Reviews (page 5 of 8)
Pretty generic mid 80s fare. Unobtrusive and unlikely to cause me to become a fan.
3-
3.5
Alrighty. Fuzzy and dreamy but also harsh at some parts.
Both wonderful and repulsive - the apt juxtaposing titular portmanteau word suggests this confusing mix was entirely deliberate: to cajole then fry your brains. I suspect this art (or revenge) project intended to showcase (probably) a whole new sound but unfortunately added injurious screeching sounds. As if annoyed with having on audience. That’s the Borderline way of avoiding intimacy. Or airplay. So. I'm going to try to beat SarcasticElbows to the line ”this album is like the alluring girlfriend you kept going back to, only to instantly realise why you left her” Warm playful light prescient indi-grooves, but too abusive and unpredictable to enjoy as is... Surely I'm not the only one who loves some tracks but finds the rest pointless. I did enjoy - and recognise with a distant smile - "just like Honey" (feels like on essential track for the soundtrack for my 80s and 90s generation) but the really the noxious noise overlaid on many tracks means Jesus and Mary Chain are for me a new metaphor for masochism. I am frustrated by the whiplash heaven/hell experience. Interesting as metaphorical art maybe, but not as on album. Does remind me of RatCat and other stuff... so there's that. .... they must have left more than skid marks... I look forward to learning that their talent somehow was channelled successfully and they made something more than a concept album.
This album starts spectacularly with a Phil Spector/ Ronettes riff to die for & that opening track, Just Like Honey, is the record’s highlight. The other two singles released from the album are also winners - Never Understand (Jan & Dean on acid) &, particularly, You Trip Me Up. When it was released on cd, Some Candy Talking was added( it’s not on my vinyl copy) & it is also a terrific track. I’ve probably told this story before but I remember being on a holiday up at Blackheath, not long after this album was released. I’d copied it onto cassette & was listening to it in the house I was renting, when my friend Trish visited to take me to lunch. After a couple of minutes, as I was getting changed, Trish called out to me - Peter, how do you tune this radio properly? I thought their noise was a welcome change to new romantics, etc.
A few good tracks that I was aware of before this 1st album listen. There are too may samey tracks though and not the variety to make it interesting.
I really like those circular saw sound effects, feedback and other noisy elements, but I don't like the base songs. Don't think they work well together Still enjoyed it
Apparently our second from this band, could've fooled me. It's decent, it's a heavier sound for sure, but with some good melodies that cut through the noise. Middle of the road though, don't think I liked it as much as the previous. Nothing all that memorable, just like yesterday's album. Can we leave purgatory? Favorite tracks: Just Like Honey, The Hardest Walk, Never Understand. Album art: Pretty terrible in my opinion, font looks dumb, picture poses are lame too. Immediately forgettable. 3/5
Trochę jak ride, ale słabsze
Psychocandy, qu'est-ce que c'est?
Je vais être honnête, la première écoute m'a laissé plutôt de marbre. Je ne les connaissais que de réputation et savais approximativement les situer musicalement. Peut-être que ce n'était pas le bon jour parce qu'en général les grosses réverbes post-punk fonctionnent plutôt bien sur moi. Puis je me suis accrochée, convaincue de passer totalement à côté d'un truc. J'ai réécouté une fois, deux fois, trois fois, pour enfin comprendre l'idée géniale qu'il a fallue pour imbriquer des mélodies pop 60's au milieu des larsens, effets de pédales et autres riffs saturés (plus j'écoute, plus je sens l'esprit des Velvet planer au-dessus). À partir du moment où j'ai compris ça, l'influence sur leurs successeurs m'est apparue indéniable. Je ne vais mettre que 3 (idéalement 3.5) parce que j'ai lutté pour rentrer dans l'album. Je pense tout de même continuer élargir mon écoute de The Jesus and Mary Chain. Une note qui peut donc évoluer symboliquement avec le temps !
meh. though i can see where nirvana may have gotten some influnces.
Good
Ehhh I also wanted to like this more but it’s Fine
I once saw a Pitchfork review describe this album as the sound of someone cutting glass at high volume in the building next to you. True. Not my cup of tea, but at least “Just Like Honey” is a stone cold classic song.
80's Alternative Rock. I've heard of these guys but never sat down and listened to them. Very heavy distortion and reverb gives them an eerie, disconnected sound (this record anyway), with decent but basic pop tunes underneath. They remind me a little of Joy Division though less angsty. Didn't enjoy this enough to add it to the rotation but it was creative and different.
Cool vibes and I can see why it’s so influential. The songs don’t really stand out as very distinctive and the abrasiveness of the sound made it hard to listen to after awhile. It doesn’t have the warmth of later noisy bands such as mbv and Pavement.
I kind of like the Living End
Solid three for me, like most songs but there were a few duds . I’ve heard just like honey a lot and it was cool to hear the album it came from. Listened to this while driving to Florida and my step mom gave it a hard 0. Said it quote “sounded like when a microphone gets to close to a speaker at an assembly and lots of yelling.” I liked it.
Did not listen
Album was okay. this week has tired me of 80's punk. This had a weird thing going where the guitar was supper fuzzy and loud but the vocals were quiet, yet the vocals were still way in front of the mix. It's kind of jarring. But overall nothing really popped out at me but I could see the merit of what they were trying to do so that bumps it up a point. Highlights: Cut Dead Its So Hard
I liked most of this. The worst part was the screeching on You Trip Me Up; I had to basically mute it at that point. Overall a decent album. 3/5
I listened to this album first thing in the morning and by the evening couldn’t remember anything about it ! It wasn’t terrible, just not memorable. Low 3*
On the one hand, this album opened the door for lots of shoegaze and Scottish indie music which I really enjoy. On the other hand, its inclusion on the list forces me to acknowledge the existence of East Kilbride.
