Various Artists: Never Lose That Feeling, Volume One

The “shoegazer” name was always problematic. Beyond a trio of core members — My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Chapterhouse, and Slowdive — The small, UK-based late ’80s/early ’90s scene was always loosely-defined and more of a media creation than an actual musical movement. Any band whose guitars were too loud to be mere rock and too atmospheric to be metal was apt to be thrown into the pot.

The shoegazer scene was also known as “The Scene that Celebrates Itself”, since the charter bands would always show up at one another’s gigs. 15 years on, then, maybe this international compilation of neo-shoegazers covering “classics” from the original golden era makes perfect sense. After all, this is the same movement that’s managed to spawn a multidisc set of Catherine Wheel covers. But there’s a problem with Never Lose That Feeling, Volume One that goes deeper than the fact that its target audience is so small in the first place.

The biggest problem with attempting a shoegazer covers album is that the original performances were, by design, absolutely definitive. Sure, the best songs and bands had a way with melody, but in the end it was all about the swirling, surging guitars (which often sounded more like keyboards), the muscular rhythm sections, and the whispered/cooed vocals. Arrangements and songwriting skill were generally not top of the list. Most of the great songs covered on …Feeling were great because of the way that the original artists performed them.

Take Toni Halliday’s proto-Shirley Manson, World’s Most Dangerous Sex Kitten vulnerability away from Curve’s “Frozen” or “Coast is Clear”, and what do you have? What is Catherine Wheel’s towering “Black Metallic” without Brian Futter’s demented guitar freakouts? Or Spiritualized and Swervedriver songs without Jason Pierce’s and Adam Franklin’s sense of “Yeah, whatever” cool? Feeling gives you the answers: Better-than-average but not-great songs without a lot of energy or personality.

Therefore, the more “shoegazery” one of Feeling‘s performances sounds, the more effective it is. Televise’s shimmering version of Ultra Vivid Scene’s “Mercy Seat” is easily the album’s best and most professional-sounding track, partly because it puts the stomp boxes to full use and partly because the original is so obscure (and is it any coincidence that Televise actually features an ex-Slowdive member?). Heliconia’s take on Ride’s “Drive Blind” is similarly effective because it sounds so similar to the original.

The one exception to the rule is Plumbine’s “Black Metallic”. Here, putting the song into a new context actually works, as the majestic guitars are replaced by mournful, drifting synths and skittering beats. Very Postal Service. The overall texture of the song is retained, only it’s painted over with different colors. Other attempts at reinvention range from unsuccessful to embarrassing. Particularly bad are Trouble Everyday’s awful techno-punk take on Slowdive’s crushing “When the Sun Hits” and Feeling Good Conspiracy’s showtune-like interpretation of Swervedriver’s “Son of Mustang Ford”.

Thankfully, no one is so guileless as to have a go at Swervedriver’s title track, the greatest shoegazer anthem ever. Then again, this is just volume one, and apparently 40 more tracks are in the can. Fair Warning.