Friday, March 25, 2005

New Swervedriver "Best Of " CD Available Now


Late 80s/early 90s shoegazers Swervedriver have recently released a new "best of" 2CD set called Juggernaut Rides 89-98. As far as I can tell, it is only being released in the UK. But US online sellers like Amazon do stock the CD. Buy it here. If you're unfamilar with this excellent band, this would be a great introduction.

The band existed (as you might have guessed from the title) from 1989-1998. In that time, they released only four full-length albums. They are considered peers of My Bloody Valentine and Ride. In the UK, their records were released on Creation Records. In the US, they were on A&M. The band was dropped after its second album, Mezcal Head, and its third record, Ejector Seat Reservation, was never released in the US. It was one of the biggest selling import albums of 1995. Swervedriver signed a new US deal with Geffen Records, but the label dropped the band prior to releasing 99th Dream. US indie Zero Hour ended up releasing it. Despite massive critical praise and tours with Smashing Pumpkins, the band never really "caught on" in the US. I mostly blame their record label situation (or lack thereof). Swervedriver's lead singer and guitarist Adam Franklin is now a solo artist.

If you want to try out some of their music for free, check out the band's website. They have live versions of all the songs from each of its albums available for free, legal download. There are also dozens of rare and unreleased tracks available to download also. This should give you a decent idea of the band's sound. But, still the best way is to actually buy the band's CDs.

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