Crunchy 80s stuff
Fuzzy!
i expected to like this more than i did. a couple good songs but otherwise sort of forgettable
This is one you gotta ease into, but once you let the noise wash over you it's not so bad. Don't really need the underlying poppy elements though. Inside Me was the best song. 3 sticks of mascara out of 5
worth a listen. one. the noise didn’t sound integral to the music. it sounds tacked on. unlike MBV where the noise shimmers and i hear different things each time, TJAMC noise is a solid veil that i tried to hear through. some good tunes and i love simple pop tunes as much or more than the next guy but not enough to make me listen again.
Interesting but back ground noise mostly. The reverb or background fuzz of the guitar. I get it but not a huge fan.
Meh. I liked the distortion and the general vibe, but it didn’t really do anything for me.
An ok new wave album. Sounds muddy to me. Not sure why it's on the list. Not essential as far as I'm concerned.
I love “Just Like Honey.” I first heard it at the end of the movie “Lost in Translation” and it’s a perfect bittersweet soundtrack for that ending. There are a few more melancholy type songs on this album but most of the music here is fuzzed out and distorted to the max. Some of it borders on punk but even the midtempo song are abrasive. It’s a cool, bold style. I want to love this album but right now I just like it. Not a lot of songs stuck out to me and sometimes it’s even tough to hear the songs when they’re buried under this much feedback.
This band has always been on the bubble for me, I've heard the name of the band so many times throughout my life but never stopped to listen. I like the sound overall. It's 1980's in the reverb and space, but it's 1990's in the distortion and grungey, loose performances. Both of which combine together to make a cool sound, and one that I think I would naturally gravitate towards. I enjoyed the listen. I'm certain I'll check out more releases from the band. It's not a super memorable one for me though, as I think the production, tones, and performances are way more interesting than the compositions. Unfortunately for them it's usually music that has better compositions that tend to stick around for me.
Son mejores de lo que esperaba, pero el shogaze y yo no congeniamos.
Psychocandy is a decent enough listen but not quite for me, particularly the echoey vocals, I just don't like the style and struggle to make out a lot of what they're signing about. A shame really, because the energy and drive of the guitar is great, hugely atmospheric and epic in places, consistent but diverse enough that we don't end up with songs full of the same sound and an album full of identical songs. The whole experience comes together well in the way that they clearly wrote it to deliver, but it's the vocal side that doesn't let me really enjoy it. A solid 3.
very 80s. not my fav but i enjoyed
This album predates alternative rock, and I'm sure it predates shoegaze. Those two genres combined is what I'm hearing. A wall of white noise with distorted guitars and soft vocals. Over all, it was pretty interesting. I enjoyed the most of it. Vocals had a Cure feel to them in some songs. Not a terrible listen. Felt like I was listening to a genesis of two distinct genres that are well known to this day. So that was pretty cool.
Shoegazing All-Stars The Jesus and Mary Chain are back on my list again and are still the cream of the crop of a genre I'll always be middling on. I appreciate that most of the tracks are right about 3 minutes or under, which keeps the droning feeling that can develop from being an issue. Highlights - Just Like Honey, Taste the Floor, The Hardest Walk, Taste of Candy
Some sounds gone through.
The album was not available in the US via Apple Music. Listened to a couple of songs. Not my jam.
Oohh litt både og
Really dug this one. It's not great but you can definitely hear how it served as an influence for grunge.
sounds like an album I'd have on a tape in the 80s. a copy of a copy from someone who recorded it off vinyl. likely by holding a tape recorder to a speaker. one side of a 90 minute cassette with some other band I never learned the name of on the other side. here's a haiku about it: plastic magnet sound the jesus and mary chain gray days with walkman
Unique but too noisy for a whole album. I knew the first song which I loved.
Ngl they all started to blend together after a bit. There was a point where I checked to see if I'd accidentally skipped back to a previous song
Appreciate the post punk with the distorted guitar. Cool baselines in the background. If Joy Division had electric guitars. Also Lost in Translation soundtrack music so cool. But while good, some of the songs are a bit samey, so three stars.
There is so much distortion on everything I can barely hear the melodies. I like that they look like Minecraft YouTubers.
Muy bien
New wave punky, didn’t majorly grab me though
interesting album. i listened to it twice and must not have been paying much attention because every song just kinda faded to background noise. i liked a handful of them but some of the grating sound effects just didn't land for me. favorites: just like honey, the hardest walk, taste of cindy
1987 - Alternative rock; Shoegaze; Indie rock; Post-punk; Noise pop; Indie pop
I loved the style for the first few tracks, but it never really changed much. I'm all for gritty guitar tones but I think this one is a bit much sometimes. If this was any longer it would lose more points.
It’s fine. Don’t ever need to hear it again. 3/5
Not my music.
Oh these guitars
The Jesus and Mary Chain are a band that I have heard of, and I can remember the approximate time when they were probably getting some radio play, but I can't tell you if I've ever heard anything form the band. I was assuming that I wouldn't like this album from old memories but there were some things to like. At times the tracks on Psychocandy seemed like they would fit in well with Echo and the Bunny Men, a band I like, but there is more grind and buzz to the sounds on Psycho candy. TJAMC uses background noise like a fuzzy drone paired with griding guitars, which make a curious contrast against the soft delivery of the vocals. Unfortunately for me, I can only put up with so much noise and static. I did like some tracks, but with the constant background noise throughout the album I couldn't have told you if I hadn't heard the next track earlier on the album or not. I could listen to some tracks, but not the whole album again.
Just Like Honey The Hardest Walk Sowing Seeds
Slightly better than okay.
