Jesus and Mary Chain Mania!

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Alex, skip work and go see the flick today. It's a must. "...Honey" plays over the end credits, incidentally. And Murray does karaoke the Elvis Costello song, but he kills with the Roxy Music song, which he sings like Ian Curtis. Goosebumps. Movie of the year.

Ben Boyer (Ben Boyer), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 15:11 (twenty years ago) link


I just got the Raveonettes first album today. Definitely in JAMC territory. Soundwise, it reminds me of the JAMC cover of "Who Do You Love" and of their more surf-guitar stuff. Only problem: all the songs sound very much the same, and they're all in the same key (on the cover, it proudly states that all songs are in the same key). So, any given song is great, but listening to eight in a row, they really start to blend together.

dlp9001, Tuesday, 23 September 2003 17:27 (twenty years ago) link

dammit, ive got the sdtrk, but the movie hasnt come out here yet. i dont know if it ever will. ive been looking forward to it for much too long to miss out.

Felcher (Felcher), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 17:31 (twenty years ago) link

the best JAMC influenced bands these days are Radio Dept and House of Mexico who both ROCK in a noisy twee sort of way

the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 22:05 (twenty years ago) link

According to some friends in a band that played with them, they (the BRMC) take themselves VERY seriously.

That's a surprise? Even the bands who (generally) swear they are "fun-loving" (ie. in a press kit) take their craft seriously.

Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 22:42 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, I'm a gonna ditto the Raveonettes raving. They're a *good* JAMC/early MBV rip-off band. They do slavishly know their genre, but they somehow manage to be both cool and fun-loving with it.

Otherwise, I really don't much like the post-post-JAMC bands. BRMC can suck my big hairy moose's cock, as can the Warlocks.

kate (kate), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 08:31 (twenty years ago) link

Phoney Jesus and Mary Chain mania has bitten the dust.

My Name is William Reid, Wednesday, 24 September 2003 12:18 (twenty years ago) link

That's a surprise? Even the bands who (generally) swear they are "fun-loving" (ie. in a press kit) take their craft seriously.

He didn't say they took their craft seriously. He said they took THEMSELVES seriously. There's a difference.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 13:24 (twenty years ago) link

YAY! The BBC sessions have been reissued, for release YESTERDAY! I know a lot of people were looking forward to this, so there it is...kthx

Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 18:57 (twenty years ago) link

Amid the hatin', I'm happy to report that BRMC were pretty damn good last night.

Jeanne Fury (Jeanne Fury), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 19:02 (twenty years ago) link

Someone must have forcefed them sugar. Did they actually move on stage or would that have hurt them?

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 19:41 (twenty years ago) link

I think the closest anyone has come to the Jesus and Mary Chain recently is, *gulp*, Andrew WK's "She is Beautiful" - especially that "I ain't got nothin' to lose..." part. It's very easy to imagine Jim Reid singing that and the sound is very Mary Chain. All these other bands like BRMC and Raveonettes are basically DOA, they just have no strong tunes/hooks and no bite to the sound - especially BRMC who are just a godawful dirge (though their new record is better than the last one).

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 20:32 (twenty years ago) link

does anyone know if freeheat are still going?

joan vich (joan vich), Thursday, 25 September 2003 08:06 (twenty years ago) link

they seem to be (their website is still current) but maybe someone knows different? if katie g was around, she'd know

the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 25 September 2003 09:33 (twenty years ago) link

does anyone know if freeheat are still going?

I saw 'em play a coupla months back, Jim Reid now looks like a slightly portly accountant - which is fine

Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 25 September 2003 10:44 (twenty years ago) link

does anyone know if freeheat are still going?
I saw 'em play a coupla months back, Jim Reid now looks like a slightly portly accountant - which is fine

...and perhaps equally pertinently, Jim'n'William's sister is currently peddling her wares in a band called Sister Vanilla, with contributions from both brothers on her album.

Looks like we Londoners missed (t)he(i)r last gig tho, cos it was this Tuesday just gone. Was anyone there?

CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Thursday, 25 September 2003 15:32 (twenty years ago) link

esoj (or anyone else for that matter), can you direct me to more information on House of Mexico? My googling attempts have failed and having them mentioned in the same breath as The Radio Dept has me interested. Also, did the Sister Vanilla album ever come out? I liked the track on the geographic comp as well as the track she sang on Munki.

fffv (fffv), Thursday, 25 September 2003 16:30 (twenty years ago) link

one month passes...
CD80 'portable' Mary Chain go!

