Lilys - In The Presence Of Nothing [12", LP]

IN THE PRESENCE OF NOTHING is an album i have been looking for on vinyl for an extremely long time already. It gets rarely offered online at sites like eBay and Discogs, and when it does it's usually gone in no time - and sold for crazy prices as well. To be honest: my purchase was no exception to this. I got outbid on eBay a couple of times and when it got offered again a few months later, i was determined to not let go anymore. I got lucky with some things i sold on eBay earlier, so i see it more or less as a trade for that. As long as it's still on PayPal and not in your wallet, it's not that hard to look at it like that, right?
Well anyway, i finally own a copy now. Not of the first press from 1992 with the hand-screened sleeves on Slumberland, but of the reissue from 1998 on SpinART. No idea how many were made of this edition; the first press consisted of 500 copies. Too bad actually that LILYS only made one good shoegaze album (and a few singles in the same vein). After this, they went more and more Britpop. Not necessarily bad, but just not really my taste. Archie Moore of Velocity Girl is playing guitar on this album, by the way. I got to know about this gem about 8 or 9 years ago, when i stumbled upon a video on Youtube while looking for some My Bloody Valentine songs. Without doubt that's the band to which they come closest on this album. Especially the songs on the A-side, like Collider and Tone Bender. The Way Snowflakes Fall on side B is more like a drone song, and Claire Hates Me could've been a Dinosaur Jr. tune. But even while they may sound a bit like MBV, their songs still keep an edge and have their own identity.
I'm so happy i finally managed to get a hold of a copy of this amazing album! And even though it probably devaluates a lot when it would be reissued, i truly hope that Lilys' mastermind Kurt Heasley would do that some day, so that it won't be privileged to only a few lucky shoegaze enthousiasts while everyone else has to do with bad mp3's and Youtube clips. I'm pretty sure as well that it would be much better received in 2014 than in 1992 (or let alone 1998), when shoegaze was already on its way back. I don't post many audio links on my blog, but for this wonderful LP i'll gladly make an exception. Threw A Day on the B-side is not mentioned on the sleeve, by the way. The song was previously on a single on Slumberland in 1991.

Label: SpinART
Cat.nr.: Spart2
Year of release: 1998 (originally 1992)

SIDE A:
01. There's No Such Thing As Black Orchids
02. Elizabeth Colour Wheel
03. Collider
04. Tone Bender
05. Periscope

SIDE B:
01. It Does Nothing For Me
02. Snowblinder
03. The Way Snowflakes Fall
04. Threw A Day
05. Claire Hates Me