Isn't Anything

Meh!

First time listening to this one after loving their other two records. This one feels like a debut, but the sound is very much there already. The guitar work is so unique. The vocals mysterious and dark. This album, next to their next relice is more fast, and bass and drums heavy. Songs like No More Sorry, I Can See It and Nothing Much to Love are some of their best. I think it might lack some consistency at some point, the sound could be a bit more focused It will all be fixed on their next album, that I know for sure... I think a very solid 3 is correct here.

Not really my type

Them shoes is GAZED, y'all. Side note, not the album to listen to when you are on the struggle bus trying to stay awake.

I was excited to get a My Bloody Valentine record after hearing great things about them. I found this record to be okay. There were a couple of standout tracks, but the rest just sounded like noise. Favourite Track(s): Cupid Come, Feed Me With Your Kiss Least Favourite Track(s): Lose My Breath, All I Need, Sueisfine, Several Girls Galore

I was pretty surprised to discover I don't know any songs by them. They're a band I've known of and always assumed I'd heard stuff by them, but apparently not! So I enjoyed listening through this one and was surprised to discover they're very alt rock, as opposed to punk which is what I've assumed they were. I'm eager to listen to more, and excited to see they have other albums on the list!

I had to exert the tiniest bit of effort to find this album beyond Spotify, and even the very easy YouTube search was too much. This album did not deserve the effort I put in. I’m sure for fans of the genre it’s great, but I’m not, and it’s terrible.

Не такий захопливий, як їхній наступний альбом, і мені він місцями провисає. Проте є дуже хороші пісні та стиль на місці.

Не подобається.

The weakest of the three MBV albums in my opinion. Favorite track: I Can See It (But I Can't Feel It)

Isn't Anything isn't on Apple Music or Spotify. I found it on YouTube, and it still isn’t anything worth listening to. A lot of people praise this album, but I defy any fan to find anything about this album that is noteworthy. I mean it called “shoe-gazing” music. Please tell me how to spin that well.

5/10

One of the best bands. I have only seen them play in 1991, 2008, 2013, 2018, and 2025*. This album wanders into some tangents on side one. Once it gets going, top shelf. The rare great record where side two is superior. WikiTIL: They did not name themselves after the slasher movie, it's a coincidence. The follow-up record was, hahaha, even better. *First of those, they opened for J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr). The last two, he opened for them.

wanted to love this, couldn't

Not good Favorite song: none

This is probably the most cacophonous music that I like

disappointing, truly not sure why it's on this list - Loveless is a lost obvious choice, but this?

Idk it’s not a thing special but it is good I can definitely see how this influenced rock going into the 21st century. For an album that was released in 1988. This sounds very late 90s early 2000s.

I liked m b v, and I like this, but I really think one album from this group would be enough for the list since it’s pretty much the same thing. Maybe Loveless will blow my socks off later but I feel like the novelty has worn off a bit. Context aside, I love the atmosphere of this album, it’s rich, it’s expansive, yet also intimate. There’s a wonderful ambient track near the middle that really captivated me, I think it’s called All I Need. The shimmering, yet indistinguishable guitars feel like a massive ocean with giant roaring waves, while the lo-fi, gentle vocals and subtle soft beats rest lightly on top like a meager sailboat, navigating its way through. It evokes that feeling of smallness unique yet ubiquitous to everyone who’s looked up at the stars and considered the incomprehensible scale of the world and beyond. I’m less enthused on some of the rock tracks, but they’re still great and much better than most other rock albums we’ve had to trudge through. Though there are tracks I’m indifferent on, there’s enough to appreciate here that makes this a 4.

This album is a bit all over the place. When it's more punky/grunge I enjoy it but it does frequently get all avant-garde and shoe-gazey and puts me off. 6/10

Wow, I’m quite surprised by this. It’s a lot more… I guess, rough and DIY-sounding than I expected? In a good way. The guitar tones are immaculate. This is easily the most I’ve ever ‘clicked’ with MBV. The songs are kinda Sonic Youth-y. I even heard some sounds that were like foreshadowing Pavement. Dreamy vibes. Loved it. Must-listen #323.

really cool with some excellent moments. "Sue is Fine", "You Never Should", and "I Can See It" my faves

didnt dislike this! its not super my thing but i will happily throw this on for a listen and its not overly long by any means

i think their later release is much more interesting but overall this shoegaze thing is not for me.

I was very much looking forward to listening to this as i LOOVE Loveless. This really sounds like the demos before Loveless. That aside, this is a more easy listen for most people and for most moods I think. Some song elements are pretty rough, but the sound is amazing here too. God damn this shields guy knows how to make guitars sound ethereal

I remember back in ‘63. Ken Chutney had just split up with his childhood sweetheart after Len Houmous slept with her. It was half way through Chuck Berry’s support set when you could hear him screaming ‘My Bloody Valentine, Len’ It was a really tough time. 2.9 11/12 Nothing Much To Lose

i symphatize with the noise and the feeling although it's not an easy listen i'd frequently enjoy

This is the equivalent of looking at early Picassos or Pollocks - the drive towards something entirely new (in this case *Loveless*) is definitely there, but sometimes the results are either too formless or too formal ("Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside)" somehow manages to be both). And yet, as badly as some of the experiments fail, there are still plenty of diamonds to be mined here. This is a different experience from *Loveless* - pricklier and rawer, wearing more of its antecedents on its sleeve (Jesus and Mary Chain, Dinosaur Jr., and Sonic Youth predominantly). Whether that's a pro or con is left as an exercise for the patron - after all, some people really dig the Blue Period.

This album didn't really stick out to me in any particular way.

I loved the absolute rawness of this album.

This is the third MBV album I've had and, while they feel like a band I should like quite a bit, I find it hard to get into their music much.

This album just felt like masses of noise. I'm not sure what the appeal is.

Eh, it was fine but not really my thing.

