Loveless by My Bloody Valentine
Performed by: My Bloody Valentine
Editorial Reviews:
After years of rumours My Bloody Valentine, the seminal indie swirling guitar legends of the late '80s, are back! 2008 will see the band re-unite for the first time in almost 20 years with a sold out UK Tour and several international festival dates already confirmed. The original line up of shoegazing legends, with their awe inspiring mix of feedback guitar and indistinct lyrics, have influenced countless bands since and are now rumoured to be back in the studio working on new material. Anticipation from fans and media is riding high at the moment and tie in with this, SonyBMG will be releasing re-mastered versions of their celebrated two studio albums "Isn't Anything" and "Loveless" repackaged in to digipacks. Both albums have been re-mastered by front man Kevin Shields resulting in a significantly enhanced listening experience. Additionally, a second version of the bands most successful album "Loveless" has been included which has been mastered from the original analogue tapes and never before released. A must for any fan ! Both albums will also be available as single sleeve vinyl editions.
If you like "Loveless by My Bloody Valentine , you might also like ...
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Beware: a 2-cd remastered version will be out in January 2009
Comment: If you contemplate buying this old and not remastered version (yep, Rhino have re-released the same version during almost 20 years), you might be interested to know that a new, remastered version of "Loveless" will be released in the UK late January 26, 2009; this new version will include a second cd. The starting price is the same as the old version...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Loveless is like the movie 300
Comment: I bought this album after Lost in Translation included some Kevin Shields material on its soundtrack. The song 'Something' was so intense, so warm and mesmerizing, that I had to hear more. Unfortunately, the same intensity that makes for a phenomenal song also makes for a wearying album.
My initial impression was twofold.
First, the album is an impenetrable cocoon of guitar feedback and distortion, start to finish. Every song is a densely layered kaleidoscope of aural soup. Which is good, for a song or two. But the cacophony never lets up. As a consequence, this album feels a bit monochromatic, even on good speakers.
Second, MBV made incessant use of variable tape speed: slowing and speeding the guitars for a woozy, psychedelic effect. This might have been an interesting effect for one song, but they use this rather nauseating sound relentlessly.
Still, this album garnered such enormous critical acclaim that I stuck with it. Most of my favorite albums took a while to digest, after all. The first time I heard Daydream Nation I felt sick and the first time I heard Kid A I was primarily disappointed that it wasn't OK Computer 2. Both are now among my favorite albums of all time. Same for Daniel Johnston.
But Loveless never thawed. It remained, year after year, a perplexing, frustrating exercise in ambiance and aesthetic. Which, for its admirers, is precisely the point.
Loveless' greatest triumph may be demonstrating the differing reasons people listen to music at all, and elucidating the ongoing war between form and content, style and substance.
Here is my bias. I'm a classically trained musician and so I tend to evaluate (analyze) music on a technical level. What are the chord changes? How does the bass line relate to the drums? How does the melody interact with the lyrics? This is the realm in which I get off.
Most musicians listen to songs and grade them based on the secret criteria: how would this sound if I tried to cover it? A good song would still impress played solo on an acoustic guitar. This is why Radiohead is my favorite band. Forget all the bells and whistles, the sound effects and ambient samples. They write great songs. Even the material on The Eraser sounds great covered acoustically. Do a YouTube search for 'The Clock' if you don't believe me.
In contrast, I think most critics and many music fans listen for ambiance, for tone, for timbre. And this is why Loveless is so esteemed among their numbers. This is why Pitchfork just put it at NO. 2 for greatest albums of the 90s. Because for many, guitar tones and soundcraft are primary, to be serviced by guitar chords and songcraft, rather than the other way around.
That being said, Loveless has some decent songs on it. I still love 'Something' and 'Only Shallow' grew on me as well. But I wouldn't put them at the top of the pyramid.
Exhibit A: The Lyrics
What I do I say
But I can't get far away
Oh, I go back to
A memory again
What you want
But you know that I'm alive
Then I'll go back to you
Don't you know (what I) feel inside
Okay. This stuff is on par with the Cranberries. A really good song can get away with bad lyrics. See: She Loves You, or She's Like A Rainbow. But these songs just don't do it for me.
