Reviews (page 2 of 8)
⭐⭐⭐ Den initiala reaktionen är att det är en matta av brus, dist och ljud men under allt brus och ljud finns ganska typiska catchy pop-melodier. När jag vant mig tycker jag det är ganska ok, har lyssnat på The Jesus and Mary Chain tidigare och tänkt samma sak. Kan tänka mig att lyssna på det igen men det är nog inte min första go to så det blir en 3a. Bäst är Just like honey, Taste the floor, Cut dead, My little underground
Ergh. I’m just not getting it
The J&MC are just as listenable now as when they blasted onto the scene courtesy of the legendary John Peel.
Just a mess of feedback and emo singing. Not good.
Idk, sounds like noise pollution, had the potential to be great but I just don’t like the way the instruments sound, also the vocals are so low and boring, overall I only liked one song
I liked it, and it worked great as background music. But don't know if I will listen to it again.
Truly the central heating system of bands. Difficult to get into a first but then, so much to explore.
I still (mostly) hate shoegazey stuff but there are a couple perfect songs on here. When I heard “my head is dripping into my leather boots” I relaxed my shoulders and welcomed the rest of the album. 3.5
This had a nice sound but a little slow and boring. Happy for the listen but not searching out more.
As I go through this generator or the 1001 albums to hear before you die I realize that that there are really a lot of albums that I should hear before I die on this list. I also read other people’s reviews and understand that they aren’t as open minded when it comes to music. This was a strange album initially because the feedback was overwhelming and I just thought it was noise but then as I really listened there were these really poppy tunes under the noise. It began to grow on me. It made me realize that I really do like shoegaze and I know this was way before that I can see how they influenced a whole style of music but they also took the wall of sound idea and turn it on its head. Just a brilliant album. It forces you to listen and not just kind of listen and do other things I thoroughly enjoyed this.
Fed støj
Jeg husker altid den her plade som blødere fordi jeg har lyttet så meget til Just Like Honey. Den er ikke særlig blød! Fed tråd!!
Great noise, such reverb. Almost got tinnitus by listening at normal levels <3
I do own this one but I've never been that fussed and haven't heard it for ages! I quite enjoyed it..more than I remembered. Will probably give it another go at some point.
I can’t even able to handle the entire album. I felt like my ears are bleeding. Also too loud instrumental.
This came off as very boring and loud. I liked Darklands a lot more.
Like steel wool to my brain. Bit much here and there, but still enjoyable. Can definitely hear its influence beyond its time.
9/10
Spotify says they are "one of the most influential bands of their generation and beyond". If they ever were influential, I guess it was in sound engineering. Clearly every engineer ever listened to this crap thought about developing new methods to reduce the awful background noise.
Grew on me. Took quite a while for that to happen but eventually I went from ‘this is pretty dull’ to ‘this is pretty cool’. Wouldn’t probably listen again but not bad.
This was a fun one. I enjoyed the poppiness of the actual melodies, and the static and feedback just added an interesting layer that made this album feel very 90s, even though it was made in the 80s. You can tell this was influential to future bands.
The debut album by the JAMC contains two earthshattering songs, the feedback-drenched "Never Understand" and "You Trip Me Up" as well as the excellent "My Little Underground", but the rest of this record consists of also-rans that all follow roughly the same formula.
Tuneful but to be honest it's super hard to differentiate the songs. Not bad that they all blend but a bit odd as background noise.
Wanted to like this
Glad to finally give this a listen as they’re a name I had heard of but never knowingly listened to. This didn’t disappoint. Not an easy listen, pretty much the anti-pop to what I was probably listening to when this came out, so there’s no way I would have liked it then, but it fits well with me now.
Dope
Fine
For some reason coming in I thought this was a 60's psychodelic record that this list is so famous for. Instead we got an 80's post punk record that this list is so famous for instead. 6/10
It was fine, but probably won’t seek it out again.
this is some solid 80's alt
This is an interesting album for me, and I still don't really know what to do with it. I just can not take the noise rock songs, it's absolutely overpowering and ruins half the album for me. That said, there are tracks I do like quite a bit. I get some Lou Reed / Velvet Underground inspiration in some parts, but in others the feedback is absolutely grating. Taken as a whole work I just can't give it a good rating.
Ganz interessanter 80er Rock. Britisch industrielle/düstere Anklänge. Wird nicht mein Lieblings-Album, aber spannend zu hören. 3/5
I didn't love this. It started out kinda middling and just went downhill from there. I didn't hear a lot of melody and it just felt like hours upon hours of dreary droning flat-sounding chords and dry vocal fry. I would never listen again, but I've heard way worse. Two stars.
I think I get it, I also think it is too far up its own arse
This is an artist that I've seen a lot of at the local record shop, but I have never actually stopped to listen to their music. I thought this was pretty good, I enjoyed the pop-like melodies over the electric fuzz. Unfortunately, my enjoyment of this album was dampened somewhat because it made my tinnitus more noticeable, even though I was listening at a low volume. I liked it and it was innovative for the time, but my personal rating is going to be a little lower than I really want it to be. I also want to shout out this bit from the lyrics of "Sowing Seeds," which I found mildly amusing because it reads like it could be an iPhone advertisement: "Yes, I should be on my phone I'll go where that apple goes I touch with an apple touch" Favorite track: "Just Like Honey"
Anothrt
I liked this more than I thought I would
Et perfekt eksempel på styggvakker musikk. Støyete og deilig på samme tid. Best når det spilles høyt! Just Like Honey er så bra, The Hardest Walk også temmelig rå.
Had no idea what to expect. It wasn’t bad!
Not something I'm going to always run back to, but worth hearing occasionally.
This was pretty good, I know a little of their stuff but had listened to this one yet.
incredible listen. genuinely insane for 1985
Fine alternative rock/punk. Quite noisy and gazey. Fine if you like it, but obscure if you arent in the target demographic. I for one like the guitar writing and harmonies when they aren't trying to be a deafing noise rock spectacle. Theres almost no enhancement with studio recording of feedback. But I digress. Def listen before you die, and if you end up loving it its worth your time. Me? I'm gonna stand on the otherside of the fence and look on with no intention of coming over it.
Good
This album, too, is probably best described as “interesting.” On *Psychocandy*, The Jesus and Mary Chain explore the possibilities of the effects available at the time, such as: *How much you can distort a guitar sound with the means at your disposal (Answer: a lot, but it then becomes unpleasantly treble-heavy). *How much reverb drums and vocals can handle (answer: other new wave bands were even more daring in this regard). *How to use feedback in songs (answer: Jimi Hendrix had already done it better 16 years earlier). In summary, these are nice experiments, but they weren’t really carried out with the relevant technical expertise. On “Just Like Honey,” it’s still exciting, but it does wear a bit thin over time. Well...
Every one of their songs sounds like April Skies to me. I like that song, so it's not too bad, but maybe they could branch out a bit.
Very familiar with Just Like Honey, but that's pretty much it. First time listening after hearing this name forever. Honestly? Not bad. Not exactly what I was expecting honestly. Was expecting more B grade The Cure and less noisy Beat Happening. Enjoyed this one.
There were parts that I resonated with. But too much static for me to enjoy it fully. I can appreciate what they were doing though
I liked this for about 20 mins and then realised it all sounded the fucking same...
Trying to decide where I stand on this. I have it one listen. I enjoyed about half of the songs. The songs with a lot fuzzy guitars were not my favorite. May deserve a re-listen or two.
different than i thought. like cigarettes after sex in another world.
Nope. Heavier than expected
The Jesus And Mary Chain – Psychocandy (1985) On Day 219, I had really polarizing feelings about this album. I definitely liked "Just Like Honey" and "Never Understand," but as for the rest of the tracklist, I honestly don't know what to make of it. It felt like endless noise with the lyrics buried so deep beneath the heavy instrumentals and feedback that it became genuinely hard to grasp the overall concept of the record. A couple of solid tracks, but overall a frustrating listen. A flat 2/5.
