Product Description

To simply call this album the apotheosis of the shoegazing scene--that brief epoch of U.K. indie-rock in which bands turned away from melodic clarity and instead chased after the incendiary rapture of sheer guitar-driven noise--would be anunderstatement. LOVELESS is the sound of what might've happened if Brian Eno had produced DAYDREAM NATION. Or perhaps it's the thundering ambience of SISTER recorded backwards. Whatever the case, rarely has such a pristine, hypnotic recordhad such an ungodly amount of sonic tonnage. Opening with four quick beats from some kind of skeletal kick-drum and then proceeding through eleven gleaming movements of titanic distortion and severe melancholy, MBV's great wall of guitar architecture on this recording stands as a monument to the brilliance of its inventors. Released at roughly the same timethat Nirvana birthed NEVERMIND, LOVELESS could not have been more different and yet as utterly relevant in shaping future soundscapes. A heavy, heavy record.

Track Listing

1. Only Shallow
2. Loomer
3. Touched
4. To Here Knows When
5. When You Sleep
6. I Only Said
7. Come In Alone
8. Sometimes
9. Blown A Wish
10. What You Want
11. Soon

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7628 in Music
• Released on: 2000-09-26
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
After My Bloody Valentine had undergone their massive metamorphosis from twee indie-poppers to guitar noiseniks on 1988's Isn't Anything, their eagerly anticipated follow-up was a long time coming. Rumours abounded of massive studio bills, and when the album finally arrived, it listed 18 engineering credits. At times, Loveless is 90 per cent pure studio overmatter--but that doesn't matter. Band leader Kevin Shield's element was the guitar overdub, creating an intoxicating headrush of varispeed, warped, electro-static effects. "To Here Knows When" remains unmatched as an experiment in just how much sonic dissonance a simple pop melody can bear, while Bilinda Butcher sings drowsily as if concussed by the sweet noise. Loveless isn't a case of form over content--the lyrical subject matter of dazed infatuation is perfectly illustrated by the snowblind guitar sound. After this, MBVmoved to Island and remained notoriously unproductive for years, perhaps unsure how to top this. --David Stubbs

Customer Reviews

Release Date?!?!
I love this record, adore it. It is the kind of record you want to live inside, forever. But at the moment i don't care about any of that stuff, i just want to buy it. KEVIN SHIELDS / SONY, WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO RELEASE THIS ALBUM?!?!?!

A masterpiece of 90s music
This is an incredible album right from the cover. A magenta double exposed, out of focus guitar. It sums up the conflict between noise and beauty that is central to the album and makes it so thrilling. I think the comparisons with Sonic Youth are misleading. The noise that Sonic Youth produce, eventually leads nowhere on many of their albums. Their best album Daydream Nation, great though it is, does not have the adventure or beauty of Loveless. Alongside OK Computer, this is arguably the best album of the 1990s and possibly the last 25 years.

Sheer sonic "bliss".
Shame this can only be given a five-star rating. I made the effort to discover this record only after seeing that it was number two on an excellent list of 100 cult classics, as compiled by the "Vulture" for The Times. Figured that it had to be worthy of inspection. Virtually nothing could have prepared me for this, the very strangest of listening experiences.

In its way, this is almost certainly the most BEAUTIFUL and MOVING record i have in my entire collection. It really is the most extraordinary soundscape that you're ever likely to meet. Something to play in a room, when you're absolutely all by yourself, with the lights turned off and the volume cranked all the way up. Nowhere more so than on "Soon", which is possibly the greatest closing track since "Tomorrow Never Knows" on "Revolver". Such a fabulous record that you simply won't know what to play immediately afterwards.