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Fantastic rundown. As soon as Ferment went S tier I knew this was worth watching all the way. Then comes the equally amazing Chrome, slightly more direct yet even more beautiful, and also my clear favourite (and in my top 5 albums of all time). My takes on these albums/ songs are almost exactly the same as those in the video
Happy Days requires a caffeinated bloodstream, a sports car, and an open highway. Crank it up! Release all your demons! Hope that you have the stamina. And then you'll get it. I think that most people may feel that the first Catherine will album they ever heard is their favorite because they change styles often. I kind of like the ridiculous narcissism of happy days. It's very honest and even humorous. Rob was on to something. It's a strange album in that it is hard to slot in any of the usual Rock categories. It is like a shiny harley-davidson, but you can totally understand all the lyrics. Like it was painted with cherry red metallic. It had nothing to do with the Gothic satanic leaning heavy metal of the prior decade. It had nothing to do with grunge. This is why it lacked commercial success. Also and its defense all CDs back then had too many damn songs. And therefore lost a cohesive structure. Anyway great review. I agree with someone recently who said Adam and Eve is like their dark side of the moon. Broken Nose i believe is the Greatest rock song in decades!! The album is Absolutely A nod to classic rock. Just as wishful is a nod to Seattle grunge. They did it all! Rob's solo album is an exquisite ending to the run.
I actually believe that one of the best moments on Chrome is in the song half-life if you follow the vocal lyric closely and the emotional intensity of it. The build-up to the line "it's so hard to think clearly!"...and back to the quiet section again. And the deeply personal lines of someone who has gone through hell, but is in some kind of recovery from a broken relationship or some other trauma. "I've got to learn to stop myself from falling so low " Rob is always singing about rising from the ashes as evidence in Sparks are going to fly, and other songs. A recurring theme.
I'm so glad that you did this. I love this band so much. The only reason I know of this band is because my dad ordered the "like cats and dogs" album in '96 through BMG magazine. I was about 7 years oldd at the time. I loved music though, so growing up I always remembered those cool bands. He listened to. Also....I KNEW that Fripp was a hat tip to Robert Fripp. You just confirmed it for me. Such a relief. Lol.
Enjoyed this thoroughly. Catherine Wheel really do feel like a secret gem buried under a lot of better known acts from that period. They never did top those first two albums, but I have been on a deep dive into their later catalog, and finding that while they only had two albums that were start to finish flawless, the lesser albums have individual tracks that more than make up for all the skip over material. Lately I have been addicted to Rob's solo album, which has some pretty fantastic moments. I dimissed it largely on first listen, but I had to be in the right place to really appreciate the material I think.
Adam and Eve is their Dark Side of the Moon, their masterpiece- being near criminal that Rolling Stone only gave it a 3 star review. Ferment was Catherine Wheel at their shoegazing purest with a number of amazing tracks beyond the first 3 that get all the attention - Bill and Ben, Salt, Flower to Hide. So these would be tied for the top two in my rankings. While keeping the showgaze atmosphere and pairing it with a harder and more pop-accessible sound is admirable, I never really liked Chrome as much as other music reviewers seemed to- Crank, Show Me Mary and The Nude clearly stand out from the rest. Yes, I do find myself hitting the skip button on Happy Days but much of it is really bracing content and worth having - Hole and Empty Head are actually pretty good. Interestingly so many fellow bands who released amazing Shoegaze work in the first few years of the 1990's shed that influence by the time Happy Days came out in different ways- Catherine Wheel transforming into a grunge band and the Boo Radleys and Lush following the Britpop path, with Ride doing Byrd's influenced classic rock, Slowdive renaming themselves and going acoustic country. Like Cats and Dogs is worth having, showcasing the bands softer side. Adam and Eve hits the best of both worlds and with just one track that is shorter than 5 minutes. Wishville was a disappointment on the other hand, though not as much as the 1.5 star review from All Music Guide suggests. Then there was no breakup announcement no nothing and they disappeared after that tour. All the other Shoegaze Gods who I mentioned have returned at one point but CW is sorely missing. It seems like there are a number of good rarities like the 30 century man EP
Speaking for meself, my favourite Catherine Wheel songs tend to be their longer songs. Black Metallic, Fripp, Eat My Dust..., Goodbye, Descending Babe. For me, a Catherine Wheel song is one that develops over time. Curiously, one of my top songs is also Mouthful of Air, one of their shortest works. My own tier list would probably be something like S Tier: Chrome, Adam and Eve A Tier: Happy Days, Wishville B Tier: Ferment I bought Ferment purely on the strength of Black Metallic, and while I immediately liked She's My Friend and I Want to Touch You, nothing else on the album really made much of an impression, until I had my mind blown by Fripp, and went back to give Ferment another listen, and only then did the other songs grow on me. Also, You thought Judy Staring At The Sun was the Shoegaziest song on Happy Days, the album with Eat My Dust... on it? What? Did you not hear the second half of the song or something?
