My Bloody Valentine: You Made Me Realise, or How On Earth Is This Record Out Of Print?

You Made Me Realise, the name given by fans to an actually untitled EP, is rather universally accepted as the jumping off point for My Bloody Valentine's renaissance in the world of noisy shoegaze pop. The record was released three months prior to Isn't Anything, and to our ears is actually a step ahead of that record. The guitars are noisier, the sounds more abstract, and the overall feel is darker, much more in line with Loveless.

"Slow" is a testament to the bendy guitar riffs that would later rule Loveless. "Thorn" is a poppy accessible track that touches on what would become the band's signature multi-tracked vocal sound. "Cigarette In Your Bed" foreshadows the reverse-recorded guitar feel of "Loomer", and "Drive It All Over Me" shares the steady rock underpinnings of "What You Want". Perhaps most notably, the leadoff track "Do You Realise" is the source of the noise attack that for many would come to define the band's live sound. Simply put, the EP is an overview of what would become My Bloody Valentine.

So, given all this, on might truly wonder: why is this record out of print? It was reissued in 1990, and since then: nowhere. It's not on iTunes, it's not in stores. It's not even in used record shops, and when it is, it's usually overpriced beyond recognition. Given the recent hype of the band's reunification and the live show's emphasis on "You Made Me Realise", you would think even a small print run reissue to sell at the live shows might have surfaced. And yet, to no avail: the record, which was named by both Q and NME on "best of" lists, is nowhere to be found.

It's times like these when we are morally torn: we pay for music, we support artists, we're out of the illegal download thing. Okay, RIAA, you scared us into submission. But here we have a conundrum: here is a record we cannot get - it is simply not available for purchase or consumption. And yet, the internet has it for us, exactly how we want it. What's a fan to do?

mp3: My Bloody Valentine - You Made Me Realise (YouSendIt, click through)