Loveless

No dynamics. Just loud and feedback. Shoegaze emo is not my jam.

Alsof de middelste speaker van je surroundset is uitgevallen. Het is niet de bedoeling dat je de zang verstaat, gesteld dat je er geïnteresseerd in zou zijn. Liefdeloos is het, inderdaad, en vermoeiend om naar te luisteren. Het boeide de band niet of het een beetje leuk zou klinken. Zucht. Met dit derde album is in ieder geval de gifbeker van deze knurften eindelijk geleegd.

Ik heb een regel voor mijzelf. Ik luister de albums gewoon helemaal uit. Hoe belachelijk ze soms ook voorgeschoteld worden door de lijst. Maar.... Als het het derde album van een band is die al twee maal 1 ster scoorde, én dat voor de derde maal komt door een belachelijk geluid, dan maak ik na meer dan 1000 albums toch één uitzondering. Niet alleen dat. Ik heb na de paar nummers die ik nog wel kon luisteren, zelfs een paar dagen helemaal geen zin meer gehad in ook meer iets in deze lijst. Waarmee het duidelijk is dat dat My Bloody Valentine wat mij betreft een loden grammy ontvangt voor de allerslechtste band.

Verrek, dat eerste nummer ken ik gewoon. Ik was eigenlijk al voorbereid op de inmiddels 3e matige plaat van My Bloody Valentine, maar door dat eerste nummer gaat dit misschien redelijk meevallen. Hoopte ik, maar het tweede nummer is weer precies hetzelfde irritant wazige geluid met veel echo en ruis. Het zuigt heel veel energie weg. Ik krijg hier zelfs zowat hoofdpijn van. Gelukkig zit er meer samenhang in het middelste gedeelte en laten ze de vreemde vertraging weg of is die minder prominent aanwezig. Om op het eind het er weer in te pleuren. 1 album van deze figuren was wat mij betreft al meer dan genoeg. Op basis van dat beginhitje zou ik zeggen dat ze dan het beste dit album zouden hebben gekozen. Ik heb eerder een 2 en een 3 gegeven. Door het eerste gedeelte van dit album heb ik even gespeeld met een 1. Laat ik het op een 2 houden, omdat ik "only shallow" oprecht een prima nummer vind.

The inconsistencies of the fuzzy, psychedelia and dreamy feel is what makes this album great. The quintessential shoegaze sound, multilayered and heavily textured. Agglomeration of waves.

I don’t like it as much as others do but still a 3.

Ne zamee

*stops, began gazing at shoes for a whole munite* holy shit i was deciding to listen to this on its 35th anniversary near the end of the year. or on a night flight when i feel dizzy. why does it have to come under broad daylight. but still i listened with good headphones at an ungodly loud volume. and wtf this is too awesome. instant 5/5.

I was about to turn this off but the middle of the record was better than the beginning. I can hear the influence this had on some records I really love - early Smashing Pumpkins and early Sloan specifically. I like the static-y sound when there was a ‘song’ to go along with it haha the muddy static for no reason was not my fave. This is almost a 4 for me. Maybe a few more listens would get me there.

you gotta remember that these guys came about and did something that no one had even thought about before revolutionising music changing the scene forever bringing new meaning to sonic spaces lower case song titles. what u think it was that billie eilish? your precious Taylor swift?? You dumb zoomers no it was the bois & girls from Dublin & you best remember it 7 / 10 best track/s: when you sleep, soon

Only one song was listed on Spotify, but honestly didn’t try to kill myself finding the rest cause it just all sounds the same for me.

Highlights - Every song except Touched Lowlights: Touched Loved this, wish I could hear what anybody was saying tho.

otro album que suena muy igual pero no está mal, soon es mi favorita

Perfect from start to finish

This is such a perfect album. Took me a few listens, but has become one of my favourite albums of all time. Holy peak alert Just such a vibe. Listening to this album with good speakers or headphones is probably as close to heaven as we can get. Ear porn fr

Before: This is a 5. In fact most songs on the album are a 5. I have 10 of 11 tracks in my best of 1991 list which only has 84 total. so MBV comprises 12% of the list in terms of titles. In mind, this album is the definition of shoegaze. During: I've heard this so many times there's really no point in listening to it again. I absolutely would but it's not available on Spotify for a few months now and I really don't feel like trying to piece it together from YouTube clips. I do have it on vinyl down in the basement, buried in the back of a closet. OK, so I did find the full album on YouTube Music, so here goes... After : 5, no doubt. This for sure is one of my top 100 albums of all time. Maybe even top 20.

If there was one thing I learned from this list is that I can't get into noise pop or shoegaze or whatever the hell is supposed to be, and I really tried to like it.

Goddamn I wish this was on Spotify. Hard for me to keep it all straight in my head, but this was pretty damn cool. Take a 3 second snapshot from any point in the album and it sounds like messy noise, but put it all together and it seriously transports you. Shoegaze, maybe at its best. A great listen. Also, what a perfect opening to an album.

Groundbreaking shoegaze record, which means literally everything in the indie scene to come after it has been touched by it in someway. "Only Shallow" and "When You Sleep" are obvious highlights but the whole thing is just a really good album to put on and sit with.

It's nearly impossible for me to write about this record without sounding like a fanatic. There is simply no other album quite like this one, a perfect marriage of volume and delicateness, of melody and distortion, of beauty and, well honestly it's just fucking beautiful. I'm sure Bob can name 10 others just like it, but for me, in shoegaze, and frankly in 90s alternative, MBV stands head and shoulders above the pack. And this is their undisputed masterpiece

I missed this when it came out back in the day as I was in grunge mode in the early 90s. This is pretty solid. Lots of fuzz and noise but has a hint of vulnerability that makes it click. Pretty cool.

Love these distorted guitar sounds. It's what I live for. I can definitely here some Britpop-like elements in here, which I think make it worse. Drumming isn't great either. But on the whole this was good. This is a band I've been meaning to listen to for a while now, and I'm annoyed I didn't do sooner. Very atmospheric - the vocals do so much for this atmosphere building - and, again, I love a distorted guitar.

I really liked this. Solid grungy rock that just had me banging my head

I remember My Bloody Valentine from my Youth, but not ever listening to them, and as someone who has gotten into shoegaze over the past 5+ years, I’m glad this list gave me the chance to listen to this album that was very important to the genre. This was a banger!

Säröä. Melusaastetta. En keksi tilannetta jossa tämä menisi. Ehkä jonkun kidutussession taustamusana.

