The Jesus & Mary Chain
Psychocandy
Play Psychocandy
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AMG Review of Psychocandy
Ned Raggett
All Music GuideArguably Psychocandy is an album with one trick and one trick alone -- Beach Boys melodies meet Velvet Underground feedback and beats, all cranked up to ten and beyond, along with plenty of echo. However, what a trick it is. Following up on the promise of the earliest singles, the Jesus and Mary Chain with Psychocandy arguably created a movement without meaning to, one that itself caused echoes in everything from bliss-out shoegaze to snotty Britpop and back again. The best tracks were without question those singles, anti-pop yet pure pop at the same time: "Just Like Honey," starting off like the Ronettes heard in a canyon and weirdly beautiful with its bells, "You Trip Me Up" and its slinking sense of cool, and most especially "Never Understand." Storming down like a rumble of bricks wrapped in cotton candy and getting more and more frenetic at the end, when there's nothing but howls and screaming noise, it's one hell of a track. However, at least in terms of sheer sonic violence and mayhem, most of the other cuts were pretty hard to beat, as sprawling, amped-up messes like "The Living End" (which later inspired both a band and a movie title) and "In a Hole." "My Little Underground" is actually the secret gem on the album, with a great snarling guitar start, an almost easygoing melody and a great stuttering chorus -- not quite the Who but not quite anything else. What the Reids sing about -- entirely interchangeable combinations regarding girls, sex, drugs, speed, and boredom in more or less equal measure -- is nothing compared to the perfectly disaffected way those sentiments are delivered. Bobby Gillespie's "hit the drums and then hit them again" style makes Moe Tucker seem like Neil Peart, but arguably in terms of sheer economy he doesn't need to do any more.
Jesus & Mary Chain made my mind go racing
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Since not even a reunion show by the Jesus & Mary Chain could persuade me to go to CoacHELLa (and so I needn't try to think up the least compromising possible way to compromise my integrity on Craigslist for a ticket), I had pretty much buried my hopes of seeing JAMC this time around. But then I read, just today, that they will play the two Summercase festivals in Spain: Madrid on July 13, Barc...
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Feedback city.. ouch.
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Ok, so let me just say that I love the Jesus & Mary Chain.. But I have a little trouble falling in love with all the super feedbacky songs...The way my music taste runs is usually backwards and sideways. Things I couldn't bear listening to years ago I know love to death. Maybe it's because I hate them so much that I like them. Or they're just waaay too unfamiliar. I have no idea. Just wondering...
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just like honey vs.sometimes always
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There was this:And then there was this:Thoughts?
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Jesus & Mary Chain made my mind go racing
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Artist:
-
Album:
-
Track:
Since not even a reunion show by the Jesus & Mary Chain could persuade me to go to CoacHELLa (and so I needn't try to think up the least compromising possible way to compromise my integrity on Craigslist for a ticket), I had pretty much buried my hopes of seeing JAMC this time around. But then I read, just today, that they will play the two Summercase festivals in Spain: Madrid on July 13, Barc...
More >
Starbucks Stole My 80s
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So there's a new Starbuck's CD out called "The Second Wave" and it features some great alternative rock bands from the 80s. That's when the term "alternative rock" had some meaning, until Nirvana came along and spawned "mainstream alternative rock," a contradiction in terms if there ever was one. Not that it was Nirvana's fault, mind you, it was the greedy labels signing and promoting anyone ...
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just like honey vs.sometimes always
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Artist:
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Album:
There was this:And then there was this:Thoughts?
More >
Feedback city.. ouch.
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Artist:
-
Album:
Ok, so let me just say that I love the Jesus & Mary Chain.. But I have a little trouble falling in love with all the super feedbacky songs...The way my music taste runs is usually backwards and sideways. Things I couldn't bear listening to years ago I know love to death. Maybe it's because I hate them so much that I like them. Or they're just waaay too unfamiliar. I have no idea. Just wondering...
More >
 "Psychocandy")
