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My Bloody Valentine

Loveless
1991
Sire

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (Cover Artwork)

Review by: nick f
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Published on January 31st 2003

A Howard Hughes-esque ode to the mania of pursuit, My Bloody Valentines Loveless stands as a towering ziggarut to making the most beautiful noise possible. Two years in the making, My Bloody Valentine's sweeping epic still manages to come off as breathtaking even after more than 10 years.

Everything about this album is perfect. From the pink dream haze of the cover art to the ambient soundscapes that link each song, Loveless delivers on all fronts. On their previous release, the seminal Isn't Anything, My Bloody Valentine laid a sonic blueprint of swirling guitar and sensual girl/boy vocals, one that bands like Ride, Slow Dive, and the Boo Radleys would base their sound off of for many years. However My Bloody Valentine were not content to sit on their laurels. Rather, after Isn't Anything, My Bloody Valentine locked themselves away to produce one of the most genius albums of the rock and roll era.

Loveless opens with "Only Shallow". The song features Kevin Shield's and Belinda Buthcer's dense, impenetrable guitar playing matched against drummer Colm O'Ciosoig effecient drumming. The see-saw guitar line that runs throughout is the guitar sound that God dreams about. "Loomer" features Colm's pummeling tom beats while heavily processed guitar dances over head with Belinda Butcher's airy, ethereal vocals. On Loveless, the vocals are consistently low in the mix, a technique that works quite well with the record. As oppossed to commanding you attention, the vocals simply come off as another sound to be explored. On "When You Sleep", shimmering guitar conceals quite possibly the most gorgeous melody of the past decade. Kevin Sheilds guitar playing employs all sorts of tactics on this album: wah-wah, distortion, reverb, overdubs, and whatever else the man thought up. The last track, "Soon", rides away on a drumbeat that gives a little more than merely a passing glance to the influential rave movement of the time while Kevin Shields' and Belinda Buthcher's guitars do spirals in the atmosphere.

Whether Loveless can ever be topped in its sheer brilliance remains to be seen. However, until then, we have Loveless to provide us with a small sample of heaven.

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Posted by eatdogs on 2007-08-20 21:59:11

to the person below me: yes, i'm glad you took the chance with this album. shoegaze is a different form of music or 'art' in the case of this album.

i think the genre was overtaken by britpop, but for those (like me) who love it, searching for those other bands that played like this is awesome. check these out:

ride
slowdive
catherin wheel
lush
lilys
adorable
rollerskate skinny
blind mr. jones
asobi seksu
hartfield

Posted by fluxy44 on 2006-08-03 08:36:18
My Score:

after reading all the comments an the review I decided i might get hold of this, and WOW! I havent heard anything like this, its just, amazing. Simple.

Posted by totalstranga on 2006-07-26 04:17:11
My Score:

dear Mr Sheilds, please leave Primal Scream and do another MBV record..you will hold the record for lonest time between releases (well maybe the Yardbirds have that)

Posted by AnaMorph0sIs on 2004-09-08 17:00:47
My Score:

Yeah, this record is pretty neat for when you're using drugs. It's pretty when you're not doing drugs as well.

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, August 9, 2003 at 2:47 PM (EDT)
My Score:

this album is simply amazing. somebody should stick this review up on the site's front end with a big sign that says "READ THIS & KNOW TRUE WISDOM." yes.

seriously though, it's one of the most perfect releases i've ever listened to. three years (the review says two buy i'm pretty sure it was actually three) of hard work absolutely paid off and produced one of the tightest, most beautiful records ever. my bloody valentine could only be dismissed as a boring shoegaze band by someone who's never heard this.

Posted by newjackshit on 2003-02-05 16:28:02
My Score:

quicksand owned a lot.

Posted by sloppyblake on 2003-02-04 12:14:00
My Score:

quicksand owned rival schools

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, February 3, 2003 at 6:41 AM (EST)
My Score:

Classic-oldpunker-

Posted by jheisel on 2003-02-03 04:17:13
My Score:

it should be noted that a crappy band (ie rival schools) sampling an incredible band (ie mbv) does not lessen the former's crappiness.

Posted by maverick on 2003-02-02 16:18:43
My Score:

They did? What song?

-Scott

Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, February 2, 2003 at 1:37 PM (EST)
My Score:

Rival Schools even used a MBV sample on 'United By Fate.'

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, February 1, 2003 at 10:02 PM (EST)
My Score:

The record Billy Corgan has been jerking off to for the last 10 years

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, February 1, 2003 at 7:33 PM (EST)
My Score:

absolutely brilliant album...so much more influential than it's ever given credit for (ie-this is who billy corgan wanted to be during those first couple sp albums)...this should be in the top 10 of all-time great rock albums...

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 31, 2003 at 9:20 PM (EST)
My Score:

I don't know what angels fucking in a pink haze sound like, but that alone is gonna make me go out and get this CD 'cause I want to find out.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 31, 2003 at 9:05 PM (EST)
My Score:

Epic. A guitar nerd record...Far from Van Halen land!!!

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 31, 2003 at 4:35 PM (EST)
My Score:

Is everything you've heard about this record true? Yes--and then some. This is the sound of angels fucking in a pink haze. I refrain from using the word "brilliant" when discussing records, but this truly is just that, brilliant.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 31, 2003 at 4:15 PM (EST)
My Score:

This is the best album ever recorded.

Posted by Huey on 2003-01-31 15:57:57
My Score:

A brilliant masterpiece. I never thought of this to appear on a punk site, but that's okay, because EVERYONE should hear this record at least once in their life. The riff on Only Shallow is one of the coolest things I have ever heard. When You Sleep is beautiful. I'm glad they never made another album, because it's best that they went out on top. BUY IT.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 31, 2003 at 3:49 PM (EST)
My Score:

Classic CD....I spent many acid trips litening to this.....