Customer Reviews

Raise

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Raise", Swervedriver's freshman album, caused genuine -and strangely unanimous- excitement among British and American critics and caught a fire with a midsize but devout fanbase. Their sophomore and junior efforts generated even stronger praise, but for me the first is the most gripping of their records. Nobody, except perhaps St. Johnny with "Speed is Dreaming" made such a combination of vibrant colour and texture with crackling power in their guitar attack. The owners of many, many effects pedals, Jimmy Hartridge and Adam Franklin trade scattering prismatics of feedback, instrumental and amp noise, woven with picked melodies into tremendous, cascading guilloches. The rhythm section pounds with a thick elasticity, and accentuates the uncanny dynamics in the songwriting, while Franklin's smoky vocals merge a moody lethargy obliquely with the speeding traffic of the blurry guitars. The Swervies rev with power and chunk while other British "shoegazer" bands lacked the force and verve to give their guitar textures bite. The resulting tension, going nowhere fast, is highly evocative of... one can never say quite what. Swervedriver are daydreamers in a rainy England of Constable lanscapes, flying saucers, cathedrals and political discontent, if you know what I mean.

Swervedriver is, simply put, an amazing band. "Raise" is alternatingly their best or second best album (along with "Mezcal Head") depending on my mood. This one I love for its true shoegazing sound. It is muddied and dreamlike, and full of guitar work that one can only truly appreciate if they see Swervedriver or Adam Franklin (Toshack Highway) live.

This is full of so many great songs I don't even know where to begin. Perhaps most importantly, the album has a great flow to it, similar in that regard to both XTC's "Skylarking" and Radiohead's "OK Computer" (even though the music is much, much different for all those bands). For fans of old Dinosaur, MBV, or Sonic Youth, this CD is a must, as is "Mezcal Head" and any assortment of early Swervedriver b-sides that you can find. Swervedriver's b-sides are second to nobody's, not even the better Cure b-sides.

I remember when this album was first released and the song "Son of Mustang Ford" was used for the kickball scene in a Pete and Pete show. It kicked me in the head then, and it still does now as I listen to it. These guys are guitar heroes that should have been infinitely more popular than they are. If you like hard hitting rock, this band does it more tunefully and intellegently than many of the other artist of the genre.

Simple... if you like heavy guitar rock and don't own a copy of `Raise'...BUY IT NOW, at any cost! You won't be sorry. `Raise' is an incredible sonic monster; combining the heavy guitar experimentation of Sonic Youth's `Daydream Nation' / Dinosaur Jr.'s `You're Living All Over Me', along with the atmospheric hypnotic shoegazing of My Bloody Valentine's `Loveless', and, heck... throw in the psychedelic artistry of early Pink Floyd. To try to merge all these into one album is difficult enough for a seasoned group, but to try it on your debut album is a recipe for disaster. However Swervedriver pulled it off with flying colours, and gave the world this brilliant work of art.
If I can make any criticism, it's the production quality of the recording. In my humble opinion this is not Swervedriver's best, I'll give that award to `Mezcal Head'... only due to the better production. I'd love to see a digital re-mastered edition of `Raise' become available, however the muddied and distorted atmosphere is admittedly part of its charm. Stand out tracks for me are "Sci-Flyer", "Son Of Mustang Ford", "Deep Seat" "Rave Down" and "Sandblasted". Not to diminish the other songs, they all work together and blend into each other like, well, OK I know I'm copying many other reviewers but it's true... the music weaves together like a movie soundtrack. One reviewer here likened the music-flow effect to that of Radiohead's `OK Computer' which I never thought of but it's true. However my personal comparison were of the masters of this... Pink Floyd, with `Animals' or `The Wall'. But make no mistake, Swervedriver sounds nothing like those bands - this is searing guitar / thundering base and the Swervies never rocked harder then on `Raise'.
Admittedly I am biased, as over the years I've come to realize Swervedriver somehow became my favourite band... and that's no easy feat. I was a late convert to them, too busy listening to Jane's Addiction, Dino Jr., Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins to pay attention to the British music scene in the early 90's. Actually it was their connection to the Pumpkins, and hearing the song "Duel" off `Mezcal Head' that got me into this group. And now 15 years later, I've tired of all those bands and the mighty Swervies continue to be in heavy rotation.
A warning though, after picking up `Raise', you may get hooked and pick up their other three album, the anthology `Juggernaut Rides' along with any b-sides you can scoop up. They may not become your favourite band... but you will discover their music is addicting, and that they were the most underrated group of the 90's.

I bought this album my freshman year in college, over 7 years ago. I played the hell out of it then, and I still haven't gotten sick of it. The production sounds a bit bad nowadays, but the songs are great and Swervedriver has never rocked this hard again. One of the most criminally overlooked bands of the decade.

Sci-Flyer still blows my mind...

I've had this cd for 11 years and I still love it. It was made for those who love cars, open highways and sunsets. Listen to Deep Seat...the cover photo says it all.

Ever since I bought this hard to find CD, I can't stop listening to it. It's got driving guitars, killer hooks, and just an overall "atmosphere" that I can't seem to get out of my head.
If you're a fan of Dinosaur Jr., you'll proabaly dig this album.
I haven't heard their other 3 albums, but I've been putting them on my wishlist.

This is undoubtedly a great album, but it is not their best. That accolade belongs to mezcal head which is (in my opinion) flawless. If you are new to swervedriver this album will not dissapoint, it is probably more acessable than their other stuff and is well worth checking out. If you like Ride or My Bloody Valentine or even pink floyd - you will like this. If you want something a bit mellower (though raise is trippy, it does rock) i suggest you check out swervedriver vocalist Adam Franklin's side project Toshack Highway. You should really buy this if you don't own it already.

I agree with all the above reviews and can't really add much to them. Particularly the point about the track order - for me, two very important moments on this album are when "Pile-up" and "Son of mustang ford" kick in. I love this band's mixture of aggressive drumming and subtle song structuring. When I listen to Swervedriver, I keep worrying that any minute, they're going to let their standards slip and do something a bit mediocre - it's something to do with the vocals and the fact that they're British, that I can't quite explain - but on this album, the good feeling just keeps flowing.

Funny thing was I had never heard of this band, but I was woken up from a nap one day some years back by a raunchy, yet melodious guitar sound. All I can say was, that's the only time I really appreciated being disturbed. :)