I liked the first track
A band named as a major influence for a ton of bands I really like, yet I never got into them. This sounds like something that would grow on me. I’ll need to give it a better listen as my preferred streamer didn’t have it available and the youtube video’s sound quality was questionable.
Very fuzzy sometimes a little too much. You’ve heard one song here you have basically heard the whole thing.
I didn't like this as much as Darklands. I can appreciate a lot of the experimentation on this album though, they are clearly just trying things out and taking them to the extreme. Sometimes the distortion is just a wash of noise, which reminds me of an unhinged version of what Medicine would be doing in the 90's, and at least one of the songs doesn't have a guitar part other than just controlled feedback. All in all it made for an interesting listen.
Didn't think much of this overall. It wasn't bad, but wasn't especially good either. It reminded me of like Velvet Underground mixed with... The Cramps?, at least tonally. The vocals were sorta boring. Just not a lot here to hold my interest. Still, if this was on, I wouldn't be upset. 2.75/5
CW for the album: very high pitched noises. In one of his long deleted videos, former Pitchfork-scribe Chris Ott described the social purpose of noise pop and shoegaze: to create a space where the shy, introverted people could enjoy and celebrate pop music, without the baggage that popular music entails. It's a very romantic and intimate music, but also in a way that intensely filters anyone not interested in appreciating its idiosyncracies, and the pop stars will not try to invite you; you will have to find your way in. The Jesus and Mary Chain wanted to be popular, or at least their manager hyping them up and their trolling interview with Belgian tv presenter Bart Peeters (in which they bullied him for liking Joy Division) say so. But listening to the album, you might be wondering if they're actually serious. It's has loud ass feedback and high-pitched noises that would make the Sex Pistols sound like quaint background music. Yet, The Jesus and Mary Chain still use sweet and short bubblegum pop as their building blocks, making a Ramones-comparison more apt. The album sounds indeed like the ethos of shoegaze: make the catchiest music imaginable, but only for those willing to climb the wall of noise. Or at least, that's the platonic ideal of shoegaze. In practice, the album is very basic in both its pop melodies and noise sounds. In terms of the latter, the album kinda relies on its high pitched feedback a bit too much, so that it sometimes sounds like an exhausting crutch. On the pop side, a lot of the melodies can be very basic and not memorable after you're done listening to the song. It also doesn't help that Just Like Honey is just the perfect song on earth, sounding as sweet and romantic as the sweet natural product in its title. Still, there are also some great fast punk songs to offsets these weaknesses from time to time, like Taste the Floor. And as a reminder not to take this all too seriously, It's So Hard shitposts the album to a close. It's not hard to see how this album became so influential, not just for the development of shoegaze, but for the broader marriage of the two polar opposities of approachable pop and impenetrable attitude, that is taken more for granted today. Still, that's a lesson that's sometimes forgotten; I see older generations who were there to see the Jesus and Mary Chain live completely forget this lesson when they see younger ~~and queer cough~~ artists for a younger generation. Not everything has to be for you, if you vibe with it that's cool, if not just leave as fast as possible, if the noises haven't chased you away yet. Strong 3, light 4
I don’t really care for the gazing at shoes genre, but this was pretty decent. Won’t be revisiting it though.
I thought it was...good. They throw in a number of different genres - new wave, rock, punk, pop. Decent album that takes you in many different directions.
I hadn’t heard of this band, but they are apparently influential. I liked this alright.
Good
I saw the date of the album and was worried I would hate it but it was actually pretty decent. Not shocking they still have a following 40 years later.
Very new wave/punky, felt very screechy at times, not many songs in particular stood out to me, but good vibe in general, 3/5.
Good, I guess, every song sounds like the other though. Oh you guys like Sonic Youth, that's cool, you're not as good.
pleasant enough album, a little samey but enjoyable. A very nice noise
Interesting proto-shoegaze vibes
hello i am a listening note
Loved this back I the day but not sure how relevant it is today.
Not surprised the first track was the most popular, but an OK listen
I have an unusual relationship with Psychocandy. On the one hand, it's a seminal breakthrough album for The Jesus and Mary Chain. It introduced to a wider mainstream audience shoegazer and, especially, the unique JMC sound of pop songs drenched in feedback and noise. On the other hand, compared to their previous singles, it's timid. It is more pop than noise. Compared to singles such as Boyfriend's Dead, which features the wailing lyric of "Dead! He's dead!" under intense droning noise, anything on Psychocandy feels tame. Of course, they started to drop the noise in favor of the pop sounds afterwards so, this is still better than their later albums. For me, it represents the beginning but not the final act in the dumbing down of JMC.
Maybe need to relisten to this one but it was solid but not really that great outside of just like honey, which I think is still a tad overrated. I still heavily respect what it is especially for the time period.
Interesting sound, some of the hooks are pretty good too, although nothing stands out as musically challenging
Dig it, but most of the songs sound very similar. 3.5/5
This album would be so much better if they just turned the overdrive down a but, but then I guess it wouldn't be a Jesus and Mary Chain album. It's OK.
2nd one from The Jesus and Mary Chain Not too long ago I realized that I'm more fond of the Pixies & Dinosaur Jr. albums I heard from this website than when I first heard them. Now... Psychocandy joins the list of noisy 80's alt records I'm not 100% sure about. My first impression is that I enjoyed this more than Darklands, despite the abrasiveness. Occasionally the distortion was a bit upsetting, not unlike what initially turned me off of Lightning Bolt and Big Black. It could also be that I'm warming to the overall sound of J&MC, not that this is leagues better than their other one. I heard the sunny 60s pop through the haze loud and clear, and I appreciated it. HL: "Just Like Honey", "The Living End", “The Hardest Walk”, "You Trip Me Up" 3.5 for now September 14, 2023 PS: I read that the drummer went on to form Primal Scream, which means that guy's on this list at least 3 times
It's a weak 3, but it's pleasant enough. This was more interesting than Darklands, but I probably ended up liking it less. Some parts didn't sound great or ended up being boring, but I didn't dislike it. My favourite song was Just Like Honey.