Thanks for listening! I’ve always thought that Judy Staring at the Sun was the song that had the closest resemblance to their first 2 albums, I never claimed that eat my dust or any other songs don’t have some of those shoegaze elements as well (obviously I’ve heard the entire song) but to me Judy Staring at the Sun has always been the standout song with the most shoegaze vibes from this album. Just my opinion obviously and you’re welcome to disagree
@@MikeGodetteMusic It's fine, I was just a bit surprised. Obviously everyone likes what they like. My own tastes run to the spacier, dreampopier side of shoegaze, but the more rocking side is fine too.
Mad Dog should have been the single from Wishville. Ballad of a Running Man is terrific too. Again, like on Happy Days, it was an attempt to go more commercial.
Thanks for the excellent video! I might have met a half dozen people in my life that have heard of CW. Criminally overlooked, much like The Railway Children, in that regard.
As a shoegaze junkie, I far prefer Ferment, with its great use of guitar pedals/effects, to Chrome. Chrome has some wonderful tracks, but let's put it this way - I occasionally listen to extreme metal sub-genres, and Chrome is more likely to give me a pounding headache than that stuff listened to at equal volume. "Bill and Ben" is my favorite track on Ferment, which is my second favorite shoegaze album of all time (Souvlaki #1).
Cool video: On a 1-5 scale (5 being great) but in order of my fav to least fav. Chrome (5) Adam & Eve (5) Wishville (4) Ferment (4) Happy Days (3) Chrome - an almost perfect album. Not much more to say. And to think that all came within a year of a super strong debut. Wow! Adam & Eve - love the adventurous songwriting and production. Very confident in who they are. Every CW album seems like a reaction to the one before. I know they say Happy Days was a more authentic version of them but it actually felt like they were chasing the trend… whereas A&E feels more like… we don’t give a fuck we’re being bold. It’s not as immediate and urgent as Chrome but it’s still brilliant. Wishville - reacting to the sprawling bigness of A&E they come out with a short and tight collection. Clearly this was a last gasp effort to have chart success; SAGF, Gasoline, WWWTBI and MD are certainly attempting to manufacture that… but I personally still think those songs have some bite. (A “sell out” CW song is still better than almost anything out there). But there’s not a song on this album that I don’t really like. 2 songs from these sessions were fine tuned and ended up on Rob’s solo album (The Storm & Towering and Flowering)… if those were on Wishville this album might have been a 5 for me. I’ll never understand the dislike for this album. Ferment- I know I have it ranked 4th out of 5 but i really do love this album. Such an impressive debut. Way more accessible than others in the shoegaze movement. Honestly I still think this album is really great pop songwriting with a shoegaze production. Similar to how Nirvana’s Nevermind was really just killer pop songwriting with “grunge” production and choices. My only issue with this album is it kinda just hits one note. It all swims in the same waters with not a ton of diversity… but again… it does that one note really well. Happy Days - I don’t hate the album but it lacks consistency and doesn’t feel authentic. There are times when I’m thinking oh “they’re trying to be Smashing Pumpkins here” or “that kinda sounds like Bush” 🤮 I could be totally wrong but I just get that feeling. Having said that “Heal” might be my favorite CW of all time.
Great list which I almost entirely agree with. I'm with you 100% on Happy Days. I was a HUGE fan when Chrome came out and I don't think I've ever been so disappointed by a followup. Years later I read that Brian Eno wanted to work with them, but they wanted to go in a different direction which just sounded like lame American alternative rock to me. Such a bummer. I still listen to Chrome multiple times a year. It's just criminally underrated.
![Catherine Wheel - Black Metallic [Official Music Video] HQ](/img/n.gif)
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Thanks so much for talking up Catherine Wheel! They're criminally overlooked.
Ferment - B
Chrome - S + (masterpiece)
Happy Days - A
Adam & Eve - B
Wishville - C
The first two LPs are perfection to me.
Rob’s custom Porsche shop, “Singer” keeps him busy, but he may see all these other 90’s bands touring now and be swayed to return.