Huomattavasti koherentimpaa ja jalostuneempaa saundia kuin aiemmalla levyllä. Tämä oli jo kuunneltavaa, pyöritin pari kertaa läpi ja vaikkei välttämättä jäisi jatkuvaan soittolistaan, niin oli kuitenkin mielenkiintoinen levy ja paljon siistejä juttuja.

another longstanding fave of mine. (yes this review is all in lower case) the grand daddy king of album covers that look like the album sounds it's a cliche but it really can't be overstated how important it is to listen to this a bit louder than you'd probably like to as there's so much buried in the mix "only shallow" is an immediately great track from the first 4 drum hits, but the rest of the album takes a bit more time to sink its teeth in. for me "when you sleep" and "sometimes" were the next obvious "catchy" tracks. then i sort of realised one day that "to here knows when" is like being carried away on an ethereal wave "soon" starts almost like a stereotypical 90s british alt rock track that someone like stone roses might have made (suspiciously similar to fool's gold), until they switch on the hoover about 45 seconds in

Definitely sounds better with headphones on, listened in the car also and it just didnt hit the same. Not sure exactly what i was expecting with this, idk if this was it. Did really enjoy it, i think this could grow on me still also (4/5)

Not on Spotify. Going to need to come back to this one. Update after finding it on YT, how did I miss this one in the 90s? I really, really liked this.

Can’t quite get it to 3. The effects are too often ineffective. Some bits are pretty good though. 2.5

likeless

Very encompassing. Feels like getting blasted by a wall of sound. Did not finish due to overstimulation. 1/5

Unfortunately this album is not available on my chosen streaming platform, so I had to listen to a low quality Youtube rip. I think I have an idea of what it is going for but if you're mad at this review, please dont be lol. 2.5/5

Made me so excited about what a guitar and music could do.

I do like dreamy shoegaze music but I kind of need to be in the right headspace for it

If I liked shoegaze more, I'd probably like this, but it just ain't my bag.

Noise music

It was ok. I preferred their other album that came up here. I’m finding that I’m quite enjoying the drone music, providing it’s vocal-free.

Wow! Expected to hate it, but it so creative, has so cool sonic landscapes that includes both vulnerable pop melodies and arrangements and wall of noise... This is so artsy, that it changed my mind about this type of music.

Pretty great; there was one track where the dissonance wasn't agreeing with me, but overall I really enjoyed this. 4/5

Been listening to this album for over 20 years now. It's great and it introduced me to a lot of new sounds at the time. Really appreciate this one. 4.5/5

Wasn’t on Spotify so listened from YouTube. Wondered if the upload quality wasn’t great, eventually accepted no it’s supposed to sound this way. So much going in that for me it turns into too much. Makes it hard to appreciate each thing. Atmospheric for 5 minutes or so, but eventually felt trapped in an endless loop. Don’t know what the point was of having different tracks, they all felt the same. I kind of get it, but…nah.

Je le vois passer dans des listes depuis des années et je ne m'étais encore jamais sérieusement penché dessus. Et maintenant que je l'ai fait, je dois dire que je suis très content de mon écoute. Je connais assez mal la shoegaze et c'est l'un des meilleurs exemples que j'ai pu entendre jusque-là. Parce que My Bloody Valentine ne se contente pas d'avoir un son assez vague et un chant peu mis en avant. En plus de ce qu'on peut attendre d'un album du genre, on a aussi un côté noise très appuyé qui rend l'album particulièrement onirique et rend la musique d'autant plus distante, souvent cachée par la couche d'effets sonores (entièrement faits à la guitare noyée dans des effets, si j'ai bien compris). Rien à dire, c'était vraiment très cool.

Dense, overdriven guitar layers built from swirling distortion, buried melodies, soft but submerged vocals, and endlessly droning textures move this shoegaze album like standing directly beneath a jet engine painted in pastel colors—hypnotic in theory, but in practice so loud and saturated with noise that it strains the ears and blurs everything into a relentless wash.

Not my favorite kind

Lovely dreamy shoegaze

A pinnacle of shoegaze and essential album in alt-rock history. Shields is up there with the best of them in terms of innovative use of guitar. He can make a guitar sound so un-guitarlike, creating woozy textures and beautiful melodies of unfamiliar sounds. I don’t even care what the lyrics are (and don’t know despite years of listening) - the music does it all for me on this one.

I appreciate what they've done but this just isn't for me. Also, it wasn't a Spotify.

I got to see, in real time, the cultural shift which made Loveless (and shoegaze at large) go from music for only the most far gone of Pitchfork readers to the soundtrack of Gen Z music nerds' specific type of ennui. And honestly, it kind of makes sense. This album has a really particular emotional palette. The guitars straddle the line between euphoric and crushing, the melodies are pleasant, and almost hopeful, but the vocals are small and despondent. The result is an album that makes you feel like you're in a dream, having an overwhelming sensory experience. And I can see how people connect so closely to it, especially considering that these songs are ultimately pretty approachable pop on a structural level. But I don't quite connect as closely here as the true believers. And it ultimately comes down to the writing I think. I don't think that, on a writing level, any of these songs are really fantastic (with the exception of When You Sleep, which is very well written). But ultimately this is an "aesthetics" album, so I can let it get away with some of this. But where I think Loveless succeeds most is in it's guitar playing. Loveless' guitar tone and playing style is kind of a generational accomplishment in guitar music. Kevin Shields did basically reinvent the guitar on Loveless, and I don't think anyone has really replicated it. The playing is so textural and so deeply abstract that the melodies sound like they were carved out of a wall of sound, rather than played. Although, there are still melodies that kind of emerge; it's abstract, but not formless. And I think it really is ingenious, and unique. Even if I don't think this is really a perfect album, I do really appreciate the soundscapes here and admire the construction. I just can't quite connect on as deep a level as some people, mostly due to the songwriting. That being said, I am also the kind of person more built for My Bloody Valentine's live show than their albums. I want my noisy music to really hurt. So basically, I'm not ruling out the possibility of this becoming a 5 if I'm ever able to hear it at irresponsibly, *truly* dangerously high volumes.

A big nope on this one. Just not enjoyable to listen to.

soothing drony noise pop. for me, that train has long since departed. if i long for sth in that direction, my favourite drug still is Nine Inch Nails.

of course

Shoegaze classic and foundational. How can you go wrong?

Maybe I was in the right mood to listen to shoegaze ... I actually enjoyed it. "Loveless" just might be the best album in that particular sub-genre.

Can appreciate the influence and originality but MBV aren't one I've felt compelled to return to over the years. Still good stuff.

i loved the whole tone we stay in. feels like im in the band and we're on a rollercoaster

It appears that this album has been removed from all streaming sites. I got lucky and found it on YouTube. I wonder why it was removed? In any case, I was not a fan of this. Very psychedelic and hallucinating sounding. The weird whispering and altered voice at the beginning really put me off.

I didn’t know this anlbum—and I should’ve. Moody, full of wonderful(!) distortion. I’ll come back to this.

