release date: Nov. 5, 1991
format: cd
[album rate 4,5 / 5] [4,28]
producer: Kevin Shields and Colm Ó Cíosóig
label: Sire Records / Warner Bros. - nationality: Ireland
Tracklist: 1. "Only Shallow" (5 / 5) - 2. "Loomer" (4 / 5) - 3. "Touched" - 4. "To Here Knows When" (4 / 5) - 5. "When You Sleep" (4,5 / 5) - 6. "I Only Said" (5 / 5) - 7. "Come in Alone" - 8. "Sometimes" - 9. "Blown a Wish" - 10. "What You Want" (4,5 / 5) - 11. "Soon" (4 / 5)
2nd studio album by My Bloody Valentine originally released on vinyl by Creation Records and on cd by Sire / Warner. The band here is a quartet made up of main composer Kevin Shields credited on guitar, vocals & sampling keyboard, Bilinda Butcher on vocals & guitar, Debbie Googe on bass, and with Colm Ó Cíosóig on drums & sampling keyboard.
Loveless is perhaps THE best known and also the best reviewed dream pop, shoegaze, noise pop album ever released. It's enlisted on a variety of lists collecting all the best albums. The majority of the compositions were written entirely by Shields.
I purchased the album shortly after its release after reading an interview with Robert Smith of The Cure who mentioned the band as one of his personal favourites and for being a band with a highly unique sound. And that particular soundscape, as well as this album's sound, is highly dependent on Shields' guitar work. Listening to the album today, it's really no wonder how it found its way to iconic status. Post rock bands like Sigur Rós and Mogwai owe much to this and to the sound produced by Kevin Shields. Also, an alt. rock band like Smashing Pumpkins could most likely have looked to this, but also electronic artists and big beat performers like The Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim may also have found inspiration in tracks like "To Here Knows When" and "Blown a Wish". The track "Soon" reminds me of something made by (electronic artist) The Orb.
My Bloody Valentine didn't sell that many albums with this one, i.e. at the time of the release, although, its status of course has helped music buyers to the attention of its existence in years to follow. The sound of the album is quite unique. Listening to its predecessor Isn't Anything (1988), the band's debut album, it's both evident that it's the same band but also that they have made a considerable progression into a more dream pop area, also suggested by the ep Tremolo released nine months prior to this. The debut album is more shoegaze and noise pop founded, maybe with references to Sonic Youth and a proto-grunge-sensation with a mix of garage rock and the sort of noise pop one could find on Psychocandy (1985) by The Jesus and Mary Chain.
After Loveless the band found itself without a record contract as the costs in producing and making this album were too much for the small independent label Creation Records. Furthermore, Shields' studio work apparently had been more than the label's management would tolerate again, and the band then signed with Island Records, who is said to have paid for building a new studio just for My Bloody valentine and for Kevin Shields. New material was on its way but Shields found himself struggling in his process of composing and in the end no new material was released. Also, Shields started to work with other bands, making appearances and producing for other artists, at least up until 2013 when finally a third full-length studio album was released. Loveless is the band's most deserved inclusion in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com 5 / 5 stars ]
