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Author: breno
Date: 05-02-12 11:08
The reissue of Loveless is available for streaming. It's two discs of the same material remastered from two different sources. I've not listened to it yet to know if that means there's any appreciable difference between either disc.
Anyhow, here's the link. Well, a link to the link, actually:
http://tinyurl.com/6ujotqx
Also, Shields is promising new MBV material by the end of the year THIS TIME FOR REALSIES!!!! Has there ever been an eagerly awaited album that's been eagerly awaited for two decades? What's the over/under on a new MBV album being either a) sure to buckle under the weight of unreasonable expectations or b) a pre-ordained classic.
I lean towards a). It's gone far beyond the point where anything short of an album that reinvents popular music on a scale unprecedented since Pope Gregory asked to hear some chanting will be considered as more than a mild disappointment. A good, solid follow-up to Loveless is just going to get a response of "That's it?"
If there is a new MBV album, Shields has basically laid the groundwork for it to be the Phantom Menace of rock & roll. Taking two decades to follow up on something allows expectations to get so huge that if the new thing is not as amazing as everyone has built it up in their minds that it's going to be, it's going to be dogpiled on by legions of the disappointed.
It's not a perfect comparison, of course, because The Phantom Menace managed to be no good with or without the expectations. But even if it HAD been good, it still would've been disappointing because at the end of the day, it was always going to be just a movie, and people had built it up in their minds to where they were expecting a life-changing event. And I suspect that's the same reaction any new MBV album is going to get, unless it truly is a life-changing event. Loveless Pt 2 ain't going to cut it, even if it's objectively as good (or even better) as the original Loveless.
Shields says the new album is material begun in the '90s and then set aside, but when he re-listened to it while compiling the reissues he thought "Hey! This is pretty good. I'm going to finish it." Too bad he didn't have that thought back then - he might've saved himself 20 years of apparent creative constipation. On the other hand, if the instinct that caused him to set it aside years ago proves to have been the correct one, he might've damaged the mystique of Loveless before it had the time to achieve unassailable masterpiece status if he'd released a cruddy follow-up in 1995 or so. So I guess you take the good with the bad.
Basically, my money is on a mild no-win situation for a new MBV album but I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised. I suspect it will be greeted as a disappointment but there will be enough goodwill towards Shields just for finally releasing it that no one trashes it too badly. My prediction: Rolling Stone gives it 3 1/2 stars, the AV Club gives it a B- and Pitchfork gives it a 6.785748568568378 1/2.
(And yeah, that last paragraph doesn't quite jibe 100% with more dire previous predictions earlier up, but it was an evolving thought and I don't feel like editing.)
Of course, it all depends on IF a new MBV actually happens. I can't help but suspect that it's going to be delivered to record stores by Godot on the day of the Rapture.
Post Edited (05-02-12 11:37)
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Author: Michael Toland
Date: 05-02-12 11:45
All this depends on whether a new MBV record actually comes out this year. Frankly, I think that's highly unlikely. But I hope to be surprised - on all counts.
One thing I've noticed about albums that people look toward as "life-changing events" is that the weight of expectations completely distorts the actual quality of the work. Thus we get not only the disappointment you talk about above, but also people who automatically think it's the greatest thing ever recorded before they've gotten halfway through listening to it.
For me personally, I can't get any real perspective on a record like that until I revisit it months later - once my high (or low, for that matter) expectations are gone, then I can really get to grips with an album being truly good or bad. I just hope all the folks anticipating new MBV music don't dismiss it out of hand just because it doesn't give them instant orgasms - time and perspective may reveal it to be a darn good album, whether or not it's brilliant.
But, as I said, all this depends on a new record actually coming out, and I simply don't have much optimism about that. Once it actually appears on shelves, then I'll believe it.
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Author: Jermoe
Date: 05-02-12 11:47
Thanks for the link to the link!
I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the EPs comp. Not sure whether I'll invest in Isn't Anything and Loveless again.
I thought a couple of the tracks Shields did on the Lost in Translation soundtrack were pretty worthwhile additions to the catalog.
I'd have agree with your Phantom Menace comparison. It would be pretty cool if they could get that Jake Lloyd kid to play on the new MBV. In any case, my breath will not be held awaiting the newness.
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Author: breno
Date: 05-02-12 13:10
Quote:
a prequel, and therefore automatically was doomed to suck.
Yeah, that's pretty true. I've been trying to think of prequels that didn't suck and so far all I can come up with is The Godfather II, and it was a prequel wrapped in a sequel.
The Hobbit won't count because even though the movie(s) will be a prequel, the original book wasn't. Plus, once Lord of the Rings was published, Tolkein actually went back and revised later printings The Hobbit to make sure it agreed with the later books - if you ever find yourself reading an early edition of The Hobbit, you may be surprised to see Gollum actually giving Bilbo the Ring with no hard feelings for winning the riddle contest. So in that case, the sequels and the prequel both shaped each other's final versions.