Upside Down
Never Understand
You Trip Me Up
Just Like Honey
The Living End
Taste of Cindy
Some Candy Talking
Psychocandy
The Hardest Walk (Some Kind of Wonderful OST vers.)
April Skies
Kill Surf City
Happy When It Rains
Everything is Alright When You're Down
Darklands
Deep One Perfect Morning
Nine Million Rainy Days
Cherry Came Too
On the Wall
Sidewalking
Don't Ever Change
Blues From a Gun
My Girl
Head On
Sometimes Always

(ok, this one is very personal and ignores their later stuff. they're one of my three favorite bands and this collection represents some of my most treasured music, but the last 3 albums just didn't do it for me. "Reverence" is the glaring omission here because I like the idea and lyrics, but the song itself is kind of a tuneless dud. I'd also like to have had "Far Gone and Out" or "Almost Gold" but they're just not as good as the tracks that fit 80 minutes on this one.

I'd love to have someone recommend a CD80 for the last three albums/b-sides.

The list is chronological for official releases per song appearance - 81:21 overburn!)

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 November 2003 22:46 (twenty years ago) link

See, I'm mad at you because _Honey's Dead_ is far and away my favorite JAMC album. Not having ANY of those tracks is not on.

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:23 (twenty years ago) link

PARTICULARLY if you're going to put the DEEPLY DEEPLY OVERRATED "Head On" on there!

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:23 (twenty years ago) link

Don't kill him, Perry, as Just Like Honey shows taste.

Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:24 (twenty years ago) link

Actually Dan, I was thinking partially of you when I suggested someone do a comp of their favorite tracks from the later albums!

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:26 (twenty years ago) link

My comp would be Barbed Wire Kisses.

gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:29 (twenty years ago) link

that's why you're a mentalist!

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:30 (twenty years ago) link

I'm totally boring and unhelpful because my comp would be _Honey's Dead_ plus the remix of "Teenage Lust" from _I Hate Rock & Roll_.

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:30 (twenty years ago) link

not that Barbed Wire Kisses isn't grebt/bording on perfection, but no "April Skies"? no "Just Like Honey", that's just weird, dude.

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:31 (twenty years ago) link

Dan, I'll throw it on tonight!

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:31 (twenty years ago) link

it saves me a CDR spencer!

gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 6 November 2003 23:34 (twenty years ago) link

is it me, or is the whole brmc/warlocks dress-black-dope-drone deal like basically existentially incorrect at this stage of the game? god knows i loved this shit for years, and the first two mary chain recs remain two of my faves ever, but it seems like the wrong way to sound/dress/live now. somebody smarter than me needs to put a couple of a hundred words together explaining why i am right.

dan (dan), Friday, 7 November 2003 00:32 (twenty years ago) link

they just don't do it right. If they were actually cool/sexy it would work. I think the Strokes follow a similar kind of "cool" dress code and it works better for them. I guess nowadays with the pervasiveness of stylists etc, people withhold the bestowing of cool. When Jim and William dressed like the VU and spray stenciled c*nt onto their button down shirts (buttoned all the way up) it was like the coolest thing in the universe.

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 7 November 2003 00:44 (twenty years ago) link

Anyone heard the new JAMCha...I mean, Raveonettes?

Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Friday, 7 November 2003 01:49 (twenty years ago) link

Spencer, I like you, but you've finally put a foot wrong here. Up your bum for not picking "Reverence"!!!! My favorite song ever!

@d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 7 November 2003 04:15 (twenty years ago) link

And I'd include "Sundown" for

the planet's more fucked up than I'll ever be

Right on! Honey's Dead was like a coming of age for me, I can't be objective about it.

Did Hope Sandoval break it off with her Reid bro then?

@d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 7 November 2003 04:17 (twenty years ago) link

tuneless dud


??????????????????????????????????????????

It's got a tune, a tune you can whistle!

@d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 7 November 2003 04:19 (twenty years ago) link

yeah i think Hope is doing Colm O'Ciosoig, correct me if i'm wrong

the surface noise (electricsound), Friday, 7 November 2003 04:20 (twenty years ago) link

Actually, I like "Reverance", just not as much as all the other stuff. I just listened to it and changed my mind about it's dud-ness, and it was definitely the final cut.

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 7 November 2003 04:23 (twenty years ago) link

Hope lives north of Berkeley (Hills/Kensington?). Anthony Kyle Monday pointed her out to me at the Smog show here. She's small!

@d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 7 November 2003 04:27 (twenty years ago) link

Nordique,

Hope and Colm live up the hill from you in K-ton.

gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 7 November 2003 04:31 (twenty years ago) link

and Hey! which (smog) show were you at? starry plough?

did you meet the hstencil? msp?

gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 7 November 2003 04:35 (twenty years ago) link

I met hstencil very briefly, g! I bought a cd of "Julius Caesar" of of him, and errr, distinguished myself by not saying much to him. He was kinda busy, though. nice guy!

