Swervedriver "Ejector Seat Reservation" (1995)
After a 17-year recording hiatus, the British shoegaze band Swervedriver are about to release their fifth album, titled I Wasn’t Born To Lose You, on March 3rd. It is their first studio album since their 1998 album 99th Dream. Swervedriver have been frequently performing live since they reunited in 2008 (after a decade-long hiatus). Their current lineup consists of founding members Adam Franklin (vocals, guitar) and Jimmy Hartridge (guitar), along with bassist Steve George, and drummer Mikey Jones.
Swervedriver recorded four full-length albums in the 1990’s, but their third album, Ejector Seat Reservation, was never released in the U.S. The album's release was dropped by A&M Records after the band split from the label, and the label did not relinquish its rights to the album, preventing it from being released by DGC Records, the band’s next American label. Ejector Seat Reservation was originally released in the U.K. in 1995 by the Creation label (who dropped the band one week later), and reissued there in 2008 by Sony BMG with bonus tracks.
At the time this album was recorded, Swervedriver consisted of Franklin, Hartridge, George, and drummer Jez Hindmarsh.
Some would dispute the common belief that shoegaze is the proper genre in which to categorize Swervedriver. After all, the band evolved from an ‘80’s punk outfit called Shake Appeal, who were named after a Stooges song. The first two full-length Swervedriver albums, Raise (1991) and Mezcal Head (1993), tended to resemble those of American indie bands such as Sonic Youth and Hüsker Dü, with bits of punk, metal, and late-‘60’s-style rock mixed in. And their fourth and final ‘90’s album, 99th Dream (1998), leaned toward Britpop.
But Ejector Seat Reservation fits more firmly into the shoegazing category. Most of its songs have a feeling of dream-pop detachment, with frequent – though not constant – use of effects pedals. Although the album is not exactly an example of Britpop, it appears that Swervedriver had been musically affected by that scene by the time they made Ejector Seat. “Bring Me The Head Of The Fortune Teller” and “The Other Jesus” seem to start the album off in that type of direction. However, the rest of the album (beginning with “Son Of Jaguar 'E' ”) drifts off into a hazier realm of devil-may-care daydreaming, with lyrics suggesting characters who seem calmly indifferent about living and dying. By turns, these characters come across as either sanguine (“Bubbling Up”, "Son Of Jaguar 'E' "), self-destructive (“Last Day On Earth” and the title track), or whimsical (“I Am Superman”, “The Birds”), all of them speaking in an emotionally distant tone through Franklin's just-above-the-threshold vocals. After the ten proper tracks, the CD concludes with three unlisted tracks: a spacey one-minute instrumental (“Plan 7 Star Satellite 10”); an untitled minute of silence; and finally, “Flaming Heart”, a less-distant-sounding track about loneliness and heartbreak that expresses the exact types of emotions that the other tracks seemed to be suppressing. This track snaps the album out of its dream-like state and brings it back down to earth at the last minute.
Ejector Seat Reservation is perhaps not Swervedriver’s best work, as many critics have opined, but it is nonetheless a rewarding and compelling musical statement.
Sony BMG’s 2008 reissue of the album contained four bonus tracks. The first two, “Maelström” and “Director’s Cut Of Your Life”, were originally released on the Last Day On Earth EP (Creation CRE 179T) in 1995. Both are decent shoegaze tracks whose tone is less detached than most of the Ejector Seat songs. The other two bonus tracks previously turned up on the 2005 U.K. compilation Juggernaut Rides ’89-’98. The first of these, “Just Sometimes”, is a repetitive two-minute throwaway. But the eight-minute “Neon Lights Glow” is an absorbing and creative collage that cleverly mashes up the riffs from Link Wray’s “Rumble” and Kraftwerk’s “Neon Lights”.
Finally, the most obscure Ejector Seat Reservation track of them all is “It’s All Happening Now”, which was only included on early promo pressings of the album. It had to be withdrawn from the album when the band failed to get permission to use lyrics lifted from Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”. There was certainly not a problem with the song’s quality; it is quite good, and would have fit in well on the album, as it was intended to be placed between the title track and “How Does It Feel To Look Like Candy?”.