My Bloody Valentine is a band I’ve heard of forever, and I'm actually glad I get a chance to listen to them. MBV is an Irish rock band that's cast in the shoegaze genre. It’s a genre I’ve heard about for years, but not sure I’ve ever dipped my toe in it. From our good friend, Wikipedia, shoegaze is an indie/alt rock genre “characterized by ethereal soundscapes, obscured vocals, and extensive use of guitar effects and distortion.” Got it…I think. It may be one of those, I’ll know it when I hear it type genres. MBV is also called noise pop, dream pop, and experimental rock. This was MBV’s debut album. And it seems to not be on YouTube Music. That’s weird. But I found it on YouTube. Track 1 is Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside)....um, gross? This is weird. It’s like the singer is singing a different song than the music is playing, if you could call it music. I can’t get into this. They make it hard to stick with a groove. If this is a preview of what the rest of the album is like, then I made a good decision on never listening to shoegaze. Track 2 is Lose My Breath. This song is weird. You can hear a song underneath all the noise and out of tuneness. Is it a great song under there? I don’t know. It’s covered by a tarp of nonsense. It’s almost like the band was kind of afraid to play things straight, so just in case they were bad songwriters, they made sure to make their songs sound weird or bad before someone could say they were bad. It’s like the band was saying, “Yeah, we know it’s bad. That’s what we wanted." Track 3 is more of the same with Cupid Come. This again sounds like it could have been a song, but they decided to put in an out-of-tune guitar or something to make the song just this side of unlistenable. I can see why I was never an alt-rock kid growing up and I only liked meat and potatoes rock for the most part. My palette broadened as I aged, but I probably would have fought someone if they tried to make me listen to this as a kid. Track 4 is You’re Still In a Dream, and what’s this? No way. It can’t be….it sounds like a real song. It’s a nice uptempo garage rock song. It sounds like everything’s in tune. I wish the whole album had been like this. And this song isn’t anything special, but they’ve softened me up with garbage, so this song sounds like Stairway to Heaven. I would have thought this would have been a single, but it wasn’t. Only one single was released from this album. Not shocking. I wonder if the single is good? Track 5 is No More Sorry and it sounds like it may be an instrumental? It’s very big and orchestral. I don’t get this. Again, not a great song, there’s a bit of out of tuneness somewhere, but I don’t hate it immediately. You’re going to be amazed, but I can hear some Beatles influence in this song. The song has just a tiny bit of A Day in the Life in it. The most chaotic part of A Day in the Life, of course. Track 6 is All I Need and I hear the Beach Boys in this song. Now, the Beach Boys influence is buried beneath what sounds like a construction crew tearing down a building, but it’s there. I’m slowly starting to kind of get what the band is doing. I don’t understand it, but I get it. I still think it may be mostly self-sabotage, but there might be something there, there. This song is just a lot of distortion, feedback, and echo. It’s not good, actually. Forget what I said earlier. Track 7 is Feed Me with Your Kiss and this was the lone single off the album. Oooh, yeah, this is the stuff I’ve been waiting for. Very heavy alt-rock that sounds very similar to what many would call a song. The vocals are so low in the mix that it’s almost like they’re just another instrument. This could probably be a nice single for an up-and-coming rock band to cover. This, of course, made no dent on the charts, and I’m sure that’s not what they were looking for. This is also supposedly goth rock? Ish? Probably the best song on the album. It gives off hard MTV's 120 Minutes vibes. Track 8 is Sueisfine. This is another nice little song. For MBV anyway. I don’t get this band. So far, 2/3 of the album has some decent songs, but the others are almost unlistenable for one reason or another. It could be that I’m an old square who can’t get with the times, but this was 1988. That was my time. Track 9 is Several Girls Galore and this song is interesting. It has an interesting slide guitar doing interesting slides. This is the best song on the album. It’s weird, but good weird, listenable weird. Wow, that was a good song. Track 10 is You Never Should and I’m starting to wonder why the songs on the second half of the album sound much better than the first 4 songs on the album. This is a nice alt-rock jam. This should have been a single. You put it with a good video ad, I bet MBV would’ve had a hit. Maybe MBV were one of those bands that didn’t want a hit or to be famous…which I never understood. You make art for people to enjoy, and why wouldn’t you want as many people to enjoy your art as they could? But today, I can see a band not wanting more people to hear their music. We live in a world of idiots who seem so unhappy with their lives that they love listening to or watching art they hate just so they can be a-holes and tell those people they hate them. I feel sad for the artists and the people who feel so bad about their lives that the only pleasure they get is trying to tear someone else down. Sometimes I loathe the internet. It’s sad, but I digress. Track 11 is Nothing Much To Lose and it’s another pretty good song. It sounds like any other alt-rock song from the 90s. Were MBV too early for this fad? Maybe they kind of were the originators, but only their clones hit it big? This song reminds me of Smashing Pumpkins, though I haven’t really heard a lot of their stuff. Really good song. I’m coming around on these mopes. Track 12 and the final track is I can See It. This is not as good as the last few songs, but it’s listenable. I’m so confused. At first I thought maybe there were two different songwriters, but Kevin Shields wrote all the music, sang lead vocals, and played guitar. And, what’s this? Shields is said to have invented the “glide guitar” technique. Huh? Okay, so when Shields plays the guitar, his hand is on the tremolo, or whammy, bar and as he strums, he pushes the bar in causing the notes to go out of tune, but lets the bar out finishing with the notes in tune. Supposedly, Shields believes the brain is kind of a step behind, and as long as the note finishes in tune, the brain won’t necessarily think the note is out of tune. Maybe in the beginning, it sounded out of tune because it was, but as the album went on and Shields’s technique continued, maybe subconsciously I realized what was happening, and the songs stopped sounding way out of tune? Maybe? I don’t know. It’s an interesting idea. I may go back and listen to those first songs again and see if they are still as bad as I first thought. As a whole, this album actually wasn’t that bad. Will I listen to it ever again? Probably not. Do I recommend you listen to it before you die? No. In fact, listening to this album before you die may take a few days off your life span. If you like alt-rock or experimental rock, then this is an album for you and the de facto originator of the shoegaze genre. In the end, I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it, but it definitely got better as it went on. And Several Girls Galore was a very interesting song and may be a great example of Shields’s glide guitar technique. (I went back and listened to the first two songs again, and on second listen, they don’t sound as bad as the first time around. I think I was so put off to begin with that it took me 4 or 5 songs to get my bearings. Still wouldn’t recommend this to anybody, but at least I can see it’s not just noisy garbage.)

My bloody ears

I was expecting to enjoy it a lot more since I like shoegaze, but it's just kinda rough around the edges

I had heard Soft as Snow (But Warm Inside) before and it's quite jarring and led me to think that Loveless was the more accessible album. However, as an opening track it's not fully representative of the sound of the album.

Pretty objectively terrible stuff. Off-time drumming, off-key vocals, poorly mixed. Could have been good if they put in some effort, but it just sounds like a band of 16-year-olds that don’t know what they’re doing.

Listening to Isn't Anything is like walking onto a raw, beautiful, but sometimes brutal construction site for shoegaze. I dig the one-take vibe, it's grittier and more spectral rock than their polished, later stuff. Tracks like "Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside)" and "Feed Me With Your Kiss" are super powerful, but sometimes it feels like a blurry mess of a soundscape where the vocals get lost in the guitar noise. It's definitely important and innovative, but it can veer into noise for noise's sake that's a bit much. I really like the album and think the glide guitar is cool, but it doesn't quite hit the heights of Loveless. Loveless feels like a solid wall of sound, while this one's more of a disorientating masterpiece that's still finding its feet. It's a great record that I'll come back to when I'm in the mood, but it's missing that extra magnum opus spark.

My first time hearing My Bloody Valentine. Some tracks vocals are too low. I enjoyed most of the instumentation however sometimes the guitar fuzz is over done.

Didn't love it. Unsettling.

Not for me. Kind of emo.

It’s okay. I liked the other album this list had me listen to better

I just can't. It's brutal.

I have heard a lot about this band and how crushingly loud they are, so I really was expecting something a little heavier? I think the production was cool, I like shoegaze and this definitely kicks that off. But as for the question "best albums of all time?" - I really don't think so. I think it is pioneering and influential, but not necessarily fantastic on its own. Just my 2 cents.

Not as bad as I had expected, some quite tuneful track,and not as many utterly tuneless one as I thought. Vocals were a bit hit and miss, but on the whole more hits than misses, but still too many misses. Really not my line, but better than I thought, just in case you were wondering I'm waffling because im trying to decide if its a 2 or 3. Oh sod it! Im feeling generous.

I persevered with this one a lot, because one of my mates loves this band. The first two tracks really tested me as they just didn’t have anything comfortable about them. Then ‘Cupid Come’ gave me something to work with and ‘(When You Wake)’ was really good. The second half of the album was much easier to listen to than that opening, so I thought it was all worth another play. Whilst I still struggle with it at times, there’s some really brilliant and different moments throughout. Other stand out tracks are ‘Sueisfine’, and ‘You Never Should’.

This is, in my opinion, one of the most ground breaking albums of the 1980's. Everyone loves '80's music' right? What's not to love? Kevin Shields and Belinda Butcher's unique guitar playing, I do mean unique as it was very different to anyone else before or since. Together with Debbie Goodge's thundering bass lines and Colm unpronouncable's drumming. They made such a glorious, fragile but bloody noisy racket. I love it. And then there was Loveless, but that's for another time.

Finally the last album of this nightmare pop-trilogy! How this awful band has gotten its whole discography on this list remains a mystery to me...

I can see the artistry I just don’t like it

couldnt get through first song

I do like this moody album, where you can’t hear the lyrics over the instruments, I have a few songs from MBV on playlists, it’s kinda cool

Nope

NINETEEN EIGHTY EIGHT??? This sounds like it was recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic for the depressed and overstimulated ears of saddest zoomers on the internet. This is almost anachronistic. Maybe some Gen-Z kids took so much ADHD medication that they were able to somehow end up in the late 80's via some sort of consciousness transmigration. Stranger things have happened. Well, that's not actually true in this case, but stay with me, my brain is failing. Lets put this in perspective. 1988 was 38 years ago, which is worrying for many reasons, but looking at the top songs for that year is mind-boggling. Faith by George Michael? Sweet Child O' Mine? NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP??? My Bloody Valentine pull off the coolest kid at the party thing big time. This had to have hit the public like a wet hammer. Wet hammers are heavier. Everybody knows that. "Isn't Anything" is confusing, heavy, and ultimately born WAY before its time. This was an educational experience in innovation and in what the depressed yet horny youth of the 1980's were up to. Godspeed you little freaks. 3 HIGHLIGHTS: On closer inspection, these are loafers

Spotify just has a single track so I had to hunt around for the album. I like their later work better. This record is uneven and the musicianship isn't as strong as Loveless, for example.