Going to rate it higher than I thought I would. Far better than the last album on this list I listened to. Some good riffs and life to it

I would like to like this more. And it has its place. But I heard it about 15 years ago and I hardly ever choose to put it on.

Belanglos

Not my genre at all, potentially good music but spoilt by the production

90s indie rock. Shoegaze with floaty, hard guitars. Dreamy grunge rock. Experimental and chaotic after first track.

wenig hörbar.

Shoegaze, jetzt weiss ich woher gewisse Bands diesen Stil haben. Faszinierend aber schwer erträglich.

Meh.

Oh yeah

Love this. So much grunge & ambience, creating the warmest & heaviest of soundscapes. For some reason I always used to think that my bloody valentine were a screamo heavy metal band, but how wrong was I? I’ll definitely be coming back to this album as I’m sure there is so much more to pick out from it after first listen. If there’s one criticism, I’d argue it’s slightly too long and some songs do blend into one another, but it’s only minor criticism. 9/10.

Very different soundscape with distortion and synth, good find from the list. only complaint: not on spotify or apple music. Favorite track: only shallow other picks: i only said, when you sleep, soon

Oh I love this NOISE. Right up alley. I wanna be in a really hipster basement in college with a lukewarm PBR

rock experimental, voces tranquilas, guitarras distorsionadas, un poco psicodélico, 3/5

Sounded like just nose but hard to find online. Listened to album as one track on YT music.

Couldn’t find this ?

never could listen on spotify

Hm, this album isn't on Spotify. I'll check some out on YouTube. I really like this album! I thought My Bloody Valentine was like screamo. This is really good. I like the early 90s vibe. Can't quite put my finger on who it reminds me of. 5 stars!

Mmm…

If Loveless before, there's certainly none coming from my direction

Listened to a couple of tracks but not motivated to continue

Cool album. Standout songs: only shallow when you sleep what you want

This website sure loves noodley records.

Worth a re-visit.

I wanted to love this, I really did. A few standouts early on - only tomorrow, who sees you, and is this and yes - but in the end too much distortion and too many repetitive sections. It becomes tedious and annoying…how are you supposed to listen to this with others in the car. I stick with Beach House for my dreamy atmospheric shoegaze. A 4 for the 3 songs mentioned; 2 for the rest. 3/5

sobe o tom de voz, pelo amor de deus pressão baixíssima e ainda palhaçada de música em lowercase

One of the most revolutional albums of all time! Not my type of music but i get it!

47. avg mbv

This and Can's Tago Mago are the best two albums on this list.

I really enjoyed this.

This was cool n I didn’t know the band and had to find this album on YouTube but was very worth it for real 90s grunge sound

I want to start a garage band.

Sick

I was told, "It sounds like the cover looks" and it's true. The first thing you notice are the washes and waved of noise that seem to cover everything. But underneath those clouds of sound is a solid sense of melody supported by some great harmony choices. The vocals are set way back in the mix but since the lyrics seem unimportant anyway, seemingly being there to add to the texture, this doesn't matter. Comparison with Sonic Youth or Jesus and Mary Chain or even White Light/White Heat era Velvet Underground seems appropriate, but this is something lusher and richer. Call it shoegaze if you want, but what wonderful shoes.

Tedious. As. Fuck. This list is missing too much great non-anglophone music for their to be two albums by these wankers.

Another unique experience for me. I like how layered and textured each track feels like.

Lots of distortion, wall to wall guitars, no time to breathe. While I appreciate the experimentation and forward thinking nature of the album, I was slightly overwhelmed at all times while listening to this. Perhaps it just needs a re-listen to appreciate fully. 6.5/10

A ghost recorded this album. I didn't understand anything.

??? ok indie noise pop spiritueller vorgänger von radiohead und smashing pumpkins und die gitarrengewitter sind fett ->yt-hit only shallow. c

I can see how other bands have been influenced by this album, and refined this sound into something more appetising for the wider population. Shoegaze isn’t really my thing, but I can appreciate the art of this album

“Wall of sound” is an expression that is often thrown around to describe particular production techniques, but I think that it genuinely fits here. In this case the band played the guitar parts on vintage equipment, sampled the output and layered it multiple times to create an effect of a huge soundscape. At points the sound becomes almost abstract and looped, reminding me in places of experimental pieces by Steve Reich and other avant garde musicians. It’s been described as shoegaze but it’s a little bit too discordant to be comfortable listening for me. I think it would depend heavily on the right atmosphere and volume to work properly.

Overall: 8/10 Truly the dreamiest music you'll ever hear in your life. The obnoxiously distorted guitars and whispery vocals feel very ethereal and claustrophobic (that's a good thing for this type of music). I've always loved the song Only Shallow but all of my attempts to listen to this album in the past left me feeling melancholic so I avoided it for a very long time. I still feel the melancholy when I listen to it, but I think that's kind of the point. I'm not going to have this one on constant repeat but I appreciate it for what it is and I can see why others agree that it's special. Fav Song: Only Shallow

Didn’t find this very exciting or interesting

That's pretty awful

Unique - enjoyable sound

banger

More bog standard 1990s fare that is the hallmark of this list. This one is really quite dull.

Enjoyed the opening and closing tracks and Blown a Wish. Quite dreamy and hypnotic backing but wish I could hear the vocals more. Songs with no verse chorus format get a bit tedious when you can’t really hear what else is going on. Had to skip half way through some songs as it felt like 30 seconds was enough. 3

Hard to rind a copy

Noisy, psychedelic and grungy with a very lo-fi sound, but it's a great sound. The vocals are minimal, but they add a nice flair to the instrumentation. It's calming and edgy, with a really gritty feel. I like this one a lot.

Exceptional

Very much noise experience

Sometimes I feel like I like this album. I feel like I'd need no distractions, a dark room and some high quality headphones to get the absolute most out of it. When I don't have this, which is 99% of my music listening opportunities, i don't get the effect and it just sounds distant, mixed up and a drone. Will endeavour to find that dark room one day.

Legendary. Just not for me.

Sub genre of shoegaze rock that I did not know existed! Would revisit again

A few great songs

Second time I've actually listened to this. Pretty much the same thoughts I had from the first time. I don't understand the "Classic" shouts this get, but it is a very solid album with a unique sound.

Ik voel me weer even helemaal m’n pretentieuze zeventienjarige zelf. Het doet me toch altijd denken aan een Wong kar-wai film. Ja iconisch geluid wel! Meer niet echt te zeggen.

Noise isn't really my genre, but I have a certain appreciation for what this album does. It actually felt really coherent, which impressed me. At the same time, I just wasn't that engaged half the time? Solid, but not to my tastes!

goed naar m'n schoenen gekeken hiervoor. ik weet niet of ze de 2,5 ton productie helemaal eruit hebben gehaald, muzikaal gezien, maar het is een erg lekker album

Lowkey hazy.

