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RE: My Bloody Valentine
Mark Francombe wrote, about My Bloody Valentine:
"To be fair.. that IS EXACTLY what My Bloody Valentine sound like live...
and always have.. I saw them
maybe 25 times in the late 80īs and it didnt matter where i saw them or
what PA they were thru..
the sound was BAD. After a while I accepted it.. and started to "GET INTO
IT". Then THAT ALBUM...
came a long (they recorded it in the same studio as I was recording at the
time, just a different
room, we got hints at what they were up to... We recorded an album (Wings
of Joy) and they recorded
a hi hat pattern - in the toilet) THAT ALBUM was so distorted and muffled
and.. wait a minute.. is it
wobbly? That alot of people took it back to the shop (including my
girlfriend at the time)... but after
a while... "YOU GOT INTO IT!" And now of course its one of the more
important albums of the 90īs.
In about 93 just before they split up, I saw them in San Francisco... big
and famous... packed
audience... sounded the same...
There are just some bands that dont seem to be able to get their tricky
sound out over a PA... and
thats OK with me."
I can appreciate that, Mark, but I had the opposite experience. I
never saw that band in the day
and
I was so blown away by the music on those brilliant and quirky records.
There, of course, have been bands that never got it right live and I can
respect that. I had a very
popular regional new wave band in the 80's and we just never could capture
what we did live on
vinyl so it can go both ways.
but what I loved about MBV was the fact that not only did Shields achieve
this amazing guitar sound
that had the sonic energy of punk and yet had nothing to do with it's form
but also had real
pristine and soft energy as well, with the melodies created in the
interplay of the guitar and the
vocals.
It was the interplay between those two elements that made them have an
enormous impact on me
(and also a delight in trying to figure out just how the fuck he had
achieved that sound----was it
the manipulation of samples of his guitar playing or judicious and
incredible use of a whammy bar--
--was it hundreds of overdubs or just the production manipulation of a
few..........all these things
not only intrigued me, but they sent me scurrying around trying to
duplicate it or, better yet, to try
experiments in my own head that would be as exciting just for being
exposed to them.
I've heard a lot of bands work with the sheer sonic energy of loud volume,
noise, feedback , etc.
as their primary mode of expression (Sonic Youth certainly comes to mind
but any number of other
and less famous noise projects.
What made MBV stand out in my mind was that he had this experimental ,
dissonant noise sensibility
married to a beautiful lyricism............that was what was rare and to
me , so sublime about the band.
So, unfortunately (and lucky you that you had the chance) i just don't
have the luxury to go see them
a dozen times to 'get use to his live aesthetic'.
Also, the crowd in London was NOT getting it either from everything I
could see and for the number
of people I talked with outside of the venue.
The sound was crap and it was very, very painfully loud (and I'm no wuss
when it comes to
volume.......I'm a really loud drummer when I want to be---people have
complained <blush>)
I guess my point is, if that's what he wanted, it would have been more
honest to say,
We're going to play with two incredibly loud guitarists and an even louder
bassist..........fuck the
singers and the drummer.........fuck trying to reproduce the 'hits' of
twenty years before.
At least I could have taken it on his terms.
As it was, we did something we never thought we'd see ourselves do (that
is, Chris, my wife who is
also a fan, and I) we walked out and enjoyed the balmy London, England
evening and took in the
local goth club.