The Jesus & Mary Chain's new album 'Glasgow Eyes' is out on Friday the 22nd of March!

650lb Sumo

650lb Sumo

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Can't wait! [omg1]

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milliniar said:
<FookIsThatGuy>
Never heard of them.
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Many haven't. They were part of a garage rock revival scene in modern style for those times ....rather underground....I saw them live and Fuzztones were on the same bill. A good band, nothing special mind you, but at least they had the guts to stay off the beaten track of an otherwise wimpy decade like the 1980s. Wow, I didn't know they were still kickin' .....great news ....will be on the lookout !!
 
I've never really got into JATMC a lot. My. G F says "you can't listen to everything ya know!!" . It's one of those bands like Echo and the Bunnymen in the sense you know they exist, but you don't follow them up and you don't know why. Or perhaps some other less popish band comes along and steals the show.
 
triptych said:
I've never really got into JATMC a lot. My. G F says "you can't listen to everything ya know!!" . It's one of those bands like Echo and the Bunnymen in the sense you know they exist, but you don't follow them up and you don't know why. Or perhaps some other less popish band comes along and steals the show.
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I’m a huge fan. They just have an amazing string of albums: Psychocandy was groundbreaking, Darklands practically a masterpiece, Automatic arguably just as good (Automatic might actually be favorite album of theirs), Honey’s Dead is the album that first got me into them, a wildly underrated album, Stoned and Dethroned is fantastic and hugely slept on as well. Their other albums are solid, but that string of releases is just staggeringly good.

If you’ve never spent time listening to Stoned and Dethroned, which is a lot more acoustic and less distortion-and-feedback, I really recommend it.
 
BFoe said:
I’m a huge fan. They just have an amazing string of albums: Psychocandy was groundbreaking, Darklands practically a masterpiece, Automatic arguably just as good (Automatic might actually be favorite album of theirs), Honey’s Dead is the album that first got me into them, a wildly underrated album, Stoned and Dethroned is fantastic and hugely slept on as well. Their other albums are solid, but that string of releases is just staggeringly good.

If you’ve never spent time listening to Stoned and Dethroned, which is a lot more acoustic and less distortion-and-feedback, I really recommend it.
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I have a private recording of the Fuzztones as on the same bill as JATMJ somewhere in the U.S., but thst's about it !
 
triptych said:
I have a private recording of the Fuzztones as on the same bill as JATMJ somewhere in the U.S., but thst's about it !
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Yeah, as I read your comment I was thinking how interesting it is how different bands are viewed sometimes. Like, I totally got what you meant about Echo and Bunnymen. Good band, I know a few songs, never dug deeper. But when someone says the same thing about JAMC, I’m like, “Nooooo! They’re amazing, you can’t treat them like that! Listen to it all!”
It’s funny what grabs people and what doesn’t.
 
BFoe said:
I’m a huge fan. They just have an amazing string of albums: Psychocandy was groundbreaking, Darklands practically a masterpiece, Automatic arguably just as good (Automatic might actually be favorite album of theirs), Honey’s Dead is the album that first got me into them, a wildly underrated album, Stoned and Dethroned is fantastic and hugely slept on as well. Their other albums are solid, but that string of releases is just staggeringly good.

If you’ve never spent time listening to Stoned and Dethroned, which is a lot more acoustic and less distortion-and-feedback, I really recommend it.
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www.yahoo.com

Every The Jesus and Mary Chain album ranked from worst to best

Every The Jesus and Mary Chain album ranked from worst to best
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com

(1) Psychocandy (1985)

81WVys7ZH1L._UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg


(2) Darklands (1987)

jamc-darklands.png


(3) Automatic (1989)

LTU5MzguanBlZw.jpeg


(4) Honey's Dead (1992)

2082721


(5) Stoned and Dethroned (1994)

2082724


(6) Damage and Joy (2017)

f7aaa6af.jpg


(7) Munki (1998)

images
 
650lb Sumo said:
www.yahoo.com

Every The Jesus and Mary Chain album ranked from worst to best

Every The Jesus and Mary Chain album ranked from worst to best
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com

(1) Psychocandy (1985)

81WVys7ZH1L._UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg


(2) Darklands (1987)

jamc-darklands.png


(3) Automatic (1989)

LTU5MzguanBlZw.jpeg


(4) Honey's Dead (1992)

2082721


(5) Stoned and Dethroned (1994)

2082724


(6) Damage and Joy (2017)

f7aaa6af.jpg


(7) Munki (1998)

images
Click to expand...
I think I’d rank them differently, but truly an awesome discography. I think I’d go:
  1. Automatic
  2. Darklands
  3. Honey’s Dead
  4. Stoned and Dethroned
  5. Psychocandy
  6. Damage and Joy
  7. Munki
I know most people would shit a kitten that I have Psychocandy that low. Thing is, as groundbreaking as it was and as good as the songs are, that sparse-drums-and-walls-of-noise-and-feedback sound just isn’t super listener-friendly to go back to over and over. I also hold Honey’s Dead in really high regard because it’s the record that got me into them. Shout out to my high school gf for turning me on to JAMC. :)
 
BFoe said:
I think I’d rank them differently, but truly an awesome discography. I think I’d go:
  1. Automatic
  2. Darklands
  3. Honey’s Dead
  4. Stoned and Dethroned
  5. Psychocandy
  6. Damage and Joy
  7. Munki
I know most people would shit a kitten that I have Psychocandy that low. Thing is, as groundbreaking as it was and as good as the songs are, that sparse-drums-and-walls-of-noise-and-feedback sound just isn’t super listener-friendly to go back to over and over. I also hold Honey’s Dead in really high regard because it’s the record that got me into them. Shout out to my high school gf for turning me on to JAMC. :)
Click to expand...

