My Bloody Valentine

My Bloody Valentine: LovelessLoveless (1991)
Warner Music Group

Reviewer Rating: 5

User Rating:

Contributed by: NickFeeleynick f
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Published on January 31st 2003A 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. Everyt.

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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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

toosoftforpunk (May 27, 2012)

All I can say about this album is GODDAMN!!

hamonrye (March 26, 2009)

orgasm in my ears

eatdogs (August 20, 2007)

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

fluxy44 (August 3, 2006)

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.

totalstranga (July 26, 2006)

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)

AnaMorph0sIs (September 8, 2004)

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

Anonymous (August 9, 2003)

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.

newjackshit (February 5, 2003)

quicksand owned a lot.

sloppyblake (February 4, 2003)

quicksand owned rival schools

Anonymous (February 3, 2003)

Classic-oldpunker-

jheisel (February 3, 2003)

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

maverick (February 2, 2003)

They did? What song?

-Scott

Anonymous (February 2, 2003)

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

Anonymous (February 1, 2003)

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

Anonymous (February 1, 2003)

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...