The Jesus and Mary Chain albums poll

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Poll Closing Date: Tuesday, 5 November 2024 00:00 (in 2 days)

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I feel so quick in my leather boots: poll of PSYCHOCANDY by THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
I'm just your longtime curse: DARKLANDS by THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN, POLL OF
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Automatic poll

MARY CHAIN SINGLES POLL

I have signed up to do their artist poll but will probably never get around to it. I'm seeing them, yet again, in about 10 days. ILM has done a few albums so I thought an albums poll would be good to close out this shoegaze run since they are the masters.

Psychocandy (1985)
Darklands (1987)
Automatic (1989)
Honey's Dead (1992)
Stoned & Dethroned (1994)
Munki (1998)
Damage and Joy (2017)
Glasgow Eyes (2024)


Bee OK, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 17:29 (four days ago) link

I didn’t get them as a band until Honey’s Dead, which is still my absolute favorite

DJP, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 18:02 (four days ago) link

"Far Gone and Out" is a marvelous single.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 29 October 2024 18:14 (four days ago) link

As is “Reverence”

DJP, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 18:31 (four days ago) link

“rollercoaster” too

brimstead, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 19:12 (four days ago) link

Automatic

Cognosc in Tyrol (emsworth), Tuesday, 29 October 2024 19:31 (four days ago) link

Psychocandy is one of the most overrated "classic" albums ever. Their next three are all better. Haven't heard the two post-reunion albums, although I did see them live post-reunion, pre-new albums and they were a blast.

Automatic is my pick. It's such a great, feel it in your guts, thrills and singalongs rock and roll album.

NoTimeBeforeTime, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 19:45 (four days ago) link

I won't keep knocking Psychocandy, clearly one of those Ya Had to Be There albums, but, yeah, I listen to Darklands and Automatic way more, and 21 Singles best of all.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 29 October 2024 19:52 (four days ago) link

Psychocandy then Darklands for me + write in vote for Barbed Wire Kisses. I like it most when they sound like a Scottish band hoovering up ideas from pop history and spewing them out in their own style.

Automatic is horribly hollow and American sounding, can't stand it.

Position Position, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 20:18 (four days ago) link

You people would say that.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 29 October 2024 20:20 (four days ago) link

The first thing I heard was Barbed Wire Kisses and at the time I thought it was one of the worst things I’d ever heard

DJP, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 20:24 (four days ago) link

Ya Ha To Be There but if you WERE... well, I voted Darklands, it's the one I truly imprinted on, but much as I like "Far Gone and Out" I just can't see anything post-Automatic as anything but a footnote to what I consider their real output -- "Reverence" in particular feels like an imitation J&MC song to me. "Barbed Wire Kisses" not really an album and thus not on here but "Everything's Alright When You're Down" really one of their highights.

Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 29 October 2024 20:26 (four days ago) link

If everybody had an ocean WALL OF NOISE across the usa BIGGER WALL OF NOISE

Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 29 October 2024 20:26 (four days ago) link

you people speak madness! psychocandy or go home! i mean for pete's sake...

overrated, i'll give you overrated...right in the snoot!

scott seward, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 22:55 (four days ago) link

Anyone that thinks it overrated needs the severe malky!

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Tuesday, 29 October 2024 22:57 (four days ago) link

I wasn’t there, this is Psychocandy hands down.

brimstead, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 23:07 (four days ago) link

I wasn't there, 21 Singles.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 29 October 2024 23:35 (four days ago) link

Psychocandy is the most important one but I like Darklands the best. They proved that they were at least a two trick pony with that album.

StanM, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 23:52 (four days ago) link

Psychocandy is massively underrated. So great that there was just no point listening to another JAMC album again. Even if it had been a one track album with just The Hardest Walk on it it would have got my vote. Psychocandy era live however was one of the worst gigs I ever saw.

stirmonster, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 23:57 (four days ago) link

psychocandy, i like the feedback, give me more of that

c u (crüt), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 00:14 (three days ago) link

Challop: "Just Like Honey" is not in the top half of the songs on Psychocandy

Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 01:52 (three days ago) link

I don’t necessarily disagree but it’s a really killer opener

brimstead, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 02:07 (three days ago) link

Psychocandy is better than BWK, definitely

DJP, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 02:19 (three days ago) link

My take remains that they should have announced their breakup the day Psychocandy was released; it's not only a great album, but a beautiful gesture that could only have been improved by their immediately ceasing to exist.

That said, it's fun to listen to Automatic and Honey's Dead in the car, the former more than the latter. And if Barbed Wire Kisses was an option I'd seriously consider voting for it.