This feels like some early industrial
A bit discordant for my tastes. But it’s fine.
Jotenkin mä en niin rakasta tällästä kenkiintuijottelurokkia mutta on tämä genressään ihan hyvä. Keskihyvät bongot sen takia. 3/3
Legendaarinen ja hieno levy parhaimmillaan. Mutta jostain syystä veto loppuu aina jossain kohtaa, kun kuuntelen, niin jääköön kolmeen. Sama ongelma oikeastaan myös bändin tokalla levyllä.
Hyviä biisejä ja tykkään kyllä saundista, mutta ei ehkä ihan koko levyllistä jaksa kantaa. Jotain ravistelua vielä olis jääny kaivaa. 3/5
I am not into noise rock. Half this album was unlistenable noise. But they do cool work and you can hear they are so close to the shoe gaze guitar noise loop that got big. There’s melody behind the noise and if the loops were a little less fierce it might be an A+ album.
Okay, little bit over the top at points and I wish the vocals were more prominent
Psychocandy stays beautiful. This listen, it's quite vast and rectangular. By the end, bees and their foliage are swallowed by the sea. Funny touch, the ocean here. The surf feel comes rather loud and clear, but it's a weird way to characterize Scottish coasts. Impressively fast for slow music.
I actually really like the production! But the songwriting isn't really memorable at all
I remember hearing a few songs by the Jesus and Mary Chain back in my college days, but I don't have clear memories of which songs I heard. I'm glad this album came up in the rotation today. Nice to give it a full listen-through. When I hear these tracks and think back to year it was released (1985), I get why it's considered such an influential album -- the years that followed, many years, featured quite a number of bands that sounded like this. The music is very good. I like the blend of pop, rock, almost metal (at least as far as heavy distortion and grinding guitar sound goes), with the harbingers of shoegaze and similar sounds (due to their use of feedback and other effects). They even bring in a bit of rockabilly sound with Never Understand. Cool stuff.
Grunge / alternative long before it became popular. Its influence is present in bands like Nirvana et al. 3.5/5
Good
This had a very familiar quality to it, but I'm not sure if I've ever actually heard any of their songs before. Overall, it was okay. I didn't mind it but doubt I would listen again. Interesting mix of grunge and punk, despite whatever the official genre is.
I can't give this a full 4 stars because there isn't a standout song, but I do like The Jesus and Mary Chain vibe a lot. There are a few songs I love - like Head On - but mostly I love how drenched in reverb all of this is. I don't know, I like. Sue me.
Kinda in line with Craig, here. The vibe is great. There's shades of The Velvet Underground in here, but it always seems to avoid the total experimental excess in favor of shorter, poppier songs. I wish I remembered more of them, but yeah that first track is a real standout. Still can't believe I saw them at Lolapalooza '92 in the middle of the day. I can imagine that had I first experienced them (and their big hair) in a darkened club they would have had a much greater impact on me. Nonetheless, I need to do a deeper dive on this band at some point.
Nostalgic to hear this album again. Saw them live back in the day, though never a huge fan
3/5. Honestly, thought this would be something I couldn’t get into but it was quite enjoyable. Sure, definitely requires a specific mood but the ability to mix drone with pop is wild and yet works so well. Definitely gonna throw this one on again. A unique and interesting album.
Interesting music, not entirely sure I love it, but definitely want to relisten. 3.3
Well. This has surprisingly caused some emotions stir in my cold dark soul. Nothing crazy or anything. Imagine like a little stick figure slowly pick up a stick and poke at a little spot on the ground a few times. More like that. The reverb and distortion’s wall of sound is relaxing in a strange way. Without these sound manipulations, the actual music would be terrible. But the noisy chaos somehow adds an intangible for where two shitty things come together to create this other thing with a greater sum than the parts. A textured richness that shouldn’t work. But it kind of does. Kind of.
I’m glad I listened to all of mbv albums before this because I definitely would not have appreciated this album as much had I not come around to shoegaze through their albums. This one is a bit more pop forward that the mbv albums and it’s not nearly as good overall. Nothing offensively bad but nothing really standout.
I was very excited for this, but I can't help but feel... a bit let down? I was very happy with Darklands, and the idea of an earlier, noisier, shoegaze-inspiring version of that (and critically acclaimed, nonetheless) had me stoked. But the songwriting just wasn't there for me. I came away from it having enjoyed it, but it just didn't leave much of an impact on me. Maybe this was a had-to-be-there thing, and now that I've heard the music it's spawned it just doesn't work as well for me. Oh well.
A little boring if we are being honest, but the moments it had that shined really hit me.
Melodic guitar pop songs under a squall of feedback. A different approach! Very english mid 1980s indie/alternative rock. Influential. Worth hearing once.
In het begin vond ik het wat saai, maar naarmate het vorderde, werd dat precies wat beter
Very pleasant generation. Was a bit sceptical at first viewing, but good album
Bit dour
Hadn't listened to this before, enjoyed it, but the frequent underlying distortion got too unsettling. 3.5
It started to bleed together and sound too similiar to give it more than average
Probably could have been some good songs but for the mixing. Everything sounds to be on the same level, except the vocals which appear to be emanating from somewhere in a steal tank. Sounds like you’ve gone to a concert only to spend the whole time in the lavatory next door.
