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My Bloody Valentine — Loveless (1991, Remastered 2018)

My Bloody Valentine — Loveless (1991, Remastered 2018)       My Bloody Valentine — Loveless (1991, Remastered 2018)
•    2.820 lidí ocenilo toto album s plným hodnocením. Kapela z rodiny Slowdive, Snowpony, Swervedriver, The Cramps, The Birthday Party pod kuratelou Kevina Shieldse. Studentský guru na rozhraní mezi spokojeností a dokonalostí, frustrací analogového pásu a tím, jak slyší věci, které ostatní z nás nemají. Trvá to tak dlouho, jak to trvá. Tato fráze je užitečná pro porozumění typicky dlouhotrvajícího výstupu Kevina Shieldse a My Bloody Valentine. Skupině trvalo tři roky, než konečně album „Loveless“ v roce 1991, s více než tuctem inženýrů a přesně tolika sessions, které potřebovala k dokončení. Kapela vynaložila mnoho peněz na to, aby je label Creation po této realizaci propustil, přestože album bylo oslavováno jako okamžitá klasika. A trápení nahrávky „Loveless“ se ukázalo být znamením toho, co teprve přijde.
•    Hledání správného zařízení , se ukázalo být dalším nákladným a časově náročným řešením. Z rozhovoru pořízeném koncem roku 2017 Markem Richardsonem, vyjímám pouze jednu Q+A:
•    Though you could have made this new vinyl version a 2xLP set, putting less information on each side and improving the overall quality, you decided to do a single disc. Why?
•    I wanted it to actually be played the way it was originally conceived, which is basically an A and B side: Loveless is like a mirror image of itself on each side. It works as a continuous thing. That’s where I got a little nuts, but it was one of the things that I got right [initially]. The obvious thing to do in this day and age would be to cut it onto two vinyls. That’s something I will do someday, just for the pure sound quality. But from the perspective of listening to it, I didn’t want that to be the only version that people had access to, because it just breaks it up. There are compromises.
Kevin Patrick Shields: (born 21 May 1963)
Formed: 1984 in Dublin, Ireland
Album release: 4 November, 1991
Record Label: Creation / Sire
Recorded: 1989~91
Genre: Shoegazing • noise pop • dream pop
Duration:     48:31
Tracks:
01. Only Shallow   4:17
02. Loomer   2:38
03. Touched   0:56
04. To Here Knows When   5:31
05. When You Sleep   4:11
06. I Only Said   5:34
07. Come in Alone   3:58
08. Sometimes   5:19
09. Blown a Wish   3:36
10. What You Want   5:33
11. Soon   6:58
All tracks written by Kevin Shields, except where noted:
✹   Bilinda Butcher (lyrics) Shields (music)   1, 2, 9
✹   Colm Ó Cíosóig (music)   3
✹   Butcher/Shields (lyrics) Shields (music)   4
Personnel:
My Bloody Valentine:
✹   Colm Ó Cíosóig — drums, sampler
✹   Bilinda Butcher — vocals, guitar
✹   Debbie Googe — bass
✹   Kevin Shields — guitar, vocals, sampler
Production and mixing:
✹   Kevin Shields (except on “Touched”)
✹   Colm Ó Cíosóig (on “Touched”)
Artwork and release:
✹   My Bloody Valentine — cover concept
✹   Angus Cameron — photography
✹   Ann Marie Shields — coordination
✹   Producer: Kevin Shields Colm Ó Cíosóig
Engineering and assistance:
✹   Alan Moulder
✹   Kevin Shields
✹   Colm Ó Cíosóig
✹   Dick Meaney
✹   Anjali Dutt
✹   Guy Fixsen
✹   Harold Burgon
✹   Nick Robbins
✹   Ingo Vauk
✹   Andy Wilkinson
✹   Darren Allison
✹   Nick Addison
✹   Charles Steel
✹   Tony Falter
✹   Hugh Price
✹   Adrian Bushby
✹   Pascale Giovetto
✹   Nick Savage
AllMusic Review by Heather Phares;  Score: *****
