21 Singles

Jesus & Mary Chain | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 2, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino
• ASIN: B000068ZXB
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,205 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: JESUS & MARY CHAIN
Title: 21 SINGLES
Street Release Date: 07/02/2002
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars just what i wanted to hear, August 3, 2004

By 

Davy (Athens, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 21 Singles (Audio CD)

there were few bands more ready for the greatest hits treatment. JMC's recorded output on record was always a little too steady for me. they'd find a sound, a beat, and stick to it for an entire album, and this was who they were. this compilation gathers the best moments from those albums and actually fashions, in the process, a different sort of album altogether...an album with a variety of styles and tones, up and down, side to side, including each of the band's most brilliant moments. i never expected to like this as much as i did.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, moving music. Must listen for fans of great pop., April 22, 2004

By 

apfb (Pasadena, CA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: 21 Singles (Audio CD)

Hearing Just Like Honey on the film soundtrack for Lost in Translation reminded me of how much I liked the Jesus and Mary Chain (JAMC). If you like Bauhaus, Love and Rockets, the Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, then you must listen to this album to introduced yourself to JAMC.

Please listen to the whole album and do NOT stop after the first three tracks. The first three tracks have an excessive amount of feedback, which would bother most people. Starting from track four and on, the music is deeply moving, romantic. I spent an afternoon driving under the So CA sun, blasting this moody and emotional music, which JAMC probably wrote and recorded in their native rainy, overcast Scotland. I've never felt more alive.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just a stunning collection of great songs, August 19, 2005

By 

Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 21 Singles (Audio CD)

If someone were to rush up to me and hold a gun to my hand and insist that I recommend one and only one Jesus & Mary Chain album to someone completely unfamiliar with their music with the proviso that it be THE album that would bring that person the most enjoyment, I would be in a complete quandary (though why some insane person would be wielding a pistol in such a nutty undertaking I won't speculate about). On the one hand, PSYCHOCANDY is unquestionably their masterpiece, not merely a great album, but one of the great precursors of the emergence of alternative music in the nineties. Yeah, alternative went pop when Nirvana hit it big with NEVERMIND in 1991, but the Jesus & Mary Chain had already copped all the right attitudes and struck all the right chords with PSYCHOCANDY in 1985. With that album they go down with the Velvet Underground, Television, and Big Star as bands that wield an influence vastly in excess of their collective record sales.

But as great as PSYCHOCANDY is, I'm not sure that 21 SINGLES: 1984-1998 doesn't have better songs. The collection of singles pulls together not merely the very best songs off PSYCHOCANDY, but a host of great songs off other albums that either weren't as good or weren't very good at all, but nonetheless had a couple of great individual cuts. For instance, back when I was collecting Jesus & Mary Chain discs, I stopped with PSYCHOCANDY, DARKLANDS, and BARBED WIRE KISSES, two albums and an anthology. This means that I missed out on some really great cuts that are collected here. For instance, I was completely blown away by "Head On" the first second I heard it, but because I didn't get AUTOMATIC, it was completely new to me. Same thing is true of "Blues from a Gun," the very scary "Reverence," "Sometimes Always" (with guest lead vocal by Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star), and the wonderful pair of cuts from MUNKI, "I Love Rock N Roll" and "I Hate Rock N Roll." These are just great songs, and they really make me regret that I stopped my collecting of their music when I did.

So, I truly hope gun-toting maniacs stay away from me, but if saner, more everyday folk want who are unacquainted with one of the great bands of the eighties and nineties want to dive into their music, I would strongly recommend both PSYCHOCANDY and 21 SINGLES: 1984-1998. This music is as crucial as anything that arose during the period.