My Bloody Valentine Reissues

I think their stuff sounds really good, dated but good. Best cranked up - obviously. Saw them a couple of years ago and they were fantastic, and unbelievably loud.

On one hand I feel like complaining about the drum sound on Loveless is akin to complaining about the guitar sound on 36 Chambers.

On the other hand, can you imagine if Loveless had the drums of Siamese Dream? - another Bob Mould album, with loud guitars.

I know what you mean about Isn't Anything. There are a few good songs but the sound is very harsh to the point that I almost never listen to it. I'll take Ecstasy & Wine over it any day.

  On 4/19/2012 at 11:19 PM, igloos unlmtd said:

On the other hand, can you imagine if Loveless had the drums of Siamese Dream - another Bob Mould album, with loud guitars.

that's spot on. the drums are one of the things that distinguish it from generic decent 90s indie rock album #34.

that being said, i'll be interested to see if the drums are beefier in the remaster. but i'll be holding on to my original master regardless, i've too much of a huge emotional connection to loveless as it is.

For sure I know I'm glad it wasn't mixed like every other record of its day.

Otherwise, we wouldn't be discussing it.

Furthermore maybe the lack of Colm on the album & a good drum sound is what drove Kevin to make such a wicked guitar sound.

we were discussing mbv in chatmm last night, and i realised how much like primal scream the weatherall remix of soon sounds like. which i guess kinda makes sense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFvGduHO-JA

  On 4/19/2012 at 11:22 PM, kaini said:

  On 4/19/2012 at 11:19 PM, igloos unlmtd said:

On the other hand, can you imagine if Loveless had the drums of Siamese Dream - another Bob Mould album, with loud guitars.

 

that's spot on. the drums are one of the things that distinguish it from generic decent 90s indie rock album #34.

 

that's just crazy to me. it's pretty clear that the guitar sound is the defining characteristic of not just loveless, but mbv. if the drums had sounded better, the album would probably sound better. and better i just mean somehow bigger. and it's not really just the drums. the whole album just sounds weird. i get that kevin shields loves mono recordings and didn't want a "live" sound, but if you listen to the eps that followed loveless, the drums are recorded a bit better and the overall sound improved. i'm interested to hear what his new music will sound like if he ever puts it out. the lost in translation soundtrack had some interesting little pieces on it. anyway, they're still one of my favorite bands. i just find loveless a bit overrated.

  On 3/22/2012 at 8:02 PM, oscillik said:

  On 3/22/2012 at 8:01 PM, Cryptowen said:

I've only heard the first MBV album. Needta get onto hearing the rest sometime.

 

yes. you need to hear Loveless.

 

Loud.

Oh, that's been my problem with it. I'll have to burn a CD for my car.

to me, loveless is one of those albums where if you're focusing on individual instruments too much, even individual guitars in the mix, you're sort of missing the point. it's about the overall sound and feel.

  On 4/20/2012 at 5:57 AM, zaphod said:

the whole album just sounds weird...

It sounds to me like they were trying to capture the room sound of the guitars, and in doing so set up a lot of mics, creating a lot of phasing in almost every mix. Because of that, any time I listen to the album on decent speakers my ears pop like crazy. And yes, the drums are total throw away on this album and sound like shit, unimportant to the vibe Kevin was going for I'm guessing. The thing i find hilarious is the amount of money they poured into the production, just to get that really dirty lo-fi sound. The ugliness is part of the beauty of it for me. But I agree with most of what you're saying, and that's why I'm really looking forward to hearing these remasters.

these MBV reissues are on to be issues on blu-spec in japan.

anyone heard any blu-spec discs and can give ideas if they're worth it?

  On 4/24/2012 at 5:07 PM, logboy said:

these MBV reissues are on to be issues on blu-spec in japan.

 

anyone heard any blu-spec discs and can give ideas if they're worth it?

'Blu-spec' isn't a new format. The manufacturing process still results in a standard redbook CD (44.1kHz/16bit/PCM). Any significant improvement in sound quality is likely due to the remastering rather than the 'blue laser cutting the pits in the CD master' or whatever marketing rhetoric is being tossed about. Save your money on shipping and purchase the domestic release.

and now we have this too:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/my-bloody-valentine-to-release-new-music-this-year-20120430

  On 4/20/2012 at 8:13 PM, Zephyr_Nova said:

The thing i find hilarious is the amount of money they poured into the production, just to get that really dirty lo-fi sound.

It's still a really unique sound though. I've never heard guitars so mashy except in the Horrors album Primary Colours (I'm amazed that they managed to get such a similar sound actually). I managed to replicate it almost perfectly once but can't remember how I did it, argh!

Are these not getting a release in the US? Amazon only lists Imports.

Listening to 'To Here Knows When'... Just sublime; I don't mind the weak percussive section; in the phasing guitar miasma there isn't much room for the drums to peak out so Kevin probably had to sacrifice the punchiness of the drums for his guitar vision to come to fruition with the tech of the day; although there is still a lot of space in the bottom end for kicks which seem to be almost completely absent. 'Soon' has quite a prominent percussive section if I recall correctly...

If you're going for dreamy spaced out pop wash are low end kicks really what you're after?

  On 5/1/2012 at 9:23 AM, chenGOD said:

If you're going for dreamy spaced out pop wash are low end kicks really what you're after?

Exactly!

annoying that he hints at 'vinyl' coming very soon. i'd rather he held out another month or two so it could all be simultaneous.

  On 5/1/2012 at 9:23 AM, chenGOD said:

If you're going for dreamy spaced out pop wash are low end kicks really what you're after?

"Soon" has low end kicks in it.

  On 5/1/2012 at 6:21 PM, jefferoo said:

  On 5/1/2012 at 9:23 AM, chenGOD said:

If you're going for dreamy spaced out pop wash are low end kicks really what you're after?

"Soon" has low end kicks in it.

soon predates loveless though, and is quite different to the rest of the album, innit?

  On 5/1/2012 at 4:31 AM, modey said:

  On 4/20/2012 at 8:13 PM, Zephyr_Nova said:

The thing i find hilarious is the amount of money they poured into the production, just to get that really dirty lo-fi sound.

 

It's still a really unique sound though.

Oh yeah, without a doubt. It's part of what makes it a fascinating album.

Just read that the entire album was thrown out of phase by the outdated machine they were using to make the final edits and had to be pieced back together by Shields. Guess that explains the crazy phasing --so much for my room micing theory!

  On 5/1/2012 at 2:44 AM, yshf said:

and now we have this too:

http://www.rollingst...s-year-20120430

i'll believe it when i see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjDs37Ya6ks

they cover the whole album. it's fun.

this is quite lovely

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9Ah2Eo-HMQ