✹   Isn’t Anything was good enough to inspire an entire scene of My Bloody Valentine soundalikes, but Loveless’ greatness proved that the band was inimitable. After two painstaking years in the studio and nearly bankrupting their label Creation in the process, the group emerged with their masterpiece, which fulfilled all of the promise of their previous albums. If Isn’t Anything was the Valentines’ sonic blueprint, then Loveless saw those plans fleshed out, in the most literal sense: “Loomer,” “What You Want,” and “To Here Knows When”’s arrangements are so lush, they’re practically tangible. With its voluptuous yet ethereal melodies and arrangements, Loveless intimates sensuality and sexuality instead of stating them explicitly; Kevin Shields and Bilinda Butcher’s vocals meld perfectly with the trippy sonics around them, suggesting druggy sex or sexy drugs. From the commanding “Only Shallow” and “Come in Alone” to breathy reflections like “Sometimes” and “Blown a Wish,” the album balances complexity and immediately memorable pop melodies with remarkable self~assurance, given its difficult creation. But Loveless doesn’t just perfect the group’s approach, it also hints at their continuing growth: “Soon” fuses the Valentines’ roaring guitars with a dance~inspired beat, while the symphonic interlude “Touched” suggests an updated take on Fripp and Eno’s pioneering guitar/electronics experiments. These glimpses into the band’s evolution make Shields’ difficulty in delivering a follow~up to Loveless even more frustrating, but completely understandable — the album’s perfection sounded shoegazing’s death~knell and raised expectations for the next My Bloody Valentine album to unreasonably high levels. Though Shields’ collaborations with Yo La Tengo, Primal Scream, J Mascis, and others were often rewarding, they were no match for Loveless. However, as My Bloody Valentine fans — and, apparently, Shields himself — will attest, nothing is.
About:
✹   The 180 gram vinyl album mastered from analog tapes using Studer A80 VU PRE and Neumann VMS 80 cutting lathe for full analog signal path. 27 years ago, sonic masterminds My Bloody Valentine released Loveless. After two painstaking years in the studio and nearly bankrupting their label Creation in the process, the group emerged with their masterpiece, which fulfilled all of the promise of their previous albums. If Isn’t Anything was the Valentines’ sonic blueprint, then Loveless saw those plans fleshed out, in the most literal sense: “Loomer,” “What You Want,” and “To Here Knows When”’s arrangements are so lush, they’re practically tangible. With its voluptuous yet ethereal melodies and arrangements, Loveless intimates sensuality and sexuality instead of stating them explicitly; Kevin Shields and Bilinda Butcher’s vocals meld perfectly with the trippy sonics around them, suggesting druggy sex or sexy drugs.
✹    From the commanding “Only Shallow” and “Come in Alone” to breathy reflections like “Sometimes” and “Blown a Wish,” the album balances complexity and immediately memorable pop melodies with remarkable self~assurance, given its difficult creation. But Loveless doesn’t just perfect the group’s approach, it also hints at their continuing growth: “Soon” fuses the Valentines’ roaring guitars with a dance~inspired beat, while the symphonic interlude “Touched” suggests an updated take on Fripp and Eno’s pioneering guitar/electronics experiments. These glimpses into the band’s evolution make Shields’ difficulty in delivering a follow~up to Loveless even more frustrating, but completely understandable — the album’s perfection sounded shoegazing’s death~knell and raised expectations for the next My Bloody Valentine album to unreasonably high levels. Though Shields’ collaborations with Yo La Tengo, Primal Scream, J Mascis, and others were often rewarding, they were no match for Loveless. However, as My Bloody Valentine fans — and, apparently, Shields himself — will attest, nothing is.
Vinyl:
✹    2018 reissue on 180 gram vinyl, mastered from analog 1” tapes using Studer A80 VU~PRE and Neumann VMS 80.
Hardware:
✹   Cartridge: ADC Omni Pivot Improved Gold
✹   Stylus: ADC Y/X Mk III
✹   Turntable: Acoustic Research “The AR Turntable”
✹   Amplifier: Yamaha Natural Sound CA~610 II
✹   Sound card: MSI H170A PC Mate motherboard
Software:
✹   iZotope RX 5
– 24bit/192kHz rip
– De~clicked with vinyl record preset, sensitivity: 4
– Gain normalized to 0db
– Resampled to 24bit/96kHz
– Individual tracks exported  
 
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My Bloody Valentine — Loveless (1991, Remastered 2018)

ALBUM COVERS XI.