Neglected Records In My Collection # 4 My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything

 

This is actually a neglected record. Even though, even though.. It was clearly a groundbreaking one. That was apparent even at the time that I bought it when it came out. Along with the twelve inch of You Made Me Realise, which probably has the greater claim to being the truly revolutionary moment.

You wouldn't have seen it coming. My Bloody Valentine started life as an inoffensive, cute, jangly feedback C-86 band band like many others. The 14 Iced Bears, The Soup Dragons, The Razorcuts. Each and every one of them brought into being by the inspiration of The Jesus & Mary Chain. They were interviewed in those early days by my eventual brother in law for his fanzine Shy Like You. A copy will likely cost you north of £25 these days.

My Bloody Valentine, (or Kevin Shields more likely), decided they/ he wanted more, and came up with that astonishing Stooges meets Byrds meets your vacuum cleaner sound that Indie fans with ears immediately knew was the next great step forward.

This led to Isn't Anything, and from there to one of the most memorable gigs I've ever attended. At the Arts Centre in Norwich. The day before Valentine's Day in 1990 with the great gig going friend of my lifetime, Andy Nation. I'll post my thought about that here next.

Really, the record that Isn't Anything is twinned with is Psychocandy. more than any other. It's the next Creation milestone from there. I had the chance to see Jesus & Mary Chain on the tour supporting that record but I threw up my chance. But I was there for My Bloody Valentine.

This record would probably fetch a few quid if I took it to my local record shop. I won't be doing that. When you talk about MBV, it's the follow up, Loveless, the one that had the impossible long gestation period, the one that almost bankrupted Creation Records, that's generally considered the masterpiece. That one generally makes me queasy whenever I play it but I'll bow to the general consensus.

I saw My Bloody Valentine three times more, all on the same weekend a couple of decades later, when they curated the All Tomorrow's Parties, Nitemare Before Christmas Festival in Margate in December 2009. They headlined all three nights. They were impossibly loud. We mostly wore headplugs if we had a shred of sense, but still. It was incredibly loud no matter what you did. On the last evening I had to hurry out of the venue as quickly and as gracefully as I could because it felt like my ribcage was cracking. That will almost certainly be the last time I'll ever see them. Though apparently they have another album on the way and I could certainly have my arm twisted.