Slowdive: Rachel Goswell, Neil Halstead, Christian Savill, Nick Chaplin, Simon Scott.
Additional personnel: Spike (cellos); Brian Eno (keyboards).
Engineers: Andy Wilkinson, Guy Fixsen, Giles Hall, Chris Hufford, Martin Nichols.
Recorded at Protocol Studios, London, England; The Courtyard Studio, Sutton Courtenay, England; The White House Studio, Weston Super Mare, England.
Audio Mixers: Ed Butler; Slowdive.
Audio Remasterer: Andy Pearce.
Liner Note Author: Kieron Tyler.
Recording information: Courtyard Studio, Sutton Courtenay; Protocol Studios, London; The White House Studio, Weston Super Mare.
Though not as big and swirling as Just for a Day, there's more of an attempt to put advanced song structure and melody in place rather than just craft infinitely appealing, occasionally thunderous mood music. Everything is simplified, as if Brian Eno's presence on two songs -- he contributes keyboards and treatments and co-wrote one tune after turning down the band's invitation to produce -- hammered home the better aspects of "ambient" music. This is no Music for Airports though. On the opening "Alison," the largely uplifting "When the Sun Hits," and the darkly blissful "Machine Gun," Slowdive are still capable of mouth-opening, spine-tingling flourishes. They've found a way to be quiet, moving, and aggressive simultaneously, mixing trance-like beauty with the deepest delayed guitar sounds around, a sound at once relaxing, soothing, and exciting, and most of all harshly beautiful. [SBK released Souvlaki in the U.S. a full eight months after its English release on Creation, with three-quarters of the 5 EP tacked on the end, plus one unreleased track, a memorable, spacy run through Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood's "Some Velvet Morning."] ~ Jack Rabid
Professional Reviews
Spin (p.110) - "[O]ne of the shoegaziest albums ever."
Option (8/94, p.127) - "...Still another member of the wispy, ethereal psychedelic pop brigade...quite satisfying, and even mildly mesmerizing..."
NME (Magazine) (5/29/93, p.31) - 6 - Good - "...another exemplary product from spangly guitar heaven...."
Record Collector (magazine) (p.86) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "SOUVLAKI appeared as a fully-formed masterpiece..."
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