So the first thing I noticed was the heavy distorted screeching guitar sounds in many of the songs. The same type of sound used by Velvet Underground. A few songs seem to have that lyrical/vocal style of Velvet too, most notably Cut Dead. I listened to this album at work, then at the gym last night and I really enjoyed most of it. Sometimes the lyrics were difficult to understand, but the overall style and sound was good for me. I liked most of their songs. Enough to listen to a couple of their other albums, after working out. For that alone, they earn a bonus 1/2 point from me. These guys are solid and hard to pick a favorite. I was going to list the songs I liked and realized I have 9 of the 14, so I feel this is a pretty good album and will definitely revisit and check out more of their other stuff. Interesting note, Spotify just added this album to their library in the last few days. I was going to listen to a bunch of albums over the weekend and couldn't find the Madness album or this one, yet her it was yesterday. Or I'm just batshit crazy. 3.5 Will score a 3, but probably cloaser to 4 than the 3
3.5 Will’s going to think I’m crazy for this one. Sure, it’s a lot of feedback. Sure, the production is far from clean. But buried in that rough exterior is absolute pop charm, and I think it’s the balance of the two that really makes this album remarkable. I can see how this would be majorly influential on the genre of shoegaze or even alternative rock - I’m pretty sure these guys were major influences on the Pixies. Hell, I can even hear elements of modern day lo-fi here (I swear Something’s Wrong sounds just like a lo-fi version of Ceremony by New Order). I’m not sure there’s much more I can say to explain exactly why I enjoyed this album, but overall there’s just a certain alternative/anti-mainstream expression that really speaks to me. I will admit, as is often the case with shoegaze, it starts running together as it goes on, but it was never anything I got sick of at any point in the 40 minute runtime. Just Like Honey was an absolutely fantastic tune though, so I’ll definitely be listening to that again if not the full album.
For years I have heard this band talked about in various circles but I have never explored them. Yet another excuse to finally jump in. A review I read about this album was pretty spot on: Beach Boys meets Velvet Underground. I think my major issue with this album is how incredibly piercing it is. It's like my ears are constantly being bombarded by a thousand tiny needles. Like "In A Hole" straight up sounds like the shower is running while someone is playing guitar. That is all I hear. A band rehearsing in the bathroom. A band playing music but the radio can't quite pick up the station so it's muddied by static. I don't really understand the appeal of this type of sound. It is relatively unpleasant in every way. For the most part the songs themselves are fine, albeit a little boring in my opinion. I liked "The Hardest Walk" and I have heard "Just Like Honey" maybe about a dozen times on algorithmic radio stations in the past but I think I may just need to listen to this album more for it to grow on my. I feel a real lay out in the sun by the beach vibe with a lot of these songs so maybe if I channel that scene I can be in the right place to enjoy this record. "Cut Dead" is for sure a sleepy nappy sun drenched afternoon track. I definitely see how this band (this album specifically?) inspired music to come. Especially the 2010s resurgence of lofi. I am sure there is some article out there that calls them the grandfathers of shoegaze (and I am sure in the comment section someone is saying "But what about [XYZ Band]'s album [Album Name]?! How could you forget about them?!") Giving this a 3/5 as I actually enjoyed some songs here and there but it just didn't click with me. Another one where I see the cultural significance and understand those who give it a 5 but it just isn't quite for me.
3.5 if possible. Enjoyable, really can see how they've filtered early 50s rock through 70s and 80s hard fuzz. Probably won't feel the need to revisit.
Hmmm. I loved Automatic. This one is even higher on the jangle-o-meter. Above my threshold for enjoyment on about a third of the songs.
3/5 Melodic and heavy.
This is the second album from the list that I've listened to from these guys. This one was better, but still not memorable.
5/10. I'm glad they got most of their really grating sounds out of their system on this album
Good, but the noise gets a bit tiresome.
kinda good
I enjoyed this. Will need to listen more closely another time.
Having first heard JAMC live and on the Peel session prior to this, Psycho Candy actually sounded quite quiet at the time and was a bit of a disappointment for that. I wanted that wall of noise to translate to the studio on this album. However, there are some great tunes on here, under the muted, hazy feedback and you can still see what they were TRYING to do. And Never Understand is a classic tune without without the noise. But check out that first Peel session if you haven't heard it.
Wholly unremarkable album, actually skipped one song as it sounded like static? Saved tracks: Just Like Honey, It’s So Hard
A little too noisy.
Un peu éthéré pour moi, mais une ambiance dans laquelle je me reconnaissais tout de même
Nothing special, nothing bad.
Heyrðu, þetta er miklu skemmtilegri plata en hin sem ég heyrði. Hér er söngvarinn mixaður lægra og virkar því ekki eins pirrandi, og feedbackið og melodían virka ágætlega saman. Ég ætla ekki að sækjast eftir þessu, en þetta er allt í lagi.
Rather annoying back and forth between punk and new wave but overall not bad enough to warrant 2 stars
Distinctive sound. 80’s punk. Like Psych Furs.
You can hear some of the influences on later alternative music, but the album itself isnt anything outstanding or particularly special. Its aggressively average. 3/5
I will confess, I was one of those people who really liked early Jesus and Mary chain. I fell out with them when my friends went to a gig that lasted 15 minutes and the band had their backs turned to them. I thought that was just insulting and didn’t really listen to them for a lot of years afterwards. When I hear them now, I still actually enjoy the music. They are a second rate Velvet Underground, a faux Television but just because a handbag is a knock off. It doesn’t mean that you don’t necessarily like it. There are some good catchy songs behind all the noise. It’s taken me a long time but I think I’ve forgiven them.