This album sounds exactly as if you've gone to the toilet while the band is on stage and decided to listen from there rather than inside the venue. Literally just mediocre pop/rock with a load of reverb. "In a Hole" is the first track I found actively unpleasant, like trying to listen to a song while someone is using a band-saw. I'll "Never Understand" how anyone could score this above a 1.
Very excited for pre mbv shoegaze There are 2 types of songs in this album: Noisy and Abrasive Dreamy and Fuzzy and they are both amazingggg! The dreamy and fuzzy albums feel like you are in a cosy dimly lit room wrapped in a blanked with a hot chocolate when it's cold outside. The noisy abrasive side of the album is a lot harder to explain why it's amazing. But I'll try! There's this concept of resisting and leaning into emotional experiences. Roller coasters can either be terrifying or thrilling depending on if you lean into it or not. Noise is the same. If you lean into it you get a meditative experience of feeling your brain shutting down in response to being overwhelmed. It's gives me a similar feeling to the moments before sleep or when I've been on laughing gas. Still conscious but my brain has shut down.
Proto-Shoegaze music. Not a big fan of the very trebly production and tinny sounding vox.
This shit gave me a headache instantly. Horrible. This should have the reputation Kollaps has on this site
To begin with I was quite enjoying this - I thought that, for 1985, it sounded ahead of its time and it put me in mind of some of the 90s indie music I enjoyed at the time. However, I didn't feel there was a lot of variety on show, and it pretty much descended into background noise for me. Not sure I'd listen again.
I always thought The Jesus and Mary Chain were a heavy metal band. I'm glad they aren't because I really enjoyed my time with this album.
Me and noise rock are like water and oil.
Not much of a variety pack, you hear one song and you've mostly heard them all, but they've got some cool sound anyhow. Not necessarily outshining similar bands but still nice
Ok. Alternative grunge. Liked it better than yesterday’s. More inclined to a 2 than a 3. One song did not feel good to my ears but ok.
Barely even trying is trying hard enough for me
Appropriate amount of fuzz mixed with harmony and garage tone.
Not horrible but not memorable
Holy shit that is grating to the point of being unlistenable. Was like an irritating “wall of sound”. If they weeent intentionally trying to blast the treble noise to make it sound like shit, the melodies wouldn’t have been terrible. DNF
Is it pleasant to listen to? No. Is that on purpose? I mean yeah. It’s a fine album; there are some decent pop sensibilities drowned out by fuzz and distortion. I’m not a big shoegaze fan (does this fit there? No clue specifically) and it does fell like it nestles as a precursor to Sonic Youth or something. Not my jam.
certainly more interesting when it's fuzzed out almost beyond comprehension, but the base music simply has nothing for me.
Favorite Track: Just Like Honey
scott pop isn't that different than brit-pop. and i don't like brit pop.
Not much of a thought, seemed insanely proto noise pop. However I will need another listen
I'd rather look at a shoe for the duration of the album than listen to this again. 2.
Personal enjoyment: 4/5 Relevance to this list: 5/5
Knew them only by name, but never listened before. It was a great surprise. Incredibly ahead of its time - it's insane to think that this is a 1985 album. I lived through the 80s, and nothing sounded like that back then. It's like Joy Division or The Cure on acid, and it most certainly opened the way to a lot of later noise bands and to the typical fuzzy distortions of the 90s. It's a pity they later chose to renounce this kind of sonic experiments, joining the cohorts of radio-friendly pop-rock bands. As much as I like this album, it does also sound a bit repetitive ; the band only relies on a couple of gimmicks that are repeated again and again. But that's probably the price of inovation, so I can't really hold it against them. I need more time to digest this, so it will be a 3* for now - but I will certainly listen again. 6/10
Love it. Although I listned it years after, it stills refresh the nostalgia vibe. I love the etheral voice, the punk chords on a slow tempo, even the Velvet Underground sound and referernces in teh incidental "Some Candy talking".
Right from the second track, I couldn’t help thinking of My Bloody Valentine, with that huge wall of distorted guitars. The noisy/euphoric alternation every other song feels incredibly modern for its time. I found this album well above the average output of the decade, even if it’s not consistently great from start to finish. A really nice surprise.
So, my phone is dying and on 'life support' which means I have to get a new one soon so I took this project to my laptop, which was fine. When I put this album on I had to figure out if my LAPTOP speakers weren't on the fritz! Huh? This 'style' (feedback) choice is ... something. It's like leaving your mirrors dirty so your image is intentionally blurry. I suppose you could do that, but why? The effect is **overwhelming** on this album and is frankly difficult to listen to. The music behind the screen of aural 'dirt' is OK, I guess. I don't know if I can give it a fair shake because of the style choices. This was a difficult listen and even the tracks I could make out just -- pun intended -- blurred into one another. I appreciate that it was 'groundbreaking' for its time, I'm just glad no one (that I liked and/or that used these effects some) didn't spend an ENTIRE album behind the feedback screen. (2/5)
Ugh. Maybe it's the mild tinnitis, but I always have issues with bands that deploy a wall of constant distortion and reverb. While I found that Just Like Honey scratched an itch, The Living End broke the skin, and this album took on various degrees of "no thank you" from there.
149. The Jesus And Mary Chain - Psychocandy (1985) 7.21.26 Variety: 4 Adequacy: 5 Listenability: 5 Uniqueness: 5 Emotionality: 4 = 4.6 rounded up to a 5 This is another I heard a LONG time ago, possibly when going through the Rolling Stone list or some other one. In my brain, I always get their name mixed up with the Stone Roses, I think maybe because I listened to them nearly back to back. Those guys are on here too, so I'll save my thoughts on them for then, but the thing I do remember being struck by ( from both bands) was how ahead of the curve they were - especially these guys though. The Jesus and Mary Chain exist in that strange territory occupied by the Meat Puppets and a few others who make you pause to go and make sure the label said what you thought - yep, 1985. How is that possible? 1985 is supposed to sound like Phil Collins, Chaka Khan, Foreigner, and Madonna... "Here it comes/ Can't you hear the sound of it/ Just like a big brass drum" THE TRACKS Side one "Just Like Honey" - The big single that still gets airplay on the cooler satellite radio stations, I imagine this was their hit, if they had any off of this thing. Without reading too much, and my brain is fuzzy about what I've most certainly read in the past, this seems to be one of those classics in retrospect, where people clamor to re-appraise how influential it was despite not selling much. I might be way off base there though. Either way, we start in an relatively iconic way with a beat taken right out of the Shangri-La's "Leader of the Pack" ( I'm sure it was used well before and many times after - but that's the song that burned it into my brain) and fuzzed out reverby guitars that add, along with the echoey, lazy vocals, add a very dreamy atmosphere that I think is going to stretch over this whole album. A very basic, but pretty melodic structure that is given a much more epic feel from all of the effects going on. If you're gonna have a signature track, you cold do a hell of a lot worse. I can very easily see how the distortion and noise suffusing the thing could turn off a lot of people, but this pushes all my buttons and then some. For comparison, especially if the noise is an issue for you, check out the stripped down (mostly acoustic I think?) demo version to really get a good look at the 60s influences going on here. I'm surely not the first to describe them in a similar way, but these guys are like if the Velvet Underground were way into bubblegum pop and girl groups and decided to cut an album with Phil Spector. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw06GSXnqnM "The Living End" - Hell yeah. More 60s influenced garage pop, this time even using some of that faux-rebellious attitude to add some fun sneer, and an almost surf beat rhythm ( or is that more of a Krautrock influence?). Not sure if they were an influence or not, but this also puts me in mind of some stuff by Suicide. Catchy as it is, I could see the dostortion and ear-pounding abandon of it all being very transalatable to so many other genres. (I checked and there's everything from thrashcore, to goth, to spacey psychedelic covers floating around the youtubes). "Taste the Floor" - I know by this point a LOT of people are starting to deeply regret putting this one on, but to me this is ear candy. very simple "Ramones in slow motion" melody is super hummable, and I'm just swimming in the hazy fog of guitar noise. The influence on the shoegaze and drone pop scenes from this had to have been pretty massive. I can imagine SO many teenage weirdos being prompted to pick up that guitar they had gathering dust in the corner and try and replicate this sound. Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine must have anyway. "The Hardest Walk" - We get another Ramones-ish track, this time what seems like a break up song. By this point, if you haven't given up, the wall of noise has wrapped itself so thoroughly around your ears that I imagine you must have started to realize how sugary sweet these melodies all are. I made the slow-motion reference earlier, but imagine instead the band is being slowly covered in amber, still alive somehow, and determined to play all the way through until they are frozen forever on the very last note of the last song. Beautiful stuff to me, but then I love me some droning distorted ambience. "Cut Dead" - The Shangri-Las beat is back, and more honey references, this time in a little tale of infatuation with someone who seems resigned to return that unadulterated worship with a bit of abuse. But it's all in good fun, right? The guitars are a bit more jangly here, and the tone is even more romantic somehow. "In a Hole" - The boys switch things up here, with maybe the most abrasive song yet, opening with some feedback and launching forward with more Suicide vibes as a screeching constant shriek of white noise cuts the whole song in half lengthways, all while a driving krautrock beat pulses forward. There's also more than a little Iggy and the Stooges influence here, with the verse especially seeming to give a nod towards their "Search and Destroy". Slow this down by a third and maybe pitch it down and you're also not very far away from a goth sound. "Taste of Cindy" - What seems to be a very toxic relationship is outlined on the album's shortest number, and we get even more distortion as it feels like the album is possibly disintegrating as we keep playing it, and the still very pretty melody gets a bit harder to discern underneath all the crunch and sizzling feedback. All this drops away just momentarily to reveal that's not just a bunch of unshielded cables or electrical interference. Side two "Never Understand" - The band seems to dip into some Beach Boys for inspiration on this one. While still a good time, the "uh-uh huh" choruses feel slightly less inspired that anything we've previously heard. The pained screaming in the background does not help much either. "Inside Me" - The heavy bass, motoric beat and the lower register vocals make this the gothiest track yet. I can easily imagine the sea of black trenhcoats all bopping up and down in place at the Batcave. If some earlier tracks sounded like Ramones in slow motion, this one is equal parts Stooges and Joy Division. "Sowing Seeds" - A return to the prettier, dreamy sound of "Just Like Honey" but with a more soaring and upbeat guitar work that contrasts very nicely with the lyrics about alienation. Perfect music for an outsider to trance out to, alone in their room. Worth noting that the line "Yeah, I should be on my phone" feels weirdly timely. The choice to say "my" instead of "the" makes it sound more modern than it should maybe. "My Little Underground" - I hear more than a little of the "Summertime Blues" on this bouncy number in both the beat and the swinging guitar line. No idea if Eddie Cochran was a direct influence or not though. That's two in a row about isolation, this time with more of a voluntary, manic, and paranoid flavor. Social distancing taken to the extreme maybe, but still very relatable in these times. "You Trip Me Up" - Drawing from the same well no doubt, but the Ramones sound is even stronger on this one as we get what , to my ears anyway, sounds almost like a direct lift of the "Blitzkrieg Bop" guitar melody. Try playing this at 1.5 speed and it becomes much more noticeable. This as fun and catchy as a song about someone being stepped on and mistreated by the object of their affection. There's a bit of redundancy here with "Cut Dead" thematically, but it's all welcome - even the piercing bit of noise at the end. "Something's Wrong" - I mentioned Joy Division earlier, but one can imagine a cleaner, de-fuzzed version of this as a New Order song, right down to the deep twangy bass parts. This also leans into that sort of sadly majestic, dreamy quality that the best New Order stuff evokes, especially on tracks like "Ceremony" or "Temptation". "It's So Hard" - The album ends on a still fine note, but a bit uglier, and less concerned with melody as it is with the driving beat. The pop sensibilities fall away on this one and we're left with a more sinister and gravelly bit of garage drone that owes more to Suicide than it does the Ramones. HIGHLIGHTS - "Just Like Honey" - "The Living End" - "Taste the Floor" - "The Hardest Walk" - "Cut Dead" - "In a Hole" - "Taste of Cindy" - "Inside Me" - "Sowing Seeds" - "My Little Underground" - "You Trip Me Up" - "Something's Wrong" MIDLIGHTS - "Never Understand" - "It's So Hard" LOWLIGHTS - FINAL THOUGHTS This album checks a LOT of my boxes. Mid 80s postpunk era? Reverby, effects laden, gothy noise rock? Sickly sweet bubblegum sound? All of this is there, and it's wrapped up in a super cohesive sounding little package that assaults the senses at the same time it placates them. It's like 50% rough texture and attitude and 50% the most hummable jingly jangly pure teenybopper melodies you could aspire to. Despite the TONS of influence these guys soaked in to cobble together their sound, did anyone else sound like them when this came out? It's as clear a positive case for the transformative and incestuous nature of pop music as I can think of. And it deserves the legacy of massive influence that it still retains. I'm sure, like in so many cases, as the years have gone by there have been plenty of "well what about this band?" arguments and maybe there were others out there independently happening upon some convergent evolution of a similar sound, but these were the guys that the people actually heard and took note of. I remember liking this one when I first heard it, but not nearly as much as I did this go around. The decades have been very kind to this one and it still sounds fresh to me. I can see how it gels a lot more with how my tastes have changed over the years too, as the noisy shroud that hangs over all of this would have frustrated me a bit more. There's much more of this sort of thing in my musical diet now, and this doesn't seem like such an anomaly. It's one I definitely plan on revisiting, and has inspired me to dig further into their catalogue, and maybe give some a listen to more of their influences and the bands they themselves went on to influence. Most of all, this has my psyched to finally get to My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless". PLAYLIST ALTERATIONS - Nope FURTHER LISTENING ""Leader of the Pack"" by the Shangri-Las - The Velvet Underground & Nico by The Velvet Underground & Nico - Raw Power by Iggy and the Stooges - Ramones by the Ramones - Suicide by Suicide - Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division - Substance by New Order - Bad Moon Rising by Sonic Youth - Loveless by My Bloody Valentine - Just for a Day by Slowdive - Everything's Alright Forever by the Boo Radleys - Chain Gang of Love by the Raveonettes
The SCREECHING! The Screeching in the walls! There might have been a decent album here but I literally couldn’t hear it. The wall of reverb noise kept the music and me on separate sides. I read the reviews where listeners were going on about how good the melodies and hooks were and believe me when I say i heard none of that. I only heard the screech, the noise. It never mixed to make a complete sound. I enjoyed this at about the 1/5 level but I’m giving it a 2/5 because the brief few times when the noise parted and the music was revealed I could see myself digging it. It never lasted though so I’m not sure I can give those parts of the album an honest review. I do wonder what this band sounded like live. On the studio album here whatever they were trying to do with this mix did not work for me.
Over two months ago, I wrote in my review of The Jesus and Mary Chain's "Darklands": "As much as I enjoy The Jesus and Mary Chain, I believe that one of their albums is sufficient for this list. Their style remains consistent throughout their catalog and including two albums is redundant. "Psychocandy" is the better of the two. Skip this one and wait for it." I stand by this statement. Also, raise it a half-star for Sophia Coppola's use of "Just Like Honey" in the final scene of the classic movie, "Lost In Translation."
Meh.
Honestly better when played loudly. Can see how this'd influence a few different artists I like.
2/10 Didn't enjoy too much
Цікаво) Назва мені подобається.
Favourite Songs: Taste The Floor In A Hole
Toliko loš zvuk da sam mislila da mi ne radi konekcija sa zvučnicima. Pred kraj albuma smanjim treble i čujem nešto nalik na muziku. Vjerovatno je cijeli album ispod škripe nešto nalik na muziku.
I remember this being pretty groundbreaking when it came out.
Neat, hadn’t tried the jesus and mary chain til now, i like it. Feel like the vocals get overpowered in a fair few tracks like The Living End though, and taste the floor is very screechy. Standouts are
I listened to the album twice. The first time I thought it was interesting, and the second time less so.
This is the first time sitting down and listening to an entire The Jesus and Mary Chain album. The sound is very low key and haunting. A lot of distorted guitar work but the lead voice always comes through. I have to say I enjoyed every cut on the album. The sound may seem monotonous to some but it's a sound I really like.
Such a great sound - they clearly listened to a lot of Velvet Underground and a lot of Be My Baby and just mashed them together over and over and I love it. One of the only 80s bands who used reverb in a way that feels romantic and emotional rather than cheap shitty 80s poppy. And when they're going for guitar noise it's really noise - felt like they made this album extra loud on spotify somehow. Just Like Honey is so great and most of the other songs feel like they wrote half a song and then spent the rest of their time fiddling with guitar pedal knobs. Worth it though such great guitar sounds.
I wouldn't say I am necessarily a big fan of Noise Pop/Rock, but The Jesus and Mary Chain make quite a compelling argument for me to go back and give the genre a proper chance thanks to their debut album Psychocandy. It is a dance party in the middle of a concrete tunnel as all the noise continues to build up and splash you in the face with each passing note. This album is definitely a bit overwhelming at times but if you let the noise consume you it is a pretty enjoyable time all things considered. A lot of the elements that make this album unique such as the "wall of sound" feel to it all also hinder some of the other elements I'd like to see The Jesus and Mary Chain expand upon like with their songwriting or more detailed instrumentation. Just Like Honey is exactly what I'd like to see more of if this band continues down the Noise Rock genre as it felt like a perfect blend for my personal palette. All things considered, Psychocandy is a pretty solid start that surely helped establish this group as a new force in the Goth scenes of the 80s and for good reason, it is raw as hell!
Great, early shoegaze....I shouldnt have liked this because Im not crazy about a lot of their contemporaries and the hundreds of Pitchfork darlings that copied their sound, but something about this album really worked for me. Maybe its the repeated use of "Be My Baby" beat. 4 stars.
Lovely noise
Perfect pop broadcasting from another dimension
Now I like fuzz. It’s a great effect. This took that waaaaay too far. It was used so aggressively that it made a lot of the songs sound like they were playing through a radio that could barely get a station. Just Like Honey is the only song I knew, and that’s because it was in Lost in Translation. It’s a decent song. The rest I could barely understand or enjoy. Overall, it was an unpleasant listening experience.
si no te gusto este disco te invito amablemente a recontra cagarnos bien a trompadas
well...it felt okay
this would be my favorite album if I was a rebellious teenage vampire
Album 254. Psychocandy (https://open.spotify.com/album/4NGWe17wxoQvF0an1ps49l?si=B3NPO_WES2qD8bTKrceT9w) — The Jesus And Mary Chain (1985) It's expectedly bad and unexpectedly very likeable for me. Noisy, distorted rock 3/5 Liked: — Just Like Honey — Cut Dead — Inside Me
Fuzz fuzz fuzz fuzz fuzz fuzz Fuzz fuzz fuzz. I still don't fully get it some days.
The reverb hurts my ears, please fix it - thanks! Best Song: Just Like Honey Rating: 4/10 Stars: 2
early 60s pop songs played on industrial equipment. suddenly Cindy Lee seems a lot less impressive. i really like how this album sounds extremely 80s with the gated drums and jangle pop undertones. it's a perfect example of the contrasts that make noise pop so good. it's loud and screechy yet gentle and poppy. wonderful! deserves to be one of the 1001? yes and not just because i really like it. it's an extremely important milestone in the development of noisy rock music
Not as bad as I expected.
this is the warped kind of 80s that is kinda nice. it sounds like some sad but uptempo 80s is having a concert in a sheetmetal processing industrial park. 3/5
I had never heard this one. A couple tracks were nearby unlistenable, but there were some good atmospheric fuzzy moments too.
A simple formula - girl groups meets feedback. Not a terrible idea and not terribly executed here but not super listenable either.
Nope!!
1/5
There are songs on here that I love and come back to but I prefer them in small doses.
-i don’t know if i would ever listen to something like this in my free time but somehow i also enjoyed it -kind of a unique sound that blended noise rock with more traditional 80s pop sounds, i had heard of this band but wasn’t quite expecting that from them. glad i listened for sure and there were some songs i loved -Favorites: Just Like Honey, In A Hole
Nja... Enstaka låtar absolut men inte ett helt album. Tröttnade någonstans efter halva faktiskt. Men gillar Just like honey jättemycket och även Sowing seeds
Crazy that this was 1985! Sonic Youth, Velvet Underground, Pixies, Dinosaur Jr... Curious what this would sound like without the distortion.
I live next-door to one of the drummers for three years, never was quite sure what his group was all about. Turns out they’re pretty good.
They seem to have two blueprints for songs: the slower ones and the faster, noisier ones. The latter ones are nearly indistinguishable: the voice drowns in the noisy, jangling guitars and the drummer seems to know only 2 or 3 patterns.
Heard of them but never listened. Well that was a mistake. Jangly guitars and a great singer. I'm definitely hear traces of the Only Ones and Echo and the Bunnymen.
The noisiest pop album you'll ever hear. At least from the 80s, anyway. I love how in some songs it's already noisy, and then they somehow ramp it up another level and make it even more abrasive. This somehow tickles both the part of me that loves shoegaze AND the part that loves early industrial, while being neither. Glorious, glorious noise!
It was aight kinda felt like fuzzy early psych rock
Little pop songs wrapped in noise. High 3.
Seeing this being labelled as shoegaze, almost 10 years before Loveless, I was a little surprised. I knew my bloody valentine existed before Loveless, but I always considered it to be the birth of shoegaze. And having listened to this, I think that's still a fair assumption. This has a lot of the distortion and noise that is characteristic of shoegaze, but it doesn't go far enough. It's more like pop with distortion than real shoegaze. At its most daring it has its toes over the line, but they never take the full step. Regardless though, this is a really solid album. Favorites: The Living End, In a Hole, Something's Wrong
Lowk ahh
Oh man. This sucks to do. i don't understand because I feel like shoegaze should be up my street? Like, I like music that's more about mood and texture than lyrics. I love Cocteau Twins. I just was listening to track after track here and cannot for the life of me remember how a single one went, or even that there were any I was enjoying in the moment. They completely washed over me like murky water. Anything distinctive I *do* remember, I didn't like. Turns out while Cocteau Twins' unintelligible lyrics are mesmerising and dreamlike in a positive way, Jesus and the Mary Chain's just kind of prick my misophonia. So this 1 star is to be taken to mean: I didn't like anything about this album. That doesn't mean I hated it and would never listen to it again. But right now I cannot think of a single nice thing to say about it that's not from its Wikipedia page. Maybe I should be listening to all these albums sitting doing absolutely nothing so I can focus on them. But I feel like if I can't even passively enjoy them while working out or walking to work or making dinner, and I'm not compelled to try listening to them a second time, then that's on the album.
I can try to make excuses for why I like this but I don't owe that to anyone after some of the dogshit on this list. It's abrasively loud guitars with simple songs mimicking old girl group songs. All of the descriptive analogies of the reviews are apt and creative. I couldn't come up with anything better. This is definitely on my personal 1001 list.
*Love the fuzz guitars and lo-fi punk sound *Do not like that the vocals sound like they are bored with their own band...I know this is fundamental to later shoegaze, but I don't like that genre at all.
