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The Jesus And Mary Chain
Psychocandy



East Kilbride's premier all-male girl-group's titanic debut.

The Jesus And Mary Chain

CDs were taking off in a big way and the smooth sounds of Linn drums, the Fairlight sampler and gated reverb were everywhere. How bracing it was, and still is, to be exposed to Hurricane Psychocandy. Channelling beehive'd pop fizz and S&M Warhol drugginess, the Jesus & Mary Chain conjured a mid-'60s New York of the mind, unhinged by mini-cyclones of feedback, intoxicated by sugared melodies and driven on by relentless, one-armed drums (thanks, Bobby Gillespie), while singer Jim Reid breathily daydreamed of being infected with parasites, feeling quick in his leather boots and unreal girls called Honey and Cindy. This was pop and experimentation in disharmonious harmony with itself, vivid and three-dimensional as it shimmered and raged on such being-fed-into-a-screaming-maw-of-slashing-knives triumphs as The Living End or Never Understand. There are moments of poetry as well - try Reid's plea, "Don't want you to need me" at the end of The Hardest Walk for a teenage breakup tune at odds with their destructive, dark side. Speaking of which, their early career saw rucks, tabloid thrill-seeking and suspicions of blasphemy (mooted B-side Jesus Suck suggested those, at least, were justified), but such concerns seem a long way away in 2009, especially when compared to this.

Ian Harrison

Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 24/09/2009

Further Listening

The Jesus & Mary ChainDarklands (Blanco Y Negro, 1987)

My Bloody ValentineLoveless (Creation, 1991)

The Velvet UndergroundWhite Light/ White Heat (Verve, 1968)


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The Jesus And Mary Chain

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