Lost In Love: Ranking Each Song on My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless 

 

Today on Gazeinmyshoes, we’re reviewing My Bloody Valentine.  MBV is one the most influential shoegaze bands in the genre, inspiring everyone from the Smashing Pumpkins to modern shoegaze bands like Whirr and julie. A lot of this comes from their spectacular second studio album, Loveless. What can be said about Loveless that hasn’t already been said? It is THE album people think of when it comes to shoegaze. It’s so forward-thinking and ahead of its time that it’s difficult to believe that it came out in 1991. Bluetooth or streaming music online were a pipe dream when this album came out. We’ll be doing a track-by-track breakdown and ranking them worst to best based on the Official gazeinmyshoes ranking system! The scoring system is as follows:  

1-3: Don’t recommend listening to it.  

4-5: There are some good parts of the track, and won’t avoid it, but won’t choose to listen to it again.  

6-7: It’s not bad! There’s some great stuff in it and wouldn’t mind listening to the track again.  

8-9: A great to near perfect track. There’s almost nothing wrong with it and would actively listen to the track and put it into regular playlists. 

10: A truly perfect song. A flawless track that achieves everything it went out to complete and can be listened to on repeat without getting tired of it.  

Since as of writing, Loveless is not available on streaming options due to an ongoing label issue, A Youtube player will be attached with links to each track so you can listen while you read to each track. Without further ado, we’ll be starting off our breakdown with the first track on Loveless: 

 

1. Only Shallow

Main Thoughts: Only Shallow was the second single released for this record, and you can tell because of how complete it is compared to other tracks. The lead guitar and keys roar to life after the drums count them in and set the tone for how this album is going to sound aesthetically. It sounds fully alien to what one would expect rock music to sound like. 

Bilinda Butcher, the female vocalist, comes in and hauntingly sings over this cacophony of noise. The lyrics talk about the emotional coldness of the morning after bringing someone home. On the last verse Bilinda sings:  

Sleep as a pillow, comfort there
Where she won’t dare, anywhere
Look in the mirror, she’s not there
Where she won’t care, somewhere 

She’s talking about how this person leaving in the morning is already gone by the time she wakes up and looks in the mirror. And that this person never even cared, they’re on their way to somewhere and assumingly someone else.   

Only Shallow is an extremely strong start to a titan of an album. It immediately lets the listener know the sound My Bloody Valentine is going for, and that it’s going to be an auditory experience like no other.  

Final Score: 9/10  

 

2. Loomer

Main Thoughts: Loomer continues what Only Shallow builds but brings down the intensity while still keeping the same energy. This track talks about the social isolation someone can feel from being alone at a party, which is relevant to the themes of emotional loneliness and isolation on this album.  

The track isn’t as aggressive as the previous song and sounds closer to Cocteau Twins with all the looping drum patterns and walls of guitars. It’s impressive that MBV is able to pull off a true dream pop sound while still putting their own original spin on it. It’s a worthwhile listen, but it doesn’t stand out compared to others on this list.  

Final Score: 7/10 

 

 

3. Touched

Main Thoughts: Unfortunately, this is the least-good track on the album. It’s an ambient track that’s under a minute long, serving as a transition piece between Loomer and To Here Knows When. While the soundscape is interesting, and the atmosphere that it builds is impressive, there’s nothing really to pull from on this track. It’s a waiting room of a song and holds you until you’re ready for the next one.  

Final Score: 4/10 

 

 

4. To Here Knows When

Main Thoughts: To Here Knows When was released originally as part of the EP Tremolo and continues with the dream pop stylings of the previous tracks. It embodies the joke that there’s no lyrics for most shoegaze songs since you genuinely can’t hear what Bilinda is singing about on this track.  

The lyrics are fully incomprehensible, which is this case is not an issue since it adds to the vibe of the track. It feels hypnotic, with the looping guitars and constant refrain of “move, move” from Bilinda. It lulls you to sleep, not in the way that it’s boring to listen to, but that you sink into the soundscape and roll with it, like crashing waves on the beach.  