This was excellent. I felt like listening to this I could hear grunge, britpop and so many other alt genres that came after.
The Jesus And Mary Chain are the originally noise poppers. This album laid a strong foundation for what-was-to-become shoegaze. With all that being said, this is crazy noisy album. For example "In a Hole" is just like the "You Made Me Realise" noise section but worse and is throughout the entire song. There's a couple other songs like this. I was hugely intolerant to this album when I first listened to it in 2024, way before I got into shoegaze, noise pop and related genres. The second time was way more tolerable. These guys have a really nice sense of melody, they can make such ear-worms work so well with the unforgiving noise. Some of the songs that excel at this aspect are "The Hardest Walk" and "Taste of Cindy." I think this is one of THOSE, where I'll grow to like it. I'm still a bit iffy about it; it hasn't fully converted me yet. I have quite an affinity for other noise pop/shoegaze songs and albums. I believe eventually I'll like it. Highlight Song/s: "The Hardest Walk" and "Taste of Cindy"
Just a beautiful amount of distortion.
Man this album just didn’t work for me. Thankfully I know exactly what didn’t work for me. It’s the production. I hate the sound of guitars just being a wall of fuzz. I just think it gets grating and old if it’s the WHOLE album. I almost gave the album a 1 but then the first opening track really won me over. “Just like Honey” is a great song and I feel like it makes the style and production make more sense, but the decision to continue with that sound and make it fuzzier and more unintelligible as the album goes just completely loses me. Great potential on this album, like the vocals and the chill vibe, but as a whole it just misses the mark so hard.
TTake the Shangri-Las pop and sunny surf-era Beach Boys melodies and drench it with reverb and sheets of ear-splitting noise and feedback and there you go: Psychocandy. And it's great. I didn't get into J&MC until the Automatic era, when the noise was dialed back a lot, and the songs still had a sunny feel letting the pop hits shine through. For me, today, this noisier stuff works way better. I think the underlying songs are more consistent and more consistently interesting. Here, the drum machines are so fuzzed up under the reverb that they sound like they're being played in a distant room and probably by a real person, but they're up front and mechanical in Automatic in a way that sometimes puts me off. Funny that the albums generator has put me on a on a streak of really noisy late 80s stuff, two Sonic Youth albums, Dinosaur Jr., and now Psychocandy all in the same week. They're all albums that helped me develop a taste for raw, barbed, noisy music. Even though I came to this one belatedly, it's a favorite. Yeah, I think people ought to hear it, it's a classic. 5/5
Not something I necessarily like, but this was fine. Shoegaze and indy stuff are just not my thing, but at least this wasn't boring me out of my mind as it usually does.
Liked it. A fine noise-rock album.
This album is not as bad as all the reviews make it out to be!
This was not good. I hated this vocalist. I just couldn't get into this album at all. Do you think this band knows what reverb is? Cause God everything just clashed with itself. This was definitely not my favorite at all. Actual Rating...1.5 Liked Songs: "The Living End" , "The Hardest Walk" , "Inside Me" , "Sowing Seeds"
Cowards don't like this. Always cracks me up how tough the Reid brothers try to come across whilst looking like they do. Particularly as older men.
I do like J&MC and the cleaner tracks here are awesome, but I have to admit that this is quite often a difficult and even unpleasant listen
It's like a step before an album i would really enjoy
This really is the sum of its ingredients. Phil Spector, Velvet Underground, Industrial Noise and pop. This would be in the top 5 albums I'd whack on if getting into heroin.
I enjoyed this much, much more than Darklands. It's a similar style, but Psychocandy leans heavily into noise, which really suits my preferences. I appreciate the attempts to evolve your sound, but Darklands just felt like it was holding back throughout. Even with these mixing choices, Psychocandy is an emotionally potent album and it's a contrast that's incredibly well executed. In short, the name of the album is very fitting. There are a couple of clunkers here, but nothing truly bad, just a couple of moments where the whole thing becomes a bit repetitive. Thankfully, there are a couple of more peaceful tracks to relieve the pressure and they usually come at the right time. Sadly, the closer is easily the worst track and it slightly sours the entire experience. I think this is the first piece of music associated with Bobby Gillespie that I've enjoyed. Favourite track: Just Like Honey
MORE GAIN. MORE REVERB. LETS MAKE THIS 1 MILLION DECIBELS. Sounded like a primitive and darker Stone Roses demo.
Ergh. I’m just not getting it
Yet and another band this week that I was totally unfamiliar with. I did kind of like this album, but not enough to push it into four star territory. It is a strong three stars, however.
Opened a lot of doors for me growing up :) "you mean all the fuzz is an option?!"
Finally some good music
I listened to Darklands a while back and absolutely loved it, wondering why I hadn't listened to The Jesus and Mary Chain more back in the day. I was excited, as well as apprehensive about this album, knowing it'd be more raw sounding. I mostly enjoyed it, though. Yes it was more rough around the edges than Darklands, but the same sound was underneath the more noise aspects. As the album went on I felt there was a sameness to it, but I liked it well enough that I wasn't bothered by that. Standout songs were Just Like Honey (awesome), Cut Dead, and Sowing Seeds. It's a 3.5 that will be bumped up to a 4.
Als ik m'n rating van het andere album teruglees ervaar ik deze een stuk meer als shoegaze dan post-punk. Maar wat weet ik er van, niet zo gruwelijk veel eigenlijk. Het is aan de schelle kant voor iemand die schelle geluiden haat kan ik wel vertellen. Tussen de 2 en 3 voor mij. Ik hou wel van de sfeer, maar de nummers an sich doen me weinig en het is af en toe wel echt schel. Niveautje remmende treinen. Ik heb dan toch liever MBV.
Unknown band to me. I didn't like the vocal and music is a bit raunchy for me.
Very nice synth groove. I hope to come back to this one.
could not even listen to one song. not my vibe
will revisit, didnt finish, was ok
I’ve listened to 950 or so albums on here by now, and here’s what I’ve learned: When there’s guitar noise and fuzz and feedback, but it’s melodic underneath, you’re listening to something good. Pretty much every anything else is 75%+ likely to be bad.
I liked the first song, but after that the sound mixing was just off. Too much screeching guitar feedback and noise. It was hard to actually hear the music and vocals.
Yuck.
I think I wanted to like this more than I did. I have heard of the bands influence on other artists that I really like. So I figured it would connect more with me than it did. It started off good but it kinda lost me halfway through or so. But maybe I just didn't give it enough attention.
These guys from Scotland were a pleasant surprise. They're kind of similar to U2 but they have their own distinct sound and lots of killer songs.
Звучит словно вам надели на голову ведро и со всей силы долбят по нему железной трубой, а на фоне грустный парнишка поёт. Короче, это один из моих самых любимых альбомов, реально титан, породивший кучу жарнов и вдохновивиший тысячи групп. Гениальная штука.
Some interesting songs, but a bit too filled with noise
Loved the melodies, but the constant guitar feedback made it a pretty exhausting listen. Still a really cool and unique album. A solid 4/5.
I found this interesting, if a bit raucous in places.
Shoegaze got off to a rough start. I don't have nearly enough fidelity to listen to this proper. You need a deafening wall of speakers to get this loud enough to appreciate.
Unknown gem for me!
No amount of noise can save these songs from their blandness. There are some decent tunes here and I do generally enjoy the noisy wall of sound even if it can occasionally veer into being too abrasive. But it somehow just ends up being a bit uninteresting to listen to for me.
One night on Peel I heard Never Understand and bought tbe 12'' the next day and loved the total noise, so got the album and wasn't disappointed. There are similarities with this LP and the Bunnymen and that's not a bad thing I don't think their later releases bettered this debut album, maybe musically they did but not for sheer bravado and impact
Weird to get the first of two Jesus and Mary Chain albums so far into the project (#874), but I'm glad they're coming in chronological order (and also glad that the editors' mania for Scottich bands didn't extend to including *all* of their albums). Despite knowing their name for decades, I've always had a hard time pinning down exactly what they sound like--possibly because I usually assume that they must have sounded a bit like Alice in Chains, given the similar words in the band name. (Clearly not a very good assumption.) My confusion persisted when I heard the long-familiar opening track ("Just like honey"), and I assumed the rest of the album would have that proto-shoegaze-y sound, almost like an intelligible version of The Cocteau Twins. Of course, that doesn't quite fit the album either, although I have to say that by the end of it my head was ringing a bit from the amount of drone-like noise that seems to permeate nearly every track; the highlights for me were the few tracks that escaped this muddy sound, like "The hardest walk" the bonus track "Some candy talking". (I'm also shocked that the sonic assault of "Never understand" and the broken-Beach-Boys-inspired "You trip me up" somehow became singles alongside "Just like honey", as they're so *un*-radio-friendly.) It'll be interesting to see how much "Darklands" differs from their debut, and hopefully for the better. I feel a bit badly downgrading them to two stars, but this debut album doesn't feel like the right exposure to the Scottish lads that we (or they) deserve.
I prefer Barbed Wire Kisses, but this isn't bad. I like their sound for about a half hour and then I get tired of how little it changes, despite whatever it is they're playing.
Never heard of album or band. Both of them scream alt which brings down my expectations. Hate the cover too, I don’t think this album is going to be for me. Also the fact that it came out in the mid 80s and I’ve don’t recognize any of the songs is BAD. Cool guitar sound on just like honey. Bullshit vocals. Writing isn’t bad tho. Living end is much better. None of the alt angst that I hate. Awesome guitar again. This one isn’t as well written tho. And the vocals are so quiet. Similar feelings with taste the floor. Awesome guitar again. Rest of it is eh. Catchier chorus on this one. Hardest walk is pretty good too, I just don’t like what they’re doing with the vocals on these. Just sing normal. I actually think I may have heard cut dead before. This one is pretty good. Well written again, bullshit vocals again. Other than that just a run of the mill rock song. Sound is off on in a home. Guitar is way too loud. I want to turn up the volume to hear the singing but then it just hurts my ears because of the screeching guitar. Taste of Cindy was fine. Super quick. Nothing special. Hate the screeching to open never understand. Better vocals on this one. Inside me is really well produced aside from the sound engineering once again. Sowing seeds is really catchy when you can actually hear what he’s saying. The bad sound engineering is really hurting my head. I don’t even have my headphones up. More do the same with somethings wrong. Really cool guitar tho. Cool guitar riff on it’s so hard. Sound is till fucked up. Musically it’s JAA with a good guitar, but the production is just not good. 1.7/5 stars.
Insoportable de escuchar.
çok sarmadı
Boy do I love when the vocals are all muddy and buried under really distorted guitars.
I’m glad they fixed a lot of the recording issues (even if they were most likely intentional) on Darklands. The songwriting is so buried in all of the reverb here that it just becomes a grating listen.
It's not my thing at all. Pretty dismal sound, depressing as fuck, had to switch it off about half-way through, before I slashed my wrists.
It's easy to appreciate giving this one a single listen in my lifetime. I've been into shoegaze and distortion and it's cool to see the building blocks, and I can sympathize with people who enjoy filling up the entire sound wave with sound, even if it's just a distorted power chord. Today it feels intense, repetitive, and the monotonous vocals aren't winning me over either. Not something I'd stick around for. 2.3/5
Eh. Cool but nothing I’d revisit
I don’t know what happened here but I absolutely hated this. Way too grainy and just gave me a headache.
Liked it when I was younger but now sounds like a wall of distorted noice.
This album is not bad, but not great.
Better than their second album. A bit more palatable, but I can only listen to the droning for so long, three stars.
Big melodies, big noise.
I came to the JAMC a bit later - Automatic, Honey’s Dead - and they were briefly my favourite band, but Psychocandy and Darklands were hard to find or too expensive on import so I came to those even later. Maybe too late! There’s a lot I admire about Psychocandy and it is something of a perfect mix of harsh and soft, noise and jangle, clearly the jumping off point for at least 2 genres to follow. But the songs themselves are perhaps too basic for me and have never had the hold on me that their other material still does.
Noisy, lo-fi-ish, rocking and interesting. A bit of an assault on the senses. Maybe not great background music for doing tasks.
3 1/2 stars. I should listen to this again.
Stunning. The guitar tone is out of control. Just Like Heaven alone sends the album to masterpiece territory. God I love this record
Top track: My Little Underground This was pretty good
What the fuck is this shit?
experimental like sonic youth. 2.5
This is like sixties pop without the pop, lots of jangly guitars and depressing lyrics
Ok, not great, not bad, just ok. 3 stars
I thought I would like this more. I in the past had listen to the opening track in the past and loved it but unfortunately this album has vary few songs on that level. The production and song writing rarely feel great at the same time. Both of witch have their moments but over all the production is just too much. Not that I hate this album it does have some great highs but overall it just felt like I was confused
168. o
Not for me.
Yes, but.. I ca hear why this album is venerated, and a shot in the arm to British music at the time, but ... just not my taste. There's a feeling of More Noise Will Hide The Flaws, but at no point was I tempted to skip or abandon the listen. YMMV, but I'm out.
Interesting bunch of songs from a time period that I don’t consider that interesting
Pretty awesome. A nice mix between rockabilly and shoegaze
I like a bit of reverb and distortion but youcan definitely have too much of a good thing as this album proves. That said I still enjoyed it.
I put these albums on while I'm working and sometimes wonder why I'm in a bad mood before noticing, oh, it's this fucking music. MBV did it wayyyyyy better
Sold rock album but nothing stands out to me.
This album was a revelation of cheap fuzzy tone and dead stare rock pose at a time when, ironically, everyone was kinda trying to be messianic. Word got around my high school that one dude had this tape and we all sought him out to make a copy. It still holds up. Perfect album cover.
This is a delightful blend of melody with noise and feedback that would serve as a template for later waves of shoegaze and indie rockers. The spare drum sound alone would launch a thousand imitators. I saw them play this album on its 30th anniversary and it proved that this is best played loud and preferably experienced live.
Still a masterpiece.
very good early shoegaze
I quite like the more moody and hazy tone of the vocals this album against some of their other cleaner stuff
What would happen if Lou Reed chose to play in front of the Phil Spector Wall of Sound (with multiple tracks starting with the same drumbeat as "Be My Baby")? You'd get this album. The noise reverb action on the guitars is frankly an acquired taste. Vocally, I'm hearing a lot of Joy Division, in the somewhat flat but driving delivery. They're pretty economical with their songs; 14 tracks in under 39 minutes is efficient. I'm not sold on their lyrics and they aren't exactly my cup of tea, but I can see how them and this album had influence on the lane of shoegaze and noise.
1. honey - 1 2. living - 1 3. tazte - 1 4. uualk - 1 5. dead - 1 6. hole - 0 7. cindy - 1 8. candy - 0 9. never - 1 10. inzide - 1 11. zeedz - 1 12. little - 1 13. trip - 0 14. uurong - 0 15. hard - 1
This just okay for me.
Psychocandy sits at the cross-section of soothing dream-pop, abrasive noise rock, and artsy shoegaze; excelling at all. Such a varied record that shows beauty can come in very different forms song to song. I love their multiple interpretations of the Phil Spector beat (boom…boom-boom, BAP!) and how they look back just as much as forward. This is endlessly influential and essential listening.
I am giving this a 5 because of personal preferences. But when looking at it as objectively is one can when it comes to art, i don’t think it’s quite that, however, it really is something for its time. And as a shoegaze enjoyer i think i have a lot to be grateful for when it comes to this
Bruyant et brouillon, experimental, pas ma came
M’oui
Pas trop ma came
What a gorgeous wall of noise. Closer to a 9/10 then a 10/10 for me but fantastic nonetheless.
I can't understand on what merit this album got onto the list by listening to it.
A lot of distortion
So much distortion I could barely make it out
2/10 Le pongo un dos porque dos canciones no eran malas y le doy el beneficio de la duda. Pero una cagada, no de será apropósito o esta mal gravado sin querer o que se yo, pero no se puede escuchar, imposible de terminar una canción, lo tuve que dejar sin terminar
Wasn’t good
OK, but not my cup of tea
Nah.
Ah, the granddaddy of shoegaze
was genuinely just a whole bunch of noise. I don’t wanna seem ignorant at all cause I don’t like building off of first impressions but god this first listen I was not able to enjoy this album. not that good
Fuzzy
Had they had a decent producer and mixing engineer, this would've maybe been a 3.5/5 album. As it is, it's crap and it's barely a 2/5
Not bad in general, but fuck, my ears hurt now :(
I liked a couple of the songs, but the loud guitar feedback got to be a lot. People with tinnitus beware!
Not bad for the 80s but nothing that stood out and energy also good. Goin down on 3.5
es bueno, solo me pareció un poco repetitivo
My love for this has slowly mellowed over the years. Still a nice early shoegaze album, and the opening track is still a classic
Oh yes. Bobby Gillespie on drums not being able to do anything more than keep time, surf tunes and lots of noise. Oh yes. It's soo good.
Decent listen.
Really didn't like it as much as i thought i would based on Just Like Honey. Sad
Great album let down a bit by the thin production.
I expected this to grow on me more than it did. I like the shoe-gazey vibe, and the songs do have good melodies, but it didn't grab or excite me.
Absolute classic
Too echoey but still can’t hide the fact that they’re British.
I knew I liked that Honey song, but I ended up liking this quite a bit. Probably a three? But I think Just Like Honey is an all-timer.
Put em on the cross
Two albums by a relatively mediocre and unknown Britpop band, both in the same month? Scandalous. Just Like Honey is alright (I'll try to ignore the percussion part shamelessly ripped from Billy Joel's Say Goodbye To Hollywood). Quite airy, which is extremely typical of anything released in the 80s. But better than most of the stuff that follows. (*Edit: never mind, I can't ignore the percussion, because later on the album, Sowing Seeds uses the exact same percussion. Meaning J&MC just ripped off a song from earlier on the same album. This is almost as bad as Ram and Ram on the album Ram.) The album's sophomore track, The Living End, forgets that guitars are supposed to sound good, instead going all-out on distortion (à la the repeated coda of I Want You (She's So Heavy)). Pretty clear that J&MC's audience does *not* appreciate such a generous layer of nondescript noise, judging by the streaming numbers on Spotify: the least distorted song, Just Like Honey, is also the most popular by far. The Hardest Walk at least attempts a decent punk/post-punk vocal line, and the guitar could be worse, so it gets a pass. Taste of Cindy and Some Candy Talking are much the same: fairly melodic, fairly undistorted, fairly good. Something like In a Hole, though... What am I supposed to do with this? Same with all of the songs from Never Understand onward. They're reminiscent of a standard punk chart, but with a thick layer of radio static on top that makes the music sound strictly worse. This is inarguable. Any music better than silence – like any of these songs without distortion – will be worsened by making it more difficult to hear. Imagine Bohemian Rhapsody or Stairway to Heaven with this grating, ear-piercing stuff layered on top. Would it be better or worse? Just a thought experiment. The shoegaze genre gets away with this because the distortion is done more tastefully, flowing along with the music rather than blotting it out. 1/5 Key tracks: Just Like Honey, The Hardest Walk, Cut Dead
Ok
If these guys didn’t influence the dandy Warhols then I’m at a loss. It’s noise with vocals. The guitars are loud but not drowning out loud. There’s a fanbase for this sound and I’m somewhere on The outskirts dipping my foot into the musical darkness from time to time. There’s a taste to this and it’s either hated or liked. No one loves it. Choice cut: Just Like Honey
Great melodies under heavy guitar and reverb, an evocative, cool alt rock album.
I tend to think about these albums with the baseline of ‘would I pick this up on vinyl?’. Which would be more pertinent if I had a turntable. As it happens I do actually own this on vinyl. A quite expensive, Third Man Records Vault 40th anniversary release at that. It’s still in its delivery box. I’d never actually listened to the album before now. I’ve had the chance to listen to it several times now. Which is more than I usually give these albums. That’s says something. But I still can’t work out if actually like it. I really like a lot of what it does. I’ve discovered I love a bit of that woozy fuzz. But there’s something about the particular production here that I can’t quite key into. It’s very … thin. Like all of the EQs have been leant on. But I like everything else. I don’t think I’ll be opening the box set (it’s live on EBay folks) but I’ve gotten enough out of it to give it a 4.
Interesting, but I'll probably never listen to it again.
I mean, nothing wow to me but "Just Like Honey"
it might be foolish to place Too much symbolic importance on the fact that this record opens with the be my baby drums (not even the last time they pop up on the record) but its hard not to place Some, right? tjamc place themselves in relation to bygone pop music to achieve a similar effect as the ramones did when they did the same thing: to express an awareness and appreciation of a broad spectrum of musical joys, adding a productively complicating dimension to a central sound that otherwise would just be Pure Force of some kind. and theres nothing wrong with Pure Force, certainly when other artists take it much further than either of these bands, but its inherently hard to nuance...tjamc can have real push and pull and Musical Language, even when everything is ostensibly a wall of noise. its not the Most dynamic or varied songwriting out there, but neither was even the greatest of the brill building pop they were evoking....its something thats already familiar and joyful coated in an extra layer of Sticky. v glad to finally have heard this one
I have to honestly say this is not for me. I heard about this band recently when reading an oral history of Lollapalooza and appreciated the way they discussed their alignment (or misalignment) with the festival in the 90s. I can also see the way this influences future subgenres, but listening was kind of a chore (though I did listen to all of it). Maybe if I had encountered it as a teenager it would hold enough meaning, but it doesn't for me at this point.
Man these guitars are screechy. Why does the recording sound so bad? Like this actually gave me a headache to listen to, which is unfortunate because I feel like this album would actually be enjoyable if it was at all tolerable to listen to.
Feel like I wanted to like this album more than I did, Just like Honey and Taste of Cindy were great and the rest of the album was pretty solid but just never really took off for me idk
album #37 ok, initially i was going to rate this 3/5. however, on sitting with it and realising i remember barely any of it despite 3 listens....well. you know. this album has some really good tracks, but the middle just blurs together in a way that feels quite empty. i wanted to like it, it has a lot of elements i adore, but it simply did not click for me. ꩜ favourite track(s): just like honey, the hardest walk ꩜ least favourite track(s): in a hole ꩜ album rating: ★★☆☆☆ ꩜ number of albums left to review: 1,052 ꩜ number of albums from the list that i agree with being on the list: 23 ꩜ albums from the list that I would consider on my list: 9 ꩜ albums from the list I won't include on my list: 28
What a bunch of noise
Big feelings in this one. They sound like a therapists nightmare. Pretty badass, though not the genre I prefer to listen to. They still get a 4.
The background noise drove me crazy.
It was fine from the start, but got worse until the end
I appreciate the groundwork it laid for shoegaze that I enjoy a lot more, but it's pretty harsh on the ears and none of the songs are remarkable enough to have me wanting to come back and listen more.
Fuzz Lords.
Ei
I was expecting something more like The Smiths, but I kind of dig this. Fuzzy, but good sounds.