Couldn't listen to it

Very noisy

Album #49, My Bloody Valentine, Isn’t Anything ⭐⭐⭐ Bit of a spoiler, but Loveless is, for me, the best album of the 90s. I’ll probably be very hyperbolic when that comes up. I love My Bloody Valentine, and as an Irish man I kind of claim them as one of our own, even if they’re more of a transatlantic band. They have to be one of the weirdest bands of their era. This album feels more like a proof of concept in places than anything else. It’s heavy on the dissonance, and a lot of the tracks are very experimental, but it sounds a bit cheap at times, like the production is letting the band down. I can kind of see why Kevin Shields was so obsessive about Loveless and the sound he was trying to achieve, even to the point of bankrupting the label, because here it feels like the production is holding them back. But it’s not just the production, the songs aren’t as strong either. It’s lacking the beauty that Loveless has. This feels like a debut from a band that would go on to do much greater things. That said, it’s not bad at all. It’s definitely worth a listen. I prefer the more straightforward tracks to the more experimental ones. Again, it’s very heavy on dissonance and doesn’t quite have the same payoff. The vocals are those lovely, dreamy MBV vocals, but I don’t think their voices are particularly strong on their own, and that wall of sound they perfected later suits them much better. So yeah, I’ve ended up talking about Loveless a lot here, but this is still a good album. There are some great songs on it, and it’s clearly the sound of a band on the way to something bigger.

The Good: We are told it isn’t anything!!! The Bad: Having to listen to nothing... The Ugly: Nothing… as it isn’t anything… I do believe this is the last time I have to actively sit down and listen to a MBV album and that makes me happy. Could have been spared this shit though. So thanks for nothing, Mr D 1*

Another MBV album. I don't know if I'm getting beaten down by this style or they're improving, but this one wasn't too awful. I definitely won't be coming back. But there was a few long depressing rifts that were a bit enjoyable.

This is fucking awesome. Its like a more grunge focused MBV, but still with a lot of the shoegaze I was expecting. Such a cool album arc. They hadn't reached full form yet, but that's very cool to listen to in anticipation to Loveless. I'm feeling Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Tim Hecker, Cocteau Twins, and even M83 sometimes.

1.5

I've been a fan of MBV for decades at this point, mostly through Loveless. Only went back to this album until their reunion. I like the album more for talking a peak into the lab where they're doing early experiments more than the finish work they presented. Strange enough, the singles and EPs they released around this I liked better than the album as a whole. Still, absolutely love Soft as Snow and Feed Me with your Kiss.

Really didn’t like what was happening with the production here, made me uneasy and feel like I had to keep turning it down

Ok this was better than I expected. I thought this was one of those aughts pillow-punching eyeliner emo bands for millennials whose parents didn’t understand them. I stand corrected. This definitely has the bones of stuff I quite like & I don’t doubt a deeper dive would likely bring me around even more. Do I really have the bandwidth for that tho? No I don’t think I do. I will correct the record to note this band is actually good and pioneers of a particular indie sound whose later iterations are pretty great. As is I find this a bit too drone-y. Too much constant sawing and too little variation. I’m giving 2 & 1/2. I’ll allow the round up for stature & influence

I'm sure this was some seminal punk rock album or something, but it wasn't very nice to listen to. There were a few parts of a few songs that showed some promise, but that's about it.

wow a shoegazing genre - what a great way to emo-ify stargazing. So sad you can't even look up? This was truly just noise to me. Also something to be said that I couldn't even find the full album on youtube music (my preferred music channel for these albums) which is not normally an issue. Did I need to listen to this before I die?

This band truly have a unique sound, you can't argue with that. As with Loveless, I initially found it quite hard to digest, but it definitely got better with further listens. Didn't like it quite as much as Loveless though. Favourite tracks: Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside), No More Sorry, You Never Should.

It's kinda funny, sounds like Loveless half the time, and very 80's half the time

While I understand they wanted that kind of mixing, not hearing the singing because of the guitar and drums really irritated me the whole album. I know other bands do it as well and its supposed to be that way but to me its just to much. I don't really know what else to comment since that made me dislike it so much even when I went back over some songs what I just have to go with it being not for me.

Too heavy metal like

I liked it but I couldn’t find it on Spotify so I had to resort to YouTube and did not finish it all the way

Early shoegaze album from MBV that packed a punch back in '88. Still sounds pretty good even now and led to their follow up Loveless.

Fuzzes and fizzes between sweet and menacing - would be great to hear this sound taken to the extreme, which I understand they do pretty well in the end! Favourite tracks: No More Sorry, Nothing Much To Lose

More love letters to noise and distortion. If you're craving something raw and unfiltered, dive in, the guitars are thick as peanut butter, and the vocals are buried like treasure. It's not an easy listen, but it's got heart, and you've gotta respect their influence on later alt-rockers. Spins: 1 Playlist Additions - N/A

Tešil som sa na tento album, ale trochu som sklamaný. Poznám len ich novšie albumy, ktoré sú skvelé.

Good 👍🏻

Geen fan

soms vibeys soms bleh

het zegt me gewoon heel weinig… kwni ik voel hem niet

yuck!

What the fuck was happening in 1988 for this to be considered good music?! Instrumentally it’s not bad, but vocally it’s unforgivable.

Quite poor that.

Discordant

no me gusto, me molestaron las guitarras, me molestaba el ruido.

Didn't come up on Apple Music...

I suppose it sounded new and different in the 80s. Hazy, fuzzy, unclear vocals, shoegaze must be a state of mind, one I don't typically inhabit.

Nije loveless ali je i dalje shoegaze temeljac

Artistically interesting and unique. Enjoyed listening to this once but can't really imagine wanting to throw it on and listen again. Maybe just not really my jam.

Can hear the progression to Loveless but not a great album. Vocals are pretty weak all around. The standout is the bass.

Not particularly notable.

not on AM

80s alternative, shoegaze. Debut, Kind of weird wall of sound. Cool album with some great rock tracks.

Hard to get through.

fav song: cupid come detuned, abrasive, blurred 30/100

Just so bloody bad

What a load of crap

Really didn't like this one. Nasty production, sounded like there was background noise throughout. Offputting.

I wish I loved the rest of mbv's stuff half as much as I love sometimes. (If that were the case they would comfortable be among my favorite artists.) But this is decent too.

This is an extremely challenging album to rate because there is lots of odd composition and delays and screwing with envelope that makes it feel like two songs are playing at once… but it’s clearly deliberate. There’s parts that are pretty an other parts where I feel like I’m being attacked. This is really a 1-star and a 5-star in the same album.

Not really for me.

The drones are almost comedically loud over the actual music. On top of that, tons of distortion. And while I love me some industrial, there is a line somehow crossed here.

It's interesting I suppose but this droney music isn't really my jam.

Yes this was definitely My Bloody Valentine

Nah. Not for me.

Nice shoegaze. Doesn't do me much though. Just nice, I'm not is awe.

What the fuck. This is My Bloody Valentine? So painfully bad 80s in the first song so far. Horrendous. Off pitch, off beat, cheap drum tones. Ass. Second song was slightly better. Very clearly meant to be very tense and clashing, this is more palatable. I have a feeling this might be the best song on the album. Ugh. Fuck this I straight up am annoyed and pissed off they decided to make this bullshit. This is trash. This sounds like music made by a group of beginner level tone deaf musicians which is fine, make art but the musicality sucks and I don’t like listening to it. I couldn’t get through it. I listened to the first 30 s or songs 4-7 and I fucking quit. I guess being 88 release, this may have been one of the first real dissonant horribly foul album that probably sparked the whole 90s punk movement. This album really Isn’t Anything.