I agree that Darklands is better than Psychocandy. I haven't bothered listening to any of the others yet.
 
BFoe said:
I think I’d rank them differently, but truly an awesome discography. I think I’d go:
  1. Automatic
  2. Darklands
  3. Honey’s Dead
  4. Stoned and Dethroned
  5. Psychocandy
  6. Damage and Joy
  7. Munki
I know most people would shit a kitten that I have Psychocandy that low. Thing is, as groundbreaking as it was and as good as the songs are, that sparse-drums-and-walls-of-noise-and-feedback sound just isn’t super listener-friendly to go back to over and over. I also hold Honey’s Dead in really high regard because it’s the record that got me into them. Shout out to my high school gf for turning me on to JAMC. :)
Click to expand...
The reason you hold Honey's Dead in high regard is the same reason I hold Psychocandy in such high regard. Also shout out to my high school gf for turning me on to JAMC. :)
 
JAMC are one of my favorite bands. I loved both new singles on first listen. They both seem like a return to form.

Although, I could say the same thing about all their singles since "I Hate Rock n Roll". Unfortunately those singles are all part of lackluster albums (Munki, Damage & Joy).

Hopefully that's not the case with Glasgow Eyes.

As for ranking their discography...

1. Psychocandy
2. Darklands
3. Automatic
4. Barbed Wire Kisses (b-sides comp)
5. Stoned & Dethroned
6. Honey's Dead
7. The Sound of Speed (b-sides comp)
8. Munki
9. Damage & Joy

I wish more bands would follow JAMC's blueprint for reissues. Their reissue campaign left almost no stone unturned as far as rarities, b-sides, remixes, etc
 



A big year lies ahead for The Jesus And Mary Chain. To commemorate their 40th anniversary, the Reid brothers (William and Jim) are releasing a documentary, a book and are (at the time of writing) about to embark on a celebratory tour.

However, nostalgia sits ill with the East Kilbride duo, and so eighth album ‘Glasgow Eyes’ seems a more fitting acknowledgement of four decades in music, taking the best elements of their catalogue while also adding a frisson of new ideas.

That said, in Jim’s own words, don’t expect ‘The Jesus And Mary Chain go jazz’ (even if the spectre of Miles Davis can be felt); opener ‘Venal Joy’ is sweaty, motorik electro, still raucous but with a touch of femininity as provided by Rezillos’ Fay Fife on backing duties. Elsewhere, ‘Silver Strings’ is built around a simple but smacked-out, full-of-dread motif that would be befit a David Lynch movie.

Channelling Mogwai (fittingly as the album was recorded at their studio), ‘Poor Pun’ is a gnarly, ponderous stomp with feedback and reverb to spare, while ‘Chemical Animal’ fizzes and pulses as Jim analyses his own addictive past (“I fill myself with chemicals to hide the dark shit I don’t show”). ‘Discotheque’ is unlikely get anyone moving; a slinky, icy trawl through the dank corners of its title, while the squashed synths on ‘American Born’ takes a Middle-America tune and churns it through the Mary Chain blender, complete with snotty vocals from Jim.

The bleakness does get wearing, but the album also comes with moments of welcome levity. First single ‘jamcod’ drips with sarcasm as it details their original onstage break-up in 1998 (‘Best notify the other brother there’s no place to go,’) against a metallic beat which, being classic Mary Chain, sounds paradoxically like they are enjoying themselves.

Best of all is The Eagles and The Beatles. Pilfering the riff from Joan Jett & The Blackhearts’ ‘I Love Rock And Roll’ (another reference to the Reid’s brothers’ past – keep up at the back!), it’s a piece of shoegaze glam with knowingly ridiculous lyrics (“I’ve been rolling with the Stones, Mick, and Keith and Brian Jones, Andrew Oldham’s on the phone”) which just stays the right side of parody and seem to crystalise Jim’s recent statement: “Fuck the party. We’re the party.” Likewise tribute track ‘Hey Lou Reed,’ which – across its six minutes – moves through a variety of tempos without compromising the feedback.

Uncompromising and unconventional, ‘Glasgow Eyes’ sit comfortably in The Jesus and Mary Chain canon.

7/10

From the Peel Session '85:

 
I like the album. Discography-wise, it ranks near the bottom, but it’s still a solidly good album. At this point in their career, that’s about the best you can hope for. I’ll have to give it a few listens to see if I like it better than Damage and Joy or not.
 
I know very few of their songs. Last I bought probably was Sugar Ray.
 
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