[Ghostchase]

Originally Posted by Antagon

It seems that at least partly it is. The wikipedia entry for the album states that part of it was recorded prior to their initial breakup, probably sometime around 1996 til 1997. It certainly sounds like some of the material was recorded during that time peroid.

Okay, I'm watching the interview right now and Shields says its mostly 1996-1997 material paired with some 1993-1994 material, and then a few newer tunes.

http://www.vice.com/soft-focus/kevin-shields

[scott v]

I don't know... first listen struck me as pretty underwhelming, but its growing more now but i still can't help to feel that the album as a whole sounds abit "dated" and it makes sense since this material was written in the 90's. some of the songs have alot of the same feeling and tone as in "loveless" and then there are those heavily electronic dance percussion type tracks (like jungle beats) that make the 2nd have of it sound lazyily produced and haphazard to me (especially "nothing is"). the weird guitar-esque solo track thats in the intro to "in another way" sounds like something the smashing pumpkins would do. alot of the parts of this album sound way too busy and not subtle enough that mbv have been known for me at least. "is this and yes" is pretty great, the repeating synth-esque thing reminds me of that gastr del sol track on "camofleur". I'd be more interested on what Kevin and the band could pull off today as far as songwriting and recording technique are concerned, but damn it may take him another 21 years to do that... for being known as such a "perfectionist" for years now, i'm abit surprised and baffled by this "new" album... it should've been labelled as a "lost" album in a way. all that said, i still love this band though and always will...

[Murmer99]

The album still sounds a bit underdeveloped to me here and there, but it has grown on me over the last couple of days.

[Severian]

First track sweeps over me like a tidal wave every time, despite sounding like a remastered 91 outtake. How could anyone be underwhelmed?

[scott v]

Originally Posted by Severian

First track sweeps over me like a tidal wave every time, despite sounding like a remastered 91 outtake. How could anyone be underwhelmed?

actually, the first track is the best on the album in my opinion, what makes the majority of the album on the underwhelming side for me is in your statement "sounding like a remastered 91 outtake". and I have to agree about the album as a whole sounding underdeveloped, thats more apparent to me on the last several tracks. I was kinda hoping if they were to retread some of the same sounds like they've already done, they would've done at least one more heavy rock-like groove track. (i.e. what you want, only shallow, when you sleep, or honey power) the album is absent of that, except for perhaps "in another way", though that song sounds too messy.

[Rob Instigator]

I need to get this bastard! The wife asnd I are moving this weekend, so in a few weeks I will have the MOney!!!!!

[Genteel Death]

if you forget your music journalist fantasies, or those of being someone into music in a big way, this record has some great licks you can enjoy and maybe lick your own face for a change.

[E. Noisefield]

I can't find anything not to love about the album. the fact that it sounds like my bloody valentine shouldn't count against it, but saying it's treading old ground makes it seem like that's not what we've all been waiting for this whole time. But we have been something that sounds like my bloody valentine is exactly what I've wanted and if it sounded revolutionary for 2012, it would probably piss all of us off.

It really separates the men from the boys though. Nobody made a stink when dinosaur jr put out Beyond and it sounded exactly like dinosaur jr, only more polished. Clearly mbv sucked in people's souls, while Dino had a different kind of effect all along.

[Skuj]

I think it is brilliant how it starts off quite effortlessly and low key, mimicing Loveless, and ends like a plane crash. It's a very unusual way to sequence an album, but given the 21yr gap and the worship of Loveless, mbv feels just right to my ears. It's a fuckin great album, folks. I'm thrilled with it. I only wish that MBV Mk2 isn't just this. I think one more album would complete the MBV saga. And hopefully that album picks up where mbv leaves off.....yikes.

[Diesel]

My verba...

Ya

words n awesome me mmm yea

Not too bad but it's not too shit either.....calm the fuck d......

like it's alright but not as good as my 2008/2006 unreleased indie hit album is it? idiots!!

[foreverasskiss]

yo, it's valentines day. half of it hurt but my girl came to check up on me and found me in my goose pattern blanky. just making sure i wasn't cracked out.

gave me daughter chocolate and teddy bears.

[Savage Clone]

God help me, I just don't care about this. I saw all those bands in the early 90s, and Ride and Verve in their early days both wiped the floor with MBV live. Slowdive too. MBV were the loudest, but that's about it.

[Jeremy]

Yeah, what little interest I had is already gone. I don't even remember what most of the songs sound like.

There's just nothing memorable or interesting about this band, in my opinion. So many bands do this sound way better.

[foreverasskiss]

oh yeah, the new mbv.

it's alright. good for a demo, unreleased touch up album.

a lot of the songs sound like Isn't Anything era songs. that's ok though, because i've never been enthralled by this band. verse chorus, verse chorus. strange inventive guitars and nothing else. blah.

i get the techno and jungle influences that are not there because it echos the repetitiveness of this band.

in other words: i like it but realize it's a bunch of old songs that should've been released ten years ago. if that.

the more i listen to it the more bland it gets. like Loveless.

[GravitySlips]

Loveless was an important album to me when I first heard it as I'd never heard anything remotely similar at the time. But I overplayed it big time, and it really doesn't age well. Just a fairly boring album with some nice guitar sounds.

This new one is OK but nothing worth getting excited over, to me.

Isn't Anything is decent but not that great either.

I'll always be a fan for nostalgic reasons, and they've some nice songs for sure, but I don't think I'll ever need to listen to MBV again in my life. The same applies to a lot of shoegaze bands, to be fair.

[Rob Instigator]

My fave is the You Made Me Realize EP.

http://youtu.be/j9qLnmEN7S8

[Skuj]

Fuuuuuck me, ....bunch of miserable cunts in this thread. I've been around a while and MBV (the band) have made a string of incredible music for 3 albums in a row now.

[blunderbuss]

Originally Posted by Savage Clone

God help me, I just don't care about this. I saw all those bands in the early 90s, and Ride and Verve in their early days both wiped the floor with MBV live. Slowdive too. MBV were the loudest, but that's about it.

I love you, cranky old guy.

[Severian]

I can't help but think that some of us are just so goddamn jaded that we find ways to be disappointed with anything and everything.

It's a NEW my bloody valentine album for fuck's sake!

[Antagon]

Originally Posted by Severian

I can't help but think that some of us are just so goddamn jaded that we find ways to be disappointed with anything and everything.

It's a NEW my bloody valentine album for fuck's sake!

WORD! But I think it's probably not a matter of being jaded or not but rather depending on the expectations you had.

Some people expected something radically new or innovative while others were just blown away by the mere fact that MBV finally released some previously unheard material (I'd consider myself one of these). Imho it's probably too much to hope for new material that is pushing the envelope or carries on their legacy in fresh and innotive ways.

I could be wrong about that though and in case they release something new in that direction sometime in the future I wouldn't mind to stand corrected. It's just that most bands run their course sooner or later and attempts to find a new sound are often not appreciated or mocked by critics and fans. What kept MBV fresh is that they stopped producing new stuff at the height of their popularity (That is after the release of Loveless of course).

Like I stated before I adore Loveless and I really dig that m b v is picking up where its predecessor left off. I wasn't expecting much more than that, hell I wasn't even expecting that they'd release that fucker. And with that in mind this is a damn great album. Brilliantly produced drony and dreamy Shoegaze in 2013, what more could I ask for?