That new album is fucking awful.

Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 02:23 (three days ago) link

Psychocandy then Darklands for me + write in vote for Barbed Wire Kisses

This is me exactly, I love Barbed Wire Kisses. Darklands might be my actual favorite, it's hard to say, but there's just no way around Psychocandy. I was 16 and I'd lie on the floor of my bedroom and put it on as loud as I could get away with. I thought it was amazing. (My freshman year college roommate was a super straitlaced guy with a clutch of Amy Grant albums, and he refused to believe me that the album was supposed to sound like that. He assumed they were just incompetent musicians lol.)

Blitz Primary (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 02:27 (three days ago) link

I only know the first two (and the EP between); Psychocandy by a mile.

clemenza, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 02:32 (three days ago) link

The next few albums that followed all had something to them one way or another but only Psychocandy has "My Little Underground" on it so there ya go.

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 02:45 (three days ago) link

Of course, psychocandy. Maybe should have excluded it...

Psychocandy era live however was one of the worst gigs I ever saw.

― stirmonster, Tuesday, October 29, 2024 11:57 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

No no no noo noo noo...
Hammersmith Palais, May 8 1986, a brilliant gig.

Just looked it up, support was Sonic Youth, Pink Industry and The Servants (missed Servants, sorry guys)

J&MC 45 mins, I believe it is was the first gig where they kept it together and did it right.

Oh, and I got to see John Peel in the audience, and met three of New Order. So yeah, maybe best gig ever....

But, even if it had been just the headliner for that 45 mins, still great

Mark G, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 07:48 (three days ago) link

I think Bobby had left by then and they were using a drum machine...?

fetter, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 07:58 (three days ago) link

If we're doing write-in votes, then I would pick the Complete Peel Sessions. I listen to it more than any of the studio albums. The Peel Session versions of the Psychocandy songs are all better than on the latter album.

NoTimeBeforeTime, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 08:10 (three days ago) link

Xpost think it was James pinker, but there was definitely a real drummer

Mark G, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 08:46 (three days ago) link

The most recent album is not shite

(Had third thoughts...)

Mark G, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 08:48 (three days ago) link

Just looked it up, support was Sonic Youth, Pink Industry and The Servants

yes, that sounds excellent. when i saw them they could hardly stand up, started fighting the audience, didn't manage to play a single song all the way through, played for 12 minutes and literally got run out of town right after.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-jesus-and-mary-chain/1985/coasters-edinburgh-scotland-23c77c37.html

stirmonster, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 11:35 (three days ago) link

BWK was the big one for me — probably because that was the first one I heard. When Automatic came out I was like “where’s the feedback?” and never tried to keep up with them after that. Unfair? Probably. But there’s a lot of music in the world.

dentist looking too comfortable singing the blues (hardcore dilettante), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 11:45 (three days ago) link

xpost "Jim Reid falls off stage" lol

StanM, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 12:57 (three days ago) link

My history with this band is hearing Reverence on the radio in probably 1995 and made a mental note to try to buy the album this is from. I didn't actually buy Honey's Dead until a couple of years later but did in the meantime stumble upon a used copy of Stoned & Dethroned which didn't sound at all like I was expecting, though I did listen to it quite a bit anyway and did appreciate parts of it. When I eventually found Honey's Dead I liked it, but not as much as I thought I would. Then when I started going online on music message boards I saw that Psychocandy is supposed to be the best Jesus & Mary Chain album, which I eventually bought and didn't get at all and that was the end for me with this band.

So, probably going to vote Honey's Dead here.

silverfish, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 13:47 (three days ago) link

Just looked up stuff regarding that gig. Found the poster which says The Servants as third-billed but no Pink Industry, so I'm guessing there was a last minute replacement and there was no Servants.

Mark G, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 13:59 (three days ago) link

Phil King of The Servants later joined the Mary Chain, iirc.

fetter, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 15:35 (three days ago) link

only saw the J&MC once in November 1992 (Spiritualized was the opener, the Fucked Up Inside set) and they were laughably bad, the edges and noisiness all polished off. But the main thing that stuck in my mind as ridiculous was their visuals/projections - spinning clipart of a star, a gun, a heart etc. - which, especially compared to Spiritualized, felt very lazy.

Psychocandy is amazing but voted Darklands, would also have considered voting for BWK. Have a soft spot for the overly long Stoned and Dethroned and its weary, hungover vibe.

famous instagram dog (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 15:50 (three days ago) link

Write in ballot for Barbed Wire Kisses. A compilation, yes, but so good. Like VU, the odds and ends assembled here make for a more accurate and more FUN listen than the more dour and scowling "real" albums.

