Rating: 3/10

Track Amount: 11

Running Time: 48 minutes and 35 seconds

Genre: Alternative Rock

Personnel: Kevin Shields (guitars, vocals and electronics), Debbie Googe (bass guitar), Bilinda Butcher (vocals, guitars), Colm Ó Cíosóig (drums and electronics)

Producer: Kevin Shields & Colm Ó Cíosóig

Recording Location: Various

Record Label: Creation Records

Art Direction: my bloody valentine and Angus Cameron

Best Tracks: to here knows when

Quick Verdict: The most overrated album of all time

This is often considered one of the greatest albums of all time. Hailing from Ireland, my bloody valentine spent £250 000 at the time and some years to record this album. Eventually, Creation Records owner Alan McGee dropped the group after the release of this album, leading to the band’s alleged bankruptcy afterwards, along with numerous other problems the band faced at the time. Aside from that, the music is much more important than that. This album is considered legendary in the so-called Shoegaze scene and was universally praised by both critics and listeners alike for its innovative sound and consistency overall. For all the issues during its recording, let’s jump back in time to 1991 and take a listen to this album, and we shall hear if it still sounds as good as it does today, as it did back then.

1. only shallow begins with some awful sounds and launches into the weirdest song that one could genuinely listen to. Soon enough, vocals enter, and this piece sounds a lot better. This is an unusual-sounding tune that is very much looking to the future of Rock Music rather than its past. Unfortunately, this is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea overall. Still, the music is okay for the most part. It sounds freaky and unusual for the most part. This doesn’t sound normal at all, although it has some moments of promise throughout. A good example of where Rock Music was going at the time, but this is definitely not great music. It sounds way too sludgy to be really appreciated. In any case, it is barely passable. The outro is really cool; however, with some unique and interestingly treated electric guitar sounds at hand.

2. loomer is more of the same experimental and subdued Rock Music. The vocals present on this tune are sublime to listen to. Even so, this is clearly too experimental for its own good. It does have a mellow listening experience amongst the sludge of guitars present. All in all, this music does have its own appeal anyway. The music and sounds are very much designed to be listened to under the influence. It is good but certainly not great. The music and melodies are infectious, but the sounds are way too experimental for their own good. Different, though. The guitars in the outro are nice.

3. touched begins with some truly awful guitar sounds and electronics mashed up together. This is beyond bad, and lasts less than a minute. Turn this album off and listen to something else. This is pure experimentalism and no structure, too much so for it to be good.

4. to here knows when continues the album with some interesting and quite good melodies at hand for a change. This sounds super freaky and different, just sounding like a music dreamscape. This sounds like the sort of Rock Music you would listen to when extremely high, but definitely not when you are sober. The music is soothing nonetheless and sounds much more like a product of the 21st century rather than one of 1991. This tune is actually quite good for what it is, and it sounds quite unlike anything else. This is likely the work of drug use in music more than anything else. Therefore, this isn’t really that good. It sounds too inconsistent for this music to work. It does have a hypnotic quality to it all, which is different. This would have worked far better if the music were more coherent and wasn’t just noise. This isn’t great, mind you, and better examples of music have been made out there than this album. All in all, a weird listen, and a vaguely unsatisfying listen at that. It’s not boring, at least. It fades out nicely at the end, with some backwards Rock guitar jams being played afterwards. Weird.

5. when you sleep is absolutely awful from the start. It sounds like pure junk music. The melodies and singing are deliberately off-key to the guitar playing. Just terrible. This song has very little musical appeal to most listeners after the awful start. The vocals are barely audible, the harmonies are out of tune, and this record smells off. It simply is not good enough to waste money and time on an album that has no real benefit for the listener. The chorus is awful, and this track is just not good enough at all. The music and melodies sound absurdly bad. In any case, you can turn off this album and play something far better than this. A really poor listen at hand, which doesn’t sound at all normal. This album is now a frisbee, so hurl it out the window. Absolute garbage for music. This is beyond terrible. The repetitive outro is not needed, either.

6. i only said continues the awful sounds of the album with some really horrid and drugged-up sounding melodies, which are not at all good. This garbage does not sound great at all. It is the product of time wasted and experimental music that does not have a place in one’s collection. This music certainly does not sound audible, normal or well thought out. It is a needless listen, and the music and melodies sound absolutely horrible. This music certainly does not sound good. At all. This is by far one of the worst albums made so far. It lacks purpose, musical ability and sounds like hard drug use set to an album. This is also extremely difficult to get through as a result. This album can be sold or discarded as you please. The melodies throughout sound like a bad LSD trip. Overall, this is a disaster. Just simply not good enough. This is enough to make one want to fall asleep listening to it as well. Thankfully, you don’t need to hear this trash. The outro is way too long as well. Terrible overall. Just a poor effort of an album.