The tv show Caprica was a potentially good prequel to Battlestar Galactica, but was doomed by its insistence on being a series instead of a movie. Caprica was definitely well done and sometimes interesting, but once the consciousness of a religiously zealous teenaged terrorist got stuck in the body of a robot at the end of the first episode, that was really all anyone needed to know about where the show was going. If they'd ended it there they would've had a nice, creepy little prequel movie to BSG instead of a tv show that felt increasingly endless before it finished its first season.
AND NOW, in my final moment of abject, pathetic nerdiness before I put on my cape and leave my mother's basement and head outside to be seared by that unfamiliar object in the sky, I'd like to remind everyone that this Saturday is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY, the annual event that I'm pretty sure is the inspiration for Record Store Day, although in a typical move, Record Store Day is too cool to acknowledge that, unless, you know, the free comics being given out are self-printed graphic memoirs or something.
Post Edited (05-02-12 13:12)
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Author: HollowbodyKay
Date: 05-02-12 13:11
Quote:
Has there ever been an eagerly awaited album that's been eagerly awaited for two decades?
How long did Axl Rose fuss over that GNR's album? Y'know .. the last one.
Quote:
What's the over/under on a new MBV album being either a) sure to buckle under the weight of unreasonable expectations or b) a pre-ordained classic.
Lightning doesn't strike twice. If it's merely good, it'll be fine with me.
Still, I wish he (Shields) wouldn't. I like life to feel unfulfilled.
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Author: nosepail
Date: 05-02-12 13:16
I am still shocked at the audactiy and stupidity of Lucas deciding to issue THREE prequels to Star Wars. That's THREE entire movies leading up to a conclusion that was already known. No wonder those movies seemed labored, and too heavy on the mythology and hagiography. My kid liked them though.
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Author: breno
Date: 05-02-12 13:17
Quote:
How long did Axl Rose fuss over that GNR's album? Y'know .. the last one.
15 years. The Spaghetti Incident came out in '93, and Chinese Democracy came out in '08. Though since Spaghetti was a covers album, an argument could be made that Axl worked for 17 years on the follow-up to the Use Your Illusion albums.
Kate Bush took 12 years to release Aerial, but I don't know if it would be considered long-anticipated because I think everyone just assumed that she'd retired. And plus, nobody loved The Red Shoes all that much so no one was really waiting with bated breath for its follow-up.
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Author: totaji
Date: 05-02-12 14:22
Star Wars: The main problem with the prequels was the lack of blood, sweat and tears...The originals were sweaty grim movies. When you watch the prequels, notice during the action scenes that there is no sweat. No one is out of breath. It is all gymnastics and green screens...
I would love to hear an unhinged version of Loveless. One that sounded like it was from SST around 84 or like Raw Power's hot mix. Something really boiling over.
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Author: HollowbodyKay
Date: 05-02-12 15:05
Quote:
I would love to hear an unhinged version of Loveless. One that sounded like it was from SST around 84 or like Raw Power's hot mix. Something really boiling over.
Are there any other mixes? I'd think live versions are the only other way to go. I snagged a Loveless-era live recording off Napster back when it was worth the time, so there must still be places to find stuff like that.
"Boiling over" would be as fine a description of the sound as any. I saw them live on that tour (perhaps I've mentioned it?) and the noise was good 'n hellish. Nothing like the smeary almost new-age music on the studio album. Which I am partial to.
...
I was listening to that CD for the first time in a few years just this last weekend and all I could imagine was some old fart in a rest home listening to "To Here Knows When" and the nurses just looking at each other and rolling their eyes.
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Author: breno
Date: 05-02-12 17:34
I wish they were re-releasing all the EPs and not just the ones associated with Isn't Anything and Loveless. The first one is pretty awkward Goth sounding, but by the second one they're already starting to mix Goth with the Jesus and Mary Chain to create shoegazing, and Sunny Sundae Smile, Strawberry Wine and Ecstasy are all really nice, though generally they sound more like Lush than MBV.
Those weren't on Creation, though, so maybe there's some rights issues or maybe they just don't want them out. It's a shame either way, because there's lots of good stuff there.
Of course, Egg City Radio has them here:
http://eggcityradio.com/2009/my-bloody-valentine-1-of-2/
http://eggcityradio.com/2009/my-bloody-valentine-2-of-2/
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Author: zoo
Date: 05-04-12 08:37
Around 20 years ago, a friend tried to get me into Loveless, but it just wasn't my thing. So, I tried listening again yesterday to see if I've been missing something the past two decades. It still isn't my thing. Maybe I'll try again in another 20 years when I'm 60 and something will click.
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Author: nosepail
Date: 05-04-12 09:26
I've always maintained Isnt Anything is the much better record. Loveless has some glorious noise on it, but almost abandons song structure. Isnt Anything strikes a better balance.
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Author: HollowbodyKay
Date: 05-04-12 12:58
Quote:
I am still shocked at the audactiy and stupidity of Lucas deciding to issue THREE prequels to Star Wars.
Wasn't it just plain old avarice?