Final Score: 8/10  

 

5. When You Sleep

Main Thoughts: When You Sleep is perhaps My Bloody Valentine’s most iconic song, especially in the modern digital age. It’s been sampled or interpolated by artists across genres, from World Is A F*** by Ghost Mountain and Semetary to Dance With Me by beabadobee. It was the first single released for Loveless, and like Only Shallow, it’s one of the more complete and conventional tracks on the album. With driving walls of guitars and drums, this track is one of the higher energy songs of the album.  

The unique vocals stylings of this track are due to Kevin Shields, the main architect behind this whole album, being unsatisfied with how the vocals were sounding and overlaying multiple takes to create the dreamy, liminal sounds of the vocals today.  

A quintessential shoegaze track, it’s a song you can listen to over and over again (even if you don’t since what the lyrics are, since Kevin Shields won’t reveal what the official lyrics are). It reminds me of Loomer in how it feels like watching a party that you decided not to go to while everyone is there, and nobody notices you didn’t show up. The track you hear when you think of shoegaze, and the most iconic track MBV has ever put out.  

Final Score: 10/10 

6. I Only Said

Main Thoughts: We’re back to the more aggressive vibe on this track. With a distorted electronic synth as the main musical motif, cutting through the walls of gliding guitars, it worms itself into your brain instantly. This track is about abstract thoughts on a failed relationship, sticking with the themes present on Only Shallow.  

In the second verse Kevin Shields sings:  

 

See you there, under her, and under
To go, you were there, I only said
To lay under her and I’m slow, oh
To lay under her, I’ve grown away, oh 

Shields is talking about missing out of a relationship he never got the chance to pursue. He sees this person with someone else and must accept that he’s never going to have the same connection with them again and that they will inevitably grow apart. Very harrowing content from something you can barely hear over the towering guitars.  

Final Score: 8/10 

7. Come In Alone

Main Thoughts: Come In Alone pushes forward with the themes presented on Only Shallow and I Only Said. Similarly structured to the previous track, it keeps the same energy while lowering the tempo.  

Kevin Shields achieves a similar effect for the main musical motif of this song by playing his guitar through an amplifier with a graphic equalizer preamp and bouncing it to another track through a parametric equalizer while he adjusted the EQ levels manually. It creates something that almost sounds like you melted a wah-wah pedal and tried to play a song through it.  

Sticking with the more unnerving subject matter, Shields sings on this track:  

Come in alone
You’ll love to let go
And I’ll turn you around
When your hopes gave me doubts
(Oh)
Run and hide

Why I don’t need to believe
What you see
To look up and around
You were gone
Words came out to a sound 

 

Kevin seems to be talking about either another or the same failed relationship discussed on previous tracks. He sees himself as being unable to reciprocate the feelings expressed to him and chooses to isolate or “run and hide” until they leave, and it’s too late to save the relationship.   

While I prefer the lyrics and find the main musical motif to be interesting to listen to, I Only Said serves as a better overall execution of these ideas.  

Final Score: 7.5/10 

8. Sometimes

Main Thoughts: Sometimes feels like watching a massive meteor impact the earth, and all you can do is wait for it to hit. The guitars are truly oppressive; they drown out almost everything else and leave the soundscape feeling almost hollow, especially with the notable lack of drums on this track. You can see what artists have been influenced by this sound; it’s reminiscent of a heavier version of Dagger by Slowdive or the overwhelming guitar work on  Deathconsciousness by Have A Nice Life.  