Fantastic rundown. As soon as Ferment went S tier I knew this was worth watching all the way. Then comes the equally amazing Chrome, slightly more direct yet even more beautiful, and also my clear favourite (and in my top 5 albums of all time). My takes on these albums/ songs are almost exactly the same as those in the video
Happy Days requires a caffeinated bloodstream, a sports car, and an open highway. Crank it up! Release all your demons! Hope that you have the stamina. And then you'll get it. I think that most people may feel that the first Catherine will album they ever heard is their favorite because they change styles often. I kind of like the ridiculous narcissism of happy days. It's very honest and even humorous. Rob was on to something. It's a strange album in that it is hard to slot in any of the usual Rock categories. It is like a shiny harley-davidson, but you can totally understand all the lyrics. Like it was painted with cherry red metallic. It had nothing to do with the Gothic satanic leaning heavy metal of the prior decade. It had nothing to do with grunge. This is why it lacked commercial success. Also and its defense all CDs back then had too many damn songs. And therefore lost a cohesive structure. Anyway great review. I agree with someone recently who said Adam and Eve is like their dark side of the moon. Broken Nose i believe is the Greatest rock song in decades!! The album is Absolutely A nod to classic rock. Just as wishful is a nod to Seattle grunge. They did it all! Rob's solo album is an exquisite ending to the run.
I actually believe that one of the best moments on Chrome is in the song half-life if you follow the vocal lyric closely and the emotional intensity of it. The build-up to the line "it's so hard to think clearly!"...and back to the quiet section again. And the deeply personal lines of someone who has gone through hell, but is in some kind of recovery from a broken relationship or some other trauma. "I've got to learn to stop myself from falling so low "
Rob is always singing about rising from the ashes as evidence in Sparks are going to fly, and other songs. A recurring theme.
I'm so glad that you did this. I love this band so much. The only reason I know of this band is because my dad ordered the "like cats and dogs" album in '96 through BMG magazine. I was about 7 years oldd at the time. I loved music though, so growing up I always remembered those cool bands. He listened to.
Also....I KNEW that Fripp was a hat tip to Robert Fripp. You just confirmed it for me. Such a relief. Lol.
Enjoyed this thoroughly. Catherine Wheel really do feel like a secret gem buried under a lot of better known acts from that period. They never did top those first two albums, but I have been on a deep dive into their later catalog, and finding that while they only had two albums that were start to finish flawless, the lesser albums have individual tracks that more than make up for all the skip over material. Lately I have been addicted to Rob's solo album, which has some pretty fantastic moments. I dimissed it largely on first listen, but I had to be in the right place to really appreciate the material I think.
Adam and Eve is their Dark Side of the Moon, their masterpiece- being near criminal that Rolling Stone only gave it a 3 star review. Ferment was Catherine Wheel at their shoegazing purest with a number of amazing tracks beyond the first 3 that get all the attention - Bill and Ben, Salt, Flower to Hide. So these would be tied for the top two in my rankings. While keeping the showgaze atmosphere and pairing it with a harder and more pop-accessible sound is admirable, I never really liked Chrome as much as other music reviewers seemed to- Crank, Show Me Mary and The Nude clearly stand out from the rest. Yes, I do find myself hitting the skip button on Happy Days but much of it is really bracing content and worth having - Hole and Empty Head are actually pretty good. Interestingly so many fellow bands who released amazing Shoegaze work in the first few years of the 1990's shed that influence by the time Happy Days came out in different ways- Catherine Wheel transforming into a grunge band and the Boo Radleys and Lush following the Britpop path, with Ride doing Byrd's influenced classic rock, Slowdive renaming themselves and going acoustic country. Like Cats and Dogs is worth having, showcasing the bands softer side. Adam and Eve hits the best of both worlds and with just one track that is shorter than 5 minutes. Wishville was a disappointment on the other hand, though not as much as the 1.5 star review from All Music Guide suggests. Then there was no breakup announcement no nothing and they disappeared after that tour. All the other Shoegaze Gods who I mentioned have returned at one point but CW is sorely missing. It seems like there are a number of good rarities like the 30 century man EP
Loved this band. They worked very hard, touring the US with every album.
Speaking for meself, my favourite Catherine Wheel songs tend to be their longer songs. Black Metallic, Fripp, Eat My Dust..., Goodbye, Descending Babe. For me, a Catherine Wheel song is one that develops over time. Curiously, one of my top songs is also Mouthful of Air, one of their shortest works.
