The Return Of My Bloody Valentine

I only knew "Soon" for the longest time, and then I bought the album on a whim during the summer of '98 while driving around DC and when I popped the CD into the car stereo "Only Shadow" blew my face off and I have been entirely beholden to it ever since

I also think that people who think mbv is more straightforward than Loveless are not actually listening to the music, but rather the end result of production techniques they've been soaking in for 22 years. Musically, mbv is a good bit more complicated.

"Soon" is way more "MBV for the masses" than anything else on the album btw

my platonic ideal melodic MBV song is What You Want
my platonic ideal noise MBV song is Feed Me With Your Kiss
my platonic ideal melodically noisy MBV song is (When You Wake) You're Still in a Dream

mbv is also more focused

still not into the sequencing of this one. feels very lumpy to me, like when you're making a duvet and you shove it inside the cover and somehow all the bulk ends up being all squished up at one end. favourite track is actually the first song, i think people are passing over it cos it's seemingly a bit slight as an opener, but really it's gorgeous.

See, Dan - to my ears, it sounds more complicated production-wise too. In that it sounds vaguer and less like guitars. Other people have said it sounds much closer to a live band. My ears say WAHT.

It actually makes me wonder if what Kevin Shields has been working of for the past 22 years is to make a record that actually sounds completely different to everyone who listens to it.

Loveless is obv more straightforward because every song is verse-instrumental-verse

"favourite track is actually the first song, i think people are passing over it cos it's seemingly a bit slight "

its a great song

yeah the instrumental is the chorus
xpost

First song is amazing. Way better than Sometimes, which it's getting compared with.

I wouldn't go that far, but it is great. I do wish it was sequenced closer to the middle or end, though.

i never thought i could think a new shoegaze record is so great, even if it's by MBV, which says something.

yeah i think the slow 'uns on m b v compare very well with loveless, the melodies and textures are delicious. the louders ones are all individually good but never really glue together.

I like it better than "Loveless!"

But I also like "Isn't Anything" better than Loveless.

I don't think I like it better than "Say Anything" though.

(Which isn't to say I dislike "Loveless" even a little bit.)

(Yes, I know this is sacrilege.)

I like it all and you must obey me.

you got lesslove for loveless

I like it all. And did before Ned's decree.
Though the decree was reassuring that I was doing SOMETHING right.

I like it better than "Loveless!"

I do too!

I tried thinking that the other day, and it might be the case, but I had to hold myself back with the fact that the new one is well, 22 years newer. It might just be that, but it's certainly in the ball park.

the 1st song is great but it is also a perfect opener, somehow it doesn't really kick off, it is a ballad. the second thing on the other hand goes into the heart of things. after 90 secs it mutates into a monster. a monster of distortion. they have never worked with this kind of distortion if i remember correctly. it is like the dissolution of the vagueness. totally opposite to the hoover sound of loveless, thousands of discrete noisy bits under tension exploding into all directions. whereas the hoover sound has that uniform, harmonic quality. actually the third song has the hoover sound written all over it. this album is definitely more varied than loveless. i don't think one album is better than the other, they are both geat but mbv seems to be a nut which is harder to crack than loveless. if loveless was a walnut than mbv is a brazil nut.

the second song, not thing

thousands of discrete noisy bits under tension exploding into all directions.

Loveless has quite a lot of that. Variety can sometimes stray towards incoherence too.

Been listening to anything but this album.

i think i like it more than loveless but loveless doesn't have anything as crappy as 'new you' (don't defend it, u know deep down its terrible)

or Nothing Is which is boring

The first song feels more like it should be the second, I dunno why, it just doesn't feel like an album opener, but I love it when the guitar starts to rise in the second half. Whereas Only Shallow is such a monstrous opener.

The chord changes in If I Am are gorgeous, that's becoming my favourite.

