In a recent posting on pitchforkmedia.com – the following information has been reported about an upcoming box set/DVD from guitar drone/ethereal wonder kinds My Bloody Valentine.
Like the wives of wartime veterans hoping/dreading for a letter to arrive in the postbox, so too does the music community await breaking news concerning the pending itinerary of the late, great My Bloody Valentine. Finally, a message has arrived.
As previously reported here at the Fork, MBV announced the release of two box sets for release in late 2005 or early 2006, along with a DVD. And although it takes a fuckin’ year (or more) for My Bloody Valentine to do anything, all internet rumors started by impatient chatroom-loitering indie nerds about the projects being aborted is a bunch of poppycock. They’re still on, motherfuckers!
The first box, most likely, will be limited to a few thousand copies and will contain live tracks from the band’s early years, ’84-’87. With his meticulous impulse for perfection twitching, frontman Kevin Shields personally ensured that every MBV show was recorded through the soundboard for future listening, thus providing him with months of material to remaster and include in box sets. The second box, a three-disc collection of live tracks from ’87-’92, also contains material culled via the soundboard method. One can only imagine the thousands of tracks, variations, remixes, and retakes plaguing the mind of this perfectionist genius even as you read this. OCD, perhaps?
News on the upcoming DVD has been spare until now, but we have some more info from another ambiguous but reliable source from a MBV fansite. Along with all of My Bloody Valentine’s music videos, the DVD is reported to contain a combination of three live shows along with assorted television interviews and homemade footage. The original format for all this Bloody goodness was originally akin to Nirvana’s video, Live Tonight Sold Out, combining all the aspects of the film into one cohesive narrative stream; but since we live in more modern times (and one of the user-friendly aspects of that invention that we call the DVD is the menu), the whole Nirvana idea as been scrapped.
The future of My Bloody Valentine has been speculated upon since, well, as far back as I can remember. Will there be another album? Is the band getting back together during the wake of all this re-releasing and film-scoring and bonus-material-unearthing in some Pixies-esque sudden tour kind of way? Will My Bloody Valentine headline the next Lollapalooza? Sadly, according to our unreliable source, the answer is NO! Although the rumor-mill turns onward, MBV haven’t been in the studio together writing new songs or tweaking the nitty-gritty out of some amazing unheard track. Sheilds’ attention has been on the box set; and again, according to Mr./Mrs. Anonymous, he doesn’t see a reuniting of the band: “My Bloody Valentine belong in the late 80s/early 90s. Kev knows that… and he wants them to stay there.”