Was sceptical about this album at first. For 1988 this sound it’s fairly contemporary and out the box. It’s gritty and interesting. Mix is dated but the musical ideas are unique and you can see how it sits contextually in the development of music preceding it. A couple of very ethereal songs on here I really enjoyed. Lots of noise and dissonance too- this is a textural, emotional record. Not afraid to wear its flaws- and for that I admire it.

I remember being young. Being a young lad. A young lad hearing the name My Bloody Valentine. Hearing the name My Bloody Valentine and thinking 'with a name like that these guys must be awesome'. Ahh the naievity of youth. I remember hearing Loveless and thinking 'what the balls is this'. I remember being bemused that such a repetitive, tuneless dirge had been considered suitable for release. I remember being absolutely bewildered that it was considered one of the best albums of all time. A joke, surely. This is my first time listening to Isn't Anything. I don't know if this is worse than Loveless, but it's at least as bad. More of the same dismal vocals, clanging the same note/chord over and over, and droning trickery. The problem with MBV's work is two-fold. First, as undeniably innovative as their sound was, literally any fool can recreate it now with a decent digital amplifier. Play any note, loop and distort it, and sing 'aahhh-iiiii-oooooh'. Congrats, you are now My Bloody Valentine. Secondly, as with all albums which prioritize innovation over everything else, if you strip the studio trickery away, there is nothing left. Play any of these songs acoustic, with any instrument. Go for it. Go on, I'm waiting. You hear what it sounds like? Bad, right? I'm not saying they're totally useless or that Shoegaze is a redundant genre, but this is a a poor attempt at music by anyone's standards. I will say, when they actually try to write a good ol' fashioned song, they're not too bad. But those are few and far between. Take a band heavily influenced by MBV, such as My Vitriol. My Vitriol are vastly superior because they don't forget to add some melody and tone and shade.

Definitely is something. Soft as Snow is such an awesome opener. It makes the same sort of statement as Only Shallow. A quick drum roll to engage the rockers and then immediately MBV’s inimitable guitar tones. On Isnt Anything MBV aren’t yet bathing you in euphoric walls of sound, but they are taking the first baby steps in that direction. That being said the first few tracks are mostly just great lo-fi rock songs. Only when we get to All I Need do we see the first real murmurs of what’s to come on Loveless. The second half continues to pack punches. Sueisfine has undeniable punk rock energy, the Dinosaur Jr influence is strong here. Several Girls Galore and You Never Should would be capable singles. I did not realise I loved this album this much. The album suffers from living in the shadows of Loveless. It’s hard to give it a 5 when Loveless took their sound to unfathomable new heights. But if they never made Loveless this would maybe still be the best shoegaze album of all time, it’s that good. It’s almost a true no skips album for me, with only Feed Me With Your Kiss not really doing it for me. Also, excellent use of parenthesis in song titles. Fave Tracks: Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside), Lose My Breath, Cupid Come, When You Wake (You’re Still In a Dream), All I Need, Sueisfine, Several Girls Galore, You Never Should, Nothing Much to Lose, I See It (But I Can’t Feel It) 4.9/5

It is such a shame that MBV decided to practically strip their discography from online streaming platforms, but hey I still wanted to hear this so I found my own way. I always remember not liking this project all that much as it always came off as sounding just ever so slightly out of pitch, which is not a very common complaint I have but here it bothered me a significant amount. The first half of this project feels like some of the most unorganized Noise Pop I have heard in some time and that is really saying something. Then out of nowhere on the second half of this album MBV finally locks it together and serves up some borderline Proto-Shoegaze tracks that actually feel much more fluid and vibey. It almost feels like the band found their sound midway through and I swear these were the exact feelings I had the first time I hear this project. I try my damndest to enjoy this project but it is really wishy washy with myself and I still don't feel any strong feelings towards it. I respect what MBV is trying to do here but once they find their sound they truly start sailing with their overall music quality. Isn't Anything isn't anything worth your time if you aren't already head over heels for this band....

Couldn't listen

• Soft as Snow has a good chord progression, and I really like the drums throughout the song • (When You Wake) You’re Still in a Dream has a lot of energy. The shoegazey sound is definitely still there in its production, but it’s a lot more amped up • No More Sorry is so low key in comparison • Feed Me With Your Kids’ main riff feels a lot like L7 • Nothing Much to Lose is another much more structured song than the majority of the album • Closing out the album is I Can See It (But I Can’t Feel It), and it’s another very loose track. I don’t think I hated this album, but I didn’t like it. There were two or three songs that stuck out to me as being decent, but the majority of the album wasn’t anything of note. I can definitely see why the album was so integral to the development of certain genres, and it does sound like a newer album than it actually is. Favourite song: Feed Me With Your Kiss

A beautiful beast

i really do like this album but it's eclipsed by Loveless

another album to which i must tip my cap for inspiring artists who made albums i did like.

Fine?

I liked this a lot. It sounds more raw than loveless, which I appreciate

I don’t know why I waited so long to listen to MBV! It’s a little Pixies-ish and I’m into it.

Not very pleasant to listen to. Just a wall of discordant sound.

not my style conozco a la banda, escuché un álbum, conocía un tema de este, peroo no es mucho mi estilo igualmente no es malo solo es un genero q no me atrae mucho

Less than 10 seconds before I realized that this album wasn't for me. I'm not a fan of "shoe-gaze" I guess. Found it mostly discordant and didn't love the vocals.

I'm actually a little conflicted because while this was kind of a boring album, it was also kinda chill? Like I wouldn't tell someone to turn this off if they had it playing but I also don't love it enough to actively seek out this kind of music. Kind of like lo-fi in a way? Or like post-rock? This album was good at creating a vibe. A "angsty teenager locked in their room" kind of vibe. I didn't hate it, I didn't love it, and that's where I'm at with that.

2 stars - high pitched guitar whine just doesn't do anything to help the music in my opinion

That moment when you just awoke from a wonderful dream. You can't quite remember what it was about, but you can still feel how it made you feel. Forget the overly rigid loops of Loveless. This is their woozy, wonky, ramshackle masterpiece.

This album felt like an escalation, each song becoming louder and angrier. Favourite track: I Can See It (But I Can't Feel It)

All things considered, this is a really solid debut from a band pioneering a whole new genre. Shoegaze still had a ways to go, with it really taking off in the early 90s, but some of the most important albums in the genres formative years are still really interesting listens. I think that this album does lack a bit of focus, it's a cool collection of ideas that don't fit together as well as you would want them to. It still has all the things that you would want on a shoegaze album, the fuzzy guitar textures, dreamy and Incomprehensible vocals, but what they managed to achieve on Loveless that this album just doesn't quite have is putting it all together in a way that really makes it feel like a complete album.

Groovy. Post. Rock.

I just really hate these guys. Its like nails on a chalkboard

The pieces of what will make ‘Loveless’ in a few years are here, but they’re not there yet.

I can't say I loved this album on first listen, but something in it really resonated with me. Maybe it’s the mellow lyrics, maybe it’s the wall of sound that mixes interesting distortion, post-punk vibes, prolonged feedback, and all sorts of textures happening behind the chord progressions. MBV were pioneers of the shoegaze sound, and you can hear why. I can see myself revisiting it because as soon as I finished it, I replayed a few songs that had caught my attention. It’s definitely moody in a good way. I absolutely despised the vocal delivery on the first track, but things became more manageable after that. The two songs that made it worthwhile are "Lose My Breath" and "I Can See It (But I Can’t Feel It)".

“Every time I look at you Pins me to the ground Mirror me your memories, please And let me help you down” I am not a big fan of Shoegaze music but it is fair to say that my bloody valentine effectively invented and perfected it. This is not as fully developed as “Loveless” which is often touted as their masterpiece but I actually found myself enjoying “Isn’t Anything” more as a result. It feels fundamentally less shoegazey and the vocals aren’t as washed out. Huge parts of it are still not my thing and I do find the mixing in places flat out irritating but it is not irredeemable. Some tracks have an almost Pixies type feel about them which I really enjoy and they do achieve some interesting guitar sounds. It is just not enough for me to see my bloody valentine as the indie darling genii that everyone else seems to.