Slightly overrated shoegaze classic. It gets a bit monotonous over time.

It was ok

Could not finish

its not on spotify

this is like if a college student started a band and played in a garage. I would probably vibe with it if it was live and i was tipsy, but it wasn't and i usually am not, so its a no for me.

This album was a pivotal moment in recognising my tastes were changing.

#230/1001. My son is in to shoegaze music now. As this was on the list I played it to him in the car, asking what does he think. His answer repeats the list: I don't know, it sounds quite meh. As for me, I remember browsing LPs in so many record stores 30 or so years ago, and bumping in to this cover many many times, imagining what the band would sound like. Ok, now it was on the list and it sounds exactly as I thought it would. So I don't regret not buying it, although I'm sure the album would have meant a lot more to me.

Shoegaze muy bueno, la verdad me encantó este album

SHOEGAZE!!! So in love with the album. Heard it’s an inspiration to later shoegaze artists and rightfully so it was amazing.

3.18/5 Stars Top Songs: soon, only shallow, when you sleep

Début d'année costaud.

Quelle drôle de bébitte! J'avoue avoir abandonné la première fois hier en l'écoutant, puis fidèle à moi-même ce matin à 5h30 j'ai décidé de lire sur le lore de l'album. Et après, fidèle à moi-même encore une fois, je me suis dit que je pouvais pas laisser passer ça sans encore essayer d'aimer. 10 ans avant yankee hotel foxtrot, ça me fait penser aux genres d'expérimentations studio et guitaristiques sur cet autre album. Et bien sûr les wikipedia évoquent pet sounds et dark side of the moon, ce qui est pas du tout à côté de la track non plus. Il y a des lignes mélodiques une fois de temps en temps quand même ce qui aide, la première toune est assez catchy.

Mets le son à 11! Faut se noyer dans le son pour avoir tout l’effet

Shoegaze bliss! This album sounds incredible. You can also really hear the influence this had on Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream. I think SD had better songs over all, but this is just such a cool album.

Amazing album, shame it’s so hard to listen to right now. I certainly don’t begrudge any musicians for taking their work off streaming in this day and age, but this is SO good and SO important I do wish there was an easier way to access it for everyone. I even went to a record store yesterday to see if I could find it on vinyl!!! It’s worth having in physical form.

It’s something special when a band can be this locked in. This was a real pleasure to listen to, and I can see why it was such a big deal when MBV made new music for the first time in a million years.

Sad I had to listen via YouTube.

79/1001 First listen. Apt album cover. A narrow field of colour from a broader spectrum. It looks like it sounds. I’m sure I only know of this band from their merch at Hot topic. I’ve never come across shoegaze music in the wild before. Not the sort of stuff you hear through the regular channels. I could probably get into this if I spent enough time with it. There’s nothing going on here making me want to do that though. 3/10

I didn't like it one bit. It sounds mainly like noise, with occasional melody bits. May have have been something new in 91 but new is not automatically good.

To me this is just bad, like their other two albums. 1 star or F.

Suicidal

i knew their hit song and it was cool to explore more for their music

Favourites: 1. Only Shallow 2. Sometimes 3. When You Sleep Least Favourite: Touched

++: only shallow, loomer, to here knows when, i only said, come in alone, sometimes, blown a wish, soon +: touched, when you sleep, what you want 9,6/10

Not a big fan of this one, some of the instrumentation is interesting but the vocals don’t seem to fit. Other songs are just noise.

This album has a lot of interesting, compelling musicality to it and I can hear how it influenced a lot of records I enjoy, so I probably would have given it a four if I could make out what’s going on half the time. I get that the blurry, washed-out mixing is a stylistic choice, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Highlights: Only Shallow, Loomer, When You Sleep, Come In Alone, Soon

eh

4/10

Beautiful and other worldly. there’s not much else to say, every one should listen to this album

Not what I was expecting. This steadily grew on me on first listen and I have returned to it a couple of times since then to explore in greater depth. A nice discovery.

Very cool dreamy shoegazey sound. Borders on being a little too noisy for my tastes though and I don't love how the vocals get drowned out

didnt really like it. It sounded as if it was being played on an old 1960's record player, too much treble not enough bass. It was a racket.

I dunno. It was alright but weird.

Really 3.5 stars, just not quite there for 4. But a great intersection of pop, noise, end arrangements

Guys! Look at my shoes! My shoes are amazing!

This an album I have tried to listen to before without success. A lot of noise and distortion, and I love shoegaze and dream pop music so this should be my type of album. It's just a bit too hard rock for me where I prefer a softer sound. That being said, I overall enjoyed the album on this listen more than I expected and certain songs really stood out that I would love to listen to again. I do see why this album has so much hype. Top Songs: When You Sleep, Sometimes, What You Want

Very eerie feeling. Klausos 4. Dziesmu šobrīd un būtu kā ārā no šausmenes 😬 Salauzts radio atp...lol. Okay, jā, man jau bail. Nesaprotu the glaze for this. Pēdējas kādas 4 dzieamas palika jau labāk, bet, godīgi, man slikti palika nedaudz. 🫡

One contiuess drone after another

Ett soniskt mästerverk! Plattan som höll på att ruinera Creation records, om det inte vore för samtida Screamdelicas oväntade kommersiella succé hade bolaget gått under med det här albumet. Men med facit i hand var det värt varenda pund och studiotimme. Ingenting har nånsin låtit såhär varken förr eller senare, fullständigt unikt. Det låter som framtiden på en annan planet. Det är oväsen men samtidigt oerhört vackert och känsligt och aldrig nånsin hårt. Mängder av band har försökt efterlikna det här men egentligen aldrig varit i närheten. Det är popmusik som konst, som idé. Kevin Shields behärskar och utnyttjar varenda möjlighet och omöjlighet i studion till perfektion. "En melodi kan beröra dig känslomässigt, en ljudfrekvens kan skaka om dig rent fysiskt... På Loveless experimenterar My Bloody Valentine mer framgångsrikt med extrema ljudfrekvenser än vad någon annan modern vit artist har gjort"[Pop #10] Sången som ett ordlöst instrument, Cocteau Twins försökte nåt liknande men MBV drar det längre, skillnaden mellan vad som är gitarrer och sång är obefintlig. Lager av loopade gitarrer blir som att vrida på en kran av ljud som är så kompakt att det blir till närmast ett brus där melodin finns inbakad. Det spelar egentligen ingen roll vilka låtarna det är men måste jag välja nån så väljer jag den söndertrasade "Sometimes" som är nåt av det vackraste jag hört vad det kommer till gitarrmusik. Loveless är ett oumbärligt mästerligt konstverk, en helt ny idé av hur popmusik kan låta. Gradvall kallade det ambient punk

Gott mangel. När melodier kan anas i larmet blir det rätt bra, som i inledande Only shallow, When you sleep och What you want. Men det sker för sällan.

