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The Jesus and Mary Chain - Darklands Audio CD

A fair review of the The Jesus and Mary Chain "Darklands" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Jesus and Mary Chain reviews here, or go back to the The Jesus and Mary Chain tabs.

The Jesus and Mary Chain Band: The Jesus and Mary Chain
Title: Darklands
Rating:
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Darklands 2: Deep One Perfect Morning 3: Happy When It Rains 4: Down on Me 5: Nine Million Rainy Days 6: April Skies 7: Fall 8: Cherry Came Too 9: On the Wall 10: About You

Great sophomore album from the JMC
Regarding the JMC they made an art of using past formulas and melding them together and created something special, the bubblegum pop of the 60's with guitar feedback and nihilistic lyrics, nobody had done that before, nobody. I somewhat disagree with the reviewer that mentioned the song "Heroes" was being ripped off completely, I have to admit the song "Darklands" and "Heroes" have similar intros and the first verse of the song sounds similar, but that's as far as it goes. I also disagree that this is a bland album, it's slower, a bit laidback, it has lot less distorsion that their debut album, but it is powerful, very melodic, and it stands with similar great albums from the 80's like "Closer" from Joy Division and "Pornography" from the Cure.
Lastly I have to say that most JMC fans agree that their first 3 albums (Psychocandy, Darklands & Automatic) are among the favorites, and in the 90's they fell into the "alternative" sound, too common those days.


Not very impressive
The song "Darklands" sounds too much like Bowie's "Heroes" (if you know what I mean) and I get the feeling that's not the only thing ripped-off on this album. This music isn't very exciting and it's not nearly as dark as some would have you believe or what the title implies. Not that it really matters much anyway because there's plenty of music I do like that rips off other tunes.

I'm sure many would slag my opinion, but it just comes down to a question of taste and this album tastes pretty bland to me. However, it's certainly NOT true that all of J&MC's albums sound the same and there's 2 very different sounding ones that I would recommend far more than DARKLANDS: the dancable shredfest HONEY'S DEAD and the laid-back, supercool STONED AND DETHRONED.


Talk in rhyme with my chaotic soul...
Wow!! This album refutes all those critics who claim that the sound of the Mary Chain never changed. . and this was only their second album. Following the sucess of their first(and sadly most sucessful) album, the Mary Chain stripped away the fuzz, distortion, and feed back, to create this haunting and beatiful album. Dark (as the title implies) though with some light moments, this album is slightly reminiscent of the gothic Cure while remaining pure Mary Chain. This album is the clean cousin of Pshchocandy--a mirror image and yet different and as inspiring as any of the Mary Chain's great records. If you liked Psychocandy or any of their other albums buy this one, its one of their best. All the songs are good but my faves are Darklands (about suicide) Happy When it Rains (I relate to this song alot) April Skies (sad, haunting song) and Cherry Came Too (Cherry Takes me to the place above with Barbed Wire Kisses and her love. . . )love the lyrics to that last song. In short, while not as influential as Psychocandy, this album is actually better musically, and a great album to listen to when you are down. Haunting, beatiful, crucial.


You can see a complete list of all The Jesus and Mary Chain discography, or go back to the The Jesus and Mary Chain tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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