My own tier list would probably be something like
S Tier: Chrome, Adam and Eve
A Tier: Happy Days, Wishville
B Tier: Ferment
I bought Ferment purely on the strength of Black Metallic, and while I immediately liked She's My Friend and I Want to Touch You, nothing else on the album really made much of an impression, until I had my mind blown by Fripp, and went back to give Ferment another listen, and only then did the other songs grow on me.
Also, You thought Judy Staring At The Sun was the Shoegaziest song on Happy Days, the album with Eat My Dust... on it? What? Did you not hear the second half of the song or something?
Thanks for listening! I’ve always thought that Judy Staring at the Sun was the song that had the closest resemblance to their first 2 albums, I never claimed that eat my dust or any other songs don’t have some of those shoegaze elements as well (obviously I’ve heard the entire song) but to me Judy Staring at the Sun has always been the standout song with the most shoegaze vibes from this album. Just my opinion obviously and you’re welcome to disagree
@@MikeGodetteMusic It's fine, I was just a bit surprised. Obviously everyone likes what they like. My own tastes run to the spacier, dreampopier side of shoegaze, but the more rocking side is fine too.
Tragedy that no proper reissue of Chrome given the deluxe treatment has happened. Still have my old jewel case.
Balloon was a UK single added to the US release.
Some love for Wishville, love to see it!!
Mad Dog should have been the single from Wishville. Ballad of a Running Man is terrific too. Again, like on Happy Days, it was an attempt to go more commercial.
Thanks for the excellent video!
I might have met a half dozen people in my life that have heard of CW. Criminally overlooked, much like The Railway Children, in that regard.
As a shoegaze junkie, I far prefer Ferment, with its great use of guitar pedals/effects, to Chrome. Chrome has some wonderful tracks, but let's put it this way - I occasionally listen to extreme metal sub-genres, and Chrome is more likely to give me a pounding headache than that stuff listened to at equal volume. "Bill and Ben" is my favorite track on Ferment, which is my second favorite shoegaze album of all time (Souvlaki #1).
I love the 90s!!!!
Happy Days was an attempt to go “commercial” with radio-friendly tunes, but it only partially succeeded. Too many of the songs were harsh sounding.
Cool video:
On a 1-5 scale (5 being great) but in order of my fav to least fav.
Chrome (5)
Adam & Eve (5)
Wishville (4)
Ferment (4)
Happy Days (3)
Chrome - an almost perfect album. Not much more to say. And to think that all came within a year of a super strong debut. Wow!
Adam & Eve - love the adventurous songwriting and production. Very confident in who they are. Every CW album seems like a reaction to the one before. I know they say Happy Days was a more authentic version of them but it actually felt like they were chasing the trend… whereas A&E feels more like… we don’t give a fuck we’re being bold. It’s not as immediate and urgent as Chrome but it’s still brilliant.
Wishville - reacting to the sprawling bigness of A&E they come out with a short and tight collection. Clearly this was a last gasp effort to have chart success; SAGF, Gasoline, WWWTBI and MD are certainly attempting to manufacture that… but I personally still think those songs have some bite. (A “sell out” CW song is still better than almost anything out there). But there’s not a song on this album that I don’t really like. 2 songs from these sessions were fine tuned and ended up on Rob’s solo album (The Storm & Towering and Flowering)… if those were on Wishville this album might have been a 5 for me. I’ll never understand the dislike for this album.
Ferment- I know I have it ranked 4th out of 5 but i really do love this album. Such an impressive debut. Way more accessible than others in the shoegaze movement. Honestly I still think this album is really great pop songwriting with a shoegaze production. Similar to how Nirvana’s Nevermind was really just killer pop songwriting with “grunge” production and choices. My only issue with this album is it kinda just hits one note. It all swims in the same waters with not a ton of diversity… but again… it does that one note really well.
Happy Days - I don’t hate the album but it lacks consistency and doesn’t feel authentic. There are times when I’m thinking oh “they’re trying to be Smashing Pumpkins here” or “that kinda sounds like Bush” 🤮 I could be totally wrong but I just get that feeling. Having said that “Heal” might be my favorite CW of all time.
Make 10 songs in dorian mode.
Great list which I almost entirely agree with. I'm with you 100% on Happy Days. I was a HUGE fan when Chrome came out and I don't think I've ever been so disappointed by a followup. Years later I read that Brian Eno wanted to work with them, but they wanted to go in a different direction which just sounded like lame American alternative rock to me. Such a bummer.
I still listen to Chrome multiple times a year. It's just criminally underrated.