My Bloody Valentine- Loveless

MY BLOODY VALENTINE- LOVELESS (1991)

A couple weeks ago, I was browsing through FYE. Came across this band called My Bloody Valentine and an album called Loveless. The cover was different shades of pink with only the neck of a guitar showing along with the band's name in the left hand corner. Now I had heard about the band from the forum I frequent as well as a friend's list of their 100 favorite albums. So I decided to buy it. Put it on in the car and the drums kick in. What follows sounds like a keyboard getting destroyed with a saw. Female vocals follow. Now the vocals are not discernable on the album. But that's part of the band's unique style. Vocals are just another instrument in the wall of sound that they create.







My Bloody Valentine started out in Dublin, Ireland in 1984 and were one of the pioneering bands of the shoegaze genre. They released their debut album Isn't Anything in 1989 and followed that up with Loveless. This was due to funding problems. The album is looked at as the defining album of the shoegaze genre and one of the best albums of the 90's in general. After the album, the band became inactive. Until they started recently touring again.

The album starts off with Only Shallow: the sound of a drum beatr and then kicks into to what sounds like a keyboard being destroyed. Loomer and Touched are short but still contribute to the overall mood. To Here Knows When is the dreamiest song on the song n the album. Bilinda Butcher's vocals are very effective here just as they are on Only Shallow. When You Sleep has a hypnotizing riff that just sucks the listener in and doesn't let go. If I was forced to pick one weak song it would probably be Come In Alone. It's the song I have the least number of plays for. With the track Sometimes, you can totally tell that The Smashing Pumpkins took influence from this album when creating Siamese Dream. Blown A Wish brings back Bilinda's glorious vocals back into the fold. What You Want is a rockin' tune and is a lead up to the album closer, the 7 minute Soon. One of the best tracks on the album and a perfect way to end it.

Loveless would go onto become a favorite of musicians ranging from Brian Eno to Radiohead to The Cure to The Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails. It's an album that broke new ground sonically and regarded as one of the best albums of the 90's.