You could say My Bloody Valentine made an aesthetic decision to treat the vocals as just another instrument, another layer or color, in keeping with their symphonic approach. Well fine, I do like Sigur Ros and I can't understand their lyrics. But this is also the aesthetic approach of Dave Matthews, according to Rolling Stone, so I'm not going to give carte blanche to a band that opts for the 'another instrument' approach. Even if the vocals are mixed low, it doesn't remove them from the equation. They're still vocals, and thus we still have expectations.
If Loveless was a movie it would be 300. It's bold and aggressive without letup. The special effects are stunning, unprecedented, and groundbreaking. It opens up new aesthetic vistas and broadens the palette that artists have to work with. Loveless bristles with erotic tension and 300 bristles with homoerotic tension. But at the core, both are less than original. 300 being just another reincarnation of Braveheart and Loveless being, essentially a collection of love songs.
Customer Rating:
Summary: WHAT LIES BENEATH
Comment: Strip away the pretense, the histrionics and the surface from rock and roll music, and you get closer to what lies beneath. This is where you may find My Bloody Valentine. With "Loveless", this band found a visceral level of music at which the spark that drives things is heard loudly and clearly.
The production does not create a wall of sound, but more of a fog or mist of sound through which new and distinct elements are discerned, emerging with every listen. Songs like "Soon" and "I Only Said" are meditational cycles, in which the music gradually drifts away but is then brought back to center by a melodic hook or a brief four-bar clarity. Most of the songs on "Loveless" are simple celebrations of sound and all its possibilities; to my ears not loveless, but joyful!
When listening to "Loveless" I never catch myself wondering "What would this music sound like without all the distortion?" because I know it would still be good... but maybe not as good as what Kevin Shields has achieved through his production here. This isn't music for everybody, but it is definitely for those of us who appreciate fine craftsmanship as well as a product which touches us in pleasant, mind-expanding ways. Without clear vocals to guide and impress me, I hear the band for what it is: a device for connecting our thoughts and feelings with music itself, and in a profound manner.
While "Loveless" may sound like music from another planet, it is very human. I only discovered this music during the past few weeks, so I am late to the mutual admiration party... but I have to say this is worth all the five-star reviews it gets. And this is about as good as it gets.
Buy it, listen to it, see for yourself. Let yourself get lost in it... it isn't hard to do!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Congruity and incongruity
Comment: This may be, along with possibly David Bowie's "Station to Station" and Neil Young's "Tonight's the Night," the most terrifying masterpiece I have ever had the pleasure of being confronted with. Yes, what the fans say is true in my opinion, that this is a densely-layered, coherent thought layed out among eleven shorter (though no lesser) ones; and, to be accurate I am indeed a fan myself. Although I don't pretend to have heard all the incarnations "popular" music over the past 30 years, I do know this: Loveless, like any earnest and accurate expression of existence, is no less meaningless today than it was seventeen years ago. The blend of a prevailing major key alongside an urban sound density would make one assume that within this album there should be found population, wit, and communication. Luckily for us, none of those things exist here in the prosaic. Communication exists, yes, but only insofar as you are really only engaging yourself in conversation, along with a million other people engaging themselves in conversation- you are alone, along with everyone else, and you take comfort in the fact that love exists everywhere but here. Nowhere else have I heard a musical expression advance this thought so clearly and convincingly as here. So for all you parties of one who nevertheless need this earth and everything in it, get acquainted.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Just buy it!
Comment: Writing about "Loveless" is like trying to describe a fantastic fireworks display seen ten years ago. You can capture the broad outlines, but the details are a little murky. Even if you can't fully express it, you still know it's something magical.
That's "Loveless"...cotton candy vocals, swirling feedback, early Velvet Underground-style drone and guitar chords that leave an afterglow in your subconscious like one of those dimly remembered skyrockets.
The bottom line? If you listen to the samples and you really hate them, then move on. But if you're intrigued, then buy the ticket. It's a ride you're not likely to ever forget.