I didn’t listen to this band in 1985 because they weren’t in the Top 40 or in heavy rotation on MTV. I watched a lot of MTV and don’t remember them being played at all. Later on, when I did hear about them it was from a friend who was super pretentious and so I didn’t listen to them on principle. I like them. Sometimes a bit too much feedback but mostly a good balance of dissonance and melody. Also, I thought they were from Lancaster, PA. When looking them up today to verify that, I learned that they are not. They are Scottish and their genre was called Shoegazing. That’s a new one for me. The beginning of Sowing Seeds sounds like the beginning of Concrete Blonde’s Joey. I really like the band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and one of the reviews I read said that Jesus and Mary Chain was an influence on them, so thanks JAMC. Lastly, do you think it is possible that they meant to put Jesus Christ Superstar on this list instead of the Jesus and Mary Chain?
I like their general schtick of noisy-rock but the rest of the sound is just okay for me. It's kind of like the songwriting/singing of the 80s mixed with the 90s punk-noisey rock. Definitely some interesting things going on and it's good, but I wish I liked it more.
I like 'Just Like Honey' a lot, but this album is too echoey.
shoegazing not amazing
I suspect this may need further listens to appreciate fully. I certainly found it a challenge but I liked that here was a band just ploughing their own field, not remotely interested in being easy to listen to, covered in distortion.
This one had some moments where it felt like something special was happening or about to happen but that feeling went away pretty quickly. It ended up just being a middle of the road album.
Non male. Forse un po' troppo riverbero e rumori di fondo per i miei gusti, ma nel complesso l'ho apprezzato.
Was pretty good
Theoretically I should love shoegaze - the vibe, tones, and rhythms are all derived from some of my favorite music, and inspired even more of it. But some of these songs are so repetitive that sometimes it’s hard to tell where one begins and another ends (or if they’re not just replaying a previous song - ‘Sowing Seeds’ particularly sounds like a retread of ‘Just Like Honey’) and you just end up zoning out. Which is the point, but I guess I just wasn’t in the mood for zoning out this morning. Would like to revisit it sometime in the future as there’s a lot here I love, but it just didn’t fully click with me right now. Fav Tracks: Just Like Honey, Cut Dead, Taste of Cindy
It's not bad. In fact, for the time, it's pretty good. But the production quality is so awful that it takes a whole star off the review. I've never heard an album that's been compressed so hard in my life. The result is a painful pressure-wave of distortion. There are no dynamics. Everything feels like a fuzz-washed wad of power-pop that's been crammed into a tin can. And it's really a shame because the music ain't bad at all. A lot of what's on here is 5-10 years ahead of its time. It's telegraphing grunge before grunge was a thing. The production is just SO BAD. It's giving me a headache.
Nice opening song. Some songs cant decide whether they want to be mellow or hard i think. Kinda Stone Roses ish. idk didn’t really stand out to me but also wasn’t bad
Truly unique.
A tad more shoegaze than Darklands (3.5/5) — my intro to J&MC. Solid 3.
Probably would have been more into it when I was younger.
After a ⭐️ Darklands experience on album #6 (!), I was not hopeful for Psychocandy. I was pleasantly surprised. The feedback heavy sounds are quite nice. I imagine this was quite the innovative sound in the alternative/pop scene in 1985. I can hear some future industrial rock during In A Hole. Something’s Wrong is my favorite track. They don’t consistently carry the distortion I like throughout, but there is enough to carry my interest. Now having both TJAMC albums on the list, I conclude they are not total shite.
Hadn't really every heard them before, not something I'm going to put in regular rotation but props to how original they are...the punk-ish, Phil Spector wall of sound but with feedback and static thing they have going on.
Didn't enjoy it very much. Not my style of distortion.
An ok album that is full of what I'd term gritty underground pop, thanks to the feedback and fuzz. All that feedback and white noise sound seems to almost be a precursor to the Grunge scene of the 90s. Best: Just Like Honey Worst: It's So Hard
Cool, but the fuzz is a bit much.
I'm sure I'd have liked this is I was 20 years old in 1985. It's not bad but it's nothing fantastic.
it was ok
Also mn oren de hele tijd dicht zitten. Het suist maar door. Maar best ok verder.
It's ok
Malgré une structure pop, le côté noise fait en sorte que ça ne plaira pas à tout le monde. Personnellement j’aime bien ce mélange et j’aime beaucoup les couches sonores créées par les effets de guitare. Un album qui a définitivement influencé Nirvana et d’autres band. Cet album mérite bien sa place dans cette liste.
Really good album. Just Like Honey is a great haunting track. Love it. The rest of the album has a great sound and I'm still getting used to it. For now, I think it's great. 3.5 /5
Nice alternative band. Good non-tuned type sound with lots of feedback and spacey vocals.
Prefer the less abrasive sounding later stuff, though I like the songs.
Goed voor één keer
'Just Like Honey' is a classic and is a 5/5. The rest of the album doesn't compare and is more of a 3/5. I'm rating based on the majority of the tracks.
I love that this probably made no sense when it was released. Got those distinctive 80s vocals with shoegaze-style distortion sounds. Pretty good, but I do kind of like the listenability of Darklands better.
Второй альбом этой группы для меня в списке. Он же дебютный. И он куда лучше показывает суть шугейзинга как жанра. Не могу сказать, что альбом понравился, но есть идеи, которые спустя годы разовьют другие группы.
I get it, it's a pretty daring record for 1985 and I can see why it's praised. But even at under 40 minutes, it got a bit tiring and samey in the second half.
I was scare at first, but I end it up founding this album pretty interesting. The only things is that I kept looking if my speakers were'nt broken !
I think this record was quite innovative when it came out and that's why it found itself here in this list. There's some nice songs and guitar tones, but I don't find much interest in the product as a whole.
Better than Darklands and I would argue better than Loveless.
