I was so excited to finally see My Bloody Valentine in London. The
Bass guitar and the lead guitar were so loud that you could
NOT HEAR THE VOCALS. They played one of their beautiful songs from
years ago and it was three minutes before I realized what the song was.
In this case, the culprit was the mad genius Kevin Shields. He purposefully wanted it as loud as it could possibly be.
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.
Rick
