Prepare to lose yourself in a wall of beautiful, blinding noise. Released in January 2016 by the archival wizards at Cherry Red Records, Still In A Dream: A Story Of Shoegaze 1988–1995 is a monumental, 5-CD box set that functions as the absolute, definitive encyclopedia of the "scene that celebrated itself". Spanning 87 tracks and housed in a gorgeous, text-heavy media book, this compilation chronicles the dizzying rise, critical assassination, and global dispersion of a genre defined by cathedral-sized reverbs, over-driven distortion, and buried, angelic vocals. It is a breathtaking map of a sonic revolution that proved volume and vulnerability could exist in the exact same breath.
What elevates Still In A Dream above lazy nostalgia trips is its brilliant, multi-national and chronological framework. It doesn't treat shoegaze as a brief, insular flash in the pan localized entirely to the Thames Valley; instead, it tracks the genre's ancestral roots, its chart-scaling peaks, its darkest experimental alleyways, and its ultimate migration across the Atlantic and over to Japan. It meticulously documents how a derogatory nickname thrown around by cynical NME and Melody Maker journalists mutated into a timeless, globally revered musical language that continues to inspire bedroom producers and alternative icons decades later.
Disc 1 acts as a phenomenal prologue, proving that the sonic architecture of shoegaze didn't materialize out of thin air. Cherry Red cleverly compiles the late-80s pioneers who gave the scene its obsession with sensory overload and ethereal melody. The opening pairing of The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Rollercoaster and Cocteau Twins’ Cherry-Coloured Funk lays out the dual poles of the genre: abrasive, leather-clad feedback balanced against shimmering, oceanic dream-pop. By the time the hypnotic space-rock of Spacemen 3 and the monolithic Krautrock drone of Loop collide, you can hear the exact blueprint being drawn for an entire generation of kids who would soon exchange rock-star posturing for a massive array of effects pedals.
When you transition to Disc 2, you hit the undisputed golden age of the scene (1990–1991), exploding open with the legendary one-two punch of Ride’s Drive Blind and Lush’s De-Luxe. This is the sound of the movement finding its sea legs—shimmering walls of guitar noise that feel like being buffeted by flower petals in a wind tunnel. There's an incredible, youthful momentum here, anchored by Pale Saints’ bittersweet masterpiece Sight of You and Slowdive’s self-titled, weightless drift. The inclusion of Bark Psychosis’s sprawling, eight-minute epic All Different Things provides a haunting, necessary reminder that the genre was always teetering on the edge of avant-garde post-rock.
By Disc 3 and 4, the UK music press had infamously moved on, viciously turning their backs on the scene to make room for grunge and Britpop. Yet, as these discs beautifully demonstrate, the music only got stranger, heavier, and more fiercely independent. We watch the genre mutate into the aggressive, electronic-tinged industrial pop of Curve’s Ten Little Girls and the jagged, neo-psychedelic textures of The Boo Radleys and Spiritualized. Concurrently, the American underground was weaponizing the sound, a shift brilliantly captured on Disc 4 by the fuzzy, cinematic pop of Drop Nineteens’ Winona and the absolute, vacuum-cleaner noise-assault of Medicine’s Aruca.
The compilation reaches its final, trippy peak on Disc 5, which tracks the global diaspora and the ambient, lo-fi twilight of the genre's first wave. With My Bloody Valentine conspicuously absent due to licensing blockades, the final disc highlights how acts like Flying Saucer Attack and Seefeel took the feedback-loop baton and ran deep into the realms of space-rock, ambient techno, and pure drone. Closing out the entire journey with Luna’s agonizingly beautiful, guitar-weaving 23 Minutes in Brussels, the compilation ends not with a whimper, but in a gorgeous, feedback-drenched haze. Still In A Dream isn't just a stellar compilation; it's a testament to the enduring power of a scene that looked down at its feet but aimed straight for the stars.
