Customer Reviews

Psycho Candy

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Only a few bands have been able to release debut albums that can be called a brilliant classic. Most bands have to wait 3 or 4 albums into their career to release a masterpiece. The Jesus and Mary Chain are, among the Velvet Underground, Stone Roses, Spacemen 3, Gang of Four, one of those bands that have pulled it off. This album is 14 mind numbing, feedback drenched sonic explosions. Underneath all the layers of noise are fantastic pop songs. These songs would be brilliant even without the wall of feedback. Picture the first half of the first Ramones lp, early Beach Boys singing the 3rd Velvet Underground lp, and then put razor sharp ear piercing noise over it and you have the Jesus and Marychain "Psychocandy". Starting off with the Phil Spectorish "Just Like Honey" to to the brilliant "It's So Hard" this is a perfect lp. Each song could have been a single on their own. Key tracks are "Just Like Honey", "Cut Dead", "A Taste of Cindy", "Never Understand", "Sowing Seeds", "My Little Underground", "You Trip Me Up". Never has pop music sound so violent and delicate at the same time. Logically being the next step from the Velvet Underground, the Jesus & Marychain helped spearhead a the so called "shoegazing" scene, influencing bands like The Weatherprophets, Spacemen 3, Loop and countless others. If they were never to have released another album, "Psychocandy" would have been enough, but thankfully they relased more albums. This is one album that should be in everbody's collection.

College radio was *MADE* by records like this one. The '80s were a time of musical excess which bludgenoed us with hair
metal bands. No worries, I liked many of them but could see
it was a formula, like any other, that was rapidly loosing
momentum. Even the indie scene, the life blood of college
radio, was somewhat tired. And then, bang, this gem appeared
and blew us all away. There was no Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and
Soundgarden. Instead, we had Sonic Youth and, now, Jesus and
Mary Chain. This album is phil spector's wall of sound meets
Scottish punk meets the beach boys. Within their wall of noise
are truly breathless melodies and haunting lyrics. If you
are serious about your music then this needs to be the one Jesus
and Mary Chain record you purchase. I'm pushing 40 now and still this record means as much as it did to me going on 20
years after its release. As a sign of the times, this was one
of the first CDs I purchased on the new format known as Compact

Disc. Buzz on.

Sadly forgotten, to the point that it is unavailable save on import, this is a classic of classics. It's a jarring listen, but the harshness is tempered by a beautiful sense of melody evident in every track. Much of the melody is carried by the bass, which leaves the guitar as more of a textural instrument rather than a melodic lead. This is what throws off a lot of listeners I think. So here's a sugestion. Crank up the bass on your stereo, lower the treble, and dim the lights. That will give you the full effect that I believe it was intended to have.

It's really a breathtaking experience and there's a lot of subtlety, from what sounds like female backing vocals on track 1 to periodic breaks in the guitar squall which allow the bass to take the lead. Listen for the details and you'll be amazed.

A small ray of hope-- "Just Like Honey" has recently been featured in the movie "Lost in Translation" and on a Rhino box-set called "Left of the Dial" which is comprised of 1980s "college rock." JAMC has also been name-checked, although in an inappropriate comparison to Echo and the Bunnymen, in the film "High Fidelity." So maybe this disc will wind its way back into popular culture after all. One can only hope.

-HW

A strange thing happened to me the other day. I am in ninth grade and I went to see a movie at the theater the other day. We were discussing our musical tastes. Everyone was talking about really popular current bands who, in my opinion, lack depth and then I started talking my bands like Radiohead, The Shins, The Cure, and then The Jesus and Mary Chain. Like I expected, my tastes were met simply with, "Never heard of them." As we went through with our tickets, the guy there said to me, "Wow. I heard you talking about The Jesus and Mary Chain. That band is awesome. Psychocandy is one of my favorite albums." That shocked me, and frankly, it made my evening.

I think this kind of shows this band's, and this album's, power and influence, even if no one except me, my uncle (who's gotten me started on many good bands), and the guy at the movie theater have heard of them. The feedback and dreariness shone through the techno-pop haze of the eighties and what an impact it has made. As one critic stated, their sound is like a 'chainsaw in a hurricane.' Who knew that a sound like that could shine threw with such melody? It took me awhile to pick out that melody, to be fair, but now that I have picked it out, I absolutely love it. A more accurate description of the band would be The Beatles walking through a dark raincloud with a tv playing static in the background. Ambiguous metaphor? Listen to the album and you'll understand.

Their sound can go from the beautiful 'Just Like Honey' (which I first heard on the Lost In Translation soundtrack) to the screeching feedback of 'In A Hole,' the whole time carrying along their gloomy vocals. The best thing about Psychocandy? The fact that every song stands out from the rest with its own catchiness and all-around excellence. There really isn't a best song on the album, every one sticks out as pure genius.

