Loveless (Remastered)by My Bloody Valentine

'Loveless', My Bloody Valentine's second and final album, is considered by many to be the ultimate shoegaze album. By building on their initial formula of writing catchy yet noisy pop songs with guitar mastermind Kevin Shield's strange guitar effects, playing techniques, tunings, and feedback samples, the album may sound impenetrable upon first listen. Some may think it to be devoid of hooks and simply be mood music, as many of the songs do segue into each other and repeat their initial phrases. However, patient listeners will soon enough realize that behind the uniquity of the band's sound lie some truly great pop songs, easily the best set of My Bloody Valentine's all too brief career. By blurring the line between mood music and pop music, 'Loveless' ranks as one of the greatest alternative albums of all time.

"Only Shallow" is one of the band's most popular songs. It features all of their hallmarks: barely audible vocals, lyrics about love and/or sex, wavering guitar parts, and an overall dreamy aesthetic. It segues into the similar but shorter "Loomer". "Touched" is a brief, almost avant-garde instrumental written by the drummer, but it works well as a musical bridge. "To Here Knows When" is possibly the dreamiest song on a record filled with them. Originally featured as the lead track on the 'Tremolo' EP, it is outfitted here with a different instrumental coda that segues into "When You Sleep". Also a single, it is probably the most straight-forward rock song on the album and is actually the first song thus far to feature vocals from both Kevin Shields and Bilinda Butcher, male and female vocals being rather common within shoegaze. "I Only Said" has a rather natural-sounding vibe and a seemingly endless guitar part. "Come in Alone" is slightly quieter in approach compared to some of the previous songs, as is even more so the following song, "Sometimes". As one of the few ballad-like songs that My Bloody Valentine produced, it is absolutely stunning and is featured in the movie 'Lost in Translation'. "Blown a Wish" features several different vocal tracks from Bilinda Butcher simultaneously. "What You Want" is perhaps the album's most overlooked and underrated song, as it is followed by the album-closing "Soon". Another one of the band's most popular, it was originally released as the lead track on the 'Glider' EP and is much dancier than the other material. Like the rest of the album, the song only has two distinct parts: a verse and a wordless chorus, but the two sections repeat for a much longer time than the other songs, adding to its danceability and closing the album in a different yet appropriate fashion.

This edition of 'Loveless' was remastered by Kevin Shields himself. It sounds slightly louder than the original album (which was very quiet for such a loud-sounding album) but certainly not too the point of distortion at high volume. Additionally, the set actually contains two different mixes of the album. Differences are minimal other than a digital error in "What You Want" on the first disc, so it is recommended that newcomers buy the second disc.

As previously stated, the lyrics on 'Loveless' are not usually discernible, but they hardly make any sense to begin with, so they practically become another instrument. This is actually the best thing about 'Loveless': its emphasis on getting emotions across through music rather than through lyrics. However, the emotions being expressed are often very hard to describe and can usually only be felt when listening to the album. Above all else, this factor sets My Bloody Valentine far above their shoegazing peers and makes 'Loveless' a transcendent work. Highly recommended.