Souvlaki

Recorded in 1992 at three studios: Alison, 40 Days, Sing, Here She Comes and Dagger at Protocol in London, Machine Gun, Souvlaki Space Station and Altogether at Courtyard in Sutton Courtenay, and When the Sun Hits and Melon Yellow at The White House in Weston-super-Mare. It was produced by the band, with Ed Buller mixing and Guy Fixsen, Chris Hufford, Martin Nichols and Andy Wilkinson sharing the engineering. Halstead wrote all the songs except Sing, credited to the whole band with Eno, and Souvlaki Space Station, credited to the band. The title comes from a skit by the Jerky Boys. At the suggestion of the band's manager, Halstead spent about two weeks in a rented cottage in rural Wales in summer 1992 and returned with stark, much more personal songs. He cited Aphex Twin, dub and early drum and bass as influences on Souvlaki Space Station. Brian Eno played keyboards and added treatments on Sing and Here She Comes. Creation released it in Britain on 1 June 1993 and SBK in the United States on 8 February 1994. The sleeve photograph is by Steve Double.

Reviews were mixed at first, but it was later praised. Melody Maker's Dave Simpson wrote that, Sing aside, he would rather drown choking in a bath full of porridge than hear it again, while AllMusic's Jack Rabid called it harshly beautiful. In 2015 Slowdive and McGee said the record came out when shoegaze had become unfashionable and the press preferred Britpop bands such as Oasis. Pitchfork's Nitsuh Abebe called it a bit of an Essential Slowdive in itself in 2005. Pitchfork's Nitsuh Abebe gave a 2005 reissue 9.3 out of 10, and Ned Raggett placed it 83rd among the albums of the 1990s in 1999. The US edition added four bonus tracks, including a cover of Some Velvet Morning, and it was remastered in 2005 and again in 2010. The 2005 Castle Music reissue added a second disc with that cover, two tracks from Outside Your Room, all of the 5 EP, and Bandulu and Reload remixes of In Mind. The 2010 Cherry Red reissue has the same bonus tracks.