Vous avez probablement entendu parler de cette affaire récemment mais je suis entré en conflit avec le PDG de Spotify, le très gentil et néanmoins suédois Daniel Ek. Je vous explique ce qu'il s'est passé. Depuis quelques années, je paye mon abonnement à la plateforme au tarif étudiant. Et pourtant, ce mois-ci, 9,99€ m'ont été prélevés sur mon compte, il est vrai, extrêmement bien approvisionné. J'appelai pourtant Robert en lui demandant de me passer Daniel immédiatement. Une fois ce dernier au bout du fil, j'entamai une réprimande de plusieurs dizaines de minutes. Tout y passai : reproches, insultes, menaces de mort... Daniel vécut sans doute le pire moment de sa vie. Quelques instants après avoir raccroché, je reconsultai mes prélèvement et le tarif avait été corrigé.
Cet album ne m'a procuré aucun intérêt particulier, ressemblant comme deux gouttes d'eau à de nomrbeux autres groupes moyens entendus jusque là. J'en profite pour adresser un message à Robert: nous traversons actuellement une crise du générateur sans précédent, et réclamons les Red Hot très rapidement, sans quoi nous n'hésiterons pas à migrer la population générateurienne sur l'un de mes générateurs pirates. A vos actes monsieur Dimery.
first listen very sleepy, did not hold my interest
Decent, and sometimes annoying. These guys got better on later albums when they didn't try to have so much feedback. Check out their 1987 album Darklands (fairly solid, April Skies and Happy When it Rains are highlights) or the song Head On on their 1989 album Automatic. Just Like Honey is cool and more on par with their later, more "subdued" stuff. The next 4 tracks are similar, not quite as good but decent. Things take a turn at In a Hole until Inside Me, way too much distortion and pedal use (Some Candy Talking wasn't so bad). That's where they go over the top like other cringey shoegaze pioneers like My Bloody Valentine. The last five tracks toned it down again (except You Trip Me Up and It's So Hard...nails on a chalkboard). So, one-third of the album was tough to listen to, the rest was alright and sometimes quite good (first track, The Hardest Walk, Sowing Seeds).
I enjoyed the album.
Not a big fan of the noises and distorted guitar. Has some good songs so overall not a bad album. Favourite songs: - Just like honey - Some candy talking - Sowing seeds
I first bought this album just before moving to Manchester. Hearing it sends me straight back into a bare white flat, owning almost nothing but a battered old CD and cassette player, and hearing this echo around the empty room. In "Psychocandy", the Reid brothers take both "noise" and "pop" to the extreme, in a way which is hard to appreciate initially. After a few listens though, the warm and welcoming hearts of tracks like "Just Like Honey" and "Cut Dead" start to emerge. The distortion and noise here are really going to turn a lot of people off, and the band are obnoxious enough to let you know they really don't care. For me, "Taste The Floor" and "In a Hole" are the most challenging sonically, where the fuzzed out, buzzsaw guitars are highest in the mix: it's not so much a production style as actively intruding on the songs by that point, and simply getting through is the hardest thing that I could do. Packed into the rest of the album are the sugariest of pop melodies and most simplistic of chord progressions. However distorted they are, tracks like "The Hardest Walk", "My Little Underground" and "You Trip Me Up" are bubblegum tunes at heart, and the noise becomes a device to make them noteworthy, more interesting. There are some more highlights, but ultimately there's little range to The Jesus and Mary Chain. Not only do they make the ballsy move of reusing "Just Like Honey" nine tracks later ("Sowing Seeds") but they would also later re-use "Something's Wrong"'s main riff in their follow-up album Darklands. Repetition is hardly a crime in rock - many rock-n-roll artists did the same with the 12 bar blues, and AC/DC and the Ramones had basically one song - but when it's this noisy, it's quite hard to stomach. I enjoy a lot of the songs in "Psychocandy", but it's one of those albums best saved for a certain mood.
šta sam čuo, oke
I remember hearing of this band in my younger days, and I did recognize the first track on the album. Other than that, it was new territory...and I don't think that I will revisit that territory again. At first, I thought that I just might like the album. The sound was a little coarse, but not too difficult to listen to. Then it got kind of noisy...more than I like to hear. But I listened a second time, but I liked it even a little less...anxious for it to end so that I could find something else to listen to. I don't think I would storm out of a room if I heard it playing, but I would not choose to listen to the album again.
This is fine. Not really my thing but not unpleasant. I listened twice. Probably won't listen again.
Another band I have instant name recognition on but I don't know I ever knowingly listened to. I didn't hate this but thought the sound was a little muddled and overall pretty monotonous.
Interesting take on folk with a little psychedelic mixed in.
Very 80s rock vibe with a heavy guitar. I like it! Cut Dead is sooo easy to listen to. There is this like whistling guitar sound that I don't much care for in some of the songs like Inside Me.
That took me back to the 90s
Das ist schon besonders aber zum Teil auch etwas dumpf im grundbrummen
Теперь понятно, чьей музыкой вдохновлялся Егор Летов, когда сочинял альбом "Инструкция по выживанию"
DNF - a bit dull
Meh, not great. Pretty average noisy post-punk. Nothing really stood out to me.
Couple of big tunes, but dull otherwise
Este álbum cuenta con buenas canciones que tienes un buen ritmo pegadizo, me gusta pero no lo suficiente. (:
Generally vibey and I had no idea this record is from the early 80's. I always assumed they were a mid 90's band.
Love the distorted feel. Solidly catchy throughout, but nothing wowed me.
Approachable punk band, I like it, but I would have to be in a specific mood to listen to this type of music. It is an exceptionally long album, for which I believe the one song that got them famous is Just Like Honey, which is excellent.
