#73 My Bloody Valentine, 'Loveless' (1991)

Previously #221

Perfect timing as My Bloody Valentine only just made their music available on streaming a few weeks ago. Their second album was a landmark in the Shoegaze genre with guitarist-producer, Kevin Shields redefining the sound of recorded guitar. The band would spend 2 and a half years recording this in a total of nineteen different studios and cost upwards of £250,000 to produce. Creation Records label boss, Alan McGee found Shields too difficult to work with and subsequently dropped the band from the label following the release of ‘Loveless.’ In fact the high production costs drove the label into bankruptcy. McGee was forced to sell half the label to Sony and the subsequent signing of a little band from Manchester called Oasis, would bring the label back to life.

‘Loveless’ found fans in luminaries such as Brian Eno, Billy Corgan and Robert Smith. It defined the sound of a generation of bands and after the showmanship of the ‘80s, it gave rise to bands that didn’t want the fame, artists that perfomed in low light with their eyes closed or staring down at their shoes. The music was introspective, the production large. The obvious standout for me is ‘When You Sleep,’ which happened to the be the first single. You can hear so many later bands in its sound, bands that would also find success with their laidback vocals and dominating, swirling guitars. A sleeper hit, the record would only chart at #24 in the UK and went on to sell in excess of 100,000 copies. And while that’s not a huge amount relatively speaking, its influence is so far reaching.

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