@d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 7 November 2003 04:48 (twenty years ago) link

msp-I haven't had the pleasure.

@d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 7 November 2003 04:52 (twenty years ago) link

eleven months pass...
Hey, whatever happened to that touted JAMC revival last year? It never seemed to get off the ground. Sigh.

I'm listening to Munki today. Time has been kind to it. At the time, I remember having an "OMG, WTF?" reaction to it because it was almost like the JAMC recording a satire of a JAMC album.

But with some time and distance, that's what's so great about it.

Danger Whore (kate), Monday, 11 October 2004 09:18 (nineteen years ago) link

I'll have to have another go at Munki. Munki love, you guys...

mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 11 October 2004 09:28 (nineteen years ago) link

Are they ever going to release the video on DVD?

I mean, honestly. My tape has just disintergrated in ... certain sections. I need a nice, clear, DVD, frame by frame-playable version.

But anyway, yeah. Munki. I mean, maybe it sounds so great because I've heard so much crap lately. I wonder how charitable I would feel if I put on Blues From A Gun or something.

Danger Whore (kate), Monday, 11 October 2004 09:33 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah, and i'd like a second video collection preferably one containing the teenage lust video that we never got to see when it was out.

didn't like munki when i hear it recently (apart from Moe Tucker) but Honey's Dead was GREAT on another listen.

(i have the video in digital format (vcd or divx) if that's any use to you kate.)

koogs (koogs), Monday, 11 October 2004 11:38 (nineteen years ago) link

and i'd like a copy of their Whistle Test(?) performance from '86 ish

koogs (koogs), Monday, 11 October 2004 11:44 (nineteen years ago) link

You know, if only I had a DVD writer etc, I'd do you a copy of my "Psychoanalysis" J&MC Compilation (runs up to Sidewalking iirc) which was top. I say so anyway.

mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 11 October 2004 12:00 (nineteen years ago) link

Hrmmm. See I was disappointed with Honeys Dead the last time I dragged it out.

Danger Whore (kate), Monday, 11 October 2004 12:00 (nineteen years ago) link

Me too, when I bought it. No actually, I'm thinking of Automatic. HD was a return to form for me.

mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 11 October 2004 12:03 (nineteen years ago) link

Honeys Dead dated badly, to my ears. Good songs, but the production just screamed NINETEEN NINETY TWO!!! to me.

Danger Whore (kate), Monday, 11 October 2004 12:04 (nineteen years ago) link

Away even

StanM, Tuesday, 23 January 2024 15:51 (two months ago) link

Never Understand: starts at the 10 minute mark and is the best thing since the last best thing

StanM, Tuesday, 23 January 2024 15:55 (two months ago) link

Incredible, but docked a point for failing to showcase that gong left hanging on the wall.

Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 23 January 2024 16:26 (two months ago) link

haha, yes!

StanM, Tuesday, 23 January 2024 16:56 (two months ago) link

Even do a note perfect "Jesus Suck"

Mark G, Thursday, 25 January 2024 09:10 (two months ago) link

if you check out the rest of their channel, they cover a lot of different bands

StanM, Thursday, 25 January 2024 09:14 (two months ago) link

Second song is good too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6yMXY59ZfQ

Bee OK, Saturday, 27 January 2024 04:37 (two months ago) link

one month passes...

looking up the new LP release date, annoyed that the font is wrong on the website, then noticing for the first time that the typeface pretty much changes with every release and the good, cool typeface i thought was everywhere is only really on Darklands era stuff.

koogs, Saturday, 9 March 2024 04:50 (one month ago) link

* Please note that due to a delay in vinyl production, the release date has been pushed back to March 22nd.

Bee OK, Sunday, 10 March 2024 03:10 (one month ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD0HwKM-Wwo

Bee OK, Sunday, 10 March 2024 03:11 (one month ago) link

New album is out today, can't listen to it at the moment.

Bee OK, Friday, 22 March 2024 21:20 (three weeks ago) link

it sounds like the Jesus and Mary Chain

fetter, Friday, 22 March 2024 21:27 (three weeks ago) link

I like it! Just enough variations on the JAMC sound to keep it interesting. Another solid addition (but not essential like the 85-92 stuff, those days are long gone)

StanM, Friday, 22 March 2024 21:31 (three weeks ago) link

It doesn't even sound like a JAMC album to me. Half the time, it sounds like extremely poor imitation Suicide, with a lyricist about 1/1000 as brilliant as Alan Vega. Also, the last line of this review is hilarious. "As they advance into middle age"? The Reid brothers are 62 and 65.

