Just for a Day

Just for a Day is the debut studio album by English rock band Slowdive. It was released on 2 September 1991 by Creation Records.

Recording
Just for a Day was recorded at Courtyard Studios, formerly known as Georgetown Studios, in Abingdon in the Thames Valley.

Release
Just for a Day was released on 2 September 1991 by Creation Records. It peaked at number 32 on the UK Albums Chart. Prior to the album's release, the EP Holding Our Breath, which featured the Just for a Day song "Catch the Breeze" as its lead track, was issued on CD and 12" vinyl on 3 June 1991, along with its 7" vinyl equivalent, the "Catch the Breeze" single. In the United States, Just for a Day was released by SBK Records in 1992.

On 14 November 2005, a remastered edition of Just for a Day was issued by the Sanctuary Records subsidiary label Castle Music, supplemented by an extra disc containing tracks from the band's first three EPs: Slowdive, Morningrise and Holding Our Breath. Another remastered edition featuring the same bonus material was released by Cherry Red Records on 16 August 2010.

Critical reception
The initial reception to Just for a Day from the British music press was lukewarm, in contrast to the enthusiasm with which Slowdive's earlier releases had been met. Jon Ridge, reviewing Just for a Day for Lime Lizard magazine, thought that the album was premature, describing it as "more a continuation, or aqueous celebration rather, than an advancement" compared to the band's "rather spiffing" previous EPs. Dan Maier of Select found Slowdive "too direct" in their musical approach, writing that they "just sing slowly, play fuzzy, and end up sounding like the Cocteau Twins with ballast." Melody Maker was especially disparaging, with critic Paul Lester panning Just for a Day as a "major fucking letdown". Conversely, Simon Williams of NME championed the record, calling it "frequently exceptional" and "a fine, fragrant affair".

In a retrospective essay, Trouser Press deemed the material on Just for a Day inconsistent, but concluded that "the songs that are solid are breathtaking, and those that aren't are at least hypnotic and slowly sensuous." Reappraising the album in 2005 for Pitchfork, Nitsuh Abebe said that "if anything in Slowdive's catalogue will seem dated, it's the overgroomed production on these songs", while nonetheless noting a "terrifically oceanic" quality to Just for a Day as a whole. In his review of the record for AllMusic, Abebe cited the songs "Celia's Dream" and "Erik's Song" in particular as being indicative of what he believed was the more fully realized sound of Slowdive's next album, Souvlaki (1993).

Critic Ned Raggett ranked Just for a Day at number 17 on his decade-end list of the best albums of the 1990s for Freaky Trigger. In 2016, Pitchfork listed it as the seventh best shoegaze album of all time.

Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.

Slowdive
 * Rachel Goswell – vocals, guitar
 * Neil Halstead – vocals, guitar
 * Christian Savill – guitar
 * Nick Chaplin – bass guitar
 * Simon Scott – drums

Production
 * Neil Halstead – production
 * Chris Hufford – production, engineering
 * Slowdive – mixing

Design
 * Califram – photography