Project 1001: Loveless by My Bloody Valentine
Sleep like a pillow, no one there / Where she won't care, anywhere / Soft as a pillow, touch her there / Where she won't dare, somewhere
My Bloody Valentine is one of those bands that I’ve always been aware of but to whom I never paid much attention. I would hear about them from time to time and how they were doing something different and interesting. I guess I just never got to the point that I felt the need to explore them. And after listening to Loveless I don’t feel like I missed out too much.
I fully credit the band for being unique and for their originality. I enjoyed the album on a musical level, although I found it kind of repetitive. I didn’t enjoy very much the vocals. The singing seemed subdued to me, and I didn’t find that attractive even if it was an artistic choice with a certain point of view. Just wasn’t for me.
I think My Bloody Valentine was influential on later artists. They are credited with developing the alt-rock subgenre of shoegaze.1 Not a genre I consider terribly important, but significant nonetheless as it seems to me that this album influenced many later bands. For example, I hear elements on this album by which later bands were clearly influenced. While not shoegaze bands, MBV’s influence (at least partially) on bigger bands Oasis and Bush seems clear, if maybe not direct.
While I am not inspired by this record very much, I do respect it, and My Bloody Valentine’s creativity and uniqueness deserve to be remembered and appreciated. My rating:
From Rolling Stone’s review upon the album’s release:
(Kevin) Shields’s songs are strong and catchy enough to be stripped down without falling apart. Under his production guidance, the group washes them in layers of warped harmonic guitar noise and sampled orchestra, keeping the lush sound moving around an echoey cavern filled with fog. The surges of Loveless — in songs like “Only Shallow,” “When You Sleep,” “Come in Alone” and “Soon” — send the listener falling weightlessly through space, a fantastic journey of sudden perspective shifts and jagged audio asteroids. In My Bloody Valentine’s magical kingdom, cacophony is the mind-altering path to beauty.2
The BBC looked back at the record in 2008:
Despite this record being the best part of 20 years old, it's as dense and inpenetrable as ever. It’s like trying to explain why Jackson Pollock’s Full Fathom Five is what it is, or push the case for isolationist textures in modern sculpture; or even trying to describe acid house to a badger. There really wasn’t, and still isn’t anything quite like My Bloody Valentine.3
AllMusic offered a 5-star review stating, “Isn't Anything was good enough to inspire an entire scene of My Bloody Valentine soundalikes, but Loveless' greatness proved that the band was inimitable.” And crowing Loveless as the band’s masterpiece.4
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Mark Blackrock wrote:
“Of the small crop of bands thrown up by the short-lived British “shoe-gazing” fad of the early Nineties, My Bloody Valentine are one of the few remembered with any fondness. Their 1991 swan song Loveless is a near-mythic masterpiece of indie rock.”5
Enjoy and listen without prejudice.
“And just remember, different people have peculiar tastes”
~ Lou Reed
Cheers!
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For details about this project, read this: Project 1001 Albums
Charts
• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: n/a
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart: n/a
• RIAA certification: n/a
Released on November 4, 1991. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: “Romantic” by Karyn White6
• Number one album: Ropin’ the Wind by Garth Brooks7
• Number one movie: The People Under the Stairs by Wes Craven8
• Most watched TV programs: 60 Minutes, Roseanne, Murphy Brown, Cheers, Coach9
• NYT bestseller, fiction: Scarlett by Aleandra Ripley10
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: Den of Thieves by James B. Stewart11
Some other albums released at the time:
• Diamonds and Pearls by Prince & The New Power Generation
• Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black by Public Enemy
• For My Broken Heart by Reba McEntire
• Streets: A Rock Opera by Savatage
• Welcome to My Dream by MC 900 Ft. Jesus
• Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio by Paul McCartney
• Badmotorfinger by Soundgarden
• Mr. Scarface Is Back by Scarface
• Whenever We Wanted by John Mellencamp12
Sport
• Nov 3 Ayrton Senna wins Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide; shortest F1 race ever run (14 laps) because of wet conditions; Senna retains his 3rd World Drivers Championship by 24 points from Nigel Mansell.
• Nov 3 New York City Marathon: Salvador Garcia of Mexico men's champion in 2:09:28; Liz McColgan of Scotland wins women's title, 2:27.0.
• Nov 7 Magic Johnson announces he has HIV and retires from the LA Lakers.13
Notable Births
• Nov 1 Anthony Ramos, American actor and singer-songwriter (Hamilton), born in New York City.
• Nov 12 Kathleen Herles, American child voice actress (Dora the Explorer, and Go, Diego, Go! - "Dora"), born in Queens, New York.
• Nov 15 Shailene Woodley, American actress (The Fault in Our Stars, Divergent), born in San Bernardino County, California.14
Historical Events
• Nov 01 Chechen Republic Declares Sovereignty: President Dzhokhar Dudayev officially declares the sovereignty of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, separating from the Russian Federation. This pivotal moment marked a significant political challenge to Russia's territorial integrity and set the stage for future conflicts in the Caucasus region.
• Nov 04 KGB Officially Ceases Operations: The Soviet Union's powerful intelligence agency, the KGB, officially stops its operations, symbolizing the dramatic political transformation occurring in the Soviet Union during the early 1990s. This marked the end of a significant Cold War-era institution.
• Nov 06 Communist Party Banned in Russia: Russian President Boris Yeltsin officially outlawed the Communist Party, a pivotal moment in Russia's post-Soviet political transformation.15
Notable Deaths
• Nov 2 Irwin Allen, American film and television producer (Land of the Giants; The Poseidon Adventure), dies at 75.
• Nov 2 Mort Shuman, American singer, and songwriter, with Doc Pomus ("Viva Las Vegas"; "Save The Last Dance For Me"), dies of cancer at 54.
• Nov 5 Fred MacMurray, American actor (Double Indemnity, The Apartment, My Three Sons), dies of pneumonia at 83.16
Blacklock, Mark, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Fifth printing, ed. by Robert Dimmery p. 655.
Ibid.