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33⅓ Main Series #36
Loveless
Loveless remains an enigma, 15 years after its release - an album so influential and groundbreaking that its chief creator, Kevin Shields, has been unable or unwilling to release an official follow-up. In his book, Mike McGonigal talks to all the members of My Bloody Valentine, in an almost certainly futile attempt to get at the essence of this extraordinary record.
136 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
June 8, 2012
This album is like being dragged between three giant blue icebergs and having them smash slowly together and then drag you down into the freezing ocean and you drown. Or some such gushing prose. It's great. It's so loud that even when you play it quiet it's loud. It's got a vocalist but that's like having a refereee in a viking raid, superfluous to requirements. It's got a drummer too but he's mixed so far down he may as well have not turned up and just played in his bedroom at home. So this album is JUST GUITARS. This is the electricguitarriest record ever, there's about 20 layers of guitars on every track, it's not even guitar anymore, it breaks through into some other level beyond chords, it's just noise but it's sweet, never dischordant, it's a celebration of something, probably being alive, it's ecstatic is what it is.
That's the record. Unfortunately this book tells me all about the people who made it and thus demonstrates very well that sometimes it's better not to ask.
POSTSCRIPT
EPs 1988-1991 has just been released, which is a double cd of odds and sods and it's got a ton of great stuff on it. So all Loveless fans should get it now....
That's the record. Unfortunately this book tells me all about the people who made it and thus demonstrates very well that sometimes it's better not to ask.
POSTSCRIPT
EPs 1988-1991 has just been released, which is a double cd of odds and sods and it's got a ton of great stuff on it. So all Loveless fans should get it now....
June 2, 2024
It is difficult to exaggerate the status of My Bloody Valentine's Loveless (1991) within alternative/indie rock culture. Before it was even released, music writers regularly referred to Kevin Shields as a genius and an innovator. Upon its release, it was met with near-unanimous praise: Loveless was immediately hailed as a masterpiece; critics characterized it as ethereal, transcendent, otherworldly; conventional wisdom seemed to suggest that it was closer to a spiritual experience than a rock record. Kevin Shields later joked that writing about the album was so flowery that he had a hard time understanding most of what critics said about it. To this day, various publications regularly include it in "Top 10"-style lists. Fans were similarly enthralled: My Bloody Valentine's Loveless-era work spawned an entire scene's worth of imitators — derisively referred to as "shoegaze" — with bands like Chapterhouse, Lush, Moose, Ride, and Slowdive crafting their own take on their abrasive-yet-blissful blend of noise and melody.
It is no doubt true that part of the album’s mystique lies in the mythos surrounding the process of recording it: Loveless is rumoured to have singlehandedly driven Creation Records to the brink of bankruptcy; it took two years, nineteen studios, over a dozen different engineers, and anywhere between an exorbitant £250,000 (if you believe label owner Alan McGee) and “just a few thousand” (if you believe Kevin Shields); it was recorded in the most extreme of circumstances, with drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig falling ill and losing the use of his legs, singer/guitarist Bilinda Butcher fearing the abusive father of her child, and none of the band members having stable living arrangements. The mental image one forms is of a neurotic Shields obsessing over every minute detail and demanding total control, antagonizing and alienating engineers, label executives, and band mates, and working sleeplessly to realize his groundbreaking vision.
But part of Loveless’s mystique, at least for a time, lay in the silence that followed its release. After being dropped from Creation, Shields and co. were signed to Sony, built their own studio, and, despite repeated claims that they were developing new material, maintained near-total silence for over two decades. The general suspicion among fans and critics was the My Bloody Valentine knew that they had reached their peak and were simply unable to produce a follow-up. Some speculated that Loveless was a fluke, that far from being a visionary, Shields barely knew what he was doing. Others went in the opposite direction and attributed the silence to Shields’s genius: they imagined him recording and scrapping track after track, poring over every detail, his own exaggerated standards preventing him from ever being fully satisfied with the end product.
It is in this climate that Mike McGonigal published his short book on Loveless (2006). It is in this climate also that I first read it ten years ago, and that I first encountered Loveless at age 18. At that time, My Bloody Valentine’s decade-long silence was still part and parcel with the aura of legend that hung over them. They — and indeed shoegaze as a genre — belonged to some glorious, half-forgotten past long before Coldplay and Arcade Fire passed for alternative rock. Accordingly, their virtual disappearance after 1991 looms large in McGonigal’s book: “[…] bands should feel fine not making another record, especially if they’ve made the best one of their careers already”, he writes on p. 104. And again: “I don’t need a sequel, and don’t want one” (p. 110).
You can't always get what you want — or not get what you don't want — I guess, because My Bloody Valentine reformed and started playing shows again just a year after McGonigal published his book. In 2013, 22 years after the release of their much-vaunted masterpiece, they finally released a full-length follow-up to Loveless, simply titled MBV. Their return simultaneously reanimated the entire scene that they had spawned, with such bands as Medicine, Ride, Slowdive, and Swervedriver reforming and often releasing new material after a long absence. According to the most recent interview with Shields, he expects to release a string of EPs soon, followed by another full-length released.
