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MY BLOODY VALENTINE

Andrew Perer

Turn My Head Into Sound : A History Of Kevin Shields And My Bloody Valentine

    Turn My Head Into Sound: A history of Kevin Shields and My Bloody Valentine tells the story of one of the great sonic innovators of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. My Bloody Valentine have released only three albums in their forty-year career, but each of them has made a seismic impact. Isn t Anything (1988) is often cited as one of the Ur-texts of shoegaze and dream rock; Loveless (1991) is an undisputed masterpiece heralded by many as the best album of the 1990s; m b v (2013) is one of the best-loved comeback albums in recent memory.

    For those who know Kevin Shields and his work already, he is an indie-rock icon, but by other measures he s still a relatively obscure figure in the musical mainstream, and to date there has been no full-length appraisal of his work or his band s career. Until now. Shields is truly a one-of-a-kind musician, and this book which fills in the gaps, corrects errors, and takes an objective look at the band s entire career, warts and all paints the full picture of one of the most revolutionary sonic artists of our time.

    Turn My Head Into Sound is based on numerous interviews with people who were there (some of them speaking on the record for the first time) as well as an exhaustive archive of band-related material that the author has been assembling since 1990. Longtime fans of the band will find plenty of new information here, including the full story of the tumultuous period at Island Records following the release of Loveless. The lost years that followed would see Shields employed as engineer, producer, and remixer while also becoming an auxiliary member of Primal Scream.

    This book s analysis of this diverse but lesser-known work offers reader a much fuller picture of the relentless creativity and perfectionism at the center of his process.


    Mike McGonigal

    My Bloody Valentine's Loveless - 33 1/3

      This epoch-making record of the late '80s effortlessly combines dense swathes of guitar noise and dance music. This turned out to be their last record, guitarist and studio maestro Kevin Shields having set their standards so high it was impossible to surpass them. Shields is now playing with Primal Scream.


      My Bloody Valentine

      Isn't Anything - 2022 Reissue

        My Bloody Valentine, the quartet of Bilinda Butcher, Kevin Shields, Deb Googe and Colm Ó Cíosóig, are widely revered as one of the most ground-breaking and influential groups of the past forty years. During an era in which guitar bands denoted, at best, a retro-classicism, not only did my bloody valentine sound unlike any of their contemporaries, the band achieved the rare feat of sounding like the future.

        With their debut album, ‘isn’t anything’ (originally released in 1988), my bloody valentine revolutionised alternative music and heralded a new approach to guitar music for generations to come. The album birthed a sound which became a template for thousands of new subgenres, heralding a new approach to guitar music and studio production. Not only was it a new type of music, it paved the way for a new type of journalism; inciting comparisons to elemental phenomenon, tapping into how the music affected the psyche.

        Shields and Butcher frequently sang in a similar vocal range that allowed their voices to blend together. This had the effect of making their gender indistinguishable, to the point where their voices could be used as another melodic layer to complement the vertigo-inducing sounds made by Shields’ guitars. It is a record characterised by the ominous sense of space that inhabits many of its songs, which veered between the harried and propulsive, to the subdued and eerie.

        TRACK LISTING

        Soft As Snow (but Warm inside)
        Lose My Breath
        Cupid Come
        (when You Wake) You’re Still In A Dream
        No More Sorry
        All I Need
        Feed Me With Your Kiss
        Sueisfine
        Several Girls Galore
        You Never Should
        Nothing Much To Lose
        I Can See It (but I Can’t Feel it)

        My Bloody Valentine

        M B V - 2021 Reissue

          Finally re-emerging in 2013 after two full decades in relative hiding, their third album m b v is by turns their most experimental record but also their most melodic and immediate; proof real of their unerring desire for re-invention. Continuing to push boundaries of both music and genre, m b v is an album of astonishing music, some of which could lay claim to being of a type never been made before. Otherworldly, intimate and a visceral listen, m b v is a startling and beautiful metamorphosis of what was known of the my bloody valentine sound, pushing the boundaries of genre unlike any other band. The album’s closer, “Wonder 2” is an example of this, seeing Shields meld hypnotic guitar with drum’n’bass to astonishing result.

          TRACK LISTING

          1. She Found Now
          2. Only Tomorrow
          3. Who Sees You
          4. Is This And Yes
          5. If I Am
          6. New You
          7. In Another Way
          8. Nothing Is
          9. Wonder 2

          My Bloody Valentine

          Isn't Anything - 2021 Reissue

            With their debut album, Isn’t Anything (originally released in 1988), my bloody valentine revolutionised alternative music and heralded a new approach to guitar music for generations to come. The album birthed a sound which became a template for thousands of new subgenres, heralding a new approach to guitar music and studio production. Not only was it a new type of music, it paved the way for a new type of journalism; inciting comparisons to elemental phenomenon, tapping into how the music affected the psyche. Shields and Butcher frequently sang in a similar vocal range that allowed their voices to blend together. This had the effect of making their gender indistinguishable, to the point where their voices could be used as another melodic layer to complement the vertigo-inducing sounds made by Shields’ guitars.

            TRACK LISTING

            1. Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside)
            2. Lose My Breath
            3. Cupid Come
            4. (When You Wake) You’re Still In A Dream
            5. No More Sorry
            6. All I Need
            7. Feed Me With Your Kiss
            8. Sueisfine
            9. Several Girls Galore
            10. You Never Should
            11. Nothing Much To Lose
            12. I Can See It (But I Can’t Feel It)

            My Bloody Valentine

            Loveless - 2021 Reissue

            The second my bloody valentine album, loveless, was released in 1991. Musically, it took an unexpected leap forwards, standing ahead of anything released at the time. Shields and the band moved further towards a music of pure sensation, creating textures and tones that could be felt as much as heard; with loveless the band created an album that overwhelmed the senses. loveless is widely considered a flawless whole and rightly regarded as a masterpiece; a 1990s equivalent to Pet Sounds, In A Silent Way or Innervisions, a record constructed by exploring the edges of what a recording studio is capable of. It is a record best experienced as a whole, in one sitting - a listening experience like no other and unmatchable in its sonic brevity.

            TRACK LISTING

            1. Only Shallow
            2. Loomer
            3. Touched
            4. To Here Knows When
            5. When You Sleep
            6. I Only Said
            7. Come In Alone
            8. Sometimes
            9. Blown A Wish
            10. What You Want
            11. Soon

            My Bloody Valentine

            EP's 1988-1991 And Rare Tracks - 2021 Reissue

              EPs 1988-1991 And Rare Tracks compiles the group’s four EPs, wherein many of their devoted fans’ favourite music lies. You Made Me Realise and Feed Me With Your Kiss both preceded the band’s debut album in 1988 in quick succession. In the gap between Isn’t Anything and loveless, the band released two further EPs; Glider (1990) and Tremolo (1991).

              TRACK LISTING

              CD1
              1. You Made Me Realise
              2. Slow
              3. Thorn
              4. Cigarette In Your Bed
              5. Drive It All Over Me
              6. Feed Me With Your Kiss
              7. I Believe
              8. Emptiness Inside
              9. I Need No Trust
              10. Soon
              11. Glider
              12. Don’t Ask Why
              13. Off Your Face

              CD2
              1. To Here Knows When
              2. Swallow
              3. Honey Power
              4. Moon Song
              5. Instrumental No. 2
              6. Instrumental No. 1
              7. Glider (full Length Version)
              8. Sugar
              9. Angel
              10. Good For You
              11. How Do You Do It


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