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My Bloody Valentine - Loveless

Loveless

by My Bloody Valentine

£7.22 Free Shipping

Was: £8.49. You save: £1.27 (15%)

Released
14/05/2012
Music Genre
Alternative

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Description

The early 90’s saw the emergence of the US “Grunge” scene which took over the worldwide airways before “Britpop” wrestled back the power for the UK. Nirvana’s “Nevermind” is considered the best album of 1991 and it’s hard to argue both musically and culturally the effect it had on music and fashion. In the same year one of the great albums of the 90’s was released; it may not have sold millions of copies and had the immediate influence that “Nevermind” had, but My Bloody Valentine’s “Loveless” album is a classic whose influence on modern music continues to grow.

Like with most classic albums it comes with stories of tensions with the record company (Creation), an ever expanding cost (estimated £250,000), and a perfectionist (Kevin Shields) who would not rush the recording process. The album was recorded in 19 different studios during 1989 and 1991 with Shields determined to create a specific sound which meant the 3 other bands members hardly contributed. The result is a stunning, if somewhat uncomfortable at times, album with dreamy vocals layered over walls of guitar. Shields’ use of his “glide guitar” style means it sounds there about 50 guitars playing at the same time as he bends the notes out of tune to create a sound akin to a swarm of drunk bees, and this is particularly highlighted in the epic and beautiful “To Hear Knows When” and “Blown A Wish”. “Loveless” is an album of unwavering quality, but to keep this review down to a few paragraphs the real show stealers are “Sometimes” (which was featured on the Lost In Translation soundtrack) and “Soon” which closes the album in epic style.

After years of inactivity My Bloody Valentine have been playing shows over the last few years and it appears as though they are going to come back with a new album, although don’t hold your breath. In the meantime, if you missed this album when it was first released, and are a fan of alternative music, then this reissue is a something to add to your collection and should be played at full volume. If you already own the original then this remastered version should be on your shopping list as Shields himself has done the remastering, so perfection is assured (especially given the delay in releasing this version!). “Loveless” has influenced countless indie guitar bands around the world and this influence shows no sign of stopping any time soon. A magnificent record.

- © Mike Tate

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Product Details

Artist
My Bloody Valentine
Recording Environment
Studio
Label / Studio
SONY MUSIC AUSTRALIA
WOW HD Sales Rank
#10
Media Format
Audio CD
Number of Discs
2
Year of release
2009
Original year of release
1991
CD 30days Sales Rank
#10
Cast & Crew
My Bloody Valentine (Music Performer)
Colm O Ciosoig Kevin Shields (Producer)
Alan Moulder, Kevin Shields, Colm O (Sound Engineer)

Press Reviews

...One of rock's greatest, most innovative and most celebrated albums... Alternative Press (5/01, pp.90-1)

Ranked #14 in AP's list of the `Top 99 Of '85-'95' - "...overcame their influences and fulfilled their promise....a record at once so exhausting yet exhilarating, so beautiful yet ugly, so soothing and swirling yet chaotic and dissonant....It will alter your perception of everything music can be... Alternative Press (7/95, p.79)

...simply the most astounding-sounding album produced last year..." - Rating: A Entertainment Weekly (2/21/92, p.55)

Ranked #7 in Melody Maker's list of the `Top 30 Albums Of 1991. Melody Maker (12/91)

5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he result is a kind of sonic rapture, infinitely deep and wide and spiritually charged....There are great pop songs in here, too... Mojo (Publisher) (p.118)

Ranked #18 in Mojo's "The 50 Most Out There Albums Of All Time" - "LOVELESS twisted the sonic clutter rattling within Kevin Shields' imagination into an epic reality. Mojo (Publisher) (p.50)

...While most current rock prizes crisply articulated digital sounds and rhymes, My Bloody Valentine offers pure defiance: songs in which thickly layered guitars and nearly indecipherable voices add up to a tuneful murk, elusive but memorable... New York Times (Publisher) (1/1/92)

4 Stars - Very Good - "...the last word in noise-pop....amounts to a virtual reinvention of the guitar....The rock-is-dead argument could very well stop here... Q (1/92, p.71)

Ranked #39 in Q's "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime Q (10/01, p.49)

Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums Of The 1990s. Q (12/99, p.70)

5 stars out of 5 -- "All the hard lines of rock'n'roll -- the riff, the lyric, the beat -- have been collapsed into something freer....LOVELESS was -- and remains -- inimitable. Q (Magazine) (p.148)

4 Stars - Excellent - "...guitarists Bilinda Butcher and Kevin Shields gently breathe pretty tunes into the thick, sweet waves of droning distortion....In My Bloody Valentine's magical kingdom, cacophany is the mind-altering path to beauty... Rolling Stone (3/5/92, p.68)

Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's. Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.50)

Ranked #16 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s. Spin (9/99, p.126)

This dreamy tsunami of sound blew minds, from Kurt Cobain to Radiohead to Isis. Spin (p.110)

Tracklisting

Disc 1:

  1. Only Shallow
  2. Loomer
  3. Touched
  4. To Here Knows When
  5. When You Sleep
  6. I Only Said
  7. Come in Alone
  8. Sometimes
  9. Blown a Wish
  10. What You Want
  11. Soon

Disc 2:

  1. Only Shallow (Analogue Tape Remaster/Previously Unreleased)
  2. Loomer (Analogue Tape Remaster/Previously Unreleased)
  3. Touched (Analogue Tape Remaster/Previously Unreleased)
  4. To Here Knows When (Analogue Tape Remaster/Previously Unreleased)
  5. When You Sleep (Analogue Tape Remaster/Previously Unreleased)
  6. I Only Said (Analogue Tape Remaster/Previously Unreleased)
  7. Come in Alone (Analogue Tape Remaster/Previously Unreleased)
  8. Sometimes (Analogue Tape Remaster/Previously Unreleased)
  9. Blown a Wish (Analogue Tape Remaster/Previously Unreleased)
  10. What You Want (Analogue Tape Remaster/Previously Unreleased)
  11. Soon (Analogue Tape Remaster/Previously Unreleased)
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