EAN: 0075992675925
Label: Sire / London/Rhino
Manufacturer: Sire / London/Rhino
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Sire / London/Rhino
Release Date: 1991-11-05
Studio: Sire / London/Rhino
 | Format: Audio CD List Price: $7.98 Our Price: $6.97 Your Save: $ 1.01 ( 13% ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Average Customer Rating:  |
Editorial Reviews:
After years of rumours My Bloody Valentine, the seminal indie swirling guitar legends of the late '80s, are back! 2008 will see the band re-unite for the first time in almost 20 years with a sold out UK Tour and several international festival dates already confirmed. The original line up of shoegazing legends, with their awe inspiring mix of feedback guitar and indistinct lyrics, have influenced countless bands since and are now rumoured to be back in the studio working on new material. Anticipation from fans and media is riding high at the moment and tie in with this, SonyBMG will be releasing re-mastered versions of their celebrated two studio albums "Isn't Anything" and "Loveless" repackaged in to digipacks. Both albums have been re-mastered by front man Kevin Shields resulting in a significantly enhanced listening experience. Additionally, a second version of the bands most successful album "Loveless" has been included which has been mastered from the original analogue tapes and never before released. A must for any fan ! Both albums will also be available as single sleeve vinyl editions.
If you like "Loveless by My Bloody Valentine , you might also like ...
 | Isn't Anything |
 | Daydream Nation |
 | Nowhere |
 | Tremolo E.P. |
 | In the Aeroplane Over the Sea |
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Beware: a 2-cd remastered version will be out in January 2009
Comment: If you contemplate buying this old and not remastered version (yep, Rhino have re-released the same version during almost 20 years), you might be interested to know that a new, remastered version of "Loveless" will be released in the UK late January 26, 2009; this new version will include a second cd. The starting price is the same as the old version...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Loveless is like the movie 300
Comment: I bought this album after Lost in Translation included some Kevin Shields material on its soundtrack. The song 'Something' was so intense, so warm and mesmerizing, that I had to hear more. Unfortunately, the same intensity that makes for a phenomenal song also makes for a wearying album.
My initial impression was twofold.
First, the album is an impenetrable cocoon of guitar feedback and distortion, start to finish. Every song is a densely layered kaleidoscope of aural soup. Which is good, for a song or two. But the cacophony never lets up. As a consequence, this album feels a bit monochromatic, even on good speakers.
Second, MBV made incessant use of variable tape speed: slowing and speeding the guitars for a woozy, psychedelic effect. This might have been an interesting effect for one song, but they use this rather nauseating sound relentlessly.
Still, this album garnered such enormous critical acclaim that I stuck with it. Most of my favorite albums took a while to digest, after all. The first time I heard Daydream Nation I felt sick and the first time I heard Kid A I was primarily disappointed that it wasn't OK Computer 2. Both are now among my favorite albums of all time. Same for Daniel Johnston.
But Loveless never thawed. It remained, year after year, a perplexing, frustrating exercise in ambiance and aesthetic. Which, for its admirers, is precisely the point.
Loveless' greatest triumph may be demonstrating the differing reasons people listen to music at all, and elucidating the ongoing war between form and content, style and substance.
Here is my bias. I'm a classically trained musician and so I tend to evaluate (analyze) music on a technical level. What are the chord changes? How does the bass line relate to the drums? How does the melody interact with the lyrics? This is the realm in which I get off.
Most musicians listen to songs and grade them based on the secret criteria: how would this sound if I tried to cover it? A good song would still impress played solo on an acoustic guitar. This is why Radiohead is my favorite band. Forget all the bells and whistles, the sound effects and ambient samples. They write great songs. Even the material on The Eraser sounds great covered acoustically. Do a YouTube search for 'The Clock' if you don't believe me.
In contrast, I think most critics and many music fans listen for ambiance, for tone, for timbre. And this is why Loveless is so esteemed among their numbers. This is why Pitchfork just put it at NO. 2 for greatest albums of the 90s. Because for many, guitar tones and soundcraft are primary, to be serviced by guitar chords and songcraft, rather than the other way around.
That being said, Loveless has some decent songs on it. I still love 'Something' and 'Only Shallow' grew on me as well. But I wouldn't put them at the top of the pyramid.
Exhibit A: The Lyrics
What I do I say
But I can't get far away
Oh, I go back to
A memory again
What you want
But you know that I'm alive
Then I'll go back to you
Don't you know (what I) feel inside
Okay. This stuff is on par with the Cranberries. A really good song can get away with bad lyrics. See: She Loves You, or She's Like A Rainbow. But these songs just don't do it for me.