Swervedriver “Ejector Seat Reservation” (Creation CRECD 157) 1995
Track Listing:
1. Single Finger Salute
2. Bring Me The Head Of The Fortune Teller
3. The Other Jesus
4. Son Of Jaguar 'E'
5. I Am Superman
6. Bubbling Up
7. Ejector Seat Reservation
8. How Does It Feel To Look Like Candy?
9. Last Day On Earth
10. The Birds
Unlisted Tracks:
11. Plan 7 Star Satellite 10
12. (one-minute silent track)
13. Flaming Heart
Bonus Tracks from 2008 reissue (Sony BMG 88697364092):
14. Maelström
15. Director’s Cut Of Your Life
16. Just Sometimes
17. Neon Lights Glow
* It’s All Happening Now – (extra track included on early promo pressings)
See also Swervedriver: the early EP's , "Think I'm Gonna Feel Better/Reflections"
Swervedriver recorded four full-length albums in the 1990’s, but their third album, Ejector Seat Reservation, was never released in the U.S. The album's release was dropped by A&M Records after the band split from the label, and the label did not relinquish its rights to the album, preventing it from being released by DGC Records, the band’s next American label. Ejector Seat Reservation was originally released in the U.K. in 1995 by the Creation label (who dropped the band one week later), and reissued there in 2008 by Sony BMG with bonus tracks.
At the time this album was recorded, Swervedriver consisted of Franklin, Hartridge, George, and drummer Jez Hindmarsh.
Some would dispute the common belief that shoegaze is the proper genre in which to categorize Swervedriver. After all, the band evolved from an ‘80’s punk outfit called Shake Appeal, who were named after a Stooges song. The first two full-length Swervedriver albums, Raise (1991) and Mezcal Head (1993), tended to resemble those of American indie bands such as Sonic Youth and Hüsker Dü, with bits of punk, metal, and late-‘60’s-style rock mixed in. And their fourth and final ‘90’s album, 99th Dream (1998), leaned toward Britpop.
But Ejector Seat Reservation fits more firmly into the shoegazing category. Most of its songs have a feeling of dream-pop detachment, with frequent – though not constant – use of effects pedals. Although the album is not exactly an example of Britpop, it appears that Swervedriver had been musically affected by that scene by the time they made Ejector Seat. “Bring Me The Head Of The Fortune Teller” and “The Other Jesus” seem to start the album off in that type of direction. However, the rest of the album (beginning with “Son Of Jaguar 'E' ”) drifts off into a hazier realm of devil-may-care daydreaming, with lyrics suggesting characters who seem calmly indifferent about living and dying. By turns, these characters come across as either sanguine (“Bubbling Up”, "Son Of Jaguar 'E' "), self-destructive (“Last Day On Earth” and the title track), or whimsical (“I Am Superman”, “The Birds”), all of them speaking in an emotionally distant tone through Franklin's just-above-the-threshold vocals. After the ten proper tracks, the CD concludes with three unlisted tracks: a spacey one-minute instrumental (“Plan 7 Star Satellite 10”); an untitled minute of silence; and finally, “Flaming Heart”, a less-distant-sounding track about loneliness and heartbreak that expresses the exact types of emotions that the other tracks seemed to be suppressing. This track snaps the album out of its dream-like state and brings it back down to earth at the last minute.
Ejector Seat Reservation is perhaps not Swervedriver’s best work, as many critics have opined, but it is nonetheless a rewarding and compelling musical statement.
Sony BMG’s 2008 reissue of the album contained four bonus tracks. The first two, “Maelström” and “Director’s Cut Of Your Life”, were originally released on the Last Day On Earth EP (Creation CRE 179T) in 1995. Both are decent shoegaze tracks whose tone is less detached than most of the Ejector Seat songs. The other two bonus tracks previously turned up on the 2005 U.K. compilation Juggernaut Rides ’89-’98. The first of these, “Just Sometimes”, is a repetitive two-minute throwaway. But the eight-minute “Neon Lights Glow” is an absorbing and creative collage that cleverly mashes up the riffs from Link Wray’s “Rumble” and Kraftwerk’s “Neon Lights”.
Finally, the most obscure Ejector Seat Reservation track of them all is “It’s All Happening Now”, which was only included on early promo pressings of the album. It had to be withdrawn from the album when the band failed to get permission to use lyrics lifted from Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”. There was certainly not a problem with the song’s quality; it is quite good, and would have fit in well on the album, as it was intended to be placed between the title track and “How Does It Feel To Look Like Candy?”.
Swervedriver “Ejector Seat Reservation” (Creation CRECD 157) 1995
Track Listing:
1. Single Finger Salute
2. Bring Me The Head Of The Fortune Teller
3. The Other Jesus
4. Son Of Jaguar 'E'
5. I Am Superman
6. Bubbling Up
7. Ejector Seat Reservation
8. How Does It Feel To Look Like Candy?
9. Last Day On Earth
10. The Birds
Unlisted Tracks:
11. Plan 7 Star Satellite 10
12. (one-minute silent track)
13. Flaming Heart
Bonus Tracks from 2008 reissue (Sony BMG 88697364092):
14. Maelström
15. Director’s Cut Of Your Life
16. Just Sometimes
17. Neon Lights Glow
* It’s All Happening Now – (extra track included on early promo pressings)
See also Swervedriver: the early EP's , "Think I'm Gonna Feel Better/Reflections"
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