623. My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything (1988)


















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)

Review

This album is mostly famous for being one of the first shoegazer albums, and being the album that they made before Loveless, and I have to admit that the first time I listened to this it left me a bit cold. But I soon warmed up to it.

The reason why it is kind of hard to warm up to the thing is the fact that there is a lot of variety here, they sound like a band trying to find their musical place, there is obviously a love of guitar effects almost everywhere, but the feel of the songs is very different from track to track. As you listen to it repeatedly they do start to coalesce and make a cohesive album.

They sound like Dinosaur Jr. with less pop and more dope and a bit of Cocteau Twins and Jesus And Mary Chain thrown in for good measure. This is a good thing, and I am eagerly awaiting their next album, that will come in due time. We are going through a nice patch, and there is still another great album tomorrow, until we have a not so good one the day after. So, stay tuned!

Track Highlights

1. Nothing Much To Lose
2. Lose My Breath
3. No More Sorry
4. Sueisnice

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

When the band's original vocalist Dave Conway left, to be replaced by Bilinda Butcher, Kevin Shields returned to their avant-garde roots, and began to explore the possibilities offered by the studio facilities available after signing to Creation Records. The first fruits of this experimentation was the single/EP "You Made Me Realise", released in July 1988. Isn't Anything was eagerly awaited, and didn't disappoint, with UNCUT's David Stubbs calling it "one of the most important, influential British rock albums of the Eighties". While recording the album, the band got by on about two hours sleep a night, something which has been suggested is reflected in the vocals. "Several Girls Galore" has been described as "a cubist take on the Jesus and Mary Chain".

All the live videos of this song are crap so here goes just the song, Nothing Much To Lose: