Customer Reviews

Thank God for Mental Illness

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It seems as though many have written this album off, even BJM fans. To me it remains their best work and the album I judge all other BJM albums by. It was how BJM was introduced to me, it was their first album I heard and I was instantly drawn to the raw sound and chaotic energy. Most of their other albums are more polished and clean, not to discount them, but I am always looking for a bit of that raw energy they captured on Thank God For Mental Illness when listening to their other works.

Supposedly recorded for $17, BJM's "Thank God for Mental Illness" puts most American bands to shame. This lo-fi, country-blues masterpiece is one of the great DIY American albums of all-time. Their supposed lack of originality seems to urk many people, but the quality of their songs and their sense of purpose cannot be questioned. Alongside the psychedelic-pop brilliance of the Elephant 6 recording company, they are the most important entity in american pop music today.

This is one of four CDs that BJM released in 1996 in between their club performances/bar brawls. I got turned on to the "country psychedia" sounds of this disc early last year in SF when I checked them out at a local club and was nearly hit in the head by this CD when it was flung from the stage as swag. While there would be little hyperbole in my saying that the BJM show was one of the best I've ever seen, I also took a quick liking to live, lo-fi tunes on this recording. This band wins on every single "cool" category that there is in rock, with the possible exception of coolest album art for this particular CD (although, they do take the top spot with coolest logo).

the first time I've seen anything about this band is the day I've seen on TV DIG! (go see it now!), the 7-years long documentary about the controversal relationship between BJM and Dandy Warhols, and in particular between Anton and Dandy's leader and songwriter (I don't even remember his name).
Then I bought this album, and I understood why everybody stay around this guy for a while is totally ipnotized: he's guided by sacred flame of art, his songs are made by the flow the goes through his body and his soul, with no sophistication at all.
I can say BJM is the most powerful example of uncontaminated music in America these days.

This album disgusts me. How can a bunch of junkies record one of the best albums I've heard in years, in one day for $17? (all 17 of which were probably spent on liquor) It puts all other bands to shame and proves definitively that the music industry is a cancer, making bands like BJM nearly impossible to find and hear.

5 of 5 stars I would give it 6 or 7 stars if i could. Haven't heard something this good in a really long time.

Why can't more people do this?

This album shows the genius and brilliant versatility of the Brian Jonestown Massacre! To me this music is incredibly important. It was recorded in 1996 so this is well before any 'rock revival' stuff coming out now. This is honest music that channels the eternal air of beat spirit.
"I walked to New York and back from LA, I lived on a mountain and once by the bay...Living today is just getting so bad, there's a look on your face and it says you've been had."
This music is genius. This band is genius. Do NOT ignore this album! Buy it or just download it for free off their official website.

It may be their best album, I can't quite decide. Yep, it is a bit country/folk influenced but then their is the 33 minute "Sound of confusion" which is pure BJM Psychedelica. Don't think twice, this album is gold.

If you claim to be a BJM fan and don't get this, then I guess you miss the whole point...

Your loss... BRILLIANT.

Okay folks. A bunch of people have labeled this album "worthless". They are wrong. Immensely wrong. Anton is an artist make no mistake about it, having produced some of the "greatest records ever made... ever" ~Courtney Taylor-Taylor. Influential and innovative inside a retro psyche-rock sound, BJM is just plain amazing. So buy the frickin album already. You'll be glad you did. Promise.

This album is fantastic. It is the album Neil Young and Bob Dylan wished they had written. Anyone who can't appreciate the genius of this music must be sonically challenged.