That's actually why I like it, Matt... The last album has a monstrous opener, and this one has a chill out opening. I mean it needed something to calm the nerves.

btw, did anyone else who ordered the album get a weird email today apologizing for some kind of charging error?

Our sincere apologies for the payment issues you have experienced while using our online store.

Due to a problem with our payment provider which has now been resolved, a small percentage of users were unfortunately having money docked in their account despite our system finding an error and being unable to complete the purchase.

first song is a perfect opener

new you - hah! it has a little premature middle eighth bit i quite like, but yeah, it has a distinct honey's dead b side quality about it.

yeah the opener is a beast

i always thought "when you sleep" was the most 'accessible' loveless song; it's basically an indie pop song buried under 100 layers of guitar. it's awesome obviously. ("to here knows when" is my favorite forever though)

Was just listening to Tremolo EP :-(

it's basically an indie pop song buried under 100 layers of guitar

This accounts for like half of Loveless!

"New You" was the song I liked the least on first listen bc it sounded too much like Other Bands but it's grown on me in a huuuge way, MBV as a pop band!

xpost - See, I don't buy that... They may have done a bunch of jangly stuff at one point, but I hear melodies in all their major albums that are nothing like indie pop songs. It used to get on my nerves that people would concentrate on the production - the melodies are all very odd. I do agree that When You Sleep is probably the most accessible, but it's also still an unusual melody. It doesn't sound like the Byrds to me, although one of my friends did seem to insist he thought that MBV just sounded like the Byrds.

I always found "(When You Wake) You're Still in a Dream" to be so catchy and memorable myself.

it's basically an indie pop song buried under 100 layers of guitar

This accounts for like half of Loveless!

― Matt DC, Thursday, February 7, 2013 4:35 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ha i agree basically! but WYS is probably the most immediate to me

Certainly the most obvious fit for that idea

for me there is something about the first song that feels like it's some sort of remembrance thing, a recognition that all these years have passed by, that we're all different and older and that for this reason this record cannot have quite the same meaning to us as the last one. this though is maybe more to do with my initial reaction the first time round being a sudden realisation that some of the people i wish i could be sharing it with are dead now, others i've just lost touch with. so, on aome level an upfront acceptance of the very deep nostalgic nature of this album?

i came to the conclusion that new you is some boo radleys bullshit btw, do like the wacky guitar sound but it's a bit lightweight in all

the first song might be recorded right after Loveless, who knows (except the band)

x-p. yes, i got the same e-mail. they didn't accdept my credit card details when i tried to order. i don't think they charged the credit card. not according to "my account" on their site at least.

i have come around that new you and nothing is are both great within the sequencing of the album. nothing is has got this minimal music steve rech effect where things seem to shift after a while. suddenly the drums are more in the focus then they fade a little int the background and the guitars are more upfront. litening closely this doesn't seem to be a loop of sample, they are really playing here and seem to be emulating the loop on their own. if that is true that would put a new great meta spin on the track. new you is the soon of mbv. pretty catchy as well and totally different from the rest of the album.

New You is nothing genius, and quite simple, but its nice enough as a song

New You was the standout for me on the first listen + is still my favorite

Sometimes is the obvious 'oh this was an Indie pop song' thing buried under a beautiful murk. With a lot of the others its often hard to tell what they could've sounded like really. This would suggest they were almost nervous of exposing the thinness of the songs but the results are so good.

I like to think there would have been an indie pop cover tribute alb by now.

sorry my keyboard is really crap, it loses half the letters...

"othing is has got this minimal music steve rech effect"

i'm tired of using "steve reich" as a stamp of approval. not every repetitive song is good.

http://i.imgur.com/U1RuHXT.jpg

but this happened on drumming as well. there are theses slight shifts, as i wrote this seems to indicate they are really playing nothing is from start to finish.

And re wonder 2: aargh really not quite clicking but I've also been listening to stuff listed in the Restrospective mixes (e.g. contemporary mixes of 90s jungle) thread.

Needs a good think, the only track of interest.