Still in a Dream: A Story of Shoegaze

This collection excels by showcasing the depth of music that had the word applied to it during the album’s seven year time span ('88 to '95). That word, 'shoegaze', was applied to much more than just skinny guys looking a bit sad with guitars. By investigating these areas - from the end of the C86 scene through to shoegaze itself via grunge and ending with Britpop - Still in A Dream proves itself to be a truly comprehensive release.

Overall, Still In A Dream: A Story Of Shoegaze 1988-1995 is an essential purchase for anyone with an interest in the genre. And while the omission of certain acts make it just fall short of being definitive, there's more than enough sonic gold here to compensate.

This is a very enjoyable round-up of shoegaze, shoegaze influenced and vaguely-similar-to-shoegaze bands, including some material you’ll know well and some that will likely be less familiar.

The quality dips and pitches, occasionally stuck at third on the bill at the Bill And Gate. There are tiny revelations too. [Mar 2016, p.104]

One of this set’s major strengths lies in the equal space given to fleeting names who made their statements then vanished.

Each of the tracks--icy, foggy. eerily paced, speedy or unusually slow--move with sinister intention.... Still, the set meanders to include lesser, black-lit essayers of the form such as Dr. Phibes & The House Of Wax Equations. [No. 128, p.58]

It might have been interesting to boil the track list down a bit, then spend a disc catching up on the post-1995 bands that have kept the sound alive. That being said, the story they do tell on Still in a Dream is a fascinating one, full of guitar-mangling bliss and soaring melodic grandeur suitable for a fuzzy trip down memory lane or a deep dive of discovery for the novice gazer.

Overall Still in a Dream is a job well done: an accurate portrait of an era that, while it can’t really be described as a lost golden age for rock, nonetheless provided sorely needed radiance and refuge during a particularly grim period.

comforting reel-to-reel tap hiss haunts each track, and you imagine this will sound particularly good on vinyl. [Mar 2016, p.96]