The Jesus and Mary Chain
Sarra Manning / Select
1994
1994
Psychoccandy *****
Darklands ****
Barbed Wire Kisses ***
Automatic *****
Honey's Dead ****
The Sound Of Speed ***
Stoned And Dethroned **
Blanco y Negro
Jim and William Reid might come across like the grumpy old men in a bath of music biz, but way back in the dark ages of 1985 when the charts were icy hinterlands inhabited by the mammoth talents of Nik Kershaw and Howard Jones, they were a sweet insurrection. To this end 'Psychocandy' is one of the most perfectly realised debut albums of all time. It says everything it needs to say because it might not get another chance. 'Just Like Honey', 'You Trip Me Up' and 'The Hardest Walk' marry the most sublime harmonies with Mo Tucker-esque beats and an incendiary (look, it was 1985) squeal of feedback.
The 'difficult' second album, 'Darklands', is, erm, pretty dark with the kind of anthemic epics that are perfect to sing when you're cycling full pelt along a dual carriageway. 'Barbed Wire Kisses' is a compilation of bits'n'bobs (as is 'The Sound Of Speed', although by now the words 'over-egg' and 'pudding' spring to mind) which is worth the admission price just for the bastardised Jan And Dean of 'Kill Surf City'.
By the time the brooding bros released 'Automatic' and 'Honey's Dead', most people reckoned that The Mary Chain weren't much cop. In fact, these are the band's 'lost' albums and their octane-fuelled songs of fucked-up chicks and drugged-up love shag you senseless, then refuse to walk you home. Finally, the much vaunted acoustic album, 'Stoned And Dethroned' which really wasn't much cop. By now people had given up on The Mary Chain. And so had Jim and William by the sound of things.
Diet Fact:
In 1983, The JAMC's Jim Reid lived for three months on nothing but pickled eggs and McEwan's Export. This bizarre diet only stopped when it led to Geesin's Feritis, a rare skin disorder.
Darklands ****
Barbed Wire Kisses ***
Automatic *****
Honey's Dead ****
The Sound Of Speed ***
Stoned And Dethroned **
Blanco y Negro
Jim and William Reid might come across like the grumpy old men in a bath of music biz, but way back in the dark ages of 1985 when the charts were icy hinterlands inhabited by the mammoth talents of Nik Kershaw and Howard Jones, they were a sweet insurrection. To this end 'Psychocandy' is one of the most perfectly realised debut albums of all time. It says everything it needs to say because it might not get another chance. 'Just Like Honey', 'You Trip Me Up' and 'The Hardest Walk' marry the most sublime harmonies with Mo Tucker-esque beats and an incendiary (look, it was 1985) squeal of feedback.
The 'difficult' second album, 'Darklands', is, erm, pretty dark with the kind of anthemic epics that are perfect to sing when you're cycling full pelt along a dual carriageway. 'Barbed Wire Kisses' is a compilation of bits'n'bobs (as is 'The Sound Of Speed', although by now the words 'over-egg' and 'pudding' spring to mind) which is worth the admission price just for the bastardised Jan And Dean of 'Kill Surf City'.
By the time the brooding bros released 'Automatic' and 'Honey's Dead', most people reckoned that The Mary Chain weren't much cop. In fact, these are the band's 'lost' albums and their octane-fuelled songs of fucked-up chicks and drugged-up love shag you senseless, then refuse to walk you home. Finally, the much vaunted acoustic album, 'Stoned And Dethroned' which really wasn't much cop. By now people had given up on The Mary Chain. And so had Jim and William by the sound of things.
Diet Fact:
In 1983, The JAMC's Jim Reid lived for three months on nothing but pickled eggs and McEwan's Export. This bizarre diet only stopped when it led to Geesin's Feritis, a rare skin disorder.
