Loveless

Even before the release of Loveless in 1991, Kevin Shields became known as a perfectionist. After 1988's Isn't Anything and a brief tour, the band returned to the studio. However, they didn't come out for over two years!

Rumors say Shields became obsessive, sometimes taking single chords and manipulating them for months. The record making process was so long that MBV's label, Creation, nearly went bankrupt. Reports state the album cost $500,000 for Creation, money which it never made up. Subsequently, Creation booted MBV from the label.

However, this didn't stop the unanimously positive reviews from critics. Even immediately after the album release in November 1991, predictions of the follow-up were made. Intense speculation came as to if a sequel to Loveless could ever equal the original.

As for the album itself, the best way to describe it is as noisy ambiance drowned with guitars. The sonic texture is amazingly lush, almost dreamy, but gritty at the same time. Truly it was a revolutionary sound comparing to the previous desolate age in music (the 80s). It's no wonder that the pressure on Shields to create a follow-up to Loveless drove him into isolation. Despite a few singles here and there, MBV (Shields) continues to be mum.

In Final Fantasy VII, "Loveless" is a name of a play that is a minor, but important reference at the end of the game. The mention of the play is one of the many minor intertextual references that dot all of Squaresofts games, and may mean something or may mean nothing at all.

In the final part of the game, right before you descend into the Northern Crater and fight Sephiroth, you are allowed to talk to all the different members of your party on your airship. If you talk to Cid Highwind, he will tell you a story of seeing a play years ago, in Midgar. He fell asleep during the play, and only woke up near the end, to hear the heroine of the play say she "would be back when this is all over". Which is, of course, what Aeris Gainsborough said, right before she left the party earlier in the game.

So what the game designers are doing here is making up an imaginary play, and a mediocre one, at that, to make reference to part of the plot of the game they made up. The reasons for doing this, are, as with many aspects of Square's labyrinthine, obscure stories, not totally clear.

As a sidenote, it seems that the play was named after the My Bloody Valentine album, since the first shot of the game shows a neon sign that shows part of the phrase "My Bloody Valentine".

Love"less, a.

1.

Void of love; void of tenderness or kindness.

Milton. Shelton.

2.

Not attracting love; unattractive.

These are ill-favored to see to; and yet, as loveless as they be, they are not without some medicinable virtues. Holland.

 

© Webster 1913.