Unfortunately, these new developments have largely made McGonigal's book obsolete. Truth be told, it wasn't even a very good book to begin with. Let’s be fair. McGonigal was writing at a time when knowledge of Loveless was scarce. There was a time — I remember it — when his book served as a kind of holy book for depressed college dropouts with too little sleep and many Boss DD-3s. The book has its merits. It does give some insight into My Bloody Valentine’s progress from sub-par faux-goth imitators to indie darlings and into the process of recording Loveless and the various circumstances that surrounded it. It chronicles their various endeavors after the band’s dissolution and their efforts — in vain — to record a follow-up in the studio they built for themselves after signing with Sony. It assembles a number of interesting quotations from the band members about Shields’s “glide guitar” technique, about the hypnagogic state in which he often recorded, and so on.
However, the book's flaws by far outweigh its merits. For one, it is very badly written, and often in a tone that is strangely at odds with the emotional register of the band’s music itself. It is rambling, unfocused, and often crass. For another, the book is quite badly organized. Entire chapters could easily have been cut, including the uninformative track-by-track description that makes up chapter 2 and the completely useless list of possible antecedents in chapter 6. And like I said, it is now obsolete. McGonigal wrote the book at a time when information about My Bloody Valentine was scarce and interviews with Shields were few and far between. By now, though, plenty of online articles and video essays cover the material more accurately and in more detail. McGonigal's book might be worth reading for someone looking to get a glimpse into the period of silence between Loveless and , but I can't recommend it to anyone else.
It is no doubt true that part of the album’s mystique lies in the mythos surrounding the process of recording it: Loveless is rumoured to have singlehandedly driven Creation Records to the brink of bankruptcy; it took two years, nineteen studios, over a dozen different engineers, and anywhere between an exorbitant £250,000 (if you believe label owner Alan McGee) and “just a few thousand” (if you believe Kevin Shields); it was recorded in the most extreme of circumstances, with drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig falling ill and losing the use of his legs, singer/guitarist Bilinda Butcher fearing the abusive father of her child, and none of the band members having stable living arrangements. The mental image one forms is of a neurotic Shields obsessing over every minute detail and demanding total control, antagonizing and alienating engineers, label executives, and band mates, and working sleeplessly to realize his groundbreaking vision.
But part of Loveless’s mystique, at least for a time, lay in the silence that followed its release. After being dropped from Creation, Shields and co. were signed to Sony, built their own studio, and, despite repeated claims that they were developing new material, maintained near-total silence for over two decades. The general suspicion among fans and critics was the My Bloody Valentine knew that they had reached their peak and were simply unable to produce a follow-up. Some speculated that Loveless was a fluke, that far from being a visionary, Shields barely knew what he was doing. Others went in the opposite direction and attributed the silence to Shields’s genius: they imagined him recording and scrapping track after track, poring over every detail, his own exaggerated standards preventing him from ever being fully satisfied with the end product.
It is in this climate that Mike McGonigal published his short book on Loveless (2006). It is in this climate also that I first read it ten years ago, and that I first encountered Loveless at age 18. At that time, My Bloody Valentine’s decade-long silence was still part and parcel with the aura of legend that hung over them. They — and indeed shoegaze as a genre — belonged to some glorious, half-forgotten past long before Coldplay and Arcade Fire passed for alternative rock. Accordingly, their virtual disappearance after 1991 looms large in McGonigal’s book: “[…] bands should feel fine not making another record, especially if they’ve made the best one of their careers already”, he writes on p. 104. And again: “I don’t need a sequel, and don’t want one” (p. 110).
You can't always get what you want — or not get what you don't want — I guess, because My Bloody Valentine reformed and started playing shows again just a year after McGonigal published his book. In 2013, 22 years after the release of their much-vaunted masterpiece, they finally released a full-length follow-up to Loveless, simply titled MBV. Their return simultaneously reanimated the entire scene that they had spawned, with such bands as Medicine, Ride, Slowdive, and Swervedriver reforming and often releasing new material after a long absence. According to the most recent interview with Shields, he expects to release a string of EPs soon, followed by another full-length released.
Unfortunately, these new developments have largely made McGonigal's book obsolete. Truth be told, it wasn't even a very good book to begin with. Let’s be fair. McGonigal was writing at a time when knowledge of Loveless was scarce. There was a time — I remember it — when his book served as a kind of holy book for depressed college dropouts with too little sleep and many Boss DD-3s. The book has its merits. It does give some insight into My Bloody Valentine’s progress from sub-par faux-goth imitators to indie darlings and into the process of recording Loveless and the various circumstances that surrounded it. It chronicles their various endeavors after the band’s dissolution and their efforts — in vain — to record a follow-up in the studio they built for themselves after signing with Sony. It assembles a number of interesting quotations from the band members about Shields’s “glide guitar” technique, about the hypnagogic state in which he often recorded, and so on.