The cheap-ass synths on almost every track are proof that they were only ever the sum of their guitar pedals. They should have broken up the day after Psychocandy came out. A brilliant one-off gesture > an increasingly tedious "career."

Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Friday, 22 March 2024 21:46 (three weeks ago) link

Their best album is their singles collection

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 March 2024 22:03 (three weeks ago) link

Yeah, honestly, I could hang onto 21 Singles and Barbed Wire Kisses.

Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Friday, 22 March 2024 22:09 (three weeks ago) link

"Head On" >>>>>> Psychocandy

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 March 2024 22:51 (three weeks ago) link

I am of the moderate centrist position that they should have stopped after Automatic

Which is not to say I begrudge them their continued existence, we all must make rent as best we are able in this cursed world

Kraal Disorientation Chamber (emsworth), Friday, 22 March 2024 23:17 (three weeks ago) link

The world is a poorer place without "Almost Gold" and "Far Gone and Out."

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 March 2024 23:19 (three weeks ago) link

Perhaps marginally poorer but I am okay with it. I dunno, I lived thru all those 90s JAMC records and saw them at the tail end of their OG incarnation, and it was all good enough. But I think those first three records and Sidewalking are where it is most at.

Kraal Disorientation Chamber (emsworth), Friday, 22 March 2024 23:26 (three weeks ago) link

it was playing in hmv this morning when i went to buy a copy, always slightly embarrassing

koogs, Saturday, 23 March 2024 19:15 (three weeks ago) link

(just ask them to turn down that racket while you're paying)

StanM, Saturday, 23 March 2024 20:27 (three weeks ago) link

Honeys Dead is a cracking album

I saw them play at Electric Picnic in '07 and they were probably the dreariest act I watched that weekend.

Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Sunday, 24 March 2024 12:03 (three weeks ago) link

I like post-Psychocandy JAMC okay, but I can totally understand how they could seem ridiculous, naff, unintentionally comedic/parodic, it’s part of the package I guess

brimstead, Sunday, 24 March 2024 16:32 (three weeks ago) link

it was playing in hmv this morning when i went to buy a copy, always slightly embarrassing

Story I have recounted before: the fights that used to go on for control of the turntable when I worked at a record store in the mid-'80s. I honestly thought Psychocandy was perfect for a busy Saturday afternoon, a much better choice than Robert Palmer or Whitney Houston or Bruce Hornsby or whatever.

I still love the album whenever I revisit something on YouTube, but, from a customer standpoint, I really don't know what I was thinking.

clemenza, Sunday, 24 March 2024 18:44 (three weeks ago) link

(I know you're talking about the new album, which I haven't heard and probably never will.)

clemenza, Sunday, 24 March 2024 18:45 (three weeks ago) link

have been buying their stuff since Never Understand and haven't had a reason to stop yet. can't think of another band where that's true.

koogs, Sunday, 24 March 2024 18:56 (three weeks ago) link

@Kraal: the moderate centrist position is definitely defensible, but I think Honey's Dead and the slightly leftfield Stoned and Dethroned are more than worthy. Finding the new one kind of a bummer on the first pass though.

Saw em in Philly on the tour where William bailed (Munki?). Only time I did; wish I'd gotten it together to go sooner.

three of the doctor's valuable bats are now dead (broom air), Sunday, 24 March 2024 19:09 (three weeks ago) link

Loved Honey's Dead upon release (probably the first album I got from them) and saw them on the US Rollercoaster tour. Worked my way back after that but tuned out by the time Stoned came out (it's nice though and Sometimes Always is a minor classic). Since then, I've filed them in the category of dependable bands who I don't really need anymore new/extra music from. Might pick up the new one since I'm hearing a a bit of extra synth in their sound.

licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Monday, 25 March 2024 08:26 (three weeks ago) link

I was going to get the cassette edition, but all places had it sold-out/unavailable three days ago.

I suspect it got cancelled. Unless any of youse got it ordered?

Mark G, Monday, 25 March 2024 18:21 (three weeks ago) link

New one has some cool bits (the advance tracks mostly) but also some really abysmal career nadirs (The Eagles and the Beatles? Wtf)

licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Saturday, 30 March 2024 13:11 (two weeks ago) link

"don't come down" is exactly like the songs me and my friend strove to make in high school. i love it so much

Comfortably numbnuts (Heez), Tuesday, 9 April 2024 12:50 (one week ago) link

they sound mostly like late-90s Primal Scream to me now

fetter, Tuesday, 9 April 2024 16:11 (one week ago) link


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