My Bloody Valentine
Ecstasy And Wine

THE REVIEW

Damn! I missed this album when it was released in 1987. Had I listened to it then, a song like "(Please) lose yourself in me" would have made me jump out of my chair. It alone would justify the existence of this album, perhaps the least known in My Bloody Valentine's discography. Simultaneously with this, the 12" "Strawberry Wine" was released, a song that, justifying its title, gets you drunk without you realizing it, as it ensnares you in a rich and languid guitar jingle-jangle characterized by the sensual vocal counterpoint of the tender Belinda Butcher.

So, let's get things straight: the record in question was released in 1989, but is practically the algebraic sum of the 12" "Strawberry Wine" and the EP "Ecstasy", both from two years earlier. Before these, My Bloody Valentine had released a series of Mini-LPs characterized by a pure garage sound. The first, the elusive "This is your Bloody Valentine," released by the German Tycon in 1985 solely in Germany, is pure sixties-punk exercise, with fuzztonic inserts and some shifts towards the softer style of the Doors. The second "Geek" from the same year repeats the experiment, making us realize that Shields and his companions' initial passion was not directed at what was happening in England, but at the more chaotic and primitive sound of the origins rediscovered at that time thanks to people like the Fuzztones and, even earlier, Cramps. Only with the subsequent MLP "The New Record Of My Bloody Valentine" and the 12" "Sunny Sundae Smile", do they change their attitude and adapt to the domestic sounds of the Creation and Postcard school, a more tranquil and accommodating pop shown at that time by the leading figures Smiths and, subsequently, Pastels and Joseph K. The influence exercised by Jesus and Mary Chain is also undoubted, but paradoxically, only the essence was grasped: pure unadulterated pop, stripped of the feedback chaos, which, on the other hand, was waning even from their undisputed owners: "Darklands" by J&MC of that year is exemplary in how it refines their sound without altering it. Only later would MBV reconsider the wall of guitars to conceive "Isn't Anything" and the masterpiece "Loveless."

"Ecstasy and Wine" is therefore a transition work without disgrace and without praise. Innocent indie-pop already circulated in the form of 45s by Primitives, Primal Scream, Shop Assistants, on which, however, already a vague scent of Velvet Underground was grafted, and the famous guitar games that would become the stylistic hallmark of the quartet in the future, were beginning to peek through (peek through. what a beautiful phrase!). It is nevertheless advisable to recommend this album because it includes "Strawberry Wine", "Clair", and the surprisingly still today "(Please) lose yourself in me", an indefinable, killer song with a circular and alluring rhythm that would fit well on Loveless with appropriate guitar treatment as we know My Bloody Valentine can do.

We await the next release, said to be imminent, and - I bet - it will be yet another surprise.