VA - Still In A Dream: A Story Of Shoegaze (5CD)

"Still In A Dream: A Story Of Shoegaze 1988-1995 collects a mammoth 87 artists across five CDs in one glorious compilation, housed in a book-style box set that also includes a 12,000-word essay by esteemed music writer Neil Taylor, rare memorabilia and photographs from the era, biographies of each participating band and an American perspective of the genre by Springhouse drummer and editor of The Big Takeover fanzine Jack Rabid. It represents the most definitive document yet of a scene that was much-maligned at the time, but has since gone on to be one of the most pivotal and influential in the development of modern music.

So where did all start? While many commentators cite The Jesus & Mary Chain's Psychocandy as being the first shoegaze record, its origins start two decades beforehand. Bands like The Yardbirds and The Pretty Things were using distortion as an art form in the mid-Sixties, while The Byrds' off kilter melodies where David Crosby's rhythm guitar chimed and weaved a melody of its own beneath the main body of the song also played a part. As did the first incarnation of Pink Floyd, undoubtedly the catalysts for taking songs way beyond the traditional three-minutes structure. Fast forward a decade to the late David Bowie's 'Heroes' and you'll hear Robert Fripp's echo-laden guitar driving through the song's heart. A completely unique sound at the time - remember this was 1977 - and surely something that didn't go amiss with the main protagonists of shoegaze several years later." - Drowned In Sound