Brio2, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 15:51 (three days ago) link

I also saw them in '92 -- Lollapalooza! And like Shakey said they were awful, just indifferent if not sloppy, and I wasn't much of a fan yet. I suspected that booze and being on so early in the bill affected their mood, and the Reid memoir confirmed it.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 16:05 (three days ago) link

psychocandy the work of my hero john loder. john loder the very very rich man's steve albini. albini tried to be loder but he never got there. probably my fave brit producer/engineer of all time. (partly because i have no idea who produced a lot of the 60s freakbeat that i love. and shel talmy is disqalified. have no idea who produced the first small faces album for instance. having said that, still, if i were a recording engineer i would want to be john loder.)

scott seward, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 16:25 (three days ago) link

I really love those chimey jangly lofi demos from 83 (?), “up too high” and the demo of “on the wall”. so dreamy and melancholic.

brimstead, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 16:33 (three days ago) link

Omg lol Nitsuh:

Obviously the drummer for such a group couldn’t sit behind a big kit looking like he knew what he was doing, so the JAMC stood Bobby Gillespie (yes, that one) up behind only two drums-- a floor tom and a snare-- and had him bash away like he was pissed off at them but either too bored or too drunk to finish them off. A similar approach was taken to bass guitar and vocals.

If the band had applied these tactics to knotty, difficult music, you would never have heard of them, and Dominique Leone would be reviewing these reissues.

Patti The Pone (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 16:33 (three days ago) link

Also, their live album (from Barrowlands) is awesome

Patti The Pone (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 16:43 (three days ago) link

Looking at the singles results from 2008--I definitely would have voted "Never Understand."

clemenza, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 16:48 (three days ago) link

quite surprised by the affection for Barbed Wire Kisses!

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 16:49 (three days ago) link

why though it has so much great stuff on it.

scott seward, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 17:02 (three days ago) link

It does, just surprised it might match Psychocandy in votes.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 17:03 (three days ago) link

I’m surprised because my memory of the one time I listened to it was that it was terrible

DJP, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 17:05 (three days ago) link

They got mad that nobody appreciated their beautiful songs because of the Psychocandy ~vibe~ and dialed it way down, and that's why Psychocandy wins. Other albums have high points and low points but every track on Psychocandy sounds like Psychocandy and that's the good stuff.

Doctor Madame Frances Experimento, LLC", Wednesday, 30 October 2024 20:19 (three days ago) link

This thread has occasioned me to pull out the Power of Negative Thinking box set for the first time in ages, and marvel again at the demo version of "On The Wall."

henry s, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 20:35 (three days ago) link

i need that. i never got a copy. i need that complete peel sessions cd as well. you'd think someone would have brought them in for me to buy at the store but they really haven't. and the negative thinking set is too high used online for me.

scott seward, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 20:45 (three days ago) link

i've had the Hate Rock 'n' Roll comp in my car for the last month and this always makes me laugh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEc0q8FH6eQ

scott seward, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 20:48 (three days ago) link

I have an advance copy of the Power box that I got from Rhino when it first came out. No booklet or anything, just 4 CDs in one of those fat jewel cases. I don't think I've ever listened to the whole thing.

Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 21:00 (three days ago) link

I love stoned and dethroned but listening back for the first time in a while recently and it should be a much shorter album

Heez, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 21:09 (three days ago) link

So honeys dead, because I had a big poster of the cover on my wall growing up

Heez, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 21:10 (three days ago) link

i like everything up to and including munki. i think i have avoided the 21st century stuff because i was afraid that it was going to remind me of the soup dragons or something. just a gradual loss of power.

scott seward, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 21:44 (three days ago) link

Same here. Munki was excellent all the way through. I love how their sister sings lead on "Moe Tucker", and how another song is named "Supertramp", yet is seemingly neither about the band nor a tramp who may be super.

henry s, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 21:58 (three days ago) link

And on the topic of JAMC live, I saw them on the "Rollercoaster" tour with Curve and Spiritualized, and thought they were great! Better than when I saw them touring for Automatic.

henry s, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 22:00 (three days ago) link

Psychocandy is already wayyy dialled down compared to their breakout singles, but it's true that Darklands is an even easier listen. Honey's Dead is so crazy to listen to, I don't remember liking it but I'll give it another shot...

