When I listen to Loveless and then refer to their first ever release This Is Your Bloody Valentine, I can only think, “what the hell happened here?” It’s quite simply really, the band hasn’t got their sound yet. This is far from their original shoegaze sound and it incorporates a cheesy gothic tone. It might be down to Dave Conway’s vocals. They are very post-punk influenced but the whole mini-album is like this. This is a boring, bland post-punk record but mixes in some blues sounds. This is very unfocused and it really shows that the band doesn’t know where to be at this point. Thankfully they took the right direction and kicked out Dave Conway. He can sing but his voice is just designed to attack the nerve system. But I guess they can only mature as this album really is drivel. The songs don’t go anywhere at all and they sound really immature at this point.
Of course, why am I complaining? It’s a band’s first shot at making music and they haven’t reached a sound that’s comfortable. But I can’t help but hate it, considering every song seems uninspired and shoddily put together. The guitars don’t contain that lovely fuzzy tone that Kevin adores but it is just a simple overdriven sound. The drums are just the same beat in different tempos (yes, they are exceptions but let’s not get specific), the bass does a good job at standing out but nothing special. The vocals are just a gritting point for me, they really get on a guy’s nerves. And when he’s not trying to sound like a pseudo-Elvis, he’s screeching like a constipated dog. This is most relevant in
Don’t Cramp My Style which is just some repeated musical part through most of it and barking through the second half. The only track I really do like here is
Tiger In My Tank which is extremely catchy and infectious. It's not bad at all, a great song. Unfortunately the rest doesn't live up to that. This is really uninspired and could have been put together a lot better.
Maybe it isn’t as bad as I make it out to be but it certainly isn’t good. This is a release by a band which would then drastically change their sound and become legends in a small underground trend. It’s unfocused, hollow and the song writing is just extremely poor. The sad thing is, I’m a big fan of Kevin Shields but I guess this just isn’t the time period to admire him in. I’d say try this out for histories sake but if you plan on buying this for enjoyment, get the hell out of my face. Okay, that may be an exaggeration but I’m only giving it a 2.5 as it does hint at, at least some potential. All in all, this is a generic gothic post-punk album that doesn't sound anything like their next of kin. I know I should be giving them some slack but this is my true opinion of this min-album... at least they got better.
@_@
