Twenty Years Ago: My Bloody Valentine's 'Loveless' Great article and personal validation from PopMatters. Excerpts:
It’s hard to believe that 1991 was 20 years ago. In the wake of that anniversary, many have been harkening back to reflect on the top records of that year: U2’s Achtung Baby, Nirvana’s Nevermind, Pearl Jam’s Ten, Metallica’s (self-titled) “Black Album” just to name a few. Yet as grunge and the new wave of punk slowly emerged, an entirely different sound was inching over the horizon. Just three years from the brilliant Isn’t Anything, My Bloody Valentine (named after a Canadian horror film), had produced its masterwork, Loveless, a record of such sheer grandiosity and nuanced ingenuity, that it would become the reigning influence of independent rock, as well the expected candidate for every rock critic’s record collection, for years to come. It would also be the last musical statement from the band to date.
And:
With a single snare drum roll, the opening track “Only Shallow” erupts with catastrophic intensity, as Kevin Shield’ personalized “backwards reverb” guitar creation swirls hysterically with a sound akin to an ambulance siren underwater. In a way it was an opening moment every bit as revolutionary as the opening chords to Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. Loveless abounded with a deafening shoe-gazing attitude and My Bloody Valentine drowned the tracks of the album with mysterious textures of abrasive guitars and angelically-twisted instrumentation, all sewn together with an obsessive desire for detailed sound manipulation. In short, it was, and still is, unlike anything else you’ve ever heard.
And:
Loveless was something altogether new when it arrived, and the music community took hold of it with a fervent embrace. Ambience-maestro Brian Eno joined that fray declaring the track “Soon” to be a new standard for pop. He would remark at the time that it “is the vaguest music ever to have been a hit”.
..
The guitar work alone on this album is cause for a serious listen. Kevin Shields single-handedly added an entirely new vocabulary for how one can think about the use of electric guitar.
And The Hype is right, although, even after 20 years, for first time listeners, the effect isn't immediate. With repeated listens though, the music opens up into aural territory that has rarely been travelled. Loveless is the ultimate headphone music, or to be listened to through high end speakers, loudly, and with no more than two or three others.
Loveless is Music-From-Another-Dimension. It's Internal. It's Eternal. And when it's heavy, it ROCKS. After 20 years, I still listen to Loveless on a semi regular basis, totalling close to 1500 listens. Easily. And even after all those listens, I don't know the track names or their order. This music isn't about individual tracks: It's about taking the listener to a few perfectly constructed corners of a universe heretofore unknown, and only known through the act of listening. Perfect points of light and sound, just waiting for access, hiding right here, right in plain sight.
It’s hard to believe that 1991 was 20 years ago. In the wake of that anniversary, many have been harkening back to reflect on the top records of that year: U2’s Achtung Baby, Nirvana’s Nevermind, Pearl Jam’s Ten, Metallica’s (self-titled) “Black Album” just to name a few. Yet as grunge and the new wave of punk slowly emerged, an entirely different sound was inching over the horizon. Just three years from the brilliant Isn’t Anything, My Bloody Valentine (named after a Canadian horror film), had produced its masterwork, Loveless, a record of such sheer grandiosity and nuanced ingenuity, that it would become the reigning influence of independent rock, as well the expected candidate for every rock critic’s record collection, for years to come. It would also be the last musical statement from the band to date.
And:
With a single snare drum roll, the opening track “Only Shallow” erupts with catastrophic intensity, as Kevin Shield’ personalized “backwards reverb” guitar creation swirls hysterically with a sound akin to an ambulance siren underwater. In a way it was an opening moment every bit as revolutionary as the opening chords to Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. Loveless abounded with a deafening shoe-gazing attitude and My Bloody Valentine drowned the tracks of the album with mysterious textures of abrasive guitars and angelically-twisted instrumentation, all sewn together with an obsessive desire for detailed sound manipulation. In short, it was, and still is, unlike anything else you’ve ever heard.
And:
Loveless was something altogether new when it arrived, and the music community took hold of it with a fervent embrace. Ambience-maestro Brian Eno joined that fray declaring the track “Soon” to be a new standard for pop. He would remark at the time that it “is the vaguest music ever to have been a hit”.
..
The guitar work alone on this album is cause for a serious listen. Kevin Shields single-handedly added an entirely new vocabulary for how one can think about the use of electric guitar.
And The Hype is right, although, even after 20 years, for first time listeners, the effect isn't immediate. With repeated listens though, the music opens up into aural territory that has rarely been travelled. Loveless is the ultimate headphone music, or to be listened to through high end speakers, loudly, and with no more than two or three others.
Loveless is Music-From-Another-Dimension. It's Internal. It's Eternal. And when it's heavy, it ROCKS. After 20 years, I still listen to Loveless on a semi regular basis, totalling close to 1500 listens. Easily. And even after all those listens, I don't know the track names or their order. This music isn't about individual tracks: It's about taking the listener to a few perfectly constructed corners of a universe heretofore unknown, and only known through the act of listening. Perfect points of light and sound, just waiting for access, hiding right here, right in plain sight.
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