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Rating: The nineties, personally, no longer represent Seattle's grunge, too banal now and lacking in imagination. According to many, "Spiderland" by Slint gloriously embodies the pinnacle of the conception of this decade. Perhaps "Loveless" by the Irish My Bloody Valentine more comprehensively marks the end of one era and the beginning of another. The band's farsighted creativity, already clearly shown in their debut "Isn't Anything", namely the dissolution of Beat melody in the acid of fuzz loaded with watts, is definitively realized at this point of no return.
What comes after "Loveless"? Nothing. It's exactly that kind of work that conveys the sensation of absolute emptiness beyond it. The brilliance of My Bloody Valentine lies in not presenting themselves as a clone band, a period at the end of the eighties infested by fleeting bands, and having scouted a personal line to uphold as an example. "Loveless" is wasted being hung as a poster in a bedroom. It's useless to replay it watching YouTube tutorials to unveil the thousand tricks in the pedals. It is simply to be admired.
Shoegaze, though, can be represented by many groups, such as Slowdive, the Jesus & Mary Chain, or Ride. It’s a box containing many realities, with the only drawback of almost always bordering on the same ambient. Like punk, synthesized into "four chords and chaos," shoegaze risks being recognized in "full blast watts and a thousand effects." Behind the inhuman wall of sound, the design slowly takes form. The whispered, ethereal voice, hard to discern amid the noise, are the peculiar characteristics.
In 1991, one comes into contact with an excessive amount of music, most of it devoted to charts, mainstream, and videos to run every two hours on MTV. From this period onward, there's a definitive witness of the cancellation of post-punk and the early eighties new wave, and it becomes tough to support the industrial and noise framework of Sonic Youth. In fact, it is into this genre that shoegaze actually falls.
Therefore, to revitalize the situation colored by the money-grubbing record labels, there's Kevin Shields (guitar and vocals), Bilinda Butcher (vocals and guitar), Debbie Googe (bass), and Colm O'Ciosoig (drums); they are My Bloody Valentine, and the perfect ticket to know the sound is the sensational "Only Shallow," the opening track. Here we are immediately welcomed by sweet dreamy vocal lines of Blinda perfectly married with the harsh feedback of Kevin's guitar.
The thrill persists with the infinite vortex of "To Here Knows When," an acidic lullaby where the voice appears and disappears amid the colossal wall of sound, and the majestic "Sometimes," a drugged ballad that brings various Lennon and Reed to mind and deserves a mention apart as a symbolic song. A rain of guitar over the sky of voice spread by the divine Kevin Shields.
Other significant praises go to the various "When You Sleep," the song that Verdena unfortunately seeks in vain from "Wow" onwards, and the meeting of raga rock with rave culture in the seven minutes of "Soon." Interesting moments are the Beatlesque "I Only Said" (with a memorable guitar line) and "I Come Alone," as well as the Cocteau Twins style dream pop of "Blown A Wish" and the square rhythms of "What You Want," where the mood of the debut reappears.
All of this birthed in 1991, when girls had those delightful bob haircuts, and boys wore oversized shirts and high-waisted jeans. And what do we have in the multi-technological 2017? If you love "Loveless," you don't look for anything else, after all.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Only Shallow (04:19)
Sleep
Like pillow
No one there
Where
She won't care
Anywhere
Soft
As pillow
Touch her there
Where
She won't dare
Somewhere
Sweet
And mellow
Softer there
Feel
Like you grew
Stronger there
Speak
Your trouble
She's not square
Soft
Like her silk
Everywhere
Sleep
Like pillow
Comfort there
Where
She won't dare
Anywhere
Look
In mirror
She's not there
Where
She won't care
Somewhere
02 Loomer (02:40)
Tiptoe down
To the holy places
Where you going now
Don't turn around
Little girls
In their party dresses
Didn't like
Anything there
Pretty boys
With their sunshine faces
Carrying their
Heads down
Tiptoe down
To the lonely places
Where you going now
Don't turn around
04 To Here Knows When (05:33)
Kiss
Your fear
Your red button
Falls from my mouth
Slip
Your dress
Over your head
It's been so long
Move
On top
Because that way
You touch her too
Turn
Your head
Come back again
To here knows when
05 When You Sleep (04:13)
When You Sleep
When I look at you
Oh, I don't know what's (true)
Once in a while
And you make me laugh
And I'll see (you) tomorrow
And it won't be long
Once in a while
Then you take me down
Then you walk (away)
When you say 'I do'
Oh, I don't (believe) you
I can't forget it
__ ___
When you sleep tomorrow
And it won't be long
Once in a while
When you make me smile
07 Come In Alone (04:00)
Come in alone
You'll love
To let go
And I'll turn
You around
When your hopes
Gave me doubts
__ ____
Why I don't need
To believe
What you see
To look up
And around
You were gone
(Words came out)
To a sound
Feel
I'm alive
You will see
(Why I'm alive)
Felt like crying
Over her
I will go
To ____
___ f___ s___
08 Sometimes (05:21)
Close my eyes
Feel me now
I don't know how you could not love me now
You will know, with her feet down to the ground
Over there, and I want true love to grow
You can't hide, oh no, from the way I feel
Turn my head
Into sound
I don't know when I lay down on the ground
You will find the __ __ hurts to love
Never cared, and the world turned hearts to love
We will see, oh now, in a day or two
You will wait
See me go
I don't care, when you're head turned __ _ __
You will wait, when I turn my eyes around
Overhead when I hold you next to me
Overhead, to know the way I see
Close my eyes
Feel me now
I don't know, maybe you could not hurt me now
Here alone, when I feel down too
Over there, when I await true love for you
You can hide, oh now, the way I do
You can see, oh now, oh the way I do
09 Blown a Wish (03:38)
Midnight wish
Blow me a kiss
I'll blow one to you
Make like this
Try to pretend it's true
Show me all your favorite things
Show you all mine too
Make a wish
I'll give it all to you
Welcome to your promises
Welcome to mine too
Caught like this
I'll turn it in with you
Fall apart my bleeding heart
Nothing left to do
Once in love
I'll be the death of you
11 Soon (06:58)
Wake up
Don't fear
I want to
Love you
Yeah (doll of pain)
I let you get to me
Yeah yeah
Come back
Don't be
Afraid of me
Soon
That (I'll harm you)
Your eyes are blue
Blue jewels
Yeah yeah
Come back
Have faith
Someone like you
Can find the reason
Of what I did to you
Yeah yeah
Wake up
Don't fear
I want to
Love you
Yeah (doll of pain)
I let you get to me
Yeah yeah
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Other reviews
By jeremy
If Van Gogh had been a rocker, he would have sounded like this.
Melodies that tickle the unconscious, unlocking distant memories and unspoken desires.
By R13557436
Listening to this album is undoubtedly the greatest sensory and metaphysical experience a person can have.
Loveless is proof of the existence of the divine, a unique work that even escapes itself.
By joe strummer
All of My Bloody Valentine’s music is a perpetual clash between noise and beauty, between animalistic violence and divine sensitivity.
"Isn’t Anything" carries all the seeds that will bear fruit in 1991, yet it maintains its distinctive profile.
By joe strummer
"Loveless stuns with an unheard power and immediacy. Here lies the entire essence of rock. Violence and purity. Hypnosis and spontaneity."
"This album is exactly that, a huge accumulation of distortions, combined with the typically English melodic urgency and an unprecedented electronic framework."
By theJOKE
If you think an album must be immediate, concise, and catchy... then don’t judge this rare unique jewel of the world.
MBV managed to imprint transposed and metaphysical images on a musical album.
