Loveless

My Bloody Valentine’s trademark sound had already coalesced on the highly regarded Isn’t Anything, and was honed to perfection at live shows (typically concluded by the high-volume freeform brinkmanship of ‘You Made Me Realise’), but 1991’s Loveless glowed sensual, druggy, claustrophobic textures. Due in no small part to bandleader Kevin Shields’ manipulation of layers of treated guitars, the album still sounds utterly contemporary. It’s also rich in melody – most notably the nagging hooks of ‘When You Sleep’ and ‘Sometimes’. Mind you, it was no easy birth. The album sessions went on for three years, employed some 18 engineers, cost a quarter of a million pounds, and all but bankrupted Creation. After Loveless reached number 24 in the British album charts, Alan McGee dropped the band. MBV somewhat reluctantly signed with Island Records in 1992. After squandering the best part of a year trying to build a studio, Shields found himself paralysed by the prospect of equalling Loveless. Stymied by logistical problems, and stuck in record company limbo, the band went on a semi-permanent hiatus. Shields went on to win acclaim for his work with Primal Scream and the Lost In Translation soundtrack. Then, two years ago, MBV reformed for a series of ecstatically received shows so powerful that witnesses wondered if they hadn’t been cryogenically frozen for 17 years.

No 4 in 2009, as voted for by over 200 Irish musicians. Same position in 2004.