...
Anyway. May the 4th be w-- Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
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Author: nosepail
Date: 05-11-12 11:12
Pitchfork gave the reissues of Isnt Anything and Loveless a 10 today. The hagiography proceeds apace.
Found this comment interesting:
"Aside from that detail, the remastering across all three sets is well done. Loveless was famously and appropriately one of the quietest "loud" records of all time. Listening on your iPod, you always have the volume close to max and you never feel like you damage your hearing. And this breathing room pays off in spades in the dynamics of the record; when the guitars surge on "Soon" and "Only Shallow", it can still shake you to your core."
Is this true? I always found the record pretty damn loud. Paganizer?
BTW, its about time for that other 1991 classic to get the deluxe reissue / remaster treatement: the eponymous Drive Like Jehu debut. One of the most exciting slabs of hard rock ever committed to the grooves of a shiny black vinyl disc.
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Author: nosepail
Date: 05-11-12 11:23
ps. Werent we just talking memorable indie-rock flute riffs? That last song on the Loveless album has a real corker.
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Author: rhettlawrence
Date: 05-11-12 12:48
Spiderland was actually the 1991 album that meant the most to me, but somehow I don't see an expanded remaster of that coming anytime soon.
As for these MBV discs, I may actually pick up that compilation of the EPs since I never owned any of those. Otherwise, my original copies of Loveless and Isn't Anything should be all I need.
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Author: nosepail
Date: 05-11-12 12:56
Rhett, do you prefer Spiderland to Tweez? I got into the latter heavily due to a timely Maximum Rock and Roll recommendation, but Spiderland never seems to sink in for me
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Author: breno
Date: 05-11-12 15:22
In my daily credibility shattering admission for May 11, 2102, I have to confess that I've never been able to grasp Spiderland. I kind of love "Good Morning, Captain" but to get there I have to sit through an hour of some guy mumbling his notes from a Raymond Carver seminar while the band tunes up behind him.
Too many people whose opinions I respect worship the thing for me to write it off, but I'm completely perplexed by it. I tip my hat to Spiderland's admirers, but when I'm in the mood to listen to a dawn of the '90s gloomy gus intoning over music that evokes visions of a sad Eskimo floating out to sea on an iceberg I'll stick with Galaxie 500.
But that's just me. I don't get the whole Louisville/Chicago brand of post-rock in general - it generally always sounded to me like lots of noodles but no soup. Except the Sea and Cake, if they're considered post-rock. I like them.
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Author: rhettlawrence
Date: 05-14-12 16:48
I was so absolutely stunned by Brad's shocking admission that it's taken me 3 days to compose myself.
Now then: yes, I do prefer Spiderland to Tweez by a substantial margin. I had Tweez when it came out and I dug it, but it seemed more noodly than soupy, as Reno might say. I do enjoy certain segments of it a lot and it's actually kinda fascinating to see the way those doodles gave way to Spiderland's actual songs.
And yeah, I hear ya, Brad, on it's not being for everyone. For some reason, Spiderland just scratched an itch for me in 1991. Not every "song" is great, but many of them are just masterfully constructed little symphonies to my ears. And yes, "Good Morning Captain" is kinda the culmination of it all and is the one song that really blows me away. And seeing it live on that reunion tour a few years ago was nearly orgasmic. Now if you'll excuse me, I must step to the restroom....
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Author: breno
Date: 05-14-12 17:56
I'm thinking I'm going to pick up the 33 1/3 book on Spiderland and see if it helps me unlock what's going on with it. Because I know there's got to be something remarkable there, but it's always managed to elude me.
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Author: HollowbodyKay
Date: 05-15-12 10:27
Quote:
.. when I'm in the mood to listen to a dawn of the '90s gloomy gus intoning over music that evokes visions of a sad Eskimo floating out to sea on an iceberg I'll stick with Galaxie 500.
Ahem. Galaxie 500 was an 80s band.
...
Which G500 tune evokes that sort of vision? "Listen, The Snow Is Falling?"
...
"Summertime" always evokes visions of an Abominable Snowman lamenting his poor, lost bunny rabbit while he melts away.
But that's just me.
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Author: rhettlawrence
Date: 05-15-12 12:04
Thanks for those links, Jermoe. I somehow missed that debut here last year, but I'll see if I can contact him to see if there's been any further development of it.
Incidentally, that guy, Lance Bangs, is the husband of local banshee Corin Tucker, formerly of Sleater-Kinney and now of the Corin Tucker Band. I've seen him around at shows occasionally, but I don't know him. He also had an Athens connection in the early/mid-90s, Jermoe, so maybe you ran in the same circles?
Post Edited (05-15-12 12:44)
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Author: Jermoe
Date: 05-15-12 13:55
I don't have a memory of Mr. Bangs in Athens, and I don't know him, but–not surprisingly–he ended up being pretty tight with my best friend's brother-in-law (who was the sound guy @ the 40 Watt for most of the '90s), so I connected a bunch of dots after the fact. It's a small world and all that.
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