''This Is Your Bloody Valentine'' is the debut mini album by the Irish-English

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band My Bloody Valentine, released in January 1985 on Tycoon Records. Recorded in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, it features the band's early

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...

and

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

sound, which contrasts the

shoegazing Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...

sound with which My Bloody Valentine are associated. The band secured a contract with Tycoon Records after sending a demo tape they had recorded in their hometown—

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland— to a label associate. The demo tape included five songs, "Girl on the 13th Floor", "Halfwalk", "Last Tango in Paradise", "The Garden of Delight" and "Don't Cramp My Style", the latter of which was re-recorded for the album. The demo was recorded in guitarist

Kevin Shields Kevin Patrick Shields (born 21 May 1963) is an American-born Irish musician, singer-songwriter, composer, and producer, best known as the vocalist and guitarist of the band My Bloody Valentine. They became influential on the evolution of alter ...

' parents' home in

Killiney Killiney () is an affluent seaside resort and suburb in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland. It lies south of neighbouring Dalkey, east of Ballybrack and Sallynoggin and north of Shankill. The place grew around the 11th century Killiney Churc ...

, South Dublin. Shields and drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig later overdubbed bass and drum tracks at Litton Lane Studios. Upon its release, the album made little impression and the band relocated to

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, United Kingdom. Similarities between My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus and Mary Chain had been suggested in the music press but guitarist

later told ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' "we've got a mini-LP we made in Berlin in '84, pre-Mary Chain ..with all our traits there—feedback thrash."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

reviewer

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

has referred to the album as "an unfocused and derivative collection of post-punk goth rock". ''This Is Your Bloody Valentine'' was reissued in 1990 by Dossier Records on LP and CD.

Track listing

Personnel

All personnel credits adapted from ''This is Your Bloody Valentine''s liner notes. My Bloody Valentine * David Conway – vocals *

– guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals *Tina Durkin – keyboards * Colm Ó Cíosóig – drums (credited as Colm Cusack) Technical personnel *My Bloody Valentine –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

*Markus Bosak –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

References

Footnotes Bibliography *

External links

* * {{Authority control 1985 debut albums My Bloody Valentine (band) albums Post-punk albums by Irish artists Gothic rock albums by Irish artists Noise rock albums by Irish artists