However, the book's flaws by far outweigh its merits. For one, it is very badly written, and often in a tone that is strangely at odds with the emotional register of the band’s music itself. It is rambling, unfocused, and often crass. For another, the book is quite badly organized. Entire chapters could easily have been cut, including the uninformative track-by-track description that makes up chapter 2 and the completely useless list of possible antecedents in chapter 6. And like I said, it is now obsolete. McGonigal wrote the book at a time when information about My Bloody Valentine was scarce and interviews with Shields were few and far between. By now, though, plenty of online articles and video essays cover the material more accurately and in more detail. McGonigal's book might be worth reading for someone looking to get a glimpse into the period of silence between Loveless and , but I can't recommend it to anyone else.
January 14, 2010
I was leaning towards 3 stars just because I love this album so much, but honestly it really was just okay.
The writing is absolutely terrible and the editing/fact checking seems pretty non-existent. The author inserts his personality pretty heavily at the beginning and he seems like kind of a douche. While doing a track by track rundown of loveless he describes one song as "the most futuristic" and another as "the most from the future". So I guess if these two statements don't mean the same thing they must mean that one song is the most as if it were from the future and the other actually travelled back in time.
Another irritating thing was the fact that the author quotes Kevin Shields referring their first singer as "Dave Stelfox" which is a bit confusing because not only is he credited as Dave Conway, The author refers to him as Dave Conway a page and a half later. This is never cleared up in the book. According to My Bloody Valentine's Wikipedia page the singers real name is Dave Conway, and his stage name was Dave Stelfox. In my opinion if I have to reference Wikipedia to clear up facts in a book you wrote, sorry dude, you wrote a shitty book.
He refers to early My Bloody Valentine as "really bad", which I kind of like some of their early stuff. Granted it's mostly okay at best, and that's just my opinion, but he also refers to Daydream Nation as "boring". Really dude? I mean I know it's all opinions, and no one is right or wrong, but the author really killed his credibility to me with those statements.
All that complaining aside, once the author fades into the background and starts relying mostly on interview quotes, I enjoyed it. Plus its a quick read so it's easy to plow through the bad parts.
Also it must be pretty obvious from the length of this review that I have absolutely nothing to do at work. Shit, I should go take a long lunch or something.
The writing is absolutely terrible and the editing/fact checking seems pretty non-existent. The author inserts his personality pretty heavily at the beginning and he seems like kind of a douche. While doing a track by track rundown of loveless he describes one song as "the most futuristic" and another as "the most from the future". So I guess if these two statements don't mean the same thing they must mean that one song is the most as if it were from the future and the other actually travelled back in time.
Another irritating thing was the fact that the author quotes Kevin Shields referring their first singer as "Dave Stelfox" which is a bit confusing because not only is he credited as Dave Conway, The author refers to him as Dave Conway a page and a half later. This is never cleared up in the book. According to My Bloody Valentine's Wikipedia page the singers real name is Dave Conway, and his stage name was Dave Stelfox. In my opinion if I have to reference Wikipedia to clear up facts in a book you wrote, sorry dude, you wrote a shitty book.
He refers to early My Bloody Valentine as "really bad", which I kind of like some of their early stuff. Granted it's mostly okay at best, and that's just my opinion, but he also refers to Daydream Nation as "boring". Really dude? I mean I know it's all opinions, and no one is right or wrong, but the author really killed his credibility to me with those statements.
All that complaining aside, once the author fades into the background and starts relying mostly on interview quotes, I enjoyed it. Plus its a quick read so it's easy to plow through the bad parts.
Also it must be pretty obvious from the length of this review that I have absolutely nothing to do at work. Shit, I should go take a long lunch or something.
September 24, 2007
The 33 1/3 book series was initially appealing to me in its selection of albums, pocket size and snappy cover design, but judging by this one and the Pet Sounds one (which I set aside in disgust) I think these books are pretty lame.
Here's a quote: "(I know I keep inserting myself into the narrative here, but I hope I'm not painting myself as some great close friend with insider knowledge. Yeah, they almost gave me a song for free once, and we had a few pals in common, whoop dee doo. Besides, the few times I was backstage, I was so awestruck by Bilinda and Debbie that I never spoke with them. They were both so rad and beautiful, and at the time, I barely knew how to talk to women at all let alone cool-ass rock star women)." Perhaps I should be charmed by the casual, conversational tone, but instead I feel embarrassed for the writer and annoyed at how he indeed keeps inserting himself into the narrative.
That all said, I learned a lot of technical and biographical stuff about the making and the makers of one of my very favorite records, so I don't regret reading it, especially since it took less than an hour of my time.
Here's a quote: "(I know I keep inserting myself into the narrative here, but I hope I'm not painting myself as some great close friend with insider knowledge. Yeah, they almost gave me a song for free once, and we had a few pals in common, whoop dee doo. Besides, the few times I was backstage, I was so awestruck by Bilinda and Debbie that I never spoke with them. They were both so rad and beautiful, and at the time, I barely knew how to talk to women at all let alone cool-ass rock star women)." Perhaps I should be charmed by the casual, conversational tone, but instead I feel embarrassed for the writer and annoyed at how he indeed keeps inserting himself into the narrative.
That all said, I learned a lot of technical and biographical stuff about the making and the makers of one of my very favorite records, so I don't regret reading it, especially since it took less than an hour of my time.