This is the closest MBV have come to making a true romantic ballad, which is ironic since the track still features their trademark guitars and whispered vocals. The lyrics are much more comprehensive to the average listener and not as abstract or difficult to pull apart compared to other tracks. On Sometimes, Kevin sings: 

Close my eyes, feel me now
I don’t know how you could not love me now
You will know, and her feet down to the ground
Over there, and I want true love to know
You can’t hide, oh no, from the way I feel 

Kevin Shields is talking about how this person needs to know how much he loves them, and that he’s fully confident if he reveals those feelings to them, then the relationship can work out. As the verses go on, we see this story doesn’t pan out the way he wants it to. On the last verse, Kevin says:  

Close my eyes, feel me how
I don’t know, maybe you could not hurt me now
Here alone, when I feel down too
Over there, when I await true love for you
You can hide, oh, now, the way I do
You can see, oh, now, oh, the way I do  

Kevin hopes that staying with this person will only hurt him, and he fears that because of their relationship, they’ve become just like him and choose to emotionally isolate themselves by bringing people home and never opening up in a real way. He has cursed them in sense, to repeat these behaviors and hide the way he does until they’re able to find each other again.  

 

This track is a lot denser compared to other tracks here, and the music reflects it. A unique take on a classic ballad with a shoegaze spin.  

Final Score: 9/10 

9. Blown A Wish

Main Thoughts: Blown A Wish is a much-needed detour from the general gloominess of the last three or four tracks. It goes in more of a dream pop direction, sounding more like a Lush song.  

The track has a hypnotic vibe similar to To Here Knows When with Bilinda musing about sharing all of their favorite things with someone and wishing that they’ll do the same for them. There’s not much to chew on here, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Not every track needs to be deep and requires an active listen to enjoy. It’s fun! The atmosphere is bright and peppy and serves as a great palate cleanser from Sometimes.   

Final Score: 8/10  

10. What You Want

Main Thoughts: What You Want is a little harder to talk about since most of the lyrics are inaudible. But the track brings back more of a conventional sound, as at least as conventional as music like this can be.  

There’s an interesting ambient woodwind section at the very end, which does add to the general otherworldly vibe this track gives off. The guitar is still driving and distorted, but isn’t drowned in effects like other tracks, making it sound almost normal. The drum loops make a subdued return, keeping the energy up and moving the piece along. Overall, it’s not a bad song, but the reason it stands out is because it’s so stripped back compared to the rest of the tracks here.  

Final Score: 6.5/10 

11. Soon

Main Thoughts: Soon is the closing number for Loveless, and it is a behemoth of a track. Clocking in at over 7 minutes, Soon is also a stylistic departure from the rest of the album. It has more of a dance instrumental, with breakbeat drum loops and what sounds like a mandolin or sitar as the main musical motif.  

The droning guitars and moaning vocals from Kevin Shields lull you into a trance, feeling like a nightclub dancefloor you can never get out of. There’s no real progression or anything to gleam from the lyrics. Like Blown A Wish and What You Want, it’s not necessarily about a specific subject; it’s more about how the vocals can enhance the already existing soundscape. Soon ties this record up with a culmination of what Loveless goes for. It’s a complete evolution of music, so forward-thinking that we still hear the influences of it today.  

Final Score: 9/10 

 

Final Rankings  

Overall Thoughts: Loveless is an album that changed music forever. There’s a reason it’s consistently ranked at one of the greatest albums of all time by music publications like Pitchfork or Rolling Stone. It’s an overwhelming listen, especially all in one go, but one more rewarding with each re-listening. As mentioned previously, it’s music that seems fully alien to what rock music was at the time. It was a complete paradigm shift in what shoegaze can be, and even now over 30 years later, it’s still the first album most people would think of when they think of shoegaze.  

 The rankings for each track are as follows:  

1. When You Sleep –10/10

2. Only Shallow – 9/10  

3. Sometimes – 9/10

4. Soon – 9/10

5. I Only Said – 8.5/10

6. Blown A Wish – 8/10

7. To Here Knows When – 8/10

8. Come In Alone – 7.5/10  

9. Loomer – 7/10

10. What You Want – 6.5/10

11. Touched – 4/10 

 Loveless overall is a very solid album with an average track score of 7.86! I hope you have enjoyed reading this track breakdown and if you were interested in what you heard while reading each review, I would highly recommend checking out MBV’s other works as well, especially their most recent album.