It is the record alternative music fans of a certain age thought would never arrive. In 1991 the Anglo-Irish band My Bloody Valentine released their second album, the dream pop masterpiece Loveless. Its hazy vocals, vibrato guitars, hymnal harmonies and insistent melodies under layers of noise were revolutionary, hypnotic and filled with a suggestion of something distinctly unhealthy. Loveless took six months and £250,000 to make, reputedly almost bankrupting Creation Records and sending Creation’s co-founder Alan McGee towards a nervous breakdown. “It was him or me,” said McGee of his reason for dropping My Bloody Valentine’s leader/guitarist Kevin Shields after Loveless, one of the most influential albums of the Nineties.
Everyone expected a swift follow-up from a band at the top of its