Tror jag hade gillat det här på 90-talet (troligen upptäckt några år sent). MBV är ett band jag flera gånger tänkt lyssna på utan att det blivit av. Nu har jag det. Den spontana reaktion blir, ”jaha”. Varken mer eller mindre. Rimligen har man blivit mer kräsen med åren. Det här maler på utan att någonting händer. Shoegaze må ha varit det coolaste i världen 1991 men 34 år senare inser man att det knappast åldrats med värdighet. Vissa melodier är småtrevlig, likväl inget som läggs på minnet. Texterna då? Ingen aning helt omöjligt att ens gissa språket. Svag svag tvåa.

Ett album som kräver uppmärksamhet. Enkelt att glömma bort om man har det på i bakgrunden. Det är väl i och för sig definitionen av ambient. För det är om man betraktar albumet som ett ambient verk som det blir intressant. Den märkliga produkten där den distade gitarren ligger längs fram och maler nästan som vitt brus, sången som det inte går att uppfatta ett enda ord av och trummor och bas som är nästan helt undangömda. När det bara pågår är det som bäst. När de mer renodlade poplåtarna tittar fram som i avslutningsspåret blir mindre spännande.

its difficult to tell what exactly this album was a gateway To in my personal music journey...im not even sure it was the most experimental record i had yet heard, if i hadnt gotten into trout mask replica yet i was merely months away, as i devoured this whole new world of the Online Music Nerd Canon with as much mental flexibility as i could squeeze out of my teenage self. but nevertheless, if the most important album of my life is revolver, loveless doesn't trail that far behind. and it feels like a nice little duality...revolver set my tempo for a love of eclectic projects where the connective tissue is felt mostly subconsciously because the material is so disparate on a surface level, but loveless is just one giant slab of Exactly What It Is. very few records i had heard to that point took the raw pleasures of Timbre and the more articulate pleasures of Composition to such burning extremes...in fact, i think the personal revelation might well have been that timbre can BE composition, all on its own, pre-emptively opening me up to everything from early animal collective to merzbow. i havent heard this in years, and tbh it will prob be a while before i listen again cuz i already got every second of the thing memorized, but its good for any occasion and fills me with a sense of thankfulness and admiration towards the limitless boundaries of art still.

I'm a fan of distortion. Hendrix, Nirvana, Mudhoney, Husker Du and Sonic Youth in moderation. This seems to be an album dedicated to it and was a barrier between me and the lyrics. There were a couple tracks I was on the verge of enjoying, but most set my teeth on edge.

sounds like the intro of an edgy 90s film

Not on Apple Music so rating from memory.

Also zuerst dachte ich, mein Kopfhörer ist kaputt...

I enjoyed this more than m b v although I needed to listen to it on my speakers. On my earpods, the vocals were so low in the mix that they were barely audible even after fiddling with the settings. It's a bit of a cross between the Cocteau Twins and Sonic Youth, without really hitting the heights of either. Good, but not great.

Genre: Shoegaze This album is sort of the white whale for me. I had abstained from listening to this for a long time, for fear that I may not think it's one of the greatest of all time, and that I may not fall in line with the rest of the music sheeple. The harsh reality is that I "liked" this record. Not a lot, and not loved. I liked it. It's odd, I think the mystique of the band and how they sort of disappeared after releasing this, and that this was a big step forward for this particular sound (that lots of people really seem to enjoy) plays a bigger part in this being such an internet darling. But, personally, I found it to be good. Loud, sometimes to its detriment, but pretty, effective sort of soft-grunge pop rock. It's fine. I was expected to be blown away, and was not, unfortunately. 3/5

The sound of this album gives me a euphoric tingle down my spine and taps into a nostalgic feeling in me I can’t explain.

Я слышал его больше раз, чем, наверное, любой из альбомов в этом списке, и тем не менее я до сих пор не уверен, что это Величайший альбом в истории музыки. Это точно Великий альбом, и определенно единственный в своем роде. Лучшая песня - Sometimes.

I didn’t get along with “Isn’t Anything”, it just passed me by. When this popped up, I wasn’t expecting much, and the vocals, particularly at the start of the album didn’t do much to convince me but the album grew on me, the fuzzy dreamy soundscapes almost entrance you as you listen. At times it reminds me of Smashing Pumpkins, perhaps not quite as heavy or pointed though. Further listens would probably hook me in further so maybe I could come to appreciate them after all, even if their name makes me think of them as a ‘00s emo band.

I have gone my whole life thinking this band was from the 00s emo wave. This is more interesting than that.

Redefinição de ruído e barulho a serviço do pop. Não curti a mixagem e tudo o mais. CHT. 2 a 3 estrelas

Unfortunately, a little too much experimental post-rock-y, shoegaze noise for my taste.

Talentless, more like. Eh, when it's good its real good. But it's mostly droning nonsense.

To quote from my review of the last my bloody valentine albums unnecessarily on this list: my bloody ears. 1/5

I've tried so may times over the years to like this album, but I must be the only shoegazer who doesn't like MBV! Only Shallow and Soon are brilliant but the rest is just noise and as much as I like a bit of fuzz, there is a lack of any kind of melody.

Yep.

I can see how many British and Irish bands were inspired after listening to this album. The opening track is easily the best: volcanic, tender, and yet, piercing. It's a strange song but a fantastic blend of noise and silence. That song alone gives this album an instant 2.

Some great tracks

Okay, I think. I imagine I could get into this.

This album is perfect.

Might need to revisit. Saved a song: N RYM: Y (#10)

The songs are a wall of layered guitars with droning effects that proceed at a very slow pace. I can see what they're trying to do but it's a challenging listen and my first impression is that it's not enjoyable to listen to. Maybe with a few more listens it might click.

Sounded a lot like the other one

Not for me

Stunning landscape of music.

Strrrrrraight to the top. God damn this album is so fucking perfect. I hadn’t heard it in years and it hit so much for me as an older person. Texturally it is stunning and the songs are so good. The melodies are super subtle but so effective.

Good!

Not available streaming

aight now listening -22.03

I honestly blew them off but I kind of love this album. Listened to it twice in one day. Might be a new favorite.

I'm going to keep my personal thoughts about this album offline. But it's good.

THE Shoegaze album

Very cool album that has grown on me over the years. Always thought the drums sound terrible though haha

White whale time. This is a particularly difficult album to not be on Spotify (just got removed a month or two ago of course) and listening to it while cleaning my kitchen on a 10 year old Alexa speaker probably wasn't optimal. I'm impressed, very singular sounding, enjoyed getting lost in the noisy guitar and hazy vocals. Looking forward to revisiting on streaming with a pair of headphones in. Holy shit To Here Knows When is incredible.

