but ESR is the one that'll stand the test of time. They toss some T-Rex and Who into their melange, get more gnarly and direct on a few songs, and uncork a handful of true classics that still boggle the ears all these years later. "Last Day on Earth" and "The Birds" are both stunning combinations of sonic pleasure and chest-expanding emotion. Were I forced at gunpoint to pick one SWD CD, this'd be the one.

If you must travel to Tokyo to snatch this one, do and do it forthwith. What the rest of popular culture vomits on us is made almost tolerable when a band as good as this offers something a magnificent as this. The title track is the one - that missing sound that can't be found through immitation; only through some kind of seemless synthesis of sounds that fit together like the Blue Devils starting line or colin & ryan.
Stereolab does it, Pop Will Eat Itself do as well, Ned did, and Velocity Girl should again.

Volume & engergy & grins & that sound that makes you kick off the covers... if i was stuck on a desert island and could have only one cd with me i'm think i would probably die or starvation or exposure.
This is what God make ears and feet for.

why this cd was never released in the us i'll never figure out. This is swervedriver best to date. so smooth and full of sweet hooks, a must have for any fan. Easly one of the best albums of the decade.

i paid $30 for this cd at a seatlle record shop one day...it was a total gamble as i was waiting and WAITING for a new swervedriver album (after mezcal head and before 99th dream) i have to say...it is a touch mellower than mezcal head but overall quite excellent. some of the sogs drag a bit and some just dont quite come together all the way (like 'i am superman') but songs like 'son of jaguar e' pull up the slack nicely. if nothing else buy the cd for 'the birds' that song is more than worth the $29.95. "in a moment of weakness, i'm caught with a sickness...and when everyone winds me up i just cant wind down" true true. if you're a swervedriver fan and have all the other albums and singles, pick this one up, you wont be disappointed

The earlier reviews pretty much said it all; this is pretty much one of THE best and most overlooked bands from the 90s. Swervedriver is lumped into the shoegazer category often, however, if that label scares you off then dismiss its application to this band, because they aren't so much shoegazer - in that cough-syrup-dreamy-noise way - as they are sonic rock. Yes, rock. Who knew it could still be done, and believe me, they do it well, and uniquely. If you've listened to Swervedriver before, then tehre isn't too much more to say - buy this album. It's not as hi-fi as 99th Dream or Mezcal Head (in my opinion their best album and one of the best of 90s decade), but not as fast or dirty as Raise. Now, if you have never listened to Swervedriver, this might not be the best album to start with - it all depends on your tastes. Personally, I would suggest starting with 99th Dream or Mezcal Head; either way, this has all the qualities of every Swervedriver album - great lyrics, superb and unique songs, and that urge for more when it's over. Sadly, this band was vastly ill-treated by labels and they are no longer together (however, some vestiges exist in the form of Toshack Highway). But if you want to see what you missed in the 90s - even more so, if you want to see what the best of the best from that decade truly was - Swervedriver is a must.

This is the sound of a band at its absolute peak. It's a crime that this record wasn't released in the States, and I can only hope that the band saw a few cents of the outrageous price I paid for it. Son of Jaguar E, Bubbling Up and pretty much every other song here is perfectly exectuted swagger-rawk mixed with meticulously controlled shoegazer noice, overflowing with weird, catchy melodies and amazing grooves. The final (listed) song, "The Birds" is a casually-tossed off perfect slice of ringing guitar pop, twisted by lyrics like "In a moment of weakness, I embodied the sickness."

There's almost nothing I can write that expresses how terriffic this record is, or how great is the injustice the general ignorance of it by music fans. I'm begging you to buy this immediately and share it with everyone you know.

I'm not going to rehash what everyone here has written about Swervedriver, or this album in particular, but I will say that most of whats been written here is true...ESR is a spectacular album, it blew most of what came out in 95 out of the water, and it failed miserably by absolutely no fault of it's own. I like to believe that the internet, word of mouth and in general the freeing up of information has made a great band like this harder to keep down these days, but whether I'm right about that or not I'm at least glad that Swervedriver are experiencing the small resurgence that they are and finally having some light shone on their work. It's not enough to make up for an entire botched career, but hey...it's a start.

That being said I also think people might be going a little overboard with their proclamations about this band, reveling in the feel good act of appreciating the unappreciated and rooting for the fallen heroes of our past. Great? Yes. The second coming? No. Swervedriver shouldn't have been "the next Beatles", their albums shouldn't be held in the same regard as Loveless and EJR wasn't the "greatest record of the 90's". I mean let's be honest, this wasn't even the greatest album of 1995...at least I don't think so. I still appreciate it for what it is though: A really, really great album by a really, really great (if not slightly atypical) 90's rock band that should have been way bigger than they were. Highly recommended, but please don't let the hype kill it.

The whole shogazer scene was a little before my time so I was retroactive in listening to these guys. Pretty amazing though, great vocals, unique sound, incredible moods brought forth. Buy this thing and be stoked!