Not bad but not for me. Also album too long guys, c'mon
Interesting
FUZZ raincoat rock. BT: Just Like Honey, Taste The Floor, In a Hole,
Very noisy and can't really hear anything that he is saying, but I enjoyed it. Big Stooges vibes. In a Hole is a standout
Levyn eka biisi on tietysti tuttu Lost in translationista. Joskus silloin aikanaan latasin tämän levyn, mutta ei oikein iskenyt. Vähän negatiivisella asenteella lähdin siis kuuntelemaan nyt. Kyllä tämä kuitenkin kolmoseen nousee, unenomaista tunnelmaa ja reilusti säröä. Sowing seeds jäi mieleen hyvänä biisinä.
I know it was their thing......but the songs would be much better without all the feedback muddying the melodies
Fuzzy jangly indie rock. The Stone Roses doused in feedback. Released in 1985 but sounds like it was straight out of the 90s. If I'd have listened in 1985 it may have grabbed me more, but given similar things came after, it doesn't seem as interesting or original as I'm sure it would have done at the time. Having said that, I quite liked it.
This might be a once every three months... got a good sound about it, but not more than that.
Good album
Correct, j’ai vu de l’influence d evelvet underground parfois. Pas une ecoute pour le vibe que j’etais et rprobablemntpas de reecoute. 3
Interesting sonic document from the 80s, but I don't think I could return to it.
Crazy sounds, weird trip to listen to, but pretty solid.
This album answers the question that nobody asked before "what if Velvet Underground & Nico had more reverb and feedback noise?" The result is an album that wears its inspirations on its sleeve while at the same time inspiring a whole new genre of music. It's definitely not an easy listen but it's pretty rewarding even if the quality of the album is quite uneven throughout.
I was about to berate them for sounding exactly do like The Stone Roses until I realised SR was five years behind this release. Regardless I'm not a huge fan, pretty uninspired writing and it was all a bit claustrophobic.
Levy josta haluaisin tykätä enemmänkin. Tässä on monia hyvin toimivia elementtejä, mutta kokonaisuus jää jotenkin valjuksi ja biisit ei ole lopulta ihan riittävän laadukkaita.
This was pretty good but it was quite long and I got a bit bored.
I've liked some of the other music that I've heard from Jesus and Mary Chain, but this left me a little flat. I'm not sure what it was, but it didn't really grab me this time 3/5
abrasive 80s dream pop. 'Just like Honey' is a classic. prefer their album 'Darklands' though
Interesting and unique album. Didnt love it, but I plan to come back to it.
This came off as very boring and loud. I liked Darklands a lot more.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
Me and noise rock are like water and oil.
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.
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.
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.
Meh.
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.
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
Not as bad as I expected.
A simple formula - girl groups meets feedback. Not a terrible idea and not terribly executed here but not super listenable either.
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.
Lowk ahh
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.
Ergh. I’m just not getting it
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.
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.
Some interesting songs, but a bit too filled with noise
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.
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.
çok sarmadı
Boy do I love when the vocals are all muddy and buried under really distorted guitars.
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
Liked it when I was younger but now sounds like a wall of distorted noice.
Noisy, lo-fi-ish, rocking and interesting. A bit of an assault on the senses. Maybe not great background music for doing tasks.
experimental like sonic youth. 2.5
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
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.
Bruyant et brouillon, experimental, pas ma came
Pas trop ma came
So much distortion I could barely make it out
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
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!
Really didn't like it as much as i thought i would based on Just Like Honey. Sad
Ok
Interesting, but I'll probably never listen to it again.
I mean, nothing wow to me but "Just Like Honey"
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.
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
The background noise drove me crazy.
It was fine from the start, but got worse until the end
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
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.
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.
Meh.
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.
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
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.
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
Most of the album was pretty innocuous and many of the songs sounded the same. At first, I thought the worse song was, "In A Hole", but then "You Trip Me Up" started, and it started with a note that just made my back teeth ache, so I've changed my mind and now the worst song is, "You Trip Me Up'.
They sounded almost as bored and indifferent as I felt listening to this.
more noise from the 80s
Jonkinlaista räminää ja kaikuefektiä brittipopin jalanjäljissä
Maybe I need more than a couple of listens to get into this.
Trodde jeg kom til å like denne bedre enn jeg gjorde. Liker vanligvis at ting låter litt stygt, men når låtene ikke er gode nok så blir det dessverre litt slitsomt å høre på. Dette er tilfellet her, hvor låtene er litt kjedelige i bånn.
Det er noen tøffe sanger her, men mixen låter ho drit.
Noise Rock! A genre I had never heard of, but made perfect sense once this album started. The distortion made it pretty meh. Seems like it was pretty revolutionary at the time. But I didn’t find it very compelling. 4/10 Acceptable
High hopes, faded
A couple of the tracks were OK, just OK. A bit whiney, emo, shouty, loud and noisy for me
Jesus. Mary and Joseph that's a lot of distortion. Stone Roses but distorted beyond being listenable.
I think I like the concept of this group in my contemporary history more than their actual input. They feel like punky gothy background music suitable for a shift washing dishes at a cool diner. I'm down but I don't precisely yearn for the experience...again.
I think I’m too old for this kind of music. I mean there’s a few songs I will take and add it to the playlist but man this sounds of just the screeching static. I was like all right I’m kind of over. It could barely hear some of the lyrics. Some of the time. Definitely probably be better if I was depressed it screams. It wasn’t a phase mom it’s a lifestyle.
Too much overdrive and too much feedback overpower not enough vocals. "The sound IS the music" group can't hear anymore because tinnitus set in with this album. I'm sure there's a garage band with 50 dollar guitars that could sound better.