Loveless (2CD/remastered)

Is there anything new that can possibly be said about Loveless? Any stone as yet unturned? So much has been written about this album, and so much of it reads the same: "It's about tension, noise vs. melody, ugliness vs. beauty... It's a return to the womb... It foregrounds the background and favors texture over development... Kevin Shields is Brian Wilson... Smart went crazy..." It's all true, of course. There's no arguing with any of that, just as there's little reason to talk about this album which so many people love. When it comes to Loveless, we understand each other so well that we nod and grunt like we're standing in front of Hank Hill's house. For me, it's been that way for some time: Seeing the letters "M", "B" and "V" next to each other in a review of another band's album is enough to get said record on my "music to check out" list. I suspect I'm not alone.

Now that Kevin Shields is in better health and is slowly returning to the scene, he's explained that Loveless was something of an albatross for him, that he never could find a proper way to follow it. He should be comforted by the fact that no one else has been able to follow it, either. I've long dreamt of an album that was "Like Loveless, but more," but I haven't found it. And so many hundreds of albums have tried. Perhaps this is the sound of a single idea perfected. We should move on and continue to explore the vast spectrum of sound and feeling music provides, but we'll always return to Loveless for what it alone can deliver.

in 1991 came the already classic "Loveless". the rockers "My Bloody Valentine" made their rare debut with "This is Your Bloody Valentine" in 1984. then, four years later they released "Isn't Anything", but the album they made them special... the album that made them famous in the rock genre... was "Loveless". which is easily one of the greatest albums out there. what a incredible 48 minutes it is, with amazing tracks like "Only Shallow", "When You Sleep", "Sometimes", and their amazing ending to the album... "Soon. but theres absoulutely not one bad track... those are just the stand-outs. Only Shallow has some of the greatest streaming guitars ever. theres always those complaints with the band with the vocals they can't hear and not nearly enough bass. but if you listen to the record a couple more times... you realize that doesn't matter.

When i first purchased "Loveless" and listened to it, i was a bit disappointed. It got so much acclaim as "one of the greatest albums ever!" so i kept trying, then one day I was listening to it... and... it just... CLICKED! it just clicked to me how beautiful this album really is. its just so many different things! want me to tell you how different? i've wrote over 50 reviews on CD albums here at Amazon, and when I i clicked the "recommended" button on Loveless, it had more than half of the CDs i reviewed. Spiritualized, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Neutral Milk Hotel, and much much more. this part of this review may seem useless to you, but i'm just saying... if you buy any album from the '90s... make it this one.

What at first comes across as an aural manifestation of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre soon reveals itself as a spellbinding mix of complex song structures, melancholy vocals and droning but intelligently applied feedback guitar. Behind the white noise lies a whole world of hidden melodies, sleepy moans and mesmerizing rhythms that with every listen evoke further oneiric horizons. The band whose style comes closest to Loveless, in my opinion is Mercury Rev on Yerself Is Steam.

The blurred vocals of guitarists Kevin Shields and Bilinda Butcher are indistinguishable in their incorporeality: complex and gripping in the masterpiece of minor chords To Here Knows When, ethereal and Cocteau Twins-like in the misty Blown A Wish. Other desolate sound sculptures include Only Shallow, Loomer and Touched, while Soon completes the cycle with a blistering beat, the Valentine's nod to rave culture. These tracks knock you out with an immobilizing effect.