7. come in alone sounds just as bad, if not worse, than what has come before it. The vocals, once again, are very inaudible, and this music is some of the worst that you will ever hear. There is no separation or musical definition in general. Just a wall-of-noise that doesn’t feel good or make sense to listen to. Even most 1980s Synth Pop is better than this album. It is very, very difficult to sit through this whole album and think of anything positive to say about it all. The music and sounds are very out there, and this is a real drag to get through. There is an awful guitar solo in the second half, followed by more weird vocals to match this music. Again, this is a disaster. Alan McGee obviously was right to drop these guys after the release of this album; it is a huge waste of time and effort to listen to. It ends after four painful minutes of listening.

8. sometimes begins with some overdriven guitars and acoustic guitar playing. This is a surprisingly better song, but it doesn’t make the album any better overall. This is a very slightly better song, but not by much. The mixing is poor, the vocals are inaudible, and the music lacks any cohesion or clarity about it all. These guys were done here, by the sounds of it all. It sounds like more of an abstract music idea that turned into a drug-fuelled mess when recording. Nothing special here, this album is a frisbee of music listening that you can give to your dog. There is nothing good about this music, although it does have some beauty to it all. A draining music listening experience that lacks appeal to many. Very difficult to listen to without hating it. After yawning away, turn off this music and listen to something much better than this. A poor song, once again.

9. blown a wish sounds absolutely horrible from the start. It is a poor mixture of sounds and melodic work with some female vocals and terrible melodies to match it all. The sounds and music are deliberately out of key, and the melodies and musicianship are beyond bad. This is not a recommendable album at all; it sounds like the audio equivalent of vomiting. This song sounds extremely weird and like a poor job of music and artistic concept throughout. This is absolutely ordinary music that one can easily turn off and never want to hear ever again. One of the greatest albums ever? More like a media-spun tragedy at large. This wraps up after three and a half minutes of horrid torture. Poor.

10. what you want sounds awful, once again. This is definitely not a good listen from the start, and it just sounds really ordinary and bad to hear. The vocals are barely audible, once again, which is also a sour point of this whole album. This music is degenerate and stupid to listen to. If you are drugged out of your mind, this will work, but otherwise, please do not bother with this nonsensical garbage. The guitar parts and melodies sound really poor. This continues on messily, and sounds like fingernails being dragged sharply across a blackboard. This music is genuinely not good. It is just as bad as Metallica’s failed St. Anger (2003) album release in the sense that it seriously needs a rethink. Again, very poor to hear. Even the worst of Creation’s own later signing, Oasis, was far better than this album. Turn it off, right now and go and listen to something far better. The song ends prematurely with some looped electronic melodies, for some strange reason. It finishes with this section going on unnecessarily long.

11. soon is the last song and goes on for seven minutes in length. It begins with some rather normal-sounding music for a change. This does not lift the album up at all. In fact, it makes it fairly obvious that this is likely the most overrated album of all time. This is a very weird-sounding song, all the same. It is slightly better as the whole thing is actually somewhat audible. Still, my bloody valentine fails on this album to achieve anything worthwhile. This music is again enough to send one straight to sleep. It is certainly not the sort of music that one can rave about. A really sad indication of whatever was going on internally with the band at the time, rather than a piece of coherent music listening. This album, quite frankly, sounds extremely off and bad. The music reaches its nadir in the middle and sounds unbelievably stupid. The second half fares no better, and this band can be quickly forgotten about. More like an artistic concept than actual music at hand, which is the flaw of this album. It has some okay-ish melodies present in this extended song, as it gradually reaches its end. It sounds pitifully awful overall. A poor finish to a terrible album overall. It is so repetitive at the end as well that one can help wonder why this album was made in the first place. Avoid it. The psychedelic outro is different, however.

This is one of the most overrated and overhyped albums by the media ever to be released. Even more so than the likes of Oasis’s 1997 album release, Be Here Now. It has off melodies, inaudible vocals and a sense that heavy hard drug use was present upon the making of this album. This album cannot and should not be recommended to anyone who has good music taste. On the contrary, this music is extremely poor, and there is very little good to be said of it. Stay away from this album; it is the sound of a nightmare. my bloody valentine failed on this album release.

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