GET THIS SHITG BACI ON STREAMMING NOW OR I WILL KILL MY SELF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lots of ethereal, glossy shoegaze. Feels like drifting across astral realms. Balanced nicely with songs like Feed Me With Your Kiss and Nothing Much to Lose which are quite grungy. I think this album has a good balance of heavy drone with spacey effects that make it pretty accessible and a good introduction to the band and the scene.

A real mixed bag. The occasional flash of greatness but definitely not their best work.

I'm quite familiar with My Bloody Valentine, but I've never heard this album of theirs. I'm most familiar with their "Loveless" album which I quite enjoy. This is interesting to listen to from the standpoint of "oh, this is what they sounded like before they got to the Loveless-style wall-of-sound thing they had going." I don't enjoy this anywhere near as much as Loveless though. It's not terrible, but much more "meh."

Only 1 song is available on this album on Spotify and I couldn't find the whole album on my backup platform. The one song I listened to (Feed me with your kiss) was okay. Would like to hear more of the album.

Not my jam

Noise at its most beautiful and pure.

Some of what makes Loveless special is here, but a lot of it isn’t. MBV didn’t come out of the gate fully formed. There’s nothing to distinguish some tracks from their contemporaries, and the end result is just noise.

kinda good but also not memorable for me Will I listen to again: 31%

I wouldn’t have said this was my thing before, but I loved it.

Some good songs on here, but a lot of them are very noisy.

Overall: 7/10 This is probably their most accessible album. Whether or not that's a good thing is up to you, but I kind of dig it! Fav Song: I Can See It (But I Can't Feel It)

Ihan kamalaa. Tuntui että levy ei lopu ikinä.

Aivan tuntematon bändinä ja genrenä hyvin uutukainen itelle. Ei kyllä juuri uponnut joten 2/5.

Vähän turhan raakaa ja eksperimentaalia omaan makuun, keskivaiheilla pari viboiltaan itselle uppoavampaa kappaletta. Ilmeisesti aikansa teos ja aikakauteensa nähden erikoisuus. Näin ummikkona tuntuu vaan valtaosin huonolla tavalla raffilta ja liian sinne päin soitetut rytmit enimmäkseen ärsyttää.

Shoegaze Algunas piezas me recordaron un poco a Sufjan Stevens, puede que lo hayan influenciado en algún punto Buen punk de los 90s

Album No. 0145 on my list. Nice, my first My Bloody Valentine album on this list. I am a huge fan of “Loveless”, but for some reason I had never explored their music any further, so this was a completely fresh listen to me. And what can I say? “Isn’t Anything” is a pretty good album! I could identify a lot of similarities to “Loveless”, whereby “Isn’t Anything” does actually sound more like an 80s album - the whole rock sound really changed during the three years between the two albums. “Isn’t Anything” exhibits a more catchy pop sound compared to its predecessor, but lacks some of the energy of “Loveless”. And it misses the using-your-voice-as-an-instrument idea of that one. Still, very good shoegaze stuff: noise, dreaminess, introspection - good stuff! I will add “Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside)”, “Lose My Breath”, “Cupid Come”, and “(When You Wake) You’re Still In A Dream” to my playlist. This is my 3rd favorite shoegaze album, after “Loveless”, and Slowdive’s “Souvlaki” 4/5 stars!

Wow this is pretty bad, the instrumentals were just noise, not music and the vocals were so quiet they just get completely lost. There are parts you do hear just seem very blah anyway, all the songs sound the same, and the album became a tough listen to be honest. Overall, it had quite a dreary and slightly distorted sound which I was not a fan of, at the most this would make alright background music. Standout songs – literally none, the only half decent song was ‘Cupid come’, seriously why is this album on this list. I will give the 'Artists' credit with the album title though, this album really Isn't anything

music to get haunted to

Not so much.

Honestly, I found this kind of scary. It was fine as an album and I think I was expecting it to be a softer album that it was. But it was just so much darker and heavier than I thought. I would listen again but I think I’d have to be in a certain headspace.

This was up my street, but I found it a bit hit and miss. Some songs I thought were great but others didn't really land. Feels like potential that's just not quite refined yet. 3.5

Fine, but a lot of distortion which I don't love. Doesn't stand out. 2.5

Shoegaze music, replete with vacuum cleaner guitars, dream-like vocals and overindulgent studio work, was one of the many unique sub-genres that grew in prominence at the turn of the 1990s, and no band is more synonymous with those 'vroomp vroomp' guitar tones than My Bloody Valentine. 'Isn't Anything', the band's debut studio album, is not quite as multilayered and dense as their follow-up, the iconic 'Loveless', but the sound sits quite nicely in between that of Sonic Youth and The Jesus and Mary Chain. It's pretty hard to connect with the vocals in any real way because, as is commonplace in the shoegaze genre, they're quite hushed and get lost in the wall of guitar sound, but that guitar sound is certainly impressive, if a little bit over the top. I do enjoy some tunes on this record, like 'Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside)', 'Feed Me With Your Kiss' and 'Sueisfine', but 'Isn't Anything' is essentially the work of a band still figuring out their sound. Co-lead vocalist and guitarist Bilinda Butcher hadn't really settled into the band as of yet, and her presence isn't as strongly felt on this album as it is on 'Loveless'. The rest of the band sounds tight, but the barer production seems to leave them a bit more vulnerable, something they'd rectify (at an unbelievable studio cost) on 'Loveless'. So while 'Isn't Anything' is a nice-enough sounding record, it kinda pales in comparison to what they'd eventually accomplish with 'Loveless'. Still, it's a very important record in the shoegaze genre, so it warrants its status. Best songs: Soft as Snow (But Warm Inside), Feed Me With Your Kiss, Sueisfine

It aint' Loveless, but it helps explain how they got to Loveless.

Hard to find, this album has been pulled from most streaming services and is the only early MBV album I don't own

Some sources call this shoegaze. I've heard what I thought was good shoegaze, and it didn't sound anything like this. I found this physically painful to listen to, even at a low volume, and I'd classify it closer to noise rock myself. I didn't appreciate the craftspersonship here and didn't care for the album one bit.

so fucking good

I love Loveless, but this earlier album feels a little too immature

Amazing album, I can imagine it was a revelation at the time, unlike anything before it. Overlooked in the shadow of loveless and mbv but such a brilliant debut.

This is a good band, but yet another album on this list and I don't see much differences to the others. It's solid, nothing more, nothing less.

Me sobreestimuló

Sometimes there is reason you've not heard anything album vocals and melody seem out of sync and incoherent.

Loveless is the big MBV album, and don’t think I’d listened to this before. More of a Ride and Lush fan back in the day but think MBV output has aged better. Highlights ethereal Lose My Breath and the heavier more straightforward You’re Still In A Dream and Feed Me With Your Kiss. Poppier (but still noisy) You Never Should. Like a lot of the genre lyrics hard to decipher. Layered noise and sometimes melody. I would expect this would sound great on a proper sound system rather than on my work issue headphones. Closer to a 4 than a 5.

I would give them an award for the most appropriate band name for the sound they make. And also an award for sticking to their music principles. However, the slightly out of tune vocals / heavy indie guitar ratio is a little off for me here (Ride and J&MC do it better) plus the production isn't the greatest.

This doesn't perfect the noisy but ethereal paradox in the way that Loveless would, but lays down a good Marker.

Christ on a bike! Back to back underwhelming 80s British albums which in no way merit a place on this list. After the disjointed and underwhelming The The album I had to listen to yesterday, this tiresome dirge was a cruel and unusual punishment. In plain and simple terms, there’s really not much to enjoy on this release. At least I felt “feed me with your kiss” had the makings of a good song, even if it was ruined by overly aggressive guitars and god awful vocals. Otherwise nothing stood out as being in anyway worth listening to. The whole shoegazing scene was utterly forgettable, has failed to stand the test of time, and this album showcases why. No need to revisit, nothing added to my playlist.

