My Bloody Valentine Reportedly Planning Two Anthologies, DVD For Release In 2005
"These guys totally rip off M83"

Jeremy C. Baron and Will Bryant report:
A My Bloody Valentine fansite has reported that two extensive anthology box sets and a DVD are in the works for possible release in late 2005 or early 2006. Quoting a "reliable source" who mailed To Here Knows Web last month, the anthologies will be released by Island/Sire. "Contrary to popular belief, Kevin's contract to Island is still valid," webmaster Jeff Birgbauer writes.

The first anthology box is designed for the "hardcore devotee," according to the source (the person who mailed To Here Knows Web, not the rap mag). Possibly limited to "a few thousand" copies, the box will include digitally remastered copies of MBV's early albums, singles, and EP's-- as well as a double-disc compilation titled Live 1984-97 which will include "the best performances" from My Bloody Valentine's pre-Glider period. Expected to be included:

This Is Your Bloody Valentine (1985)
Geek EP (1985)
The New Record By... EP (1986)
Sunny Sundae Smile EP (1987)
Strawberry Wine EP (1987)
Ecstacy (1987)
Live 1984-87 2xCD [previously unreleased]

The second box, with its promise of outtakes and alternate versions from the band's better-known 1988-1991 period, sounds almost exhaustively complete-- including, apparently, the unfinished music from 1990's Glider EP. The sessions which produced Glider were originally intended to be the group's follow-up to Isn't Anything, but were aborted. This box reportedly will include the original, full-length version of Glider as it was meant to be heard-- although there is no word on whether, as rumored, the recordings have been fleshed out or completed with additional overdubs. However, each of the EP's included on the second box will contain additional outtakes.

The box will also include alternate versions and outtakes from MBV's most cherished releases, 1988's Isn't Anything and 1991's Loveless, as well as a triple-disc compilation of live performances through 1992. According to Birgbauer's source, the second box will likely contain:

You Made Me Realise EP (1988)
Feed Me With Your Kiss EP (1988)
Isn't Anything alternate versions and outtakes [previously unreleased]
Glider EP (1990)
Tremolo EP (1991)
Loveless alternate versions and outtakes [previously unreleased]
Live 1987-92 3xCD [previously unreleased]

Little is known about the planned DVD release, but it is expected to contain all of the band's music videos, three live shows, television interviews, and "homemade camcorder footage," according to the post on To Here Knows.

With increased exposure for frontman Kevin Shields (who recently scored Sofia Coppola's Oscar-nominated Lost In Translation and was nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Award) and MBV, will there finally be new material in the future? In various recent interviews, Shields has been typically noncommittal. In a September 2003 interview with alternative newsweekly Now Toronto, Shields says that the group "always intended" to make another MBV record, it's just never come together. "There's a whole aspect of My Bloody Valentine that we never really had a chance to explore," Shields told the newsweekly.

Shields, who continues to write and record music in his home studio, may release a short album of his own compositions instead, however: "The purpose for building [my studio] isn't so that I can produce bands, it's so I can do my own music," Shields told Filter magazine back in December. "If the world doesn't end before we're all dead, then of course there will be quite a few records. But if the world ends in the next ten years, who knows?"

Ah, now that's what we wanted to hear-- future album plans contingent on armageddon!

.: Pitchfork Review: Various Artists: Lost in Translation
.: Pitchfork News: My Bloody Valentine Return To Studio To Complete Unfinished Album, Shields Scores Coppola Film
.: To Here Knows: http://www.mybloodyvalentine.net