February 9, 2012
This is the first book of the 33 1/3 series I ever picked up and, being a fan of Loveless, I was excited about it. But right from the first page, it struck me as that all too common variety of music writing that focusses far more on the author than it does on the subject.
An awful lot of reviewers, here and elsewhere, have griped about the same thing and, in a way, I feel a little bad for adding to it. I think the author made a perfectly well intentioned attempt to give the book some life by relating a lot of personal experience, and even referring to the band's and his editor's dissatisfaction with elements of the book within the narrative, and in some senses it succeeds. However, there are some chunks of annoyingly clunky prose and largely irrelevant asides, and the book lacks the structure and factual detail that might have mitigated these problems.
On the whole, though, it's a perfectly enjoyable read; it's just not quite substantial enough for the really nerdy sorts (like me) who're looking for detailed discussions of the composition and recording processes.
An awful lot of reviewers, here and elsewhere, have griped about the same thing and, in a way, I feel a little bad for adding to it. I think the author made a perfectly well intentioned attempt to give the book some life by relating a lot of personal experience, and even referring to the band's and his editor's dissatisfaction with elements of the book within the narrative, and in some senses it succeeds. However, there are some chunks of annoyingly clunky prose and largely irrelevant asides, and the book lacks the structure and factual detail that might have mitigated these problems.
On the whole, though, it's a perfectly enjoyable read; it's just not quite substantial enough for the really nerdy sorts (like me) who're looking for detailed discussions of the composition and recording processes.
September 6, 2020
My son read this and said it was good. He’s right. Informative and a bit obsessive. Either embarrassing or liberating, depending on your perspective, but the best things usually are.
February 10, 2023
How did they misspell Colm’s last name so bad on page 22… Like seriously how does that happen.
July 26, 2012
I had unjustified expectations from this book, and it didn't take long to realize how misplaced they were.
I'll start with the horrible. What annoyed me the most is how amateurishly it is written and how the author repeatedly inserts himself in the narrative. I mean, what the fuck: it is so pathetic, man. How one would do that and not see it is completely beyond me. I get it that he loves the album and the band. I get it that he loves its members, especially -- as I am duly informed -- the female ones, that the author finds beautiful and rad (he really said something like that)... I get it! After all you wouldn't write about something almost nobody has heard just for cash. So why going into such embarrassing remarks!? It's painful to read them!
Anyway, the book has some good parts. It gives a history of the band, talks about the origins of shoegaze and the related bands, and gives some cool trivia of the recording techniques used in Loveless, like the extensive use of sampling on drums, guitar feedback (played in layers with the sampler!), and even voice (Butcher's is sampled and played as a synth, e.g. in When You Sleep). Also the book revealed the lack of any actual effect units beside reverbs: it's all tremolo arm on the whole chords, Vox amplifiers, and reverse reverbs. So that part was cool and super-interesting, I guess. I just wish the book was more focused and carried out a real analysis (both artistic and technical) of this landmark recording, instead of being just a spastic write-up by a dorky fanboy.
I'll start with the horrible. What annoyed me the most is how amateurishly it is written and how the author repeatedly inserts himself in the narrative. I mean, what the fuck: it is so pathetic, man. How one would do that and not see it is completely beyond me. I get it that he loves the album and the band. I get it that he loves its members, especially -- as I am duly informed -- the female ones, that the author finds beautiful and rad (he really said something like that)... I get it! After all you wouldn't write about something almost nobody has heard just for cash. So why going into such embarrassing remarks!? It's painful to read them!
Anyway, the book has some good parts. It gives a history of the band, talks about the origins of shoegaze and the related bands, and gives some cool trivia of the recording techniques used in Loveless, like the extensive use of sampling on drums, guitar feedback (played in layers with the sampler!), and even voice (Butcher's is sampled and played as a synth, e.g. in When You Sleep). Also the book revealed the lack of any actual effect units beside reverbs: it's all tremolo arm on the whole chords, Vox amplifiers, and reverse reverbs. So that part was cool and super-interesting, I guess. I just wish the book was more focused and carried out a real analysis (both artistic and technical) of this landmark recording, instead of being just a spastic write-up by a dorky fanboy.
August 2, 2018
I get the sense from this book that kevin shields really is the genius that he's hyped as, and that loveless really is the masterpiece that I never really got into. while it was nice to hear about the history of the album and its difficulties the drama of making the art sort of pales in comparison to the art itself. the highlight of the book is the author's narration of his seeing mbv in concert and his sort of ascending to a higher plain of ecstasy while that assaulted him with noise. like a new kind of drug, overwhelming but irresistible. other than that it plateaus, with a flat style that is opinionated by never personal and academic without being enlightening.
March 8, 2024
This is the fourth book in the 33 1/3 series I’ve read and so far, it was my least favorite. I found it unorganized and filled with too much of the author’s own opinions (some of which I agreed with and most of which I disagreed with). It doesn’t help either that the book is incredibly out of date. Maybe an updated and expanded version that included details on MBV’s long awaited follow up album would help the book be a bit more of an interesting read.
The best aspect was whenever Kevin Shields explained in his own words his thoughts on guitar playing and recording. Other than that, there isn’t much else from this book I’d recommend.
