Disc of the day
Heaven 17 - Penthouse And Pavement
From Sheffield, synth pop and funk to stick it to Thatcher. Currently being played live!
(Blanco Y Negro, 1985)
East Kilbride's premier all-male girl-group's titanic debut.
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
The Jesus & Mary Chain – Darklands (Blanco Y Negro, 1987)
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless (Creation, 1991)
The Velvet Underground – White Light/ White Heat (Verve, 1968)
From Sheffield, synth pop and funk to stick it to Thatcher. Currently being played live!
6:00 AM GMT 18/03/2010
Essence De Choogle from John Fogerty and crew. Badass!
9:54 AM GMT 17/03/2010
Matt Johnson's self-excoriating - but tunepacked! -classic.
6:00 AM GMT 16/03/2010
Metal Britannica inspires MOJO metal amnesty. Studded leather wristbands aloft!
2:32 AM GMT 12/03/2010
For connoisseurs of pop-as-rupture-in-the-space/time-continuum
6:00 AM GMT 11/03/2010
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