I thought this was gonna be terrible and it wasn’t that bad but also pretty forgettable. While not being unbearable I don’t see why this is worth looking back on.

A little better than a 2 for me. Also not really what I was expecting.

This sounds like experiments for Loveless, not all successful. This lacks the cohesion of that album and a lot of it sounds dated.

Wonky as fuck. It sounded like my MacBook was tilted at an angle as I streamed it. Beyond all the dizziness, there's not a lot going on. Meat 'n' two veg indie songs played on out of tune guitars with reverb. JAMC did it far better.

I can’t find the full alblum 🤷

If you like what you hear in the first 30 seconds, you'll like the rest of the album. I did not and did not.

I love it. A classic. Oozing, humming, swirling; a dirty lovely mess.

It was ok, not my favorite band

Pretty good! I don't really know their music

This certainly sounds like the sort of thing music critics would love, but I just don't quite vibe with the (intentional or otherwise) noisiness

I could not listen the whole album Dramaaaat

Great straight ahead rock. A little loud and a little whiny, but so am I. While I do remember this album and band - and they set the stage for grunge, really, I don't think to put them on... but I will! solid 3

Dogshit.

Some good stuff but vocals a bit whiny. Worth a listen in the right mood.

Absolute baws

Just a whole lot of noise. Not my thing.

the production was kind of bad but it was still a pretty cool album

Not shoegazey enough tbh

Thankfully this one was really short, and I’m so happy I only have to sit through one more of their albums for this list.

Liked that.

Didn't listen to everything in it but I don't think it what I was looking for

Some really great moments that are so innovative they feel played out from the current moment, and also just a taste of what was to come. Solid!

Good stuff

Okay, I'm 48 and have been listening to MBV for about 30 years on and off. I think I can finally say, I don't actually like this album very much. The next album, Loveless, remains phenomenal, but the slight under production of this, and the atonal swamp noises of Soft as Snow as the opening track I just find really off-putting. Feed Me With Your Kiss remains a banger though, so there's that.

I really liked this I just wish it was mixed differently

10/10 best album ever omg

The right music for the mood I wanted to be in.

Getting past the first two tracks it is closer to what I like. This is the right side of interesting but listenable that stuff like neutral milk hotel is on. A minority of the tracks are toeing the wrong side of the line for me, similar to other experimental genre breaking albums

It's a powerful demonstration of their ability to make incredible sounds and droney music from only guitars and effects with pedals, all blended in a compilation of songs that hit hard and makes you travel into a new dimension. Absolutely recommended.

4/10 - late 80s transition into indierock from a punk sound, not my thing

Decent album preview of what was to come

Högt och lågt. Men nja.

It was eargrating.

Really good, on some songs I'm not a fan of the mixing, not enough voice and drums and the guitar being dirty can sound not terrible. Otherwise, I really liked it was really enjoyable 3.25/5

Not avail but listened to other MBV and think I got the gist. Don’t love

It's not just a phase, mum! Music for emos but came 15 years too soon.

Horrible listen Trying to hard to be shit, not as good as actual shit bands like the Shaggs I can understand why people liked it in the 80s and 90s, but those people are idiots and losers who have no self expression and just wanted to fit in

Boring

I must be a fat fucking chud because this music fucking blew. I wish I liked it, wanted to, in fact. But the fucking obnoxious ass sad boy vocals really just irked me and did not sound good. Like, what the fuck?

Life's too short to be having to sit through this. Gets 1 star for having an accurate title.

Was meh

Whatever shoe gazing is evidently i dont like it.

The first one of these I couldn’t find on streaming. Luckily I own the 2018 fully analog reissue of this on vinyl - and hadn’t had an occasion to bust it out til now! I would say this is a lot more melodic and less scuzzy than I expected based on the reviews here. I need to spend more time with this but think I could grow to love it.

i don't know if it is the whole genre of shoegaze or this particular album but i genuinely despised it. it was so tiring and i considered giving up a few times. i can't exemplify a single song which was at least "okay" and didn't make me feel like my ears are bleeding. i understand the importance of weird, unidentified noises in shoegaze style however it was simply too much. well, at least i can say one thing, it was for sure innovative in a way but i don't think i'm ever gonna revisit any of those songs.

Shame this isn't on streaming. Will need to listen to again.

Taking a star right off the top cause they don't have it on Apple Music and Spotify. It's 2026, get your shit together. I'm sure there's a reason but it's probably not a good one. There's really cool instrumental moments here but I'm just not into it and I'm on the third or fourth song. There's some great riffs, great beats. I'd like this much better if they didn't sing. Quite frankly, the vocals and whatever lyrics I could make sense of just killed it for me.

mbv <33

I had never listened to more than 1 song on this album before, but man this was very ahead of its time and sounds nothing like anything else happening in 1988. I don't think anyone realized guitars could sound like this. There is definitely a star here for sheer innovation - not all the songs here are equally good and a few of the noisy moments can get pretty noisy (it is MBV after all) but the highs are very high. I actually like the acoustic-tinged ones the best, and think Lose Your Breath is the high point for me. But this established a sound that became often imitated but probably never duplicated. Guitars go with out saying, the drumming is great too, but the standout is the female vocals and I think what really puts the icing on the cake. We'll get to Loveless at some point but really impressed with this overall.

Maybe shoegazing isn’t my genre

Wasn't on Apple Music. Wishing I didn't bother seeking it out

Think I would have enjoyed this album a lot more if it wasn't for the mixing. I assume it was an intentional choice to have the vocals so much more quiet than the instruments, but it didn't really work for me

I got both MBV albums on days where I am frantically cooking something for a party in the kitchen while I listen and can barely focus. It's beautiful though. More punk rock on this one than Loveless but still a lot of spacey noisey stuff. Will revisit when they figure their Spotify shit out.

If I use my time machine to go back and do away with MBV will I successfully prevent the 2020s shoegaze explosion?

I'm not what shoegaze music is, but if this is what it is then it's not for me.

Loved the music but catching the lyrics was so hard haha I was so overwhelmed idk why. It would’ve been great if it was rainy outside and I listened it not with EarPods

The first two songs has originality, but after that good ideas are fewer.

This band feels like a 'try hard' sort of sound. They want to be heavy prog metal and end up being what Taylor Swift is to pop....just a stupid shadow.

Not an album for people who have tinnitus. The droney, wall of sound mix just buzzed in my ears and was often indistinguishable from the usual sounds that I constantly hear. I'm kidding (kind of). There are some really good melodies hidden underneath that buzz and drone and this is a pretty good shoe gaze album. But the production and mix just buries them for the most part.

This album was a tale of two halves for me, first half made very little impression but I found the second to have a more interesting, Dino Jr kinda sound. Still, I've now heard all of MBV's albums and they just dont do it for me. I get how influential they are but I find myself barely remembering any specific songs or anything, they're just fine in my book and I'd never put them on spontaneously.

Fantastic layered sonic mix with great ambitious musicianship.

Noisy and all the songs sounded the same.

Oh, for crissakes, Bob... MBV only had three actual albums and you picked this one? Everybody knows that "Loveless" is the album you should hear before you die. EVERYBODYYYYYY!!!!!

Very interesting sound, as it has more hooks than I thought, while also being a precursor to the alternative sound out of the 90s.

4 out of 5. Good album and it makes me happy to know shoegaze gets better over the years.

top 3: - cupid come - (when you wake) you’re still in a dream - soft as snow (but warm inside) Unfortunately I wanted to like this more than I do. Separately all the elements are good but in some songs it just feels like something is missing

Solid album, but a little rough around the edges. You can really hear MBV laying the foundation for future albums like Loveless, which I consider to be an easy 5/5.

Very dissonant. A little unnerving.

Not my favorite style

Couldn't find a good copy of it so I'll have to come back to it

Only one track on Spotify. Not really a fan. Assuming the rest of the album is the same

album titles that are true

Ah, ça change des albums dont on se demande ce qu'ils font dans cette liste. C'est donc le fondement de la shoegaze et je dois dire que c'est super intéressant, assez bizarre et expérimental, mais j'ai beaucoup aimé, même si c'est assez déroutant. Mais je me le suis mis de côté, parce que c'était trop cool.

nahh

Hypnotic, comfortable, and my vibe

Boringly crap dull nonsense.

