The Jesus and Mary Chain: Psychocandy

This blogger's first purchase of a record by The Jesus and Mary Chain was the group's second, 1987's Darklands, which was greatly enjoyed, but, of course, immediately following was buying the debut, Psychocandy, which raised such a ruckus when released not quite two years earlier.  This was not least because of the attitude of the brothers Jim and William Reid, apparently largely fueled by alcohol and speed, as they bluntly declared their greatness in interviews and routinely played chaotically 20-30 minute sets that often ended in violence.

The following three albums, Automatic, Honey's Dead and Stoned and Dethroned, were also acquired and very much appreciated, especially the latter, but more than three decades have passed, with barely a listen to any of this amazing music until very recently.  It is interesting now to see the 60+ Reid brothers in interviews, being forthright, amusing, disarmingly low-key and refreshingly reflective about their turbulent early years and their mature current ones.

While Darklands and Stoned and Dethroned are personal favorites, though "Reverence" from Honey's Dead is a killer (!) track, there is just no denying the impact and importance of Psychocandy on multiple levels, beyond the performative aspect referred to above.  At a time when British alternative music was almost completely dominated by synthesizers and a pop sheen that reflected much of English society during the 80s, the JAMC were determined to chart a singular course.

This, most obviously, embodied the feedback-drenched guitars, churning and coursing from track to track, as well as the lower-range vocals by Jim, who lost a coin-flip to decide whether he or William would be the singer, and the Wall of Sound production values that were clearest in Bobby Gillespie (later the leader of Primal Scream) and his spare, standing (as per Mo Tucker of The Velvet Underground) and rudimentary drumming.

Yet, there was also another Sixties tie, which was the way that melody, percussion and vocalization were utilized amid the grinding guitars, so that, for all the focus on the feedback, the Reid brothers wrote compact, economical and compelling pop songs that moved effortlessly through the 15-song collections spanning 42 minutes.  The result is not just thrilling, but timeless, not sounding of its time, or really any, to this listener.

Among the 15 tracks, it's hard to choose favorites, but the opener, "Just Like Honey," with its female backing vocal; the bruising "The Living End" with its sardonic lyric about a motorcyclist who is enamored with his style and self and ends up crashing into a tree with his brains oozing into his fine leather boots; "Taste the Floor" and its exhilarating grating feedback-drenched guitar; the almost pastoral "Cut Dead" that hearkens to later JAMC records; the squalling speedy "In a Hole;" first single "Never Understand;" the ruminative "Sowing Seeds;" the anthemic "Something's Wrong;" and the acidic "It's So Hard" with its caterwauling careening conclusion—wait, that's 60% of the album, so, yes, it's very difficult to pick!