This Is Your Bloody Valentine

This Is Your Bloody Valentine is the debut mini album by the alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine, released in January 1985 on Tycoon Records. Recorded in West Berlin, Germany, it features the band's early gothic rock and post-punk sound, which contrasts the shoegazing sound with which My Bloody Valentine are associated.

This Is Your Bloody Valentine
EP by My Bloody Valentine
Released	January 1985
Recorded	December 1984
Studio	SCS 8TK Studios in West Berlin, Germany
Genre	Post-punk[1] gothic rock
Length	25:33
Label	Tycoon
Producer	My Bloody Valentine
My Bloody Valentine chronology
This Is Your Bloody Valentine (1985) Man You Love to Hate – Live (1985)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]

The band secured a contract with Tycoon Records after sending a demo tape they had recorded in their hometown—Dublin, Ireland— to a label associate.[3] 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' parents' home in Killiney, 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 London, United Kingdom.[4] Similarities between My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus and Mary Chain had been suggested in the music press but guitarist Kevin Shields later told Melody Maker "we've got a mini-LP we made in Berlin in '84, pre-Mary Chain [...] with all our traits there—feedback thrash."[5] AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine has referred to the album as "an unfocused and derivative collection of post-punk goth rock".[2] This Is Your Bloody Valentine was reissued in 1990 by Dossier Records on LP and CD.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Kevin Shields, David Conway and Colm Ó Cíosóig.

Side one

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Forever and Again"	3:32
2.	"Homelovin' Guy"	3:02
3.	"Don't Cramp My Style"	2:25
4.	"Tiger in My Tank"	3:30

Side two

No.	Title	Length
5.	"The Love Gang"	3:54
6.	"Inferno"	4:40
7.	"The Last Supper"	4:30
Total length:		25:33

Personnel

All personnel credits adapted from This is Your Bloody Valentine's liner notes.[6]

My Bloody Valentine

• David Conway – vocals
• Kevin Shields – guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals
• Tina Durkin – keyboards
• Colm Ó Cíosóig – drums (credited as Colm Cusack)

Technical personnel

• My Bloody Valentine – production
• Markus Bosak – engineering

References

Footnotes

1. "An introduction to My Bloody Valentine in 10 records".
2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "This Is Your Bloody Valentine – My Bloody Valentine". Allmusic. Retrieved 23 March 2008.
3. Brown, Nick (February 1991). "My Bloody Valentine". Spiral Scratch.
4. Larkin 1992, p. 193.
5. Nicholls, Phil (1988). "The Excellence of Ecstasy". Melody Maker. IPC Media (20 January 1988). Retrieved 12 February 2013.
6. This is Your Bloody Valentine (LP). My Bloody Valentine. Tycoon Records. 1985. ST7501.CS1 maint: others (link)

Bibliography

• Larkin, Colin (1992). The Guinness Who's Who of Indie and New Wave Music. Guinness Publishing. ISBN 0-8511257-9-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

• This is Your Bloody Valentine at AllMusic
• This is Your Bloody Valentine at Discogs (list of releases)