The best aspect was whenever Kevin Shields explained in his own words his thoughts on guitar playing and recording. Other than that, there isn’t much else from this book I’d recommend.
April 22, 2022
A throughly enjoyable read. The author does not try to differentiate fact from fiction, and certainly adds to the mystique and infatuation of this timeless gem of an album. My life was forever changed the first time I heard Loveless and this book affirms that it had the same effect on many others. A worthy tribute to a favorite album.
April 2, 2023
The info and interview segments are the best and only part you should read in this book. Everything else sucks. The writer tries too hard to be relatable that it becomes obnoxious. He also has a bunch of unnecessary, boring info that drags.
July 27, 2010
This writer is completely self opinionated but at the same time fails to give valid or any reason for his views. If it makes you feel better to be patronised about the music you like rather than be informed, this is for you.
I found this book to be completely full of false and weak points that really point to the writer attempting to influence the reader rather than inform. Just as one example, at one point he refers to the former Creation releases by The Legend and Les Zarjaz as being 'dreadful'.
Both these acts were early Creation stable releases but both fell out of favour with Creation. Both acts have proved to be influential, showed real promise at the time and even helped pave the way for the stable of indie karaoke brit pop pap rock that Creation, with the help of their journalist friends at the NME (members of Primal Scream included) abused the rock n roll scene with during the 90's. Both acts I think it is fair to say are not dreadful in the slightest but would only be referred to this way if there were some kind of inside agenda to defame them.
I believe that in the case of Les Zarjaz in particular there remains a dispute where Alan McGee abused the group, failed to fulfill recording agreements, didn't promote the release and then went on to slag the band off with the help of journalists at the NME that also worked at Creation, claiming the release suffered poor sales, as if it was the bands fault and then went on to re issue the records without the bands authorization. At the same time AM was claiming that he was helping young musicians. Les Zarjaz later commented that it was help they could have done without.
Both of these acts can't be more dreadful than many Creation releases, "wake up it's a beautiful day" for example, "get your rocks off" as another. It's really a matter of taste, so why is this dude trying to influence his taste on the reader with crummy defamatory remarks? Shouldn't he be balanced and unbiased as all good journalists should be? It has to be that he isn't good at all. It has to be because these bands have stood up to the Creation myth and the Creation myth machine has an agenda to defame them, therefore this book is fake and the writer is pulling a fast one trying to gain some dull credibility as a music journalist.
The thing is that at the time he's writing about, the Buzzcocks manager said that the Les Zarjaz release was the biggest single ever. Who are you going to believe?
This book is not worth the paper it's printed on and it's sad that Creation fans seem to be conned into paying good money for Creation marketing and promotion pamphlets in the guise of books.
I found this book to be completely full of false and weak points that really point to the writer attempting to influence the reader rather than inform. Just as one example, at one point he refers to the former Creation releases by The Legend and Les Zarjaz as being 'dreadful'.
Both these acts were early Creation stable releases but both fell out of favour with Creation. Both acts have proved to be influential, showed real promise at the time and even helped pave the way for the stable of indie karaoke brit pop pap rock that Creation, with the help of their journalist friends at the NME (members of Primal Scream included) abused the rock n roll scene with during the 90's. Both acts I think it is fair to say are not dreadful in the slightest but would only be referred to this way if there were some kind of inside agenda to defame them.
I believe that in the case of Les Zarjaz in particular there remains a dispute where Alan McGee abused the group, failed to fulfill recording agreements, didn't promote the release and then went on to slag the band off with the help of journalists at the NME that also worked at Creation, claiming the release suffered poor sales, as if it was the bands fault and then went on to re issue the records without the bands authorization. At the same time AM was claiming that he was helping young musicians. Les Zarjaz later commented that it was help they could have done without.
Both of these acts can't be more dreadful than many Creation releases, "wake up it's a beautiful day" for example, "get your rocks off" as another. It's really a matter of taste, so why is this dude trying to influence his taste on the reader with crummy defamatory remarks? Shouldn't he be balanced and unbiased as all good journalists should be? It has to be that he isn't good at all. It has to be because these bands have stood up to the Creation myth and the Creation myth machine has an agenda to defame them, therefore this book is fake and the writer is pulling a fast one trying to gain some dull credibility as a music journalist.
The thing is that at the time he's writing about, the Buzzcocks manager said that the Les Zarjaz release was the biggest single ever. Who are you going to believe?
This book is not worth the paper it's printed on and it's sad that Creation fans seem to be conned into paying good money for Creation marketing and promotion pamphlets in the guise of books.
