Loveless

Loveless has acquired an excellent reputation over the decade or so following its release- coming high in the endless number of lists of Best Albums etc people have been compiling since a year or so before the millennium. It sounds even better after all this time and I think it should become a Dark Side of the Moon-style album that will attract generations of listeners as it is a total experience to listen to as an album (then again I wish Tago Mago had been Dark Side of the Moon).This was the follow-up to 1988's Isn't Anything?- an era of musical experimentation & abandon that also saw The Young Gods, The Mary Chain, Ride, AR Kane, Mudhoney, Spacemen 3, Felt, House of Love, Beat Happening, The Chills, Cocteau Twins, A Guy Called Gerald, Lush, Nirvana, M/A/R/S, Eric B & Rakim etc- a period where drones, repetitive structures & far out sounds became prevalent. Where guitar music operated on the same level as the more adventerous dance music (and in reverse)...Loveless followed 1990's Glider e.p. (the title track & Off Your Face are faves) & the 1991 e.p. Swallow, from which To Here Knows When stems from (this is worth tracking down as it has tracks between the tracks, as here- such as between Only Shallow & Loomer; plus the track Honey Power is greater than early songs like Nothing Much to Lose). As noted, it came out of a protracted studio process, where Creation almost went under- though this difficult period saw the best albums from this label: Screamadelica, Going Blank Again & this...Only Shallow still sounds amazing, a cacophony of drones undercut by a gorgeous harmony- as with The Cocteau Twins it doesn't appear to be in the english language (though you can feel what it's about & make out the occasional word); this song also featured in Hal Hartley's great film Amateur (1992). The next track Loomer is possibly the greatest song I've ever heard- the definitive MBV track- in it's two minutes or so it blows the mind- drifting on a structure of feedback, it sounds like a love song written for Eraserhead. The words are slightly clearer- such as "deep dark down to the lonely places"- Blinda Butcher's vocals almost fusing with the off-centre guitars.It would be possible to wax similar descriptions to the rest of the album, but I won't waste space- the remainder is as fantastic- from Touched (whalesongs meet Steve Reich?) to When You Sleep (a perfect pop song amid the soundwaves) to the Glider track Soon, Loveless provides a completely satisfying listening experience (something many albums these days clearly fail at). Loveless ranks up there with the most adventerous of 90's albums: Tilt, Laughing Stock, Giant Steps, Heaven or Las Vegas, Mogwai Young Team, Spiderland, Rid of Me, Selected Ambient Works II, Slow Riot for Zero Kanada, Secret Name etc.Sadly since this MBV have released just one track (a cover of We Have all the Time in the World) & appear to have vanished into the ether- though members have popped up on mostly underwhelming releases by Snowpony, Hope Sandoval, Curve, Mogwai, Primal Scream & E.A.R. Perhaps there will be no more MBV, but with this record maybe they took it as far as it would go? A key album of the 1990s and one that should be owned by anyone with a receptive mind. Oh, and it makes sense listened to after chemical experimentation; stuff like Radiohead is so mundane compared to this collection of great pop hooks & spacebound experimentation...

OK so music reviewers always compare new releases to older 'standards' to see how good they are. For example guitarists compared to Hendrix or Page (Zeppelin). Well every Indie band can be compared to My Bloody Valentine.This, their second album, sets the standard to compare new Indie bands to. An essential buy for Indie music fans, a music industry classic.

Vreeeeee vrooooo

Gift

Sublime, landmark album. I chose the 1991 CD so that it would be as close as possible to the cassette tape I bought when the album came out.Received in good condition

Brilliant read for the ear.

Brilliant. Try it.

Awesome album great tracks