It's such a good album! My journey with REM has been funny - I actually kind of disliked them in my youth because I only listened to their greatest hits CD on repeat, and it was a collection of just the radio hits that made me think they were kind of shallow. I had a small allowance and no internet, so I thought buying greatest hits CDs was a way to maximize music for my dollar, but this one backfired. The studio albums sound like a totally different band - it was an interesting contrast once I figured out why I had overlooked them before
I'll be revisiting it, I just had a funny first impression of the song for some reason! It's probably one of those that fits the album better than I realize, and after some re-listens it'll blend right in for me. It just caught me a little off balance this time through!
Cheers for the mention. I only commented on the 13th Floor Elevators origins of Primal Scream's "Slip Inside This House," but I think with any list, as you rightly point out, people will have their thoughts (especially on omissions), which is always fun and insightful to read.
That said, I will take some time to comment on 'Loveless,' which, possibly with the resurgence of Shoegaze, Spotify, and the rise of neo-shoegaze bands, has become the king of the original shoegaze LPs and has sold far more copies today than it ever did in 1991.
I think the brilliance of 'Loveless' is twofold. People forget that mainstream British bands almost completely abandoned guitars in the 1980s. And, if they did have guitars, it certainly wasn't like guitars in the American sense. That's the thing: in the 1960s, America fell in love with Brits with guitars. By the 1980s, the loud guitar thing was still dominating American rock and roll, but much less so in the UK. When BritPop exploded in the early or mid-'90s, the British music press praised the return of guitar rock in the UK. However, there was always underground music, and Shoegaze was exactly that. Shoegaze was, for a short time, the darlings of NME and Melody Maker. But loud American grunge rock took their focus away, and the shoegaze bands were completely forgotten about, and in many respects, grunge killed it off.
Shoegaze was about making dense layers of sound through the various pedal effects, and even the vocals were just another texture and layer. Normally the vocals are mixed higher so they stand out, but with shoegaze, the vocals were lower in the mix as if they were hiding the lyricism by drowning it in sound and pedal effects. Introspection doesn't like to be the center of attention so they buried the lyricism within the roar of a jet engine.
For me, the beauty of 'Loveless' is how enormous the sound is. At its core, it is a very noisy album that feels like a sinking ship being overcome with a heavy tsunami wave of thick layers of sound. Yet, somehow, MBV finds melodic beauty within its sonic assault and manages to keep everything afloat.
Amazing history, thanks for adding context here. I think my perspective on this album hurt my enjoyment - or rather, my lack of perspective. I'm still getting my head around the trends that were happening in the music world leading up to 1991 and the emergence of Shoegaze, so I think I lost out on some of the nuances you mention as I didn't live through it.
But I can completely understand the counter-reaction to grunge and all the loud, in your face music that was at the top of the rock charts. I wonder if Shoegaze was only appreciated to its fullest extent in hindsight, as people had time to sfit through the noise and see what an interesting offshoot it really was?
I think I'll need to revisit this album with better headphones!
I’m gonna carbon date myself here, but I’d go so far as to say 1991 was the best year ever for music.
I’m also extremely happy to find someone that loves REMs “Out of Time” as much as I do.
It's such a good album! My journey with REM has been funny - I actually kind of disliked them in my youth because I only listened to their greatest hits CD on repeat, and it was a collection of just the radio hits that made me think they were kind of shallow. I had a small allowance and no internet, so I thought buying greatest hits CDs was a way to maximize music for my dollar, but this one backfired. The studio albums sound like a totally different band - it was an interesting contrast once I figured out why I had overlooked them before
Yes! Glad you discussed "Out of Time" although I've always really liked "Radio Song!" It made my Top Ten that year!
I'll be revisiting it, I just had a funny first impression of the song for some reason! It's probably one of those that fits the album better than I realize, and after some re-listens it'll blend right in for me. It just caught me a little off balance this time through!
These are all S Tier selections.
Thank you Chase!
Cheers for the mention. I only commented on the 13th Floor Elevators origins of Primal Scream's "Slip Inside This House," but I think with any list, as you rightly point out, people will have their thoughts (especially on omissions), which is always fun and insightful to read.
That said, I will take some time to comment on 'Loveless,' which, possibly with the resurgence of Shoegaze, Spotify, and the rise of neo-shoegaze bands, has become the king of the original shoegaze LPs and has sold far more copies today than it ever did in 1991.
I think the brilliance of 'Loveless' is twofold. People forget that mainstream British bands almost completely abandoned guitars in the 1980s. And, if they did have guitars, it certainly wasn't like guitars in the American sense. That's the thing: in the 1960s, America fell in love with Brits with guitars. By the 1980s, the loud guitar thing was still dominating American rock and roll, but much less so in the UK. When BritPop exploded in the early or mid-'90s, the British music press praised the return of guitar rock in the UK. However, there was always underground music, and Shoegaze was exactly that. Shoegaze was, for a short time, the darlings of NME and Melody Maker. But loud American grunge rock took their focus away, and the shoegaze bands were completely forgotten about, and in many respects, grunge killed it off.
Shoegaze was about making dense layers of sound through the various pedal effects, and even the vocals were just another texture and layer. Normally the vocals are mixed higher so they stand out, but with shoegaze, the vocals were lower in the mix as if they were hiding the lyricism by drowning it in sound and pedal effects. Introspection doesn't like to be the center of attention so they buried the lyricism within the roar of a jet engine.
For me, the beauty of 'Loveless' is how enormous the sound is. At its core, it is a very noisy album that feels like a sinking ship being overcome with a heavy tsunami wave of thick layers of sound. Yet, somehow, MBV finds melodic beauty within its sonic assault and manages to keep everything afloat.
Amazing history, thanks for adding context here. I think my perspective on this album hurt my enjoyment - or rather, my lack of perspective. I'm still getting my head around the trends that were happening in the music world leading up to 1991 and the emergence of Shoegaze, so I think I lost out on some of the nuances you mention as I didn't live through it.
But I can completely understand the counter-reaction to grunge and all the loud, in your face music that was at the top of the rock charts. I wonder if Shoegaze was only appreciated to its fullest extent in hindsight, as people had time to sfit through the noise and see what an interesting offshoot it really was?
I think I'll need to revisit this album with better headphones!
Oh hell yes
1991! Good year!
Some others I'd also add the to the list:
Electronic (Bernard Sumner & Johnny Marr) - Electronic
The Orb - Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld
Slint - Spiderland
The KLF - The White Room
Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
John Tavener - The Protecting Veil (with Steven Isserlis)