You could say My Bloody Valentine made an aesthetic decision to treat the vocals as just another instrument, another layer or color, in keeping with their symphonic approach. Well fine, I do like Sigur Ros and I can't understand their lyrics. But this is also the aesthetic approach of Dave Matthews, according to Rolling Stone, so I'm not going to give carte blanche to a band that opts for the 'another instrument' approach. Even if the vocals are mixed low, it doesn't remove them from the equation. They're still vocals, and thus we still have expectations.
If Loveless was a movie it would be 300. It's bold and aggressive without letup. The special effects are stunning, unprecedented, and groundbreaking. It opens up new aesthetic vistas and broadens the palette that artists have to work with. Loveless bristles with erotic tension and 300 bristles with homoerotic tension. But at the core, both are less than original. 300 being just another reincarnation of Braveheart and Loveless being, essentially a collection of love songs.
Customer Rating:
Summary: WHAT LIES BENEATH
Comment: Strip away the pretense, the histrionics and the surface from rock and roll music, and you get closer to what lies beneath. This is where you may find My Bloody Valentine. With "Loveless", this band found a visceral level of music at which the spark that drives things is heard loudly and clearly.
The production does not create a wall of sound, but more of a fog or mist of sound through which new and distinct elements are discerned, emerging with every listen. Songs like "Soon" and "I Only Said" are meditational cycles, in which the music gradually drifts away but is then brought back to center by a melodic hook or a brief four-bar clarity. Most of the songs on "Loveless" are simple celebrations of sound and all its possibilities; to my ears not loveless, but joyful!
When listening to "Loveless" I never catch myself wondering "What would this music sound like without all the distortion?" because I know it would still be good... but maybe not as good as what Kevin Shields has achieved through his production here. This isn't music for everybody, but it is definitely for those of us who appreciate fine craftsmanship as well as a product which touches us in pleasant, mind-expanding ways. Without clear vocals to guide and impress me, I hear the band for what it is: a device for connecting our thoughts and feelings with music itself, and in a profound manner.
While "Loveless" may sound like music from another planet, it is very human. I only discovered this music during the past few weeks, so I am late to the mutual admiration party... but I have to say this is worth all the five-star reviews it gets. And this is about as good as it gets.
Buy it, listen to it, see for yourself. Let yourself get lost in it... it isn't hard to do!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Congruity and incongruity
Comment: This may be, along with possibly David Bowie's "Station to Station" and Neil Young's "Tonight's the Night," the most terrifying masterpiece I have ever had the pleasure of being confronted with. Yes, what the fans say is true in my opinion, that this is a densely-layered, coherent thought layed out among eleven shorter (though no lesser) ones; and, to be accurate I am indeed a fan myself. Although I don't pretend to have heard all the incarnations "popular" music over the past 30 years, I do know this: Loveless, like any earnest and accurate expression of existence, is no less meaningless today than it was seventeen years ago. The blend of a prevailing major key alongside an urban sound density would make one assume that within this album there should be found population, wit, and communication. Luckily for us, none of those things exist here in the prosaic. Communication exists, yes, but only insofar as you are really only engaging yourself in conversation, along with a million other people engaging themselves in conversation- you are alone, along with everyone else, and you take comfort in the fact that love exists everywhere but here. Nowhere else have I heard a musical expression advance this thought so clearly and convincingly as here. So for all you parties of one who nevertheless need this earth and everything in it, get acquainted.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Just buy it!
Comment: Writing about "Loveless" is like trying to describe a fantastic fireworks display seen ten years ago. You can capture the broad outlines, but the details are a little murky. Even if you can't fully express it, you still know it's something magical.
That's "Loveless"...cotton candy vocals, swirling feedback, early Velvet Underground-style drone and guitar chords that leave an afterglow in your subconscious like one of those dimly remembered skyrockets.
The bottom line? If you listen to the samples and you really hate them, then move on. But if you're intrigued, then buy the ticket. It's a ride you're not likely to ever forget.
Technical Details
Binding: Audio CDEAN: 0075992675925
Label: Sire / London/Rhino
Manufacturer: Sire / London/Rhino
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Sire / London/Rhino
Release Date: 1991-11-05
Studio: Sire / London/Rhino
