Raise

Certain Songs #2599: Swervedriver – “Rave Down”

April 25, 2023 by Jim Connelly

Album: Raise
Year: 1991

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When we get to The Yardbirds, we’ll have a deeper discussion of what it means to “rave up,” which I’m assuming is the concept upon which Adam Franklin is turning on its head on the other greatest song from Swervedriver’s Raise album, the monumental “Rave Down.”

Opening with a shitton of massive guitars from Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge over drummer Graham Bonnar’s bouncy drum part, “Rave Down” veers into psychedelic territory even before it eventually opens with the chorus.

Certain Songs #2598: Swervedriver – “Son of Mustang Ford”

April 24, 2023 by Jim Connelly

Album: Raise
Year: 1991

. . .

Swervedriver were associated enough with the whole shoegaze movement that their debut album Raise landed at #15 on Pitchfork’s 2016 list of the 50 Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time, and you can definitely hear why.

That said, there is a bit more dust, grit and momentum on Raise than there was on the records of most of their contemporaries, as many of the songs barreled forward with the power and noise of, say, Daydream Nation.