the floor". Release and reception Ecstasy was released on 23 November 1987 on Lazy Records. It received a limited edition release of 3,000 LP copies distributed by Rough Trade Records and went out of print within three months of its release. The album entered the UK Independent Albums Chart in December 1987 and spent four weeks in total on the chart, peaking at number 12. The contents of the album were later combined with the band's preceding single, "Strawberry Wine", and reissued on the compilation album Ecstasy and Wine, released in February 1989 on Lazy Records. Ecstasy and Wine, however, was released without the band's consent and Kevin Shields retrieved 10,000 LP copies from the manager of Lazy Records soon after its release. Shields sold the records to various distributors in the early 1990s, after My Bloody Valentine were dropped from Creation Records, and used the funds to finance later recording sessions. Upon its release Ecstasy received moderate critical acclaim. Melody Maker referred to the album as "a series of aloof, pastel washes of sound, suspended guitars, words from the back of beyond tying in to a large, shifting whole" and "larger than the sum of its parts". In Loveless, a book from the 33⅓ series about the My Bloody Valentine album of the same name, Mike McGonial referred to Ecstasy as a "rarified, effete and poppy approach to Byrdsian rock" and AllMusic rated the album two and a half out of five stars. In a separate review of Ecstasy and Wine, AllMusic writer Bradley Torreano described Ecstasy as the point where the band "started moving toward Cocteau Twins territory, using guitarist Bilinda Butcher's airy voice to define their image" and when "Shields and Butcher [were] exploring the guitar landscapes that would later become their trademark". On Ecstasys supporting tour My Bloody Valentine conceived the idea of an interlude of white noise during live performances which was later attributed to their song "You Made Me Realise" and often exceeded 130 decibels. The band toured small student venues and, according to Kevin Shields, at "one particular place, there were these guy playing pool in the background, shouting amongst themselves and being quite loud and not paying attention". Before performing "Clair", Shields said to the band "let's just do it until those guys stop" and performed a two-chord riff in the song that lasted for an approximate 30 minutes. Track listing Personnel