Customer Reviews

21 Singles

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I never got into the Jesus and Mary Chain back in the day- I'd heard of them, but never got to actual listen to them. Then last year I heard this great song on the radio that featured the unmistakable voice of Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval singing with a guy who has this low voice that asks her to take him back, but to please not make him get down on his knees and beg...(which by the end of the song he says he does anyway). I had to find out who that was- I just loved the song.
I decided to go with 21 Singles because I didn't really know the band well and wanted a good intro and sampling- plus it has the song I liked: Sometimes Always.
What a great sound- It never gets to be totally punk, or goth, what is nowadays defined as alternative, or pop, (although it contains elements of all); JAMC is unique.
My favorite tracks are April Skies, Sidewalking, Blues from a Gun, Head On, and Sometimes Always. That is not to say the other tracks aren't great or enjoyable, though. This CD is always close by.

First instict is to tell first-timers that their debut album 'Psychocandy' is JAMC's only essential purchase.
Strictly from an historical perspective, that alternative rock watershed may just be, but most of their best-written songs and alt-rock radio hits - Happy When It Rains, Sidewalking, Sometimes Always (their duet with Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval and sole US singles chart entry), and Head On (later covered by the Pixies) - came later.

It's interesting to hear these songs (which include all of the above-referenced high marks by the way) now that the hype and notoriety is a distant-memory. Death of rock-n-roll my arse, take away all the guiatar fuzz and what the Jesus and Mary Chain were was basically good, loud rock band who knew how to use feedback as an instrument. And even when they stopped recording albums with all the needles in the red zone, and thus stopped being "important/influential" (which they undoubtably were; My Bloody Valentine were certainly taking notes) they continued making good popsongs, as this album proves.

I was going to gripe about the handful of personal favorites that didn't make the cut (Happy Place, Taste of Cindy, UV Ray) but then again this isn't a collection of favorites; this is a singles collection, and a fine one.

The Jesus and Mary Chain are a pretty awesome band that basically established shoegazing in its rudimentary form on their landmark album Psychocandy. But if you've never heard of J&MC, don't start with that, start with this. Psychocandy's caterwauling white noise freakouts could very possibly annoy the crap out of you. Luckily, there are only 4 songs from Psychocandy and they're loaded towards the front of the CD so you can skip them if you're not digging them. Besides that, there are some great songs on this comp and they're remarkably consistent, but maybe a little too consistent. The only really significant evolution of JMC's sound occurred after Psychocandy, when they decided not to record their songs amidst armies of battling robots. Having said that, most of their post-Psychocandy stuff is pretty impressive, especially "Head On", "Rollercoaster", "Sometimes Always" and "Cracking Up". If you like this singles collection, I encourage you to dig into Psychocandy, because while it's an abrasive first lesson, repeated listens can be seriously rewarding.

When I think of Rock Music I always think of The Jesus and Mary Chain. Put simply they are everything a great rock band should be - loud as hell amps, dirty sleazy riffs, cool as f**k vocals and a self image of excess and self destruction. They recall the Stones and the Stooges yet a more minimal and less cluttered version of said bands. From the first few tracks alone (from debut album PSYCHOCANDY) you can tell your listening to something that is not only timeless but also practically impossible to imitate. I cannot think of one band since that can make rock music sound this raw, this alive, this dark. Aptly giving the second album the title DARKLANDS, the Reid brothers push a more emotive and melodic series of tracks without losing the distortion and riffage. With the album AUTOMATIC many critics thought the brothers had lost the plot but apart from an ironic leaning towards the american metal scene, AUTOMATIC still stands as a white knuckle ride of writhing guitars, sledgehammer drum machines and pulsing basslines. Albums after this came fewer and far between but still held gems of songs that should have made The Jesus and Mary Chain a much wider concern. Sadly it was not to be and 21 SINGLES is scant consolation of the fact that the record buying public prefer tired old men playing nu-metal or covers of eighties songs than true rock and roll. And this band were that. They could never have been anything else.

It is surprising that JAMC has taken so long to release their 1st compilation album. The band dissolved several years ago and solo careers have gone to nothing. Perhaps need for income has finally surpassed the need for artistic aloofness. The epitome of uncompromising ego, the Reid bros, who have been at the core of the band since its early 1980's inception, have shunned the spotlight and created a unique blend of sound. This particular album chronologically documents that progression from their first to last album. Not unlike U2, for example, each successive JAMC album has a distinct quality, but with the trademark dead-beat, somber vocals of William Reid and amped up or acoustic guitar-work of his brother Jim.