Patti The Pone (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 22:35 (three days ago) link

Honey's Dead is good!

scott seward, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 22:39 (three days ago) link

Really? I just remember it being the tinniest imaginable version of Madchester baggy. I will listen again tomorrow

Patti The Pone (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 23:33 (three days ago) link

So many great/dumb couplets on Munki:

I love Beatle John
she loves Beatle Paul
we don't hate the rest
we can love them all

henry s, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 23:34 (three days ago) link

Honey's Dead does have some of those Madchester drum sounds but i like it a lot anyway. i like songs like "Reverence". "Far Gone And Out". i like the whole thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL6CRZAgKgM

scott seward, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 23:48 (three days ago) link

Their covers are always great, from Vegetable Man through Little Red Rooster, Alphabet St (lol).

fetter, Thursday, 31 October 2024 11:47 (two days ago) link

I think those first five are all good, plus Barbed Wire Kisses of course, and YES to their covers. (They also remixed "Birthday" by Sugarcubes, which basically makes it into a cover).

But for me it has to be Psychocandy, most of all for the songs. On pretty much any other one of their records there's a couple weaker tracks, or a song that's basically a rewrite of another one on the album. And especially in the drum machine era, the songs simply often go on for too long. ("April Skies," despite being a masterpiece, would be even better with 20 second shaved off). Psychocandy for me is just the one where it maintains a mood, but has enough variety - Ronettes, Velvets, Beach Boys, Motown - that it feels like each of the songs is an important event listening front to back.

three of the doctor's valuable bats are now dead (broom air), Thursday, 31 October 2024 14:03 (two days ago) link

"Head On" is so much fun to karaoke.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 31 October 2024 14:17 (two days ago) link

went Darklands. fell in love with it at a very memorable time in my life. it was also 1 of 6 cd's permanently stuck in my car when the disc changer broke. has to count for something.

gman59, Thursday, 31 October 2024 17:45 (two days ago) link

I know Automatic isn't their best album, but it's the one I've listened to the most and the one I reach for.

Cow_Art, Thursday, 31 October 2024 19:09 (two days ago) link

Munki is excellent. For some reason I remember a much bigger gap between it and S&D. I guess four years was a while after having a pretty big hit.

Cow_Art, Thursday, 31 October 2024 19:10 (two days ago) link

Listening to Munki now and honestly it sounds like a Primal Scream album to me. (Not meant as a compliment.) Also, 17 tracks? 69 minutes? Fuuuuuck off.

Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Thursday, 31 October 2024 19:33 (two days ago) link

I don't think I've ever listened to a full album post stoned & dethroned

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Thursday, 31 October 2024 20:52 (two days ago) link

the last time i played stoned & dethroned i went into a coma. totally passed out. that album is like a knock-out drop. so much mellow. also 17 tracks. speaking of 17 track J&MC albums.

scott seward, Thursday, 31 October 2024 23:17 (two days ago) link

first JAMC thing I bought was Far Gone And Out, loved that so I bought the Reverence single as well, and Automatic because I don't think Honey's Dead was out yet or at least wasn't in the tiny record shops we had where I grew up. got Barbed Wire Kisses and Honey's Dead later in the year, and I think then Darklands, so I was actually kinda late to listening to Psychocandy, which for some reason I never saw in the shop until I went to uni somewhere with slightly better record shops.

I do rate the first 3 + BWK a lot higher than their later stuff but Honey's Dead and Munki have lots of good stuff too. never liked Stoned & Dethroned outside of a few songs. I didn't like the new album much at all. I saw them live not long before it came out but they didn't play a single song off it

Colonel Poo, Friday, 1 November 2024 11:22 (yesterday) link

first JAMC i bought was Never Understand (having missed the first single entirely, depsite listening to all the right shows).

checking my phone, which is the most listend to stuff, i have have Psychocandy, Darklands, Honey's Dead, Barbed Wire Kisses on it and the Japanese version of Sound of Speed (which was different from the UK version by a couple of tracks). and the new one.

but this thread is making me want to listen to the others again.

koogs, Friday, 1 November 2024 11:31 (yesterday) link

I was kind of enjoying Glasgow Eyes as, uh, a Primal Scream album until it got to the "I've been rolling with the Stones" song and then I had to turn it off and never listen to it again.

Doctor Madame Frances Experimento, LLC", Friday, 1 November 2024 21:44 (yesterday) link

I know lyrics are not their strong suit but sometimes they simply bottom out:

Little skinny girl, she's doing it for the first time
Little skinny girl, she's doing it, and it feels fine
She's taking hold, and I'm holding on
Holding on and my sense is gone
I got it, you got it, she's got it

henry s, Friday, 1 November 2024 21:49 (yesterday) link

They picked up where your precious Echo left off and you’re sitting around complaining about no more Echo albums. I can’t believe you don’t own this fucking record.

brimstead, Friday, 1 November 2024 22:02 (yesterday) link


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