In smaller doses this would be a fun listen. It gets old quick in album form.

i was not on board off the bat but i got there. could verge on a low 4 but i think i’ll stick with a high 3 since it kind of fell to background noise for good bits of it

Didn't finish it, mostly because it is kind of tough to access.

Music to question whether your hearing or equipment, or both are well, totally fucked. I know everything is thought out and meant, I know under all the distorted sludge, sorry production choices there are what are notes, chords and all that stuff that are songs, and this is a guess, the vocals are in a language that people can communicate in. Communicate being a 2 way process of not only giving out but being able to receive the sodding message. Some find it dreamy, I'm heading for a migrane. Not into shoegazing. Not for me, and let's leave it there. 1 Star

Jeeze that was good. First 5 I've given to an album that I knew absolutely nothing about.

I think I have a bit too much of a headache to fully enjoy it… tbc on relisten

имба. оч вайбово, сохранил...

Enjoyable

Nostalgic soundscapes. Some of the tracks sound like they’re being played from a cassette tape. “Only shallow” was the only track I think I’ve heard before.

Not for me. Too much witchy-90s vibes. Favorite Song(s): Honey Power

I think this is the best one of theirs yet. The first track is really bold and in your face out of the gate, and shows some of the promise found elsewhere on the album. However it does also segue into that typical downbeat, out of tune, droney wall of noise which I struggle with. Parts of this album are like a bad fever dream, and it's not a pleasant listen. When the songs get a bit more structure to them, with either a good hook or a more discernible rhythm, and it's not hidden behind a complete wall of fuzz, then it's much more listenable. 2.5 rounded up.

The birth of this record was difficult, to put it mildly, partly because of the character of Kevin Shields, who is either a once-in-a-generation creative genius or a self-indulgent divo, depending who you ask. I don’t think this album is anywhere near as groundbreaking as its hagiographers claim. The guitar had been used as an ambient noise creator for years before this record came out. The lit critic Clive James, a master of the polite insult said of abstraction in poetry that it ’…widens the scope within which incompetence can fail to declare itself.’ The same is true of abstraction in music. One person’s creative chaos is another person’s self-indulgent mess. I’m in the second camp.

This album is THE shoegaze album, but I kind of just don't get it. Perhaps it will grow on me one day.

I think this album has potential, but the distortion is too thick for me. The best song was "what you want"

LMAO.

Not necessarily my cup of tea. But I can appreciate this, and I support anyone who promotes guitar pedals.

4 stars due to hipster nostalgia

Very different !

I absolutely love this album. It is beautiful, heavy, noisy, melodic, the vocals, the guitars, the songs, the whole album is amazing start to finish. To me, this is a "perfect" album - for what it was trying to accomplish and what it did for music as a medium, influencing whole genres, and all those that connect with it.

It wasn't bad, but it did all run together at a point. It is very much the classic shoegaze sound.

i used to be crazy about this band. My 20s revolved around them.

Not too bad!

Not bad. Not good either.

Superb

Lovely

Is it normal that my speakers are crackling while listening to this album?

Otherworldly, hazy and ethereal (but so catchy) sound that only My Bloody Valentine can do. So unique, a game changer.

Spielen auf Primavera Sound 2026 ❤️

Still totally fresh, a massive aural trip, love it

Omg no

Decent.

Thick woozy haze and rippling thick textures. I love this record: it's its own little universe that washes over, through, and beneath your whole body and whole brain.

Some of it is just sonically past my limits, but other parts are more enjoyable. I definitely hear the influence they’ve had, with the combination of gauze and something more percussive and hard-driving, all the way to the likes of Billie Eilish.

I've always like but never quite loved this album and still don't fully get the hype. It's an experiment in distortion and dissonance and layering, of lettting waves and waves and waves build up and crash around and seeing what difference patterns, warbles, echoes, shimmers, tremors and modulations emerge - it ends up as an impossibly thick fog of fuzz barely illuminated by the ethereal vocals that shine over the top, brightening the mist without clearing it away. It's at its best when it lets an actually melody emerge from the mire and introduce more dynamics to the shifting field. Favorite: When You Sleep, what you want, only shallow, soon

This one was disappointing. I’ve heard so much about this album and how I’m going to love it. It was fine, nothing stood out. I am going to listen to it many more times because I want to understand why others like it so much!

Not a fan of this style of music with guitar overdrive and vocal mumbling.

I understand the guitar skill but come on we are all not Eddie Vedder or need to pretend to be him

I saw this was supposed to be the progenitor of shoe gaze and I was dreading having to slog through another 45 minutes of boring, someone-please-kill-me-so-I-feel-something "music". Boy was I wrong. This is probably a solid 4 based solely on my enjoyment of it. However, it's getting a bump to a 5 cause of the inventiveness and uniqueness of it. The layers, the effects, I had no idea one could make a guitar sound so all over the place. This was incredible. The overdrive, reverb, delay, it all works together so, so well. I was never bored once listening to this. Really wish this was on Apple Music, but corporate greed what can you do. Anyways, why doesn't modern shoegaze sound like this? Also they're Irish so bonus cool points there.

overall this was better than I expected. was good background music while doing other things. especially since the lyrics are indecipherable. does get a bit repetitive/monotonous.

If this project has taught me anything, it’s that shoegaze is not for me. I don’t hear groundbreaking; I hear messy and lazy. What really shocks me is how much time and money went into making it. You’re telling me this took years and a fortune? I could’ve made most of this album in my basement with a cassette recorder and a handful of faulty pedals. Revered or not, this is a big swing and a miss for my ears.

This thinks it’s SO cool.