February 26, 2008
the story behind this record is fascinating, and if you enjoy listening to this record as much as i do, then i think it's (ultimately) worth the read.
i can't say either way if this book does mroe to dispel the myths and legnds behind the recording of 'loveless' or if it adds to the lore, but when mcgonigal isn't going out of his way to let everyone know how in he is/was with the paleo-indie rock elite, he reveals some very interesting aspects of a landmark album.
overall, i'd say this book is impressive in how close it comes to taking an incredibly fascinating story, and making it almost hard to read. it never quite hits that put-the-book down level, but there was a moment or two when it seemed headed that way. in the end, i'd say it's saved by its topic. there's not many records i would think i'd have endured reading this entire book about, but this is one of them.
i can't say either way if this book does mroe to dispel the myths and legnds behind the recording of 'loveless' or if it adds to the lore, but when mcgonigal isn't going out of his way to let everyone know how in he is/was with the paleo-indie rock elite, he reveals some very interesting aspects of a landmark album.
overall, i'd say this book is impressive in how close it comes to taking an incredibly fascinating story, and making it almost hard to read. it never quite hits that put-the-book down level, but there was a moment or two when it seemed headed that way. in the end, i'd say it's saved by its topic. there's not many records i would think i'd have endured reading this entire book about, but this is one of them.
December 12, 2016
I've heard mixed reviews of this series of books. This is the first one I've read. If all the other books are like this, then the series is good, because it is what I expected: an in-depth look at the recording process, the structure and feelings brought from the songs on the record, extensive interviews with band members, and back story on the myths and truths behind the album.
June 4, 2015
really didn't like the author's style or opinions. it did have some good information but it was mostly a mess. annoyingly, the last chapter was about a completely different album by a different artist.
March 5, 2020
if i wrote a book about loveless when i was 17, it'd suck too
January 4, 2023
Well, this book burst my bubble. This well-written entry in the 33 ⅓ series focused a lot on the recording process of Loveless. Like everyone else, I’ve been enchanted by Loveless ever since the first time I heard it. In my case, this was on headphones on my friend’s discman at a cabin on the coast of Maine in 2000. Perhaps because of the romantic setting of my initial listen, I always imagined a romantic scene for the making of the album: MBV, as a group of comrades, holed up in a studio, recording endless layers of distorted guitars to realize the album’s peculiar beauty.
Instead, as Mike McGonigal accounts, it was basically just Kevin Shields recording solo (even replacing their drummer with drum samples), neurotically switching studios a dozen times. 16 engineers are credited on the album, but Shields explains that basically only 2 did anything. The rest were told to get out of the way and were given credit as a generous gesture.
Ironically, after reading this, the making of the album feels almost less impressive. Rather than coming across as a genius (as many people apparently describe Shields), he strikes me as being more of just, well, neurotic.
It seems a bit sad when the others were quoted as more or less saying, “yeah, I didn’t really play on the album, but it’s fine.” In fact, sadness, rather than joy, seems to be the main feeling surrounding the making of the album, as Kevin and Belinda were amidst a break-up, Belinda’s ex was threatening her, and Colm was sick and homeless and after his American girlfriend was deported.
Also ironically, I found the most fascinating part of this book was not the recording of the album, but the author’s recounting of the live show he witnessed in 1992. His description is absolutely captivating. McGonigal explains that during “You Made Me Realize,” the band begins to play noise at an unfathomable volume, so loud that he feels pain and nausea. But then:
“Somehow, though (and it’s really hard to say how or exactly when, though I’d say at least five minutes in), things start to change, and the sounds become less intense–or less threatening, more organic and almost melodic–and my stomach’s fine…Perhaps it’s that my ears have adjusted to the pain? Or maybe they’ve shut down entirely, and what I’m ‘hearing’ are the increasingly pleasant, ringing tones of endorphin rush?
Now, just as suddenly as it hit in the first place, something truly beautiful is happening. A playful array of overtones can be heard bouncing about on top of the dirge. Everything goes into slow motion. I am absolutely transported and it seems that this cloud of harmonics sweetly filling the room, these delightful ping-ponging notes, are perhaps the whole point of this exercise, what the band had been trying to get to all along. The band do not appear to have changed what they’re doing, they’re still furiously playing what appears to be one chord, all of them” (7-8).
Instead, as Mike McGonigal accounts, it was basically just Kevin Shields recording solo (even replacing their drummer with drum samples), neurotically switching studios a dozen times. 16 engineers are credited on the album, but Shields explains that basically only 2 did anything. The rest were told to get out of the way and were given credit as a generous gesture.
Ironically, after reading this, the making of the album feels almost less impressive. Rather than coming across as a genius (as many people apparently describe Shields), he strikes me as being more of just, well, neurotic.
It seems a bit sad when the others were quoted as more or less saying, “yeah, I didn’t really play on the album, but it’s fine.” In fact, sadness, rather than joy, seems to be the main feeling surrounding the making of the album, as Kevin and Belinda were amidst a break-up, Belinda’s ex was threatening her, and Colm was sick and homeless and after his American girlfriend was deported.
Also ironically, I found the most fascinating part of this book was not the recording of the album, but the author’s recounting of the live show he witnessed in 1992. His description is absolutely captivating. McGonigal explains that during “You Made Me Realize,” the band begins to play noise at an unfathomable volume, so loud that he feels pain and nausea. But then:
“Somehow, though (and it’s really hard to say how or exactly when, though I’d say at least five minutes in), things start to change, and the sounds become less intense–or less threatening, more organic and almost melodic–and my stomach’s fine…Perhaps it’s that my ears have adjusted to the pain? Or maybe they’ve shut down entirely, and what I’m ‘hearing’ are the increasingly pleasant, ringing tones of endorphin rush?
