My Bloody Valentine's Loveless (33 1/3)
by Mike McGonigal
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Book Summary Information
Author: Mike McGonigalEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-01-07
ISBN: 0826415482
Number of pages: 136
Publisher: Continuum
Book Reviews of My Bloody Valentine's Loveless (33 1/3)
Book Review: Explaining the Unexplainable
Summary: 4 Stars
The 33 1/3 series continues unabated with Mike McGonigal's in depth analysis of My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless", one of the bench-mark albums of the 90s.
"Loveless" is an album that still has the power to split an audience right down the middle. Upon first hearing it the natural response, almost inevitably, is to utter "Is this supposed to sound like this?" before being either sucked into it's unique and intoxicating sound-world, or completely repulsed by the churning and warped noise being spewed forth. There is really no middle ground; their sound demands your attention.
So, how does one even begin to go about unravelling the myriad mysteries of this particular labyrinth? Mike McGonigal, perhaps wisely, opts to take a journalistic approach. "Loveless" has a particularly troubled history, and McGonigal makes a brave attempt to sort rumour from fact, a task made more difficult by My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Sheilds revealing his side of the story for the first time. Until now, the major piece of reference has been David Cavanagh's history of Creation Records, "My Magpie Eyes are Hungry for the Prize", which covers the My Bloody Valentine story in some detail. Sheilds contends all of Cavanagh's account, claiming that the majority of it is fabricated. The reader is left in a position of having to judge which account is correct, and this lends itself to some very interesting reading.
McGonigal's style is well paced, introducing us to the main characters in this particular story, putting the album in context (adding some much needed historical detail which is absent from most accounts) and has an overview of the songs, before proceeding into looking at the actual creation (no pun intended) of the album, exploring the various myths that have arisen from it. We learn who actually played on the record (not as many band members as one would imagine...), we discover that the album didn't cost as much as had been reported, we learn about the mystery of what has happened to the band in the past 15 years (15 YEARS!!!!), and Sheilds gives us a tantalising view of a possible future.
Kevin Sheilds in particular comes across as a particularly likeable character, rather than the petulant 'genius' he is frequently portrayed as. He manages to convey his plight at having to deal with all manner of technical faults, label problems, and the weight of expectations that had come to settle on his shoulders.
Ironically, whilst McGonigal's journalistic style helps the book immeasurably, it is also it's major failing; this never reads like a book, more like an extended article. Also, his frequent attempts to take the reader 'out' of the story be discussing the actual writing of the book, don't always work, although when he discusses his over-use of David Cavanagh's book as a reference point is particularly effective, as I was just beginning to think he was relying on it a bit too much.
Once again, the goal of this series is to encourage the reader to re-examine a record they have lived with for a long time, and hopefully see it in a different light, and Mike McGonigal's book is no different, adding a different perspective to an album that means so much to so many. If one were to be petty about it, this book actively encourages the frustration at the lack of availability of My Bloody Valentine's back catalogue, but I guess that's not his fault.
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