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The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy Audio CD

A fair review of the The Jesus and Mary Chain "Psychocandy" 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: Psychocandy
Rating:
Release Date: 2000-01-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Just Like Honey 2: Living End 3: Taste the Floor 4: Hardest Walk 5: Cut Dead 6: In a Hole 7: Taste of Cindy 8: Some Candy Talking [*] 9: Never Understand 10: Inside Me 11: Sowing Seeds 12: My Little Underground 13: You Trip Me Up 14: Something's Wrong 15: It's So Hard

Beautiful splintered pastiche of influences, but not without purpose
Yes, it's smashed and broken white-noise pop in the tradition of VU and, to a lesser extent, the Beach Boys. I didn't go back through all 70 reviews, but I haven't seen one yet that really gets it right on this album's depth and relevance. But listen more closely, and you realize their 'tude was not without relevance and depth: these guys had a record collection, and it included '60s girl groups (yes, the opening drum beat of "Just Like Honey" sounds just like "Leader of the Pack") and Bo Diddley ("The Living End, "Never Understand") in addition to the obligatory VU and post-punk sounds.

There wasn't much that put VU and '60s girl groups together back in the mid-'80s. or, well, ever. "Darklands" hints at a little Stones influence in places, and you know there was a Can cover on "Barbed Wire Kisses," but I lost interest after that and can't tell you where else in the back catalog they went. But The Cure? Joy Division? No, those were just forebears, not really related to the sound of this masterpiece that is at once a pastiche of its influences and a complete rupture from the interesting, but mostly harmless, skewed indie-pop of the day in Britain. Maybe it took some Scots to wake up the scene.

And they did wake it up. So much of the crud it influenced sounds so dated now, like 98% of that shoegazer business, but this sounds like it could have been made yesterday--the mark of a classic.


Keep Listening
I can't say I thought much of the monotone vocals droning somewhere under the surface of that white noise either, but I was compelled to give it a listen a second, third, even fourth time. The first time I listened to this album I must say I was put off by some of the screeching feedback and distorted grinding guitar sound that dominates this album. I have only had this album a short time and it has really grown on me and quickly. Never before has a piece of music gone from sickeningly awful to one of my favorites in so short a time. I must say if you are a fan of any alternative rock from the 90's you cannot dismiss this album with one listen. It will get under your skin and you won't be able to leave it alone. There is no denying how influential this album was, but it is a great piece of music on its own regardless. If you bought it and hate it, try again, and still once more.


One of the all time greats
Any complaints over the CD's sound quality should be nixed--this is an album born and meant for vinyl. Few albums ever released can match Psychocandy, and none can claim complete model. Describing JAMC's debut is a difficult task if one listens beyond some of the I-IV-V classic pop progressions. Still there has not been an album since as unique, either by others or the band itself. The shining pinnacle of 1985, one for the ages and the desert island--be sure that island has a turntable.


Listen to it again
I saw this CD on a list of the 100 best rock albums. I have had this CD for a number of years now. So, I bought. I listened to it once. I didn't like it. I put it away. One day I listened to it again and I got it. Yeah, this is an excellent CD. It does remind me a little in some places to the Beach Boys . . . . . if they were doing acid that is - really good acid. Maybe this CD was just a logical progression in rock music at the time. If you listen to all that old stuff like Joy Division, Bauhaus, the Ramones, and the Beach Boys even then this CD should be in your collection. It is a classic.


Excellent, but not necessarily a classic
While it is excellent, it is not the JAMC's best album. Psychocandy, in most of the critics' circles, is hailed as something of a classic. It's been noted as being probably the best debut album to come out (at least in the 80s), and I think that is definitely true, but the band DID get better. They improved their sound and expanded beyond the crunching white noise and the soft, ballad-like sounds that Psychocandy offered. (I felt like this album was bi-polar. One time, wild and insane, and the soft and melancholy. )

Still, people who critique it or compare the sounds of JAMC to My Bloody Valentine and the Cure have it confused. JAMC INSPIRED Kevin Shields. Can't say the same about the Cure, but this album came out in 1985. Do the math, and study history. It helps (kind of like saying the Beatles learned from Led Zeppelin).

Also, remember: this was made 21 years ago. It has aged fairly well considering. Music from the 90s, and even within the last 10 years has not aged as successfully. That is one of the driving points of JAMC--their rock just seemed to be a bit ahead of its time.

I like the album, but I don't listen to is as much as, say, "Honey's Dead" or "Munki. ".


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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