The Jesus And Mary Chain
 

Remember that great scene from High Fidelity?


Customer: "I have all the other Echo And The Bunnymen albums..."

Jack Black: "Oh, you do? Well what about the Jesus And Mary Chain?"

Customer: "They always seemed..."

Jack Black: "They always seemed what? They always seemed f---ing brilliant is what they always seemed! They picked up where your precious Echo left off. I can't believe you don't own this f---ing record!" [Pushes copy of Psychocandy into customer's hands]



Nobody does a Velvets ripoff like the JAMC. Cut Dead is the ultimate VU song that never was. :D

...and can we all agree that the intro to Just Like Honey absolutely trumps Be My Baby?

Wow...can't believe that there is no thread on them yet, but anyway...great shoegaze band and I have their entire discography and just love all of their albums, except for "Automatic". My favorite release would have to be "Psychocandy" no doubt.

I actually really like Automatic possibly as much as Psychocandy

Do you know I have owned Barbed Wire Kisses for about 12/13 years now and I have only just today noticed there's a Can cover on it (Mushroom)

Boy do I feel stupid :o:

I agree. If nothing else, I'd rank it above Darklands. Head On might be my favorite JAMC song.

i agree Head On is good

but April Skies is better.

To be honest, I really don't care for April Skies. There are only four tracks on Darklands that I really like; the title track, Happy When It Rains, Fall, and Cherry Came Too. On The Wall and About You are all right, but I could live without the rest.

Bought PsychoCandy today on Vinyl in shrink wrap unopened off EBay

I am debating if I am going to open it or not..Any thoughts?

Is it the version with Some Candy Talking? If not, definitely don't open it.

I didn't ask, I assume no.

Either way, it's probably the kind of artifact you want to store in a safe place and admire once in a while everytime you need a pick-me-up. :)

Automatic is my fav by far. I bought it and thought "this is bull****" I was expecting Psychocandy and i got this drum machine nightmare. But then I heard the album again sometime later in the wee hours of a new day vibrantly intoxicated and I suddenly fell into the tunes, the stories and the simplicity. It caught me off guard! and great art should do that sometimes.

So, did anyone here about the plans for a new album?

bumping this to say i never thought this band was very good.

^^nothing much good beyond Psychocandy and Darklands, anyway

They definitely had a formula after Darklands, but I still think the music was pretty good. I actually like Automatic a lot (although Honey's Dead is better). My rankings probably go:

Darklands > Psychocandy > Honey's Dead > Automatic > Stoned and Dethroned

I haven't listened to Munki, so I can't really rate it.

Really, they always had a formula: They used some variation of a simple and obvious 3-chord progression (I, IV, V) in the circle of fifths. On every song. The only thing they changed among albums was the level of guitar distortion and the drums.

It's not their best album but Automatic owns a large part of my heart and always will. This is for personal reasons such as: I was 14 years old when it was new on the shelves and I shoplifted my copy from a record store at the mall. This was when CDs came in longboxes.

http://www.flipsideweb.com/websiteim...longbox-cd.jpg

I had never heard the band before but I loved their name and the album cover and, well, I was gonna steal something that day no matter what. Then I listened to it and loved it immediately. I probably listened to it 50 times the first month I had it. I lost the longbox but I still have the same CD. This was one of my life-changing albums and it led me down a path of good music that sounds like this.

I'm not going to make a best to worst list of their albums but they're one of my favorite bands that ever existed.

I like Automatic alot! Most of it is because they have 'Head On' on there and that is the song they seem to be most known for and like it is a good song and all and even the Pixies did a pretty good cover of it:





In my mind though 'psychocandy' is the best JAMC album, it is just hella raw and real. They released a single before that, and I need to get a copy, sounds like an out-take from 'psychocandy'...

Upside Down (The Jesus and Mary Chain song) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Automatic" is horrifyngly repetitive to me

there're no tunes on "Honey's Dead"

i didn't bother with the ones after that

I love the original and the Pixies cover. Is it really their most well known? If so, it's probably because of the cover.

I agree that Psychocandy is their best. Also, I think all of their singles (at least Upside Down) are compiled on Barbed Wire Kisses which, if it was a real album, would probably be my favorite.

Automatic is beautifully repetitive to me. Honey's Dead is fucking great.
I also don't much care about what they did after that album.

BWK only has one early single

the rest are B-Sides, alternate takes and outtakes

still great, though

I edited but you beat me. It does have Upside Down though.

I love Stoned & Dethroned.

F*ck the haters.

I still really like it despite putting it last. I respect that they were trying to vary their sound a bit despite still not being able to break away from the same song structures. I'm going to check out Munki to see where it falls in my list.

Munki is either a return to form or a last desperate grasp to regain former glories.
Depending on who you speak to.

I don't think it's that bad.

Personally I think Darklands is JAMC's worst album but that opinion is almost heresy.

Haha, yeah I would say most people view that as heresy.

Considering that Automatic and Honey's Dead are very logical progressions from what Darklands started, why don't you like it?

I don't hate Stoned and Dethroned but definitely don't love it.
I listened to Munki but I don't remember it at all. As much as I love the band, I only need what came before those.

RE Darklands: It's a really good album but also my least favorite of the good ones. Still, no way Stoned & Dethroned is better than it.

I just never really warmed to it. I always found it rather slow & plodding

you're insane

I'd ask you why you think it's such a masterpiece but then I remembered your allergy to posting something more substantial than the average length or detail of a twitter post.

strong melodies

no allergy

just hate over-analysing

detracts from my enjoyment of music

fucking bullshit

say something substantial

for a change

Honestly, I've never found those two factors to be necessarily important to the process of judging whether music is good.

how substantial?

i'd say the songcraft is brilliant, the hooks really sink in deep, the structures simple yet compelling, it's very romantic

and there is very few actual plagiarisim of the Velvet Underground, unlike the first album, which was mostly based on the somewhat noise-like viola of Heroin

there is however a complete rip-off of Beach Boys' Surfin's hook on one song on Darklands

and i ain't bullsh!tting - i think too much why i like it, i enjoy it less

Darklands is just a typical 'sophmore slump'. It happens all the time to new acts, their 2nd album just is not that good because they have used up almost all their good ideas on their debut.

NOOOooooo!!

Psychocandy is a great album. Heck I just listened to it earlier this week (I really like noise rock) and it alone cements JAMC as a great band in my mind! :band:

I can see how it isn't everyone's cup of tea...especially for people who really like Psychocandy...but I'd say it's anything but a sophomore slump. I'd say they realized they covered the noisy aspect of their music and wanted to change. This is evident in the fact that one of their later albums is called "Honey's Dead". You can even hear hints of the Darklands direction in Psychocandy.

^^+2

yep, different