I don’t understand the appeal of having the entire melody drowned out by white noise. It sounds like they have 100 tvs with no reception in the studio with them at all times. I guess it’s supposed to make the otherwise straightforward pop-rock more interesting? Not for me. 1.9
4.0 An abrasive but fun listen. I have only really become somewhat familiar with JMC is the last couple of years and never listened to this album, I didnt really understand why they had some goth credibility, everything I had previously listened to was on the poppier side , now its making a bit more sense. I thought the drums sounded like dog shit though
Headache Mazzy Star
Everything other than first song sounds terrible
70% of maximum thrash level Jesus and Mary Chain are so so good. The first half of this album over indexed on thrash to me, but the back half really saved it.
I wish I could have understood the lyrics; I think I would have liked this better.
You pick: - Resurrection rock. - If Phil Spector chose noise instead of murder. - My apologies to tinnitus. - Shop teacher: "What? Sounds good to me".
I imagine some people really like this and I completely respect that. For me it felt sort of like an angry static background music.
Art rock sucks.
méchant, c'est bien fou mais c'est cool.
What if we take our crappy album and, hear me out, add this constant background noise that will either sound like heavy static or a crowd screaming at a concert we aren’t at, and play that loudly over almost everything?
Decent 80s new waveish musak
A key record for what would later become shoegaze, even if it doesn’t quite fit the label itself. 𝘗𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘺 is darker and far more abrasive, with layers of feedback and distortion often swallowing the melodies beneath. That contrast is part of its appeal, but over time it can feel a bit monotonous. There are definitely moments where it clicks, but I tend to gravitate more toward the dreamier, more melodic side of the genre, which is something Cocteau Twins do better for me.
"Psychocandy is the debut album by the Scottish rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain. It combines catchy (SIC!!) pop melodies with overdriven electric guitars and feedback-filled cacophony. The album is regarded as pioneering for the shoegaze genre." So says Wikipedia. I see. I do indeed hear a lot of feedback, along with bored (and boring) vocals and, overall, a band that would love to sound like the Velvet Underground. Except they were around 20 years earlier and had two brilliant songwriters. Music like on this album is the reason why I’m sceptical about ‘indie rock’. Boring noise for a boring generation (mine). Terrible. And I well aware that this is considered a true post rock classic.
I've always loved the song 'Just Like Honey', but for whatever reason I've never explored The Jesus and Mary Chain further. I'm very happy to find on this album a lot of other tracks that are in the same style of Just Like Honey; I love the hazy electric guitar sound and the vocal style. I'm surprised to hear some of the more noisy tracks on here too, it made for a great listen. Favourites: Just Like Honey Cut Dead You Trip Me Up Something's Wrong
Pretty great, original album even if it’s not my first pick to give a spin
Crank distortion to 200 and go. Gets annoying quickly
I love soft vocals and loud guitars ALMOST as much as I love loud vocals and clean, trebly guitars.
more perfection. what i love most about this album is how "just like honey" creates the template for the rest of the songs. you hear the same guitars, same bass, same drums throughout, but they build different-sounding songs. "sowing seeds" could be from _pet sounds_ or _surf's up_. "something's wrong" could come from joy divisions _closer_, but both songs sound exactly like JAMC. it's just some really great songwriting and production all around
Just Like Honey - 4/5 The Living End - 3.5/5 Taste the Floor - 3/5 The Hardest Walk - 3/5 Cut Dead - 3/5 In a Hole - 3/5 Taste of Cindy - 3/5 Never Understand - 3/5 Inside Me - 3/5 Sowing Seeds - 3.5/5 My Little Underground - 3/5 You Trip Me Up - 3/5 Something's Wrong - 3.5/5 It's So Hard - 3/5 This is an album that is way ahead of its time. Heavy amounts of reverb and guitar distortion make this stand out compared to any other rock band of the time. Despite it being out of place (in a good way, eventually influencing the shoegaze genre), it's not the king of thing for me. Overall: 3/5 Favorites: Just Like Honey
I liked it. I get what they’re doing and the melded rule the day for me. Always. Still. 3 meh songs. So 4 stars
This is kind of a strange record. It might have been groundbreaking at the time, but I couldn’t get used to the guitar feedback and reverb drum tones throughout the album. The vocals are a bit monotone as well. If it didn’t sound like it was recorded in a vast hallway — I would’ve rated it a point higher. 2.0/5.0
Just overrated. Mundane muddy chores to listen to.
dreamy
turned out a lot better than I was expecting Will I listen to again: 64%
I've listened to this one a couple of times now and I just can't figure it out. This album was like a new phase of psychedelic that tries to recreate that old school 50's live music sound with super over-distorted and noisy guitars. I mean, it's got that part down as it feels like a live performance in a dingy venue. I think it's a cool idea, but at this time the results just aren't developed enough. I shouldn't need to dig through a thick layer of distortion to find something listenable. It's an cool idea if it's complementary, but some of the tracks are just too much. The Lost Souls - Doves album does a much better job of this. This is kinda why I wish that this list was presented in a bit more of a logical order. If i'm going to be listening to Shoegaze, start with the origins and then show me where it's at at the peak. I listened to Lost Souls months ago and really enjoyed it, now i'm seeing where it's coming from. I like Something's Wrong and a couple of the tracks on here where the distortion is a bit more complementary.
Meh.
Very good early Shoegaze. I enjoyed it, but I understand why others may not. Gotta respect the new sound for 1985 though. I may come back to this, but Im very glad I listened.
So the static I’m still not the biggest fan of but the vocals are really good and the instrumentals are good as well. I enjoyed.
The guitars are like the snare on St. Anger by Metallica. Just annoying enough to distract from everything else going on. There are some great parts hidden behind that wall of fuzz and reverb. I just wish I could here them better and more clearly.
Damn, I bet their live shows produce such a bad headache. Overall it was just okay.
I think this record finally clicked with me. Not sure if it's because I was able to give it a closer listen, or if I was able to piece together the parts that have become familiar to me over the years. I caught a lot of Lou Reed, Mazzy Star, and My Bloody Valentine in this -- I realize that some of these may have come after, or were contemporaries, but this slid right in there. I liked it a lot.
Meh... What else can I say? I would have to make myself come up with something. Just went nowhere and had nothing of meaning to me.
It just gets worse and worse. The distortion is way too much. I
Not bad, kinda like psychedelic punk or something.
This band definitely have a sound, every song that kicked in I thought was the one I vaguely knew, and even now I'm not sure which one it was, if any. Is it shoegaze? Feels shoegaze adjacent. Problem with making a wall of sound is all the walls start to look the same. I kind like the actual sound in small doses but it's hard to find variety in it. The noise doesn't sound as big here as say MBV either, so it doesn't hit you in the same way. 2.5 but more a 2 I think, can just about see why people might be keen but it's not for me.
Parklands was alright but this was pretty dire. Extreme shoegaze - seems like it was one of the first in the genre. Weird and faint lyrics, tonnes of distortion, not a lot to like. Strange, as I didn't mind their other one on the list.
I've been back to the previous album of theirs we had on the list a few times and i really like it now, so was looking forward to this. I think there is a limit to the amount of distortion and noise you can add before it just becomes annoying, and I think this album surpasses it on many occasions! The distortion levels are too damn high! I did enjoy bits of this, my favourite was "some candy talking", which I think has much less distortion and sounds more like their next album... Apparently that track was on their next album too strangely. Shame, because their next album is much better 2.5
I can take this album in small doses. The heavy distortion gets annoying after awhile. My favorite song is Just Like Honey.
Pioneering album that paved the way for bands like My Bloody Valentine, Lush, Slowdive, and more. A beautiful wall of static and noise.
Seminal for a lot of bands nowadays. Ahead of it's time? Maybe. Love the guitar tone, though.
I like this but it’s a big soft and samey for me to love it
i used to like this album a lot and guess what i still like it
I can hear echoes of Echo & the Bunnymen, and indeed—there’s noise, but there’s also music in it. I was in that kind of mood that day, so listening to it at home in the evening felt just right. It’s not an exceptionally good album musically, but it grooves. 5/10
Just Like Honey In a Hole Some Candy Talking Sowing Seeds Something’s Wrong