Bien

It was okay. Rather gloomy, good orchestrations but not a band that has ever really excited me.

Noise with barely heard lyrics. Pass.

Rock chaos. In a good way. I really enjoyed it, but I don't see myself listening to it a lot. Still, this has to be one of the albums everyone listens to. 4/5

So different to loveless or mbv, but also perfect.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: it's so weird to find out that my bloody valentine has released three albums. Like — only three? At the same time, it feels like they should have released more **and** less. On the one hand, the size of their impact makes it feel like they should have released more albums. Like, when I was younger and reading about 'loveless', I kind of always assumed there were plenty of others I just never heard about, but I'm sure the hardcore fans knew well. But then on the other side, it **does** sort of feel like they just dropped 'loveless' and then disappeared into the void. They invented shoegaze, and once that was accomplished they simply ceased to exist. Before 'm b v' it **was** the only one I'd ever heard about, so it wouldn't have surprised me to find out they were a one-album wonder. And I suppose in many regards they still are, but they don't have just one album to their name. And I feel like I can accept that 'm b v' exists. Y'know, the legendary shoegaze band reunites decades later to grace the world with one more record. To be clear, they **had** released a few EPs after 'loveless', but as for big projects, there was nothing until 'm b v'. And I can get behind it as a "legacy album," y'know? Comin' back to prove they still got it. That makes total sense to me, and if their discography stopped at just these two albums I'd fully accept it. But they don't have only two. They have three. And for a second, it was just sort of hard for me to accept that 'loveless' was **not** their first album. I mean, you hardly think about what happened before the Big Bang, right? But then I guess even **that** had to come from **something**, so... I'll tell you up front, the strangest thing about 'isn't anything' (at least to me) is how ... normal it is? In comparison to 'loveless' and what shoegaze is, anyway. This album feels a lot more typical of how alternative rock probably sounded back in the late 1980's. I'm very certain that if I was given this album without being told it was by my bloody valentine, I would've had a bit of a hard time guessing it was them, even with 'loveless' in mind. Which isn't to say you can't hear any of 'loveless' in this album. There are quite a few spots where the guitars fuzz out and the singer gets a bit drowned out by the noise and I go, "Yeah, no, this is that same band." It's just clearly a primordial version of what they'd eventually go on to achieve. And that's not a bad thing, I wanna stress. I realize that it's kind of unfair to keep comparing it to 'loveless'. It's such a towering record in the world of un-mainstream music, there's really no way you could escape its shadow. How could I rag this album for being in 'loveless''s shadow when 'isn't anything' could run for miles and still be in the dark? And I don't think I have been ragging it, but still. It's just ... way more conventional than I've come to expect from this group, and it took me a second to adjust. But once I did, I'll tell you, for what this album is, it's pretty good. It won't blow your mind the same way something like 'loveless' would, but as far as late 80's alternative rock goes, I liked it a fair bit. Mostly on a vibes level, I should say; I figured it'd be a fool's errand to try and pay attention to the lyrics, so I took the album entirely on its soundscape. There's a few spots where it drags a little, but on the whole, yeah, it's a good time. I'd say if you're not into how hard 'loveless' goes, you might enjoy how much more traditionally alternative this thing is. And that does it for the trilogy of my bloody valentine albums. If there's any takeaway I have from finally dealing with this album, I guess it'd be that while I'm not surprised 'loveless' is pretty much the only one people remember, I think there's some merit to be found in the other two albums. For sure, it's absolutely an acquired taste; I'm not recommending these to the feint of heart or feint of butt. However, if you can gel with 'loveless', you'll probably find a lot to enjoy about these records. I sort of doubt I'll ever come back to 'em, but at the very least I can say I appreciate 'em. By far, too, they've made some of the best shoegaze I've heard from this list — and that isn't anything to spit at. (Now if only I could figure out how the '87 'My Bloody Valentine' film and its 2009 remake fit into things~...)

Sounds a lot like your more traditional 80's alternative, but on some tracks, you can hear the seeds for what would eventually blossom into their Loveless-era sound. Solid 4 Stars.

I’m at a 4. I mean, it just feels like a less polished version of “Loveless”. That’s my first & most immediate impression, but I’ll be fair to them, since this is their first album. “m b v” would probably get a 4 from me if I relistened to it nowadays, so I think this lines up just fine. A lot of the DNA of what would make “Loveless” work is here, it’s just not as refined – lots of louder, overwhelming instrumentation that feels closer to a poorly mixed version of a Sonic Youth track as opposed to the brand of shoegaze they’d make famous in ‘91. A lot of the ‘80s production quirks are still here, including some drum machine use & gated reverb drums, but those same quirks lead to a fuzzier & more “buzzy” sound overall, often too reminiscent of “Psychocandy”’s overused & overblown wall of sound, though thankfully not as bad here. It is the production that ultimately drags this thing down, along with a litany of other little things that build up – a few middling intros, some overly loud outros (why the fuck did “Cupid Come” need to do that?), a little too much white noise at points, and a few moments where the emotional tone of the instrumental doesn’t vibe as well with the vocal / lyrical tone (most apparent on “Several Girls Galore”, at least to me). I’m still at a 4 because I did happen to enjoy a lot of this, and most of what I mentioned are things they would clean up more fruitfully by “Loveless”. Again, there’s a little bit of a pass since it’s a debut studio album. The floor here is probably a 2 if those production eccentricities are too much of a boon, and I’d honestly call it fair. This is closer to a 3.5 bumped up to a 4 as opposed to a flat 4 for me, but I think it’s still enjoyable if you have some kind of acquired taste for shoegaze. I do think it’s the least polished of the My Bloody Valentine albums we’ve gotten, but again, it’s their first one. There’s 9 solid to great tracks here & 3 that outright didn’t work for me, but I guess 9/12 isn’t a bad mark to hit. Hence, a 4, and one I’d say is worth listening to (though it should definitely be after you hear Loveless, just to get a better feel for it). I dunno if it HAD to be on the list, but I’m not opposed to it being here.

I get why it’s not for everyone, but the guitar sound is ahead of its time

Album 988 of 1089 Isn't Anything - My Bloody Valentine (1988) Rating : 1 / 5 This one was a complete miss for me. I know this album is often praised as influential and important, but enjoyment-wise, it offered absolutely nothing. Most of the music felt buried beneath layers of guitar static and distortion to the point where any melody, structure, or songwriting was nearly impossible to latch onto. Instead of sounding immersive or atmospheric, it just came across as muddy and exhausting. I kept waiting for something to break through the noise, and it never really did. I understand why fans of the genre admire this album and its place in shoegaze history, but influence doesn’t automatically translate to listenability for me. This was not a case of “it might grow on me later.” It felt like a chore from start to finish, and once it was over, I was more relieved than reflective. No thanks - I’m comfortable leaving this one behind.

# Album Name: Isnt Anything # Artist: MBV # Rating: 1/5 # Comments: Nah, this lot aint for me. Everything is out of tune and doesnt sound right to me. # Top Tunes: None # Would I listen to it again? No

4/10

Time and time again I'm reminded that progressive music isn't always good. My ears are not tuned for this and this is not a band I am sonically prepared for. Any attempt a melody is drowned out with noise. And sort of song writing evaporates in the mix. I hate this upon listen but do appreciate what shoegaze did for metal and rock. Maybe I'd like their later stuff but I recall every album difficult.

What's the deal with the mixing on this album? The vocals sounds like they are way too low in the mix — I feel like I'm listening to a band performing in a train station, and not in a good way. I can understand why this album is on the 1001 Albums list, but it just isn't for me. I like the ethereal wash of sound to an extent, but after maybe 5 minutes of listening to this album my ears started to fatigue. The constant assault of white-noisy distortion and cymbal wash made me feel like I was in a high school band room at lunchtime — it might just be my own personal experience, but that isn't a positive thing. If Dinosaur Jr. records shit songs that still somehow sound good, My Bloody Valentine filled "Isn't Anything" with shit songs that also still sound like shit. Is this album innovative and creatively inspiring? Sure. Did it inspire me? It inspired me to not listen to it again, if that counts. Song pick: the most bearable tune on this album for me was the last one, "I Can See It (But I Can't Feel It)".