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DISC ONE:
1. ROLLERCOASTER – The Jesus & Mary Chain
2. CHERRY-COLOURED FUNK – The Cocteau Twins
3. CHRISTINE – The House Of Love
4. BABY MILK SNATCHER (12” VERSION) – A.R. Kane
5. MERCY SEAT (12” VERSION) – Ultra Vivid Scene
6. HYPNOTIZED – Spacemen 3
7. ARC-LITE (SONAR) – Loop
8. SURFACER – 14 Iced Bears
9. TUGBOAT – Galaxie 500
10. PUPPET CLOUDS – The Prayers
11. THE 3RD TIME WE OPENED THE CAPSULE – Kitchens Of Distinction
12. ONE OF OUR GIRLS HAS GONE MISSING – A.C. Marias
13. PRECIOUS LITTLE – The Telescopes
14. SIGHT OF YOU – Pale Saints
15. OCEAN RUN DRY – Jane From Occupied Europe
16. ANGEL – Sonic Boom
DISC TWO:
1. DRIVE BLIND – Ride
2. DE-LUXE – Lush
3. SLIP SO SLOW – See See Rider
4. CRYSTAL EYES – Nightblooms
5. WAITING FOR THE ANGELS – The Darkside
6. I DON’T CARE IF YOU GO – Velocity Girl
7. INESCAPABLE – Cranes
8. FALLING DOWN – Chapterhouse
9. SWITCHBLADE SMILE – Whipping Boy
10. KALEIDOSCOPE – The Boo Radleys
11. RAVE DOWN – Swervedriver
12. SLOWDIVE – Slowdive
13. LIAR – The Charlottes
14. SUGARBLAST – Dr. Phibes & The House Of Wax Equations
15. DECADENCE – Bleach
16. SHE’S MY FRIEND (WILDE CLUB VERSION) – Catherine Wheel
17. SOMERSAULT SUNRISE – Blow-Up
18. ALL DIFFERENT THINGS – Bark Psychosis
DISC THREE:
1. TEN LITTLE GIRLS – Curve
2. GODLIKE – The Dylans
3. GORGEOUS BLUE FLOWER IN MY GARDEN – Th’ Faith Healers
4. FEBRUARY FOURTEENTH – The Lilys
5. GOOD AFTERNOON – The Honey Smugglers –
6. CHLORINE DREAM – Spirea X
7. GRAVITY – Moonshake
8. TRANSLUCENT – Spitfire
9. SUZANNE – Moose
10. RUN – Spiritualized
11. HEAVEN SENT AN ANGEL – Revolver
12. JUNE WILSON – Lowlife
13. SQUARE WAVE – The Ecstasy Of Saint Theresa
14. BLACK TAMBOURINE – By Tomorrow
15. EXPLOSION – Whipped Cream
16. MY DERANGED HEART – Smashing Orange
17. GONG – The Hinnies
18. GEEK LOVE (ORIGINAL 12”) – Bang Bang Machine
DISC FOUR:
1. CLOSER – The Sunflowers
2. MIRRORED – Drop
3. IN HOLLOW (LP Version) – The Belltower
4. PHONEFREAK HONEY – Sweet Jesus
5. SUNSHINE SMILE – Adorable
6. I DON’T MIND – Sun Dial
7. SUGAR YOUR MIND – Swallow
8. WINONA – Drop Nineteens
9. TALKIN’ ‘BOUT THE SMILING DEATHPORN IMMORTALITY BLUES (EVERYONE WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER) – Flaming Lips
10. ARUCA – Medicine
11. CHARMING SISTER KISS ME DEAD!! – Coaltar Of The Deepers
12. STARHAPPY – The Honey Buzzards
13. BABYSBREATH – Lovesliescrushing
14. NO. 1 FAN – Majesty Crush
15. PARK THE CAR BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD – Swirlies
16. CHEMICAL TESTER – Submarine
17. SHINE – Bailter Space
18. TRUE LOVE WILL FIND YOU IN THE END – Spectrum
19. SPOOKY VIBES – Blind Mr. Jones
DISC FIVE:
1. MEMORY – An April March
2. SOARING HIGH – Flying Saucer Attack
3. ALIVE – Drugstore
4. LOVEBLIND – Secret Shine
5. BRONX CHEER – Mercury Rev
6. CHELSEA – The Curtain Society
7. PLAINSONG – Seefeel
8. SURROUND SOUND – Spindrift
9. MISS LEADER – Rollerskate Skinny
10. DIE EASY – Bardo Pond
11. DOZEN – Alison’s Halo
12. THE LAST UNICORN – Swirl
13. NEXT TO NOTHING – Bowery Electric
14. ME VOY – Bethany Curve
15. ORANGE CREAMSICKLE – Astrobrite
16. 23 MINUTES IN BRUSSELS – Luna
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