I remember buying Isn't Anything cos the journalists in Melody Maker at the time told me to. They were very insistent and I quite liked the previous single Strawberry Wine so gave it a go. Any MBV fan will know that the album was a massive departure from that and at first Feed Me With Your Kiss (I always put the B side on first for some reason) was just too much noise for my ears to cope with. Within about a week though I started to really warm to it and within a fortnight it was my favourite album of all time. I can honestly say that during late 88 and 89 I played the whole album nearly every day. Sometime in 1989 my sister met this bloke and we got to talking about music and inevitably I had to bring up Isn't Anything and he agreed that it was amazing adding that it had the most outstanding drumming. I looked at him blankly. I couldn't bluff it; I'd been so carried away with the overall sound that I'd barely noticed the drums. The next day I checked them out and sure enough he weren't wrong. I saw MBV at ULU (I had ticket number 1!) and it was the 2nd best gig I'd ever been to and is still up there in my top 3. I couldn't get enough.
In 1992 I went to the US and met a few Americans who were into MBV and could not believe that none of them had heard of Isn't Anything. Loveless had just been released there and was hugely popular and luckily I had Isn't Anything on tape so was able to introduce people to it.
Back in the UK I went to see MBV again at The Town and Country (now The Forum) and I remember being reasonably dissapointed with the gig. It was never going to match the first and I spoke to a few people at the gig who were of the opinion that they did not have what they had before but were still one of the best bands out there.
Which all brings me to a discussion I had with me pal Travis about 6 months ago. He thinks Loveless is better and I absolutely think Isn't Anything is. He argued that most MBV fans would think the same way and when I had a bit of an internet search and whilst there was not much in it, he did appear to be right.
What do you reckon?
x
i think Loveless is better
but i imagine that whichever you heard first will have the biggest impact on you.
"Natural" drumming versus synthetic percussion...
I'll go with the former. Almost too close to call though, they're both wonderful.
^^^ Pretty much why I don't rate Loveless as highly
I love Colm's drumming...
... imagining a song like "Feed Me With Your Kiss" without his frenetic drum patterns is almost unthinkable.
Hi John
It's Ross!
Funnily enough, I think Isn't Anything is far superior to Loveless. It's more ambitious and the songs are better.
But I always think that their very early stuff is equally amazing and am quite upset that it gets overlooked.
I don't honestly think you can say
That Loveless is less ambitious than Isn't Anything. If anything, Loveless is trying to craft a completely different sonic world. That takes some balls, whereas Isn't Anything is mostly just dead good tunes.
But I think Loveless is just so unique and beautifully layered, and since you can completely lose yourself like never before in that record, it's my favourite.
I prefer Loveless
but it was the first MBV album I bought, and there was a long gap between having that and having Isn't Anything.
i much prefer Loveless.
The production on both sounds pretty bad
is there any chance of a nice remaster do you think, as in not one that fucks the sound up but just makes it sound a bit bigger and stuff?
Penalty shoot out
Loveless for me
I heard it first and it had much more of an impact on me because of that i think.
Isnt Everything took me a long while to get into and i wouldnt say i was fully on board with it yet in the way that i am with Loveless.
Worth noting that its to MBV credit that they have crafted 2 quite different albums/sounds both brilliant, both challenging.
isn't anything > loveless
always has been always will be
I think they're different in terms of moods
Isn't Anything sounds a bit more jagged, whilst while Loveless is still noisy it has smooth edges.
It took me ages to work out what the timings were on Feed Me With Your Kiss.
its hands down
Loveless for me im afriad, its overall sound and production is so much better then Isnt Anything. but maybe im biased cause the first MBV song i ever heard was Only Shallow
loveless!
givin up a dime, nothin' less
Now I must put his behind to the test (can you feel me)
Then through the shadows, in the saddle, ready for battle
Bring all your boys in, here come the poison
Behind my back, all the riffin' ya did,
Front and center, now when you look back kid?
Who dat is? A mean brotha, bad for your health
Lookin damn good though, if I could say it myself
Told me Loveless is a mad man, but I don't fear that
Got mad weapons too, ain't tryin to hear that
Tryin to bring down me, this champion
When y'all clowns gon' see that it can't be done
Understand me son, I'm the slickest they is,
I'm the quickest as they is, did I say I'm the slickest they is
So if you barking up the wrong tree we comin, don't be startin nothin
Me and my partner gonna test your chest, Loveless
Can't stand the heat then get out the Wild Wild West
We going straight to (when I roll into the)the Wild Wild
West (when I stroll into the)
We going straight to (when I bounce into the)the Wild Wild
West
We going straight to the Wild Wild West
We going straight to the Wild Wild West
To any outlaw tryin to draw, thinkin you're bad,
Any draw on West best with a pen and a pad,
Don't even think about it, six gun, weighin a ton,
10 paces and turn, just for fun, son,
Up till sundown, rolling around,
See where the bad guys are to be found and make 'em lay down,
The defenders of the west,
Crushin on pretenders in the west,
Don't mess with us cuz we're in the (Wild Wild West)
We going straight to the Wild Wild West
We going straight to the Wild Wild West
We going straight to the Wild Wild West
We going straight to the Wild Wild West
We going straight to the Wild Wild West
We going straight to the Wild Wild West, come on
(Wild Wild West)
When I roll into the
(Wild Wild West)
When I stroll into the
We going straight to the Wild Wild West (the Wild Wild West)
(Wild, Wild West) whoo, uh
(Wild Wild West) ha ha ha ha
(Wild Wild West) uh Dru, Dru
(Wild Wild West) I done done it again y'all done done it again
(Wild Wild West) ha ha ha ha
(Wild Wild West) Big Will, Dru Hill, uh
(Wild Wild West) Big Will, Dru Hill ha ha ha ha
(Wild Wild West) *the Wild Wild West*
(Wild Wild West) uh
(Wild Wild West) one time
(Wild Wild West) uh,
(Wild Wild West) *the wild wild west* bring in the heat, bring in the
heat, what?
(Wild Wild West)
(Wild Wild West) uh can't stop the bumrush
*the Wild Wild* (the Wild Wild West)
Loveless is SO loads better
.
When I first bought 'Loveless', I thought there was a fault with the tape - true stories.
Why? What fault?
My two cents
Both are better than each other. Let's face it, really: both albums represent a band at the peak of its powers, which at the time made it pretty much better than any other band out there. To compare the records to each other is a fairly moot point.
I love "you made me Realise"
ep
I don't think it ever had a re-release.
MBV
Cheers all, I think I'll roll with Raanraals argument in future. Indeed they are both better than each other.
John.x