Sounds exactly like the cover, the quintessential shoegaze album

Innovating noise and effects in rock music, MBV knows how to walk the delicate line of experimenting while keeping the music enjoyable, a masterpiece for sure

Super Dope

Pre listen: An odd but fitting one to start off with. I’ve already listened to most of it but never actually finished it so it’s probably about time. There was a point when I was 15 that I thought ‘To Here Knows When’ was one of the best songs ever created. I used to listen to it and cry😂😂😭💀 ‘Only Shallow’ is probably my favourite I fucking love that song. We’re going to see just how many of my favourite tracks are the first one😁 ‘Loomer’ is pretty good too but I start to get bored with ‘When you Sleep’ which is hilarious because I always hear people talking about how this is the best track. The next two tracks are also pretty uneventful to me and that’s why I think I never made it all the way through. Maybe I just don’t get it? I mean I feel like I do considering I’ve loved two of the tracks but idk. I’m about to listen now, I’m in my room and I’m not high, I smoked two hours ago. Nov 6, 2025 Post Listen: so I finished listening to Loveless, kinda… ngl I was pretty much falling asleep by the last three tracks, not necessarily because it was boring or anything but ig I’m so overstimulated with technology and work that I don’t realize how tired I am until I close my eyes for a minute. I wasn’t expecting to shed tears while listening to ‘To Here Knows When’ and the even bigger surprise was how much I liked ‘When You Sleep’, it was probably my favourite track. The first side I like wayyy more than the second but I still need to listen to side 2 again before I can really say I’ve listened to it. Side one is great tho, I didn’t appreciate ‘I Only Said’ nearly as much as the rest but other than that it felt pretty much like a perfect side for what it was. Before I rate this I wanna listen to side 2 once more. Okay I listened to side 2 again so I’m ready to rate the album. My overall thoughts were that I liked it although in my personal opinion I didn’t think the album had the song writing to totally justify the hype, the sounds were cool but listening to it sober maybe wasn’t the best move. It’s weird because even though I feel like this album is best suited for intoxication I don’t feel like it’s what I’d want to put on while in that state. Not trying to hate too much it’s a great album but I just don’t think it’s one of my favourites on ‘first’ listen. All time great album cover tho. Favourites: Only Shallow, When I Sleep, Come in Alone, To Here Knows When Personal Rating: 7/10 (first time rating an album so I don’t really know if this will stick)

Not my cup of tea.

What.. is this. The same song/lyrics/white noise on repeat, interrupted periodically by youtube adverts. OK that last bit is not their fault. I found the whole thing incoherent, but I guess that's what they were going for.

Mix is a bit shit

Shoegaze at its best. Loved this.

Dreamy but steamy,that's what i'm thinking as i'm actually hearing this album.Indie/Shoegaze is not for everybody but still there is a virtuosity through the abstract,an album that for the first time the guitar is the hero throughout.I totally understand why it's on the list.It's creative and unique,totally influencial. Hearing this out for the first time i have a ritual to break it down song by song: Only Shallow is a powerful piece with dreamy reverbed vocals and a beautiful melody.The guitars experimentation though can cost your hearing at times especially if you are hearing the whole album loud.Beautiful outro, In Loomer the heaviness of the guitars settings barely leaves you to hear the female dreamy vocals this time,but then again that's the whole point.The guitar to be the star for once even in an entire album.Iliked it a bit more towards the end. Touched is a 56 seconds exploration on the guitar vibrato. To Here Knows When has beautiful structure and heavenly female singing.Abstract and quite symponic.The guitars are not that loud here fairly as there are so much elements going on underneath.Although it's brightness you can feel constantly something dark trying to get in. In When you Sleep,loud guitars "overdrive" comes back in. It's like a blurry powerful dream.Repetition without any noticable changes though could fatigue your ears. I Only Said,here the guitars fuzz covers the male vocals,almost entirely.Feels like the darkness fight the dreaminess of the song.Again the repetition burned my ears.And i'm an experimental of any genre lover. Come In Alone lets the male vocals shine more and that's a pleasure to the ear.feels more like a song than an experiment. In Sometimes the guitar changes and progresses more and gives you a more dreamy feel than the others.One of my favourites. Blown A Wish is my top favourite.There is a whole soundscape throughout the song.The female vocals work like magic here.Coctaeau Twins vibe here. What You Want,has great vocals and probably lyrics but again the guitars want the first place in your ear,badly,and i get it. Soon is the last song and boy do i get Hacienda vibes from the beginning!Great female vocals and very interesting production. Overall is a great album that i really liked although most of the times the excessive guitar loudness,pedals usage and repetition hurt my ears. 3.5/5 but what the heck

Unavailable in Spotify.

Interesting. Decent listen and a lovely bit of 90's nostalgia.

I like shoegaze. I prefer the lush sound of Lush. There are some guitar &/or other sounds that make my ears unhappy.

This is the second album from this Irish band. The music is decent, although not memorable. This band is another one of those bands using the ‘wall of sound’ concept. There’s a bit of ethereal sound here, too. The biggest negative is that the lyrics, for the most part, are unintelligible.

Never listened to this band, which seemed like an oversight by me (90s indie/alternative? that's my wheelhouse!) until... I listened to this band. I do like the vocals, especially Butcher's, but they are totally drowned out by unpleasant guitar. Much more "noise pop" than "dream pop". If this is what shoegaze is, give me some hatglance instead!! (Maybe part of this is my crappy laptop speakers, because I really feel like I'm missing something.)

It was kind of repetitive, but I liked it. Kind of eerie and strange.

AI bot answer to my question on whats so unique about the guitar work on this album: "The guitar work on Loveless was revolutionary due to Kevin Shields' "glide guitar" technique, which involves using the tremolo bar to create a warbling, out-of-tune sound, and layering countless guitar tracks with different amps and mic setups. This resulted in a unique, thick texture that created a sense of atmosphere and sound design rather than traditional riffs, largely forgoing effects like chorus that were common in other shoegaze bands at the time." Good man Kevin. I haven't a clue what ye are saying though and and I had to skip 'to here knows when' because it hurt my head. 1 point for innovation. 1 point for deserving a place on the list. .5 points for personal enjoyment. 2.5/5. Raising to 3.

shoegaze 4/5

‘Gorgeously textured‘ says one reviewer. ‘Mishmash of blurred discordant sound’ says another.

A genre defining classic!

had to track this down at a thrift store since it wasnt on spotify and boy am i glad i did. reminded me why i love "art"

Weird but very cool. Quiet the coincidence, had this on to to-listen list for a year and accually listened to this the day before this album got on this

Pretty decent album, again sort of grungy and not my favorite style but also my first time really hearing this group in a big go.

Noisy

Totally essential. Like nothing else, you disappear when you listen to this record

This is one of those albums that I'm shocked is not more 'controversial' than it is because shoegaze can be quite a turn off for some people. I love it, I love shoegaze almost as much as I love Trip Hop. The sort of ethereal sounds and slow moving nature of it all. It was a lovely accompaniment to the book I am reading and I would not have it any other way.

This band is the master of making about 95% shit tracks, and then one that all comes together. I love a lot of noise rock, but man I can hardly ever find MBV's direction on their tracks

Lol, quality album for the very first generated by this website. Bought CD on release. My vinyl is the MBV Records 2018 pressing. I know there’s a lot of debate about best versions etc. All I know is mine sounds great and the packaging is gorgeous. I don’t know how the rating happens but the score for this will be high. My opinion on this has improved over the years. My expectations were sky high on release and it took a long time to accept that they had delivered on their promise in spades. Maybe I was lamenting the loss of their earlier ability to harness and successfully exploit their more unhinged tendencies (think Thorn, Feed Me With Your Kiss, Drive It All Over Me) What took a while was for me to step out of context and hear it as the huge step forward it was. Once I got there I heard it as the masterpiece of specialisation it was. The scope in terms of variety is reduced from before but the dividends in melody and a feeling of “inhabiting sound” is more than an acceptable payoff.

