MBV Isn't Anything Appreciation Thread

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Re: MBV Isn't Anything Appreciation Thread

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Sun Jan 21, 2018 12:31 am

O Drones wrote:
Sat Jan 20, 2018 3:48 pm
Are people just saying it's better than Loveless entirely because it's so obviously not?
I've said it several times on here over the years but, for me, their late 80s output is by far the best. Everything off the Feed Me With Your Kiss & You Made Me Realise 12s, Ecstasy & Wine, Isn't Anything - to me this is classic era MBV.
My ears became so tuned in to this stuff that, by the time Loveless came out, I was pretty underwhelmed. Nothing's changed really. I think Loveless is a great album but I also think they've done better.
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Re: MBV Isn't Anything Appreciation Thread

Post by julius2790 » Sun Jan 21, 2018 12:46 am

PorkyPrimeCut wrote:
Sun Jan 21, 2018 12:31 am
O Drones wrote:
Sat Jan 20, 2018 3:48 pm
Are people just saying it's better than Loveless entirely because it's so obviously not?
I've said it several times on here over the years but, for me, their late 80s output is by far the best. Everything off the Feed Me With Your Kiss & You Made Me Realise 12s, Ecstasy & Wine, Isn't Anything - to me this is classic era MBV.
My ears became so tuned in to this stuff that, by the time Loveless came out, I was pretty underwhelmed. Nothing's changed really. I think Loveless is a great album but I also think they've done better.
I guess the production quality of Loveless is what might have made such an impact for me. I acknowledge that they had badass songs on earlier releases but the SOUND of that album was pretty radical. The buried vocals, use of samples, and texture of the guitars was a new thing for me. It probably didn't hurt that a musician friend whose opinion I really respected (he had turned me on to Captain Beefheart, The Melvins, and The Jesus Lizard) told me I should listen to it. And then the washed out Jazzmaster on the cover. The album just had a weird quality to it that will always be a part of my experience with the band.

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Re: MBV Isn't Anything Appreciation Thread

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Sun Jan 21, 2018 1:32 am

Jeezo - yet another thread in praise of MBV and it quickly descends into a discussion of Black fucking Sabbath and Led fucking Zeppelin. David might go apoplectic if he reads this. I hope for his sake he doesn't.

On topic, I agree with Mark that Loveless was more of the same rather than a new direction. Which was fine by me as I was in love with their sound at the time.

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Re: MBV Isn't Anything Appreciation Thread

Post by SadFuzz » Sun Jan 21, 2018 1:43 am

Besides IA they're best output from the late eighties was the You Made Me Realise EP. But the tremolo EP comes close to their best work.
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Re: MBV Isn't Anything Appreciation Thread

Post by shadowplay » Sun Jan 21, 2018 2:09 am

UlricvonCatalyst wrote:
Sun Jan 21, 2018 1:32 am
Jeezo - yet another thread in praise of MBV and it quickly descends into a discussion of Black fucking Sabbath and Led fucking Zeppelin. David might go apoplectic if he reads this. I hope for his sake he doesn't.
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Re: MBV Isn't Anything Appreciation Thread

Post by fuzzking » Sun Jan 21, 2018 2:41 am

isn't anything > anything else. ;)
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Re: MBV Isn't Anything Appreciation Thread

Post by blacktiger » Sun Jan 21, 2018 11:50 am

How many of you who swear by Loveless were MBV fans before it came out? IME, people who were already fans are more likely to favor the earlier stuff and those who started at Loveless and worked backwards think it's obviously their best record. I prefer the Creation EPs to either, but I prefer IA if we're talking about the LPs. It's a much more interesting record, IMO. Loveless is beautiful and brilliant, but it's basically entirely built around reverse reverb, and the songs that actually sound a little different sound a bit out of place. For that reason, I don't think it works as well.
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Re: MBV Isn't Anything Appreciation Thread

Post by scottT » Sun Jan 21, 2018 12:28 pm

blacktiger wrote:
Sun Jan 21, 2018 11:50 am
How many of you who swear by Loveless were MBV fans before it came out? IME, people who were already fans are more likely to favor the earlier stuff and those who started at Loveless and worked backwards think it's obviously their best record. I prefer the Creation EPs to either, but I prefer IA if we're talking about the LPs. It's a much more interesting record, IMO. Loveless is beautiful and brilliant, but it's basically entirely built around reverse reverb, and the songs that actually sound a little different sound a bit out of place. For that reason, I don't think it works as well.
You make a good point. Loveless was my introduction to MBV and then I went back and got Isn't Anything and the You Made Me Realise EP. In that way Loveless feels like the culmination of those others. It's the same way I feel about Daydream Nation, my first Sonic Youth album.

Come to think of it, Faith, my first Cure album came to be the yardstick by which I judge all their other records.

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Re: MBV Isn't Anything Appreciation Thread

Post by blacktiger » Sun Jan 21, 2018 1:00 pm

I think the record that made the first impression is often the one we end up favoring. I can think of a lot of cases where the record I heard first is still my favorite. With MBV, it was a more circuitous path than usual; the You Made Me Realize EP was the first thing I heard, and I moved forward after that, more or less. In 1991, I definitely preferred Loveless to IA, but my love for IA has only grown over the years, whereas I got a little burnt out on Loveless. These days, Loveless is the one I'm least likely to listen to. I still love it, but it's harder to get through these days for some reason.
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Re: MBV Isn't Anything Appreciation Thread

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Sun Jan 21, 2018 1:34 pm

blacktiger wrote:
Sun Jan 21, 2018 1:00 pm
I think the record that made the first impression is often the one we end up favoring.
By that reckoning the Sunny Sundae Smile EP would be my favourite....and it isn't. I think I might prefer the compiled Creation EPs to either LP, but if I had to choose - and why would I? - on balance, I prefer the songs on Loveless to those on Isn't Anything.

And as someone who rates Please Lose Yourself In Me and Clair the equal of anything else in their catalogue - in melodic if not sonic terms - I can only wonder at what makes Shields so dismissive of their entire pre -Creation output.

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Re: MBV Isn't Anything Appreciation Thread

Post by blacktiger » Sun Jan 21, 2018 3:50 pm

And sometimes bands get undeniably better, so first as favorite doesn't always hold true.
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Re: MBV Isn't Anything Appreciation Thread

Post by mackerelmint » Sun Jan 21, 2018 4:52 pm

UlricvonCatalyst wrote:
Sun Jan 21, 2018 1:32 am
Jeezo - yet another thread in praise of MBV and it quickly descends into a discussion of Black fucking Sabbath and Led fucking Zeppelin. David might go apoplectic if he reads this. I hope for his sake he doesn't.

On topic, I agree with Mark that Loveless was more of the same rather than a new direction. Which was fine by me as I was in love with their sound at the time.
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Re: MBV Isn't Anything Appreciation Thread

Post by Grey » Sun Jan 21, 2018 5:13 pm

This is why you don't talk to strangers.

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Re: MBV Isn't Anything Appreciation Thread

Post by julius2790 » Sun Jan 21, 2018 5:54 pm

It was my fault. I may have had too much wine. No ecstasy though. So afterwards I listened back to Isn't Anything and you guys are probably right. The songwriting might be better. It's a great, great record.

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Re: MBV Isn't Anything Appreciation Thread

Post by fuzzking » Sun Jan 21, 2018 6:08 pm

Nobody exists on purpose.

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