Now, just as suddenly as it hit in the first place, something truly beautiful is happening. A playful array of overtones can be heard bouncing about on top of the dirge. Everything goes into slow motion. I am absolutely transported and it seems that this cloud of harmonics sweetly filling the room, these delightful ping-ponging notes, are perhaps the whole point of this exercise, what the band had been trying to get to all along. The band do not appear to have changed what they’re doing, they’re still furiously playing what appears to be one chord, all of them” (7-8).
June 21, 2023
fun read to pick up while listening to mbv but fails to unpack what makes the album so special. For as much as the Creation bankruptcy myths, kevin and bilinda’s relationship and other record label politics are discussed, there’s very little to be said about Loveless’ sound. This book tells you Loveless is a shift in the guitar music paradigm, and that no other shoegaze band lives up to MBV, but there’s very little explanation as to why any of this is. i can’t help but feel if another author were to have the resources/connections McGonigal did (and maybe even enough foresight to not insist on their own head-canon that MBV’s story was completely finished in 2007 despite members explicitly hinting towards a new record even then), there would be a more complete book about My Bloody Valentine out in the world. McGonigal seems like an interesting enough guy who was buddies with Mark Ibold and almost released an MBV 7” in the 90s, but my enjoyment of his personal anecdotes dissipates as the book carries on. it’s only a little unfortunate that this was a book i had been trying to get my hands on since high school, but i still had a relatively good time reading it… usually only in the form of personal fulfillment for learning something new about the band, something the book doesn’t deliver consistently enough for me to fully get into this. not to mention the completely unnecessary postscript that is just a review of an entirely unrelated album (admittedly i do kinda wanna check the album out now).
all that aside, much appreciation for giving me an excuse to get back into the band’s discography. i forgot how much of a pleasure it is to finally have m b v and the EPs available online now.
all that aside, much appreciation for giving me an excuse to get back into the band’s discography. i forgot how much of a pleasure it is to finally have m b v and the EPs available online now.
January 23, 2024
Hmmm...another "just OK" offering from the 33 1/3 series.
It appears that its hard to talk about this album without using words like moods, textures and accents etc, but without doubt there are some really beautiful songs on here, all awash in warm, hazy soundscapes and hypnogogic fog. As with other great albums within the shoegazing genre, they seem to be sung primarily by female vocalists, like Cocteau Twins "Heaven Or Las Vegas" or Lush's "Spooky".
One interesting thing to emerge from this was the dispelling of the long-held myth about MBV almost bankrupting Creation records during the making of this album. Shields asserts, that on the contrary it was actually a relatively inexpensive album to record, he estimates it came in at around £160.000.
At one point the author describes Alan McGee as a “Flashy young Glaswegian”, the first time I have heard of such a description in relation to an otherwise very scruffy young Glaswegian, as he would have been. Overall I felt that too often the author’s intrusion into the story was both confusing and distracting and I struggled to tell if he was talking about himself or someone else?...This was OK and worth the read, but it certainly didn't set the heather on fire.
It appears that its hard to talk about this album without using words like moods, textures and accents etc, but without doubt there are some really beautiful songs on here, all awash in warm, hazy soundscapes and hypnogogic fog. As with other great albums within the shoegazing genre, they seem to be sung primarily by female vocalists, like Cocteau Twins "Heaven Or Las Vegas" or Lush's "Spooky".
One interesting thing to emerge from this was the dispelling of the long-held myth about MBV almost bankrupting Creation records during the making of this album. Shields asserts, that on the contrary it was actually a relatively inexpensive album to record, he estimates it came in at around £160.000.
At one point the author describes Alan McGee as a “Flashy young Glaswegian”, the first time I have heard of such a description in relation to an otherwise very scruffy young Glaswegian, as he would have been. Overall I felt that too often the author’s intrusion into the story was both confusing and distracting and I struggled to tell if he was talking about himself or someone else?...This was OK and worth the read, but it certainly didn't set the heather on fire.
March 28, 2025
A short book which fills you in on what Kevin Shields had to say around 2005 about their lives and the making of this fabulous record. I got to learn about the method and the process and about how bumbling and laser focused it all was. Shields tries to dispel the myth that they were close to bankrupting Creation but admits to watching a lot of TV and writing the songs in the studio. The drums are mostly programmed and most of what you hear played and sung was performed by Shields.
Once again this book made me reflect on how I seem to like something (especially music) when I have no idea of how it was made and can't figure it out. Now every time I revisit this album, it will be a different experience.
From the start it is clear that the bands in this kind of aesthetic want to inflict ear damage on their audiences and end up causing the same for themselves. Of course MBV ended up releasing another album in 2013, which was deemed decent and even interesting but then not listened to again in 12 years. Will recheck.
In the middle we get a lot of unwanted information about mr. McGonigal, his recreational drug use and his listening habits. In the end, he plugs a record from Rafael Toral. He managed to get us slightly curious so we'll check that out.
Once again this book made me reflect on how I seem to like something (especially music) when I have no idea of how it was made and can't figure it out. Now every time I revisit this album, it will be a different experience.
