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My Bloody Valentine: 'Loveless' sound quality?

post #1 of 47
4/19/04 at 10:04am
Thread Starter 
As an album revered by those members with demonstratively good taste, My Bloody Valentine's 'Loveless' is at the top of my must try list. My only question is of the quality of the recording. I am so accustomed to seeing CDs from that time (1991) being remastered recently and knowing that they did sometimes desperately need that remastering. How does 'Loveless' sound?

(As one right into the Joy Division/Jesus & Mary Chain/early Cure sound in the mid eighties I don't know how I could have missed My Bloody Valentine based upon written descriptions of the band's sound )
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post #2 of 47
4/19/04 at 10:32am
Very bad, sadly. This one is crying out for a remastering (a good one anyway). This music is composed of track after track of overdubs, all kinds of subtle phasing effects, it's an extremely dense and complicated recording, a lot of which gets lost in the hazy, low-rez, soupy original issue of that CD. It's like too much information is trying to be shoved down too narrow a chute, a lot of it just falls off to the side.

Good news is they're remastering a bunch of their early EP's so maybe a Loveless remaster is not far behind.
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post #3 of 47
4/19/04 at 10:45am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by markl
Good news is they're remastering a bunch of their early EP's so maybe a Loveless remaster is not far behind.
OK, that is good news. I'll wait then. Thanks markl.
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post #4 of 47
4/19/04 at 11:43am
Eyeteeth,
i think it is worth the 7 bucks (that's what i paid) to get a copy of this cd, regardless of the recording quality.
get the current cd version now, fall in love with it, and then IF the remastered comes out, get that too.
Can't go wrong with 7 bucks.
despite the crappy recording quality, most of the brilliance is easy to enjoy.
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post #5 of 47
4/19/04 at 12:17pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by sleepkyng
fall in love with it, and then IF the remastered comes out, get that too.
Can't go wrong with 7 bucks.
despite the crappy recording quality, most of the brilliance is easy to enjoy.
This had occured to me and it is a good point. But based upon when I replaced a long lost beloved copy of Nick Cave's 'Henry's Dream' and couldn't bear the awful flatness of the sound and have'nt listened to it since I'll wait a bit and see.

I'll give plan-A 6 months before plan-B.

Thanks sleepkyng
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post #6 of 47
4/19/04 at 2:55pm
I don't think it's too likely that this one is going to get remastered. A lot of the sound does get "lost in the mix," but if Kevin Shields spent years in the studio mixing it, I think it's pretty likely that he wanted it that way. To be honest, I think it would take away part of the records charm if the instruments were all separated and well defined. Part of the mystery of the album is the fact that it's hard to distinguish the noise from the music.

If the album's sound quality is getting in the way of the music for you, then you A) aren't listening to the album loudly enough, B) haven't listened to it enough times, or C) aren't likely to be a fan of it.
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post #7 of 47
4/19/04 at 3:37pm
There really isn't much to look forward to with a remaster here unless we get some bonus tracks.........the sound is intentionally a dense shimmering curtain of distortion and feedback that wash over you in a beautiful wave, your usual audiophile craving for fine detail and huge soundstage are not to be found here......it is a hypnotic sensation, a total bliss out.

This MBV album is excellent, but a bit too hyped. There are other similar albums/groups equally as good that fewer people own........buy this album and when you are ready for more just say the word.
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post #8 of 47
4/19/04 at 5:20pm
Quote:
There really isn't much to look forward to with a remaster here unless we get some bonus tracks.........the sound is intentionally a dense shimmering curtain of distortion and feedback that wash over you in a beautiful wave, your usual audiophile craving for fine detail and huge soundstage are not to be found here......it is a hypnotic sensation, a total bliss out.
I'd like to hear a remaster to decide whether it's supposed to sound like that or not. My bet is there's more upside there than you might think, DA, but sadly for now we're both just speculating!
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post #9 of 47
4/19/04 at 5:56pm
DA,
i think it's true that there are more adventurous and progressive bands out there, but MBV's Loveless is the most accesible (sp?) noise rock album ever made. There's just something about it that is so freakin great. I think that Kevin Shields paid alot of attention to how a good pop song should be and it's really apparent on "when you sleep." That weird high pitched doozy is so damn catchy every time cuz you're really not expecting it (unless you've heard the album a million times and even then!)
anyways, get the album now, love it love it love it.
i think it's always in my rotation of music.
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post #10 of 47
4/20/04 at 12:07am
Even the vinyl hirez reissue's sound quality is pretty abysmal. The music is definitely worth it though.
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post #11 of 47
4/20/04 at 5:49am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by stuartr
Even the vinyl hirez reissue's sound quality is pretty abysmal. The music is definitely worth it though.
Well I guess I will part with my precious $7....life is short after all.
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post #12 of 47
4/20/04 at 9:51am
Mark
I saw that import CD recently that collects the MBV EPs together, but the price was painfully expensive..........wait 6 months and perhaps we see domestic release for much less (remember when you bought Echo & Bunnymen imports, he he)

Bong
Must be sick or something, he should be on this thread like white on rice

OK ET.........you buy MBV "loveless" and say OMG I love this shoegaze ****, what else should I get? Here are 6 more must have shoegaze albums:

RIDE - Nowhere (many think this eclipses "loveless")
CATHERINE WHEEL - Ferment (also Chrome)
CURVE - Pubic Fruit (also every album they have ever done!)
LUSH - Gala (also Spooky & Split)
SWERVEDRIVER - Raise (also Mezcal Head)
SLOWDIVE - Just For a Day (also Souvlaki)

Of course the most infuential album of all time for any shoegazer is:
JESUS AND MARY CHAIN - Psychocandy
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post #13 of 47
4/20/04 at 2:29pm
i agree with those who have said that this album does not need to be remastered. unless the CD version sounds DRASTICALLY different from the vinyl, then i'm sure Kevin Sheilds meant for the album to sound as it does. as has been stated, the music is as much about the production value as the songwriting, and with Loveless, it's virtually impossible to separate the two. i have trouble seeing the album as much less than perfect, and if you don't agree, perhaps you just shouldn't be listening to it
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post #14 of 47
4/20/04 at 2:39pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkAngel
Of course the most infuential album of all time for any shoegazer is:
JESUS AND MARY CHAIN - Psychocandy
DarkAngel, for once I'm way ahead of you. Not only did I get 'Psychocandy' on it's debut but I saw J&M Chain live in 1986 (85/86?). Thirty minutes of feedback, and they walked off stage.
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post #15 of 47
4/20/04 at 3:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by eyeteeth
DarkAngel, for once I'm way ahead of you. Not only did I get 'Psychocandy' on it's debut but I saw J&M Chain live in 1986 (85/86?). Thirty minutes of feedback, and they walked off stage.
Yea me too..............I saw them a couple times in mid-late 1980's when I lived in Chicago at smaller club settings (Metro etc)

I saw CURVE by accident before they were on the radar screen, they were opening act for Cocteau Twins concert I went to.......Toni Halliday had me in a trance (I was not joking when I said buy all albums by CURVE, they are great)

Toni
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