The first four tracks are taken from the album Psychocandy, released in mid 1980's when JAMC blazed onto the scene with sonic madness. Hair teased and tossled, clad in black from head to toe, the band resembled the New Wave of British musicians. Their music is most noted for the wall of distortion and feedback kept in rythym by a single tom-tom and bass guitar. Jim's vocals, dark, soft and dreary, do not change much with each successive album.

On the next two albums, Sidewalking and Darklands (tracks 6-9, track 5 is a single release), you'll hear a drum machine backing B-side songs reminiscent of the first album, and newer recordings in which the over-the-top guitar wailing has dropped off and is replaced with a jangly electrified straight-ahead rock, country or rock-a-billy ring.

The next album, Automatic, sees JAMC revved up again. The album has been categorized by some as industrial because of the fast driving beats on some tracks, but it is really just a harder edged rock. The new-wave sensitivity and dark clothing is gone by the time this album was produced. The next album, Far Gone and Out, released in a new decade is represented by tracks 12-15. Again, aggressive guitar work and beats, but with a slightly different sound. Resonating reverb and metal drumwork are heavily implemented.

Snakedriver, is the only song representing the Sound of Speed albums (American and Tokyo releases). JAMC seems to be sampling bits and pieces of previous albums and creating new songs. They seem less interested in blowing up amps and again are exploring the dark/moody side. Interestingly, the country and rock-a-billy guitar riffs are dabbled here and there.

Tracks 17-18 are from the Stoned and Dethroned album. Folk, rock, and country acoustic sounds with, of course, the trademark somber vocals of William are the trademark of this album. Out goes the wah-wah, reverb, and distortion. Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Starr and Shane McGowan, of The Poques, provide vocals on two tracks. With the release of I Hate Rock and Roll the Reids make the public aware that they are not too happy with the music industry and their lack of notoriety. A rehash of music resembling the last two albums is presented.

Finally, the album Munki is released: an album that I have only listened to twice. JAMC seems to have found a new inspiration, but will receive none of the fanfare from their cult following that previous albums were assured. This album was sadly neglected by all. And that was the last of a band that created a unique sound of their own for over a decade.

In the past I had only seen the J&MC on the video for "Head on" on MTV (early 90's) and tough I liked the song, tought they sounded a lot like Love & Rockets. Then recently I heard BRMC and I liked them, bought their album and started reading and hearing that those guys (BRMC) were a J&MC copycat, so I had to check the J&MC out. Got "21 singles", what an amazing band, they used guitar feedback as an instrument,like no other band ever did, even more than Hendrix.
Another aspect that makes them special is the lead singer's voice, I think it's Jim Reid, very uncommon. The lyrics deal with themes such as sex, drugs, death and references to Jesus. This is their only US CD available anyway, you only find their albums as imports (more $$). So if you like good Rock & Roll I advice you to buy this album, the best songs for me are the ones from the "Darklands" period, very melodic.
Great band, great compilation.

As a person who, for a long time, opposed any sort of "Greatest Hits" amalgamations, I was at first apprehensive to buy this disc. I always thought it was better to buy every single album by a band, and celebrate the great songs with the songs that perhaps weren't so great. Couple the fact that I didn't know much about this band (except for the songs Snake Driver, Just Like Honey, and Head On), with the fact that I was broke, this purchase seemed a bit more feasible than my original philosophy.
Needless to say, I was completely blown away. "Upside Down" is by far one of the most original pieces of music I've ever heard, given it was 1984. Intentional feedback, muffled and growling vocals, loud electronic drums, all made for one truly adrenaline inducing 2 minutes and 59 seconds. The next two tracks, "Never Understand" and "You Trip Me Up" echo this sensation.
The Next two tracks "Just Like Honey" and "Some Candy Talking", show a more melodic side of J&MC. In "Just Like Honey", a really beautiful chord progression, and really ambient male and female vocals create a perfect combination. Same goes for the next track.
The latter tracks on the disc cover the band's more "professional" sound, if you will. Better, cleaner production, and a full band, created a new face for the band. "Far Out and Gone", features equal levels of drums and percussion, guitar, and vocals. It's a rather upbeat song, to say the least. "Snake Driver" is seemingly a regression back to simpler means. No fancy studio tricks, no back up percussion; just two or three chords, their trademark distortion/feedback, etc.
Let's jump to the last track, "I Love Rock N Roll". A very upbeat tune about loving Rock N Roll. The highlight is about 50 seconds in, a horn section kicks in in the background of a guitar solo. It was perfect. As far as the track listing, it too was perfect that this was the last track.
This is by far one of the best CD's I've bought in years. This sounds kind of corny, but this is a CD that branches out to different atmospheres. Parties, walking around, Day Driving, Night Driving, Early Morning Driving, etc. It's the perfect disc for any occasion. Get it today.