From the start it is clear that the bands in this kind of aesthetic want to inflict ear damage on their audiences and end up causing the same for themselves. Of course MBV ended up releasing another album in 2013, which was deemed decent and even interesting but then not listened to again in 12 years. Will recheck.
In the middle we get a lot of unwanted information about mr. McGonigal, his recreational drug use and his listening habits. In the end, he plugs a record from Rafael Toral. He managed to get us slightly curious so we'll check that out.
January 9, 2021
This book helps me understand a sad truth after listening to Loveless off and on for almost 30 years. I didn’t know much about the people behind the music, but I had heard that Kevin Shields was a perfectionist who took years to make the album. I assumed that this perfectionism is why they have never made another album for a long, long time.
There is probably some small grain of truth in this assumption, but I don’t think that’s the best explanation for how things turned out. Maybe closer to the truth is that Shields is a visionary, and he never had the tools he needed nor the integrator to manage getting things done in a timely manner.
One small disagreement with the author’s comments suggesting that Shield’s contribution to the Lost in Translation soundtrack isn’t great work. To my ears, the entire gorgeous soundtrack is inspired by My Bloody Valentine, and his song City Girls is a fantastic track.
There is probably some small grain of truth in this assumption, but I don’t think that’s the best explanation for how things turned out. Maybe closer to the truth is that Shields is a visionary, and he never had the tools he needed nor the integrator to manage getting things done in a timely manner.
One small disagreement with the author’s comments suggesting that Shield’s contribution to the Lost in Translation soundtrack isn’t great work. To my ears, the entire gorgeous soundtrack is inspired by My Bloody Valentine, and his song City Girls is a fantastic track.
September 21, 2025
having chicken eating competitions in the studio is the best thing I ever read in this book. peak literature. Out of joke this book gives you the true story and gets you out of doubts about the creation of this album. Gets you out of the bubble of status that the album has and shows you the true significance of loveless in the music industry, art in general and the revolution that this album was and is in the underground world in music. I reed the reviews and they said it was "bad" the grammar on the book. I reed a re edition in Spanish that was made in my country and it gets the point pretty well the translations are very good and also gets a prologue of the translator that is very satisfying. to be the first book of 33/1 that i read is a very satisfying experience and not a hard reading.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 19, 2023
wish i could give half stars, i feel like i'm being too cruel to this book because i did actually learn a lot about the record from this and found it pretty interesting
it just seems like the editing process was zero. it would piss me off more if it was more of that tiktok zero-edit style, this is much more gen x and spacey so i can't say i was annoyed reading it, but it certainly didn't feel very professional
all in all it's quite roundabout and doesn't really do it justice, but it was the first i've learned about any aspect of the making of this and i found that fascinating. even just the lists of all the different london studios they recorded in, this was made by and large in north/east london which adds to it for me
it just seems like the editing process was zero. it would piss me off more if it was more of that tiktok zero-edit style, this is much more gen x and spacey so i can't say i was annoyed reading it, but it certainly didn't feel very professional
all in all it's quite roundabout and doesn't really do it justice, but it was the first i've learned about any aspect of the making of this and i found that fascinating. even just the lists of all the different london studios they recorded in, this was made by and large in north/east london which adds to it for me
September 25, 2018
I'm just starting to get into these "33 1/3" books. I feel like this one is more along the lines of what I was expecting with the series - lots of exposition around stories with some sort of connection to either the making of the record or the final product's impact (social, technological, or otherwise). I thought this one specifically did well to shed light on some of the rumored commentary that has shrouded "Loveless" for decades. I also really enjoyed the interactions with K.Shields. Came away from the book with pretty much the facts being nearly the exact opposite of how I envisioned this record being created.
October 29, 2023
Amo Loveless, de mis discos favoritos de la historia así que quería mucho que me fascinara este libro pero no me gustó tanto. Lo mejor son las entrevistas de Kevin Shields y el resto de la banda pero lo que es la escritura de Mike McGonigal no me convenció del todo. Agradezco igual la labor de la editorial «Club de fans» de traducir este libro acerca de uno de los discos más importantes de los últimos 35 años.
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January 4, 2024When it’s just Shields giving interviews this book soars. But the author is just…annoying and the writing is lazy. For a series claiming or at least having the atmosphere of critical review or insight they sure let this one slip through. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if he likes the band or just kinda knows them. Anyway, he might be a good music writer because his writing on the music is good at times, but man his steam of consciousness should not have made the cut.
January 16, 2025
A very solid entry in the 33 1/3 series. The author doesn't insert himself too much while adding insights into the band's history, the recording process, and the actual sounds themselves. Obviously the recording process for this is fascinating, and is often thrown wildly out of proportion in the indie rumor mill. Sadly this was written before the band got back together to record mbv, so there's no insight there, but still a very interesting book. Recommend for any fan of the album.
December 1, 2025
I expected more from this book. Anectodes , interviews, comparisons to other bands and reference to the historical period but in the short span of 110 pages there are excessive digressions such as comment on the book itself. It's also very annoying that, while acknowledging it, the author keeps calling the song "you made me realiZe" with a Z when that's not the song's title. Not very professional for a non-fiction book
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