Loveless: the album so nice it gets tributed Twice!

By Doc ~ Posted Thursday, October 27th 2011

Kevin Shields would surely approve of November in Toronto, and possibly consider moving here full time to be with his fans. Some of my favorite bands always seemed to have the sleeve of that mysterious fuchsia coloured album permanently fixed to the coffee table and never put away in the record collection, so back in the spring when Dave Rodgers (Mean Red Spiders, Pitysex) hatched the brilliant idea for Wavelength to mark the 20th anniversary of Loveless, My Bloody Valentine's seminal shoegazer album from 1991, with a tribute by some of Toronto's finest shoegazer spawned musicians, Wavelength jumped at the idea and never for a moment considered the possibility that there would be another 20th anniversary tribute by another collection of some of Toronto's finest shoegazer spawned musicians like Ruby Coast and Wavelength alums Volcano Playground to the same beautiful album. But there is, and if for some reason you can't make it to Wavelength on the 18th, you will find some satisfaction by attending this show at Toronto Underground Cinema on November 4. Considering the scope and scale of both nights they are both priced at the insanesly affordable price of $10 (or $10/PWYC at Wavelength) everybody should be able to attend both. Consider the show on the 4th to be extended frolic and foreplay, the quicker succession of tributes on Nov 18 to be the throbbing buildup, the performance of Loveless by one-time-only supergroup of Wavelength originals So Much Sorry to be a long Lovelessgasm, and the concluding set by Flowers of Hell (who opened for MBV during their reunion) to be post-coital-Loveless-afterglow.


The number 1 album in the USA in 1991 was Ropin’ the Wind by American Country Superstar Garth Brooks, joined near the top of the charts by Nirvana and Michael Jackson, and the Juno for International Album of the Year went to MC Hammer for an album that burned bright but cast no shadow whatsoever called Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em, so it’s a testament to the quality of people who live in this little village deep within the big city of Toronto that an album like Loveless by My Bloody Valentine, which cast such a long shadow yet remains an obscure curio to the critical mass of the Red Hot Chili Peppers mainstream culture, is being marked by not one but two A++ lineups of musicians at two separate events, the first is put on by Gold Soundz - a Toronto based blog and promotion company - and happens on Friday November 4 (@Toronto Underground Cinema 8pm $10) and Wavelength #529 happens on Friday November 18 (@the Garrison 9pm $10/PWYC). I guess there must have been some Nirvana tribute shows this year (were there?) but I challenge you to find a two-peat of tributes for Michael Jackson's Dangerous, or for Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em, or for (shudder) Ropin’ The Wind. Or The Yellow Tape by Barenaked Ladies (which, I have to admit, I still own to this day, it's a deep dark secret of mine that I still like the original version of the Steven Paige song Brian Wilson possibly just because I really like the real deal so much).


My own favorite album of the early 90's is 1993's Love Tara by Eric's Trip, and when it comes to heartache music I'm more of a Sebadoh III weeper than a Loveless sobber, but Loveless fit in a cranny all its own, and over time Loveless proved to have some serious staying power, and over the years I've been moved by that album as often as Love Tara and moreso than by Sebadoh III, and I've seen firsthand the impact Loveless has had on some of the finest musical minds of this generation.


Once again I am astounded by the quality of this experience we’re in called Toronto and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. If you’re a Loveless fan, or if you're a fan of living in the music world of Toronto, you really ought to try to get to both of these shows. In Grungeland another similar show would be considered competition, but in the interests of proving once and for all that shoegazers are better at recognizing the interdependence of things than hyperambitious grungelings, here is promotional information and encouraging words of praise for somebody else's Loveless tribute:



NOV 4 LOVELESS tribute presented by Gold Soundz: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=134344923334423 


NOV 18 LOVEL(IN)ESS Wavelength #529: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=274458015921905