The Case Against My Bloody Valentine's mbv

2. The download-only album costs an unreasonable $16.

Yeah, that sucks. But you can hear it for free on YouTube (or, y'know, wink wink) and decide if you'd like to pay the full price. I urge you to suck it up and help poor Kevin out, since he probably still owes Island Records about $56 million.

Merit: 7/10

2. Critics are clamoring to review mbv too quickly.

It's no wonder a few reviews of mbv describe the reviewer's first listening experience in excruciating autobiographical detail (see an example from the LA Times): the album dropped on critics and the public simultaneously, and we all knew there were no advance copies. Critics couldn't make like they had the drop on us; as the first reviews started rolling in, most fans were still trying to make heads or tails of their own opinions, and many were openly skeptical that reviewers could have fully solidified theirs.

But, hell, under circumstances, no amount of time is enough to let it sink in. Reviewing the decades-late successor to one of the most monolithically revered records in the rock canon is tricky whether you mull it over for two days or two decades.

Maybe the question isn't "can it be fairly reviewed so quickly" but "can it be fairly reviewed at all?"

Merit: 6/10

(Note: Many sites wanted to have something up, even if it was clearly too soon for a review: Spin had a roundtable of "Impulsive Reviews," in which several writers threw out quickie scores; NME and The Quietus posted preliminary "track-by-track" write-ups, which are usually only done when the media hears a highly-anticipated record before everyone else. Even if you somehow read the pieces before hearing the album, it wouldn't help much-- they could have printed the full sheet music and a 5,000-word account of every track and you'd still have no real idea what the album sounded like.)

3. "nothing is" is a shitty song.

I disagree, but I can see why someone would think that. Just skip it, dude; we all skipped "Touched" when we listened to Loveless, and I don't recall much bitching about that.

Merit: 5/10