This is a band with depth. Not many people could make a blaring wall of noise catchy but JAMC do, and that's what makes them great.

I bought this album on a whim at the end of my senior year in high school. When I put it on, I became merely interested in the sound of the album, but only a few songs turned me on. The noise was a big distraction. Unwittingly, I sold it to a cd exchange after a couple of weeks, but before I did, I taped about eight or nine songs. I never listened to the tape until about five months ago, and suddenly became enveloped in the songs. I found it at a cd exchange after a long search(it's hard to find their albums in stores).The additude, the melodies, the frustration, and the utter beauty of the songs was unlike anything I've ever heard. The distortion actually contributes to the tone and feeling of the songs. I can understand that some listeners might find it slightly unsettling, but the noise is part of it's charm, part of it's brilliance, and it fleshes out the brilliance of the songs without detracting from them. The whole album is an incredibly evocative piece of work; particularly "Just Like Honey", "The Living End", "The Hardest Walk", "In a Hole", "Sowing Seeds", and "You Trip Me Up". As a whole, they're honestly the most effective and brilliant pop songs I've heard on one album. Jim Reid's voice is aggressive, forceful, and romantic, often at the same time, and William Reid constructs some of the most beautiful melodies and riffs. The production seems eerily out of time and yet contemporary(for 1985)often recalling the feeling of mid-sixties era Beach Boys. This album needs to be played incredibly loud, and when you're in a room by yourself. Enjoy!

If the Beach Boys, The Velvet Underground, and a box of noisy guitars were put in a blender and set to puree, it might resemble the formula the Jesus & Mary Chain used on Psychocandy. That might sound like the musical equivalent of ice cream with ketchup, but it blends and works to amazing effect. The murky production on the album might take a while to get past, but underneath it is a set of fantastic songs. "The Living End," "My Little Underground," and "In A Hole" cover the band's upbeat, no-holds-barred sonic assaults while the wonderful "Just Like Honey" and "Some Candy Talking" are the band's ventures into more relaxed, softer, but no less brilliant, territory. My review title is what I made of the album's sound, and if that description intrigues you, then you must go out and listen to this. Psychocandy is sadly not available in the States for some unfortunate reason, but the import is worth the time to find and the extra money. As Jack Black in High Fidelity said about Psychocandy, "I can't believe you don't already own this!"

This album is probably one of the greatest ever made. The only reason I gave it four stars is because the production (at least on my cd copy) is too quiet. These guys were known for being one of the loudest bands around. They caused riots back in the '80s, but the sound quality doesn't show it. If they ever get around to remastering this highly influential album, I'll be first in line to buy it. I had to pay extra just to buy it, as it's no longer availabe in the states. As for the music, it's incredible. Velvet Underground-esque pop songs laced with the raunchiest distortion and feedback you're ever likely to hear. These guys were 10 times wilder and noisier than their predecessors, the Velvet Underground.

What does this album sound like? Well, imagine a beautiful blues record by, say, B.B. King, played through a speaker resonating with feedback that sounds like a ballet between an aircraft engine and a chainsaw, and you'll have some idea of what this album is like! I guess that it was that 'tension' between the bluesy undertones and the ubiquitous feedback that tries so hard (but fails) to drown out that undertone that has always fascinated me. In either case, this is a masterpiece that was never to be duplicated again (neither by the J&MC nor by anyone else). And it is something that you either get or you don't; you'll either hate this with gusto or love it with passion.

Psychocandy is probably the first and best album of noise-pop you'll ever heard! First, this mix don't seem to make any sens, but that's in part why it's so great and timeless!

Every tune in Psychocanday make an excellent timeless pop tune (Doors, Becah Boys, Velvet Underground are influences here) with or without the wall of noise that display something new in every of the 15 tunes and add a dreamy, pre-schoegazing feeling to the music. The mix of real catchy and beautiful melodies to this textures of sounds is unique and no one have made it like the Jesus and Mary Chain before or since. The whole album does remind me of the second Velvet Underground album, but Psychocandy is mostly a pop album, not a proto-punk. Then, Jim Reid and William Reid vocals are perfect ; beautiful and dark like the music behind.

Masterpiece!

I bought this album when it came out. I'm 33 now and I still listen to it constantly, and NEVER get bored of it, or of any J&M Chain songs. I have all of their vinyl, still in pristine condition, and I will cherish their songs forever.
All I have to do is listen to "Just Like Honey", and I am 14 again.
They are the most underrated band on the planet, and thank God, because that is why we love them. Their shy brilliance, and poetic sadness is why we love them too.
p.s.: I'm still in love with Jim Reid after all these years! :-)