Just a solid shoegaze album. I definitely regret not listening to this more when I was 15.

I had assumed that I hadn't ever heard this before, but it turns out that I knew a bunch of the catchier songs. I'm not a huge fan. It is ok. Sort of a one trick pony.

Right up there with souvlaki and heaven or las vegas as one of those essential shoegaze albums, but probably my favorite of the three. Sucks that it hasn't been on streaming services for months

As a general rule, it's probably best to avoid albums that are praised primarily for their "virtual reinvention of the guitar." I don't dispute this description of what happens on the album, since only the final song has anything that even sounds like a guitar at all. Instead, guitarist Kevin Shield has managed to make his instrument sound like the most irritatingly droning keyboard you can ever imagine. And to highlight this "innovation," the vocals have been turned down and pushed so far into the background of each song that I couldn't tell you whether or not they have the least merit. Somehow, the compilers of the list of 1001 albums we must hear before we die have decided that this particular album is better than every single album Warren Zevon made, NONE of which appear on the list. Just over 400 albums into this journey, whenever I get an album like this, I start to question every single life choice I've ever made that has somehow led to me to the 48 minutes I just wasted.

Not big on shoegaze

106/1001 :: My Bloody Valentine - m b v Heard before? ❌ Would I revisit? ✅ Rating: 7 Listen before you die: Yes This is shoegaze? Listened to this multiple times yesterday and I’m not really sure how to process it. It was somewhere between boring and absolutely wonderful. The more I listened though the more I’m leaning towards the latter. I’ve tried to listen to this album before and couldn’t get through it so it was nice to give it another fair shake and very good chance I’ll be doing that again at some point.

Этот альбом от меня всё время ускользает.

They are fine, but I don't know why they are so raved about

Not for me. I get the whole shoegaze sound, I can't understand what they're saying, so it just sounds like guys jamming in a jam hall.

Genuinely fantastic album, enjoyed it much more than their debut

Timeless

My ears were bloddy after listening to this

Shoegaze staple, but i don't like shoegaze. Almost turned this off early, glad i made it to the end - the closing track is really awesome

Ugh! Was hard to listen to the whole thing!

Odd album. I have listened to this probably 20+ times in the last year or two and still doesn't quite click for me.

Dripping with teenage angst, drowned in distortion. That's My Bloody Valentine to me. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that formula, it can just start all sounding the same. There's enough to keep it interesting, but nothing that really stands out.

My bloody ears having to hear this shit. 1.5

Weird that the genre is shoegaze when apparently the guy didn't use pedals to create the effects. But man what a sonic distortion and what a story. All to end up with layers of sound and unintelligible lyrics

Nothing is made in a vacuum, but there sound is so instantly identifiable and seems to have been developed so completely by their second album. This is definitely a record where I’m not even marking the passage of tracks, it just exists as one work for me.

Unbearable. This is like Billy Corgan singing into a broken toy microphone over the sounds of cats mating run through a guitar pedal Once of the my least liked albums so far on this list. Will actively avoid this band going forward . ⭐.5

woozy, uncertain, mysterious, dreamy

This is my 2d My Blood Valentine album and i like this much more than mbv. This album is still unintelligible to me but the music is more interesting and i can hear parts of other albums i like that are copying parts of this album.

Not for me 1/5

A complete non event.

Immersive. There really is no point trying to single out songs. This record is an experience. I remember this album coming out and sliding the CD (unfortunately there was no U.S vinyl until 2003!) and going WTF? An entire album of relentless distortion all played by one guy without a pedal. No discernible vocals with the drums and base buried in the mix. Unintelligible lyrics making Michael Stipe seem clear and distinct. This was a huge leap from Isn’t Anything. Where that LP was experimental and had what was becoming “shoegaze” elements, Shields had obliterated the rough edges on Loveless making the other instruments and the vocals merely a texture blended into the wall of sound. At high levels this is disorienting and the sound bathes you as you are penetrated by the wall of sound. There was nothing like this in existence although it does have recognizable touchstones to those early industrial/noise rock pioneers with Sonic Youth being the clearest influence but also Wire/Public Image Limited, Faust and Can. Genius really. Not everyone is going to get this record. For me, I think having enjoyed Isn’t Anything and in particular the tracks Cupid Come and “You’re Still A Dream” and already being a Sonic Youth fan, the leap was easy. My advice is start with Isn’t Anything and then make the leap into the sun. Loveless still holds up as one of the best records ever made.

They have 3 albums on the list. I think this is the only one that needs to be there. That gives you a good idea of what they do. Some songs are soundscapes, some have catchy riffs, but they're all a wall of sound. The singing is not very good, but fortunately it's hidden behind the guitars. It's like Sonic Youth playing Jesus and Mary Chain songs. Favorite song: only shallow

Why does it all sound like there's something wrong with my headphones? I had to test them with other music to make sure I wasn't going crazy.

An all time favorite and as easy a 5 as there will be on this list. The textures and production are still unmatched. It’s an album that you don’t really hear, but feel. Birthed a whole new world of sounds that no one’s been able to replicate. In my top 20 all time and my top 10 for the 90s.

Interesante álbum con despuntes en algunos temas que me guardo.

Cosa horrible. Llegué a la segunda canción y lo tuve que quitar. Tal vez en su tiempo fueron revolucionarios, pero ahora no lo toleré. Básico y sonido feo.

Too distorted for me

Not for me, too heavy

Too much noise, saturation, you name it.

This album was difficult because I couldn’t find it on Spotify, so I had to YouTube it, and the only version was choppy. Assessment: it was pretty good. I would like to hear it on CD with headphones to get the full experience. It was an interesting combination of space rock, ambience (which got old) and classic rock. I could see the influence on bands like Secret Machines and even Radiohead later. The thing I don’t get was it took 19 studios and several years to complete this album. I’m not sure the effort was worth it overall, but admittedly I don’t know a whole lot of MBV to compare. I want to listen to it again on a different format to make a better call. I am grading it based on what I heard, historical influence and potential for future listens.

Random thoughts: * Listened to this one on YouTube since it's not currently available on Spotify. * Kinda drone-y and faded into my background music while sitting at my computer. I guess that's why it's called shoegaze. * I'd definitely need a few more listens to get the full effect of this album. * I like it overall. Wish I could revisit it easier than YouTube.

It feels like this was recorded underwater in a swimming pool. Despite that there are still some good moments - sometimes is a particularly strong track.

Decent