My Bloody Valentine had released several EPs in the 1980s, before they recorded the album that defined Shoegaze music, "Isn't Anything". That album is often seen as a precursor to the band's masterpiece "Loveless". Most people forget how groundbreaking that record was.
With an already amazing album, the group recorded another album, titled "Loveless". The band was led by their guitarist, Kevin Shields, who was an absolute perfectionist. The album "Loveless" ended up costing the band's record company over $500,000, bankrupting them. And boy, was it worth it.
But although the band was awesome in the studio, they were also a great live act, despite the fact that they rarely looked at the audience or even acknowledged the fact that they were there. This is where the term "shoegazing" comes from.
The two things you will notice about this album after a first listen is that the are absolutely no bad songs on it. The second thing you realise, is the band's signature sound. The "boy/girl" vocals, the swirling guitars, the ambient and noisy keyboards and the sounds that can only be described as noise. The sound is often described as trippy, which is evident on songs like "To Here Knows When".
Oh, and a note, when I say "keyboard riffs" it is possible they are guitar riffs, as Kevin Shields is an effects genius, and he can make his guitars sound like whatever he wants. I'm pretty sure that there are keyboards in here, and it's not all samples.
Only Shallow- Great opener track, the track is a good way to define Loveless' style. The guitar has a swirly and noisy sound, so much so that it is often hard to pick up what it is doing, other than making noise. The keyboards are making some cool noise also, and you can hear the vocals come out in this track, unlike a lot of MBV songs where they are mixed low. Good stuff. 4.5/5
Loomer- Loomer is another great track, the vocals are hard to understand, but somehow, it doesn't matter. The guitars and keyboards have the same swirly sound of the previous track, and it sounds like there is a distorted bass in there. 4/5
Touched- Probably the weakest track on the album, because it is instrumental and only 58 seconds long. The keyboards sound orchestral, and the other noise is cool too. 4/5
To Here Knows When- This is the "trippy" track I described earlier, with an awesome keyboard riff. Although the riff is complex, it's very catchy, and will get stuck in your head. The vocals are very hard to hear, and the song gets repetitive, but not boring. Again with the guitars, you can't really hear what it's doing. Totally awesome. A wierd outro though. 5/5
When You Sleep- This song is more guitar driven than the others, and you can actually hear what it's doing. The keyboard riff comes in next and it's just awesome, it will give chills. The lead vocals are also male, unlike previous tracks, although, I'm pretty sure that there's female vocals recorded in harmony with the male vocals. A really nice, and awfully catchy song. Just great. 5/5
I Only Said- The keyobards in this song are awesome, and like "To Here Knows When" the song gets repetetive, but not boring. The vocals are mixed low again, and the guitars have to same noisy sound. One thing I picked up on in this song is that the vocals, not sure if they are male or female, but they sound a lot like some of Billy Corgan's vocals. (Billy Corgan was the lead singer for the Smashing Pumpkins). Whatever the case, the song sounds awesome. 5/5
Come In Alone- Pretty cool keyboard riff and some awesome background stuff you can only hear if you look for it. The vocals are again, hard to hear, and surprisingly, sound like Billy Corgan again. Some good stuff happening in this song, but probably not the best on the album. 4.5/5
Sometimes- This song includes an acoustic guitar, along with a distorted electric. Kevin's vocals are as usual, tops. The electric guitars are just holding distorted chords, while the acoustic seems to have a more moving strumming pattern. It's a really great song. Some cellos come in around 3:30 and they are just awesome, and very emotional. 5/5
Blown A Wish- The female vocals are bick for this track, and they are ver soothing. The drumming is good in this song too. This another one of those "trippy" tracks with some synths serving as the backdrop, as opposed the the usual noisy guitar sounds in the background. The chorus of the song has no real lyrics, but it's the most memorable part of the song and it's absolutely amazing. 5/5
What You Want- This is a more guitarish song, and sounds a bit like Dinosaur Jr. We are greeted with Kevin's vocals a few seconds into the song. There is some great flute sounding stuff in the interlude parts as well. This song is more guitar driven than a few of the other tracks, and as I said earlier, sounds a bit like Dinosaur Jr. There is a really ambient ending too, which is very stylish. 5/5
Soon- Different to most of the other songs, in that you can clearly hear the guitars and bass. The keyboards are totally wicked as well. The guitars drift into noise later on, but it's a cool way to start the song. The song pretty much stays the same the whole way, and that's isn't really a bad thing. The song is really good, and it's a lot like the other stuff on the albmu. 4.5/5
Well, that was definitely a very enjoyable album to review. The verdict is simple. No matter what you listen to, rap, pop, metal, jazz, it doesn't matter, you must own a copy of this album. I seriously think that nearly anyone could enjoy this stuff. It's tempting to give this album a 4.75 for it weaker moments (there are hardly any), but this album definitely deserves a 5/5. After finishing this album, you may think to yourself (I did) "It doesn't get much better than this", and you are spot on. This album is a disgustingly underrated album, so go out now, and buy at least 3 copies and give them to intelligent music fans. It's seriously that good, and it's very, very hard to find faults.