This was a decent album. Certainly not my favorite

Ehh not my thang, I guess not the worst thing in the world, but I'd plainly just prefer to listen to anything else thats not in this genre. 4.5/10 as some of it was interesting, made me think.

Too one note for me

My bloody ears.

Probably a bit biased to rate as this lot are probably one of if not my favourite band ever, but I feel like the more I hear this album, the more I think that its perhaps more influential than loveless (maybe not in some ways but totally yes in others). Probably a good way to describe it is 'raw', as some of the mixing is a bit dodgy, but in a perfect way somehow, that probably feels like how they were to see live at the time, with just an unfathomably loud guitar totally drowning the vocals. I feel like the vocals are more audible than loveless though. Kevin Shields' guitar tones on here are totally out of this world, some are a lot more standard, but the droning 'glide' guitar stuff like on the first song and you never should (and loads more) still haven't really been done the same and as effectively as they have here. There's also a couple of haunting acoustic songs on here, which I'm not sure I liked at first, but I totally do now, it definitely breaks up the louder stuff. I feel like the most incredible thing with mbv is that if you take the distortion away, a fair few of these songs could just be pop songs, which I don't think any of the members would deny, but they're just done in a really unique way, I suppose quite similarly to what the Jesus and Mary Chain did earlier on in the 80s. I feel like this album is a lot more varied than some of the stuff they did (but both are great). I think all I need could be one of the most unique and brilliant and ahead of its time songs. (reminds me a bit of sometimes from loveless). The drummer (who I'm not sure I want to attempt to spell his name) has one of the coolest styles ever, where he just plays crazy fills which are part of the part, like in feed me with your kiss and nothing much to lose (and more). And obviously the Kevin Shields/Belinda Butcher duets and individual singing are amazing, they've both got totally different voices. Yeah overall just a totally groundbreaking album, I am often in awe of how good some of it sounds with every relisten. Favourite songs: all, but my absolute favourite is you never should (probably top 3 mbv songs for me). Overall around 10/10 (sorry nothing less)

Not available on Spotify

Not bad

*An ok album if you prefer screeching and banging instruments

A good album, I liked Sueisfine and Several Girls Galore the most.

This really sucks. 1 star or F-.

Won't let me listen on Spotify.

i'm not melancholy enough for this but give me 20 minutes to turn into that girl smoking in the snow and maybe i'll understand it better

i fucking hate this. AND it's not on spotify.

Seriously boring.

*1988. Irish 'shoegaze'. *I learned from the comments: Shoegaze is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by ethereal soundscapes, obscured vocals, and extensive use of guitar effects and distortion, often producing an immersive "wall of sound". *I really didn't like the first MBV album that was this list. This album is much better. *Some good-ish tracks, but also some unlistenable ones that really detracted from the good stuff. RATING - 5.5/10

this was good, each of their albums has a different style, this was quality though

Not too familiar with this band but sort of recognized a few songs I may have heard while doing some research on the shoegaze craze. Would like to have seen them live.

Already listened to this. Not a major fan of shoegaze. Bit monotonous. Droning vocals hid very low in the mix which isn't to my taste. Little emotional reaction to this

Very uninspiring grunge rock

I was very surprised to see this album on the list, pleasantly surprised, but I came in expecting to see low scores. I do like this album a lot, and I'm giving it four stars, but it's extremely uneven. There's maybe three or four very good tracks, and a similar number that just seem to miss the mark. Once I got to the end, I felt the need to go and listen to Loveless again, and it's almost jarring how much better the production is. While Loveless is close to perfection, Isn't Anything just feels out of focus slightly. It's like you're tuning into an obscure radio channel and it keeps going out of tune a little, you retune and it gets better for a bit, but then it shifts again, and before you know it, you're listening to static.

Rough around the edges but overall pretty great. The production is a little muddled but I think that's part of the charm. The overall vibe is like a warm melancholy and sounding just a little out of focus. Like the Pixies this feels ahead of it's time and hugely influential to the alt-rock scene that would spring up in the 90s and even the emo scene that followed after. I'm eager to hear their other albums.

More 80s British nonsense

It is something. It is more shoegaze.

not my vibe

It has some nice trippy music on it.

3/10 Its just plain wrong to call this ethereal or dream pop, its far too atonal and discordant. Shoe gaze is a technique more than a genre and this qualifies at that. That being said, I dislike this and I have shit to do. Not really, but I'd rather find something to do. I know this band and album are important to people, but holy shit guys. 11-20-2025

Couldn’t find full album

This wasn't available on Spotify and I didn't feel like spending money on it so I just listened to all of the 30 second previews on their website. Sounds like a project that I'd semi enjoy. Gonna give it a 3/5 and let fate decide if I'll ever listen to it fully.

The right kind of noisy.

"Loveless" will always be the album I think of when I think of My Bloody Valentine. It's a bold and unique example of shoegaze where drones completely take over the soundscape. "Isn't Anything" is a comparatively modest debut album. It feels more rooted in sad indie rock like The Smiths until the drones slowly take over. It's potentially the more interesting album as you can see the evolution of the band more clearly. Their later work would lean into the MBV sound, but here it's being created and fleshed out. It makes it a bit more accessible as well as more varied. I can't easily say that one is better than the other but I do really like the purity of "Loveless" which gives it an edge. It's definitely interesting to explore how they got there though.

I liked Cupid Come. The rest felt like they would be part of a concept art piece and they needed more to me. Maybe it is partially because I still can't hear the vocals or what they are saying most of the time.

hmm.. I kind of like this band. They have a weird sound. It's pretty creative sound alchemy. This album could maybe go up to a 4 after I've had time to sink my ears into it with several listens.

Pre-Loveless MBV is slightly more awake and coherent but still furiously pushing that highly influential art rock button. I often wonder if Bilinda Butchers voice is so hidden and hazy because she simply can’t sing very well. If that’s the case, then they accidentally stumbled upon a crazy cool genre of music because of it. It’s reminiscent of Michael Stipe’s unsure mumble in Murmur. Kevin Shields’ voice is way more confident, as is his super forward thinking production. The amazing melodies in these songs don’t stand out on first listen since there is so much haze to this music. Though I’m not obsessed with MBV, I totally get why people are. They were the inspiration for my favorite bands to eventually rip off. Fun note: this is the first album I’ve come across that is not on Apple Music, but I already have it and know it, so it was a nice revisit from an old school, already downloaded to the laptop listening experience.

Do we really need THREE mbv albums in this project? I hope this is the last one. It had some rockin' moments, but overall this band just does nothing for me. Their music feels so muffled and messy and meandering. Good on them for pioneering a new music genre, but it's not a genre I particularly enjoy. This is more of a 2.5, but I'll round up because of their influence I guess.

It may not be for everyone, but I remember being excited that there was actually some new/strange/interesting shit to listen to as the 80s came to a close. We had all had enough of AC/DC, Whitesnake, and the Scorpions.

You ever find those songs on YouTube that are “X song but if it was written with minor chords”? This sounds kinda like that. It seems to be intentionally dissonant at times. I like to think I have at least a little tolerance for material that functioned as a blueprint for forming a genre or trend down the road, in this case shoegaze. But this just didn’t click on any level for me. Especially with the knowledge that MBV did this sound justice later on. ‘Isn’t Anything’ sits in an uncomfortable middle ground between being a background-listening, passive sonic atmosphere and a listening experience worth paying any close attention to. 1/5

I did quite enjoy this though it strangely sounds quite dated.

Alternative, 2021, Only 7 songs The first 2 songs are purely instrumental but have very different vibes. Third song is very stringy violins that sounds panicked, also no lyrics This album does feel very sensual

My favourite valentine of all the valentines ❤️

Alright. Felt kind of monotonous to me.

It was alright

вайбово.