Reviews (page 5 of 7)
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.
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.
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.
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 got 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.
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.
Just Like Honey is a great opening track that still holds up really well. The rest of this is just too buzzy / noisy / dissonant for me. It feels like somebody is idly strumming a guitar whose strings are way too loose. Not unpleasant, but not my type of thing.
I wasn't a fan of this band in the 80s
more 80s slop
If you can endure the numbing amount of feedback, this one is for you!
Not for me
Jag kanske är bränd men efter två lyssningar är det inget som fastnar för mig. Kanske skulle behövt en tredje. Dom måste ha varit före sin tid? Det är ju iaf ball.
It has its moments, but they are few & far between. It's a challenging listen, and may be an album that rewards those that give it more eartime. But from just this initial listen, it mostly didn't hit the mark.
1.73
Solid and noisy and didn't grab me.
It's noisy. In that good way. But never really clicked for me, even though I can see the throughlines. High 2s.
I tried to like it, I can understand the aesthetics of noise and the production choises but... The songs themselves suck, they're plain and repetitive, with almost nothing happening beneath the wall of noise. Sometimes they start to sound promising but never develop or go anywhere. 2/5
Jeg setter pris på støyen, men ikke så mye mer.
This is just a very weird album of pretty much nothing going on. I guess there is an audience that enjoys it, given the relatively high number of listens. I think that this would've been fine back in the day, possibly just as a background listen, but now it's just a bit meh, unless it's a background song.
Boring.
I was previously familiar with the artist but not this album. I think it is one of those whose historical importance and influence is greater than the listenability. Despite being influential and kicking off an entire genre, I feel it is not super interesting to listen to. It mostly seems like noise for the sake of noise, on top of relatively uninteresting tunes. I can appreciate it but don't see myself listening again.
"Psychocandy" by The Jesus And Mary Chain was a completely new experience for me, as I had never heard the band or this album before. The overall sound is very punk-ish, with that constant wall of guitar feedback being the most defining element. It is kind of cool at first, but since it is present in pretty much every song, it quickly became a bit too much for me. One song like that works well, but across a whole album it felt over the top. Also there is much too much reverb - it's all over the place. I was also never much of a new wave or post-punk fan to begin with, so this style does not really click with me. That said, I do have to give them credit for the variety on the record. There is more going on here than I initially expected, even if it did not fully win me over. I could see myself giving it another listen at some point, but probably not anytime soon.
I want to like this album, but it just doesn't sound good. I don't mean that it's bad musically, or the lyrics are bad, but the mixing and sound quality is just atrocious. The poor recording and lo-fi sound just makes it difficult to enjoy this album or listen to it critically.
Another British post punk album. It was okay at times, but really overbearing as well. 2.5/5 Probably won’t listen again
Litt uinspirerande, men går bra
This album feels dirty and gritty and I'm not sure I like it. Also all the mumble singing is driving me crazy, I get that you are edgy but does that mean I can't hear your lyrics!
Eh, not my cup of tea
Not for me
The feedback hurts my ears
Just like honey is great. The rest of it got very tedious.
This was an album. It contained music.
Too droney
Distortion much. A little okay but this was just constant static noise. Nope.
< the Beatles No thank you. Started out perfectly ignorable, became annoying
Too repetitive
This is the second day in a row that I get bands that don't appeal to me at all right now. In fact, if you didn't tell me they were different groups, I would tell you that I'm tired of listening to a single, wretched 50 track album... Alright, that's slightly harsh. This album is marginally better than yesterday. On a 5 star scale, it's still 1 star. On a 10 star, it would be 2.
Man, I wanted to like this, just to much noise. So disappointing, since I'm sure there's a gem in there. 2/5
Kitchen sink album. Not in the “it has everything” way, I mean the “hold on I can’t hear anything because the kitchen sink is blasting” way.
# Playlist Track - Just Like Honey # Notes - First time I heard this I though it was so jarring and grating that I couldn't even quite finish it. - There are way too many moments, like in "In a Hole" and "Taste of Cindy" where random noise, feedback and distortions eat up the whole song. - It gets a bit better if you're using headphones, as you can still kind of listen to the sound beneath the noise. It is still very annoying, anyway. - And it keeps happening over and over! So much that it feels like a cheap trick to sound "edgy".
First time and last time. I thought the album started out well but I was soon just tired of the music
I appreciate the decision to go with a raw, distorted sound, but I was hoping the singer would introduce some variation to counter it
I didn't feel like this album is something special. Not a bad one tho 2/5
2.0 - Weak
It was fine but too much grunge is too much
the songs are hit or miss. did i say hit or miss? I meant mid or miss.
not impressed, lots of mud 2/5
Not for me.
I was not a fan
Boring. Noise. Meh.
Had this on in the background whilst working. It left no impression whatsoever.
This is a low 2 for me. Don't like this type of vocals at all. Musically it was decent.
Commitment to noise was fun, lots of grain and fuzz, no memorable songs or song structures, fits a mood but I don't know when I would return 2/5
Sowing seeds konne vært av fontaines D.C. Alt i alt for kjedelig for meg, ingenting som fenga. Beste sang: Sowing seeds
I really dislike this band. Not for me, and no really catchy songs.
Might be slightly better than the last album that came up in 2023 but not by a big margin. Not a fan
A garbled mess.
Didn’t ever care for the singles. I’m not a Goth teenager
I would have liked this album a lot more if there hadn't been this much haze. I love myself some shoegaze, but the level it was taken to on some of the songs on this album just wasn't for me.
Bored
I get what they were doing and its more accessible than it was when it 1st came out, but its fatiguing
I respect the sound, but for me the songs blended together too much. The intense distortion and monotone vocals got old for me after awhile.
I yearn for an album that’s shorter than an hour and actually tries to be music
it's nice. i'm sure if I paid more attention to it, I'd pick out the subtleties. but as I'm working its kind of a wash of sound. I think i owuld probably like it if I mellowed out and paid attention to it. on a road trip i think i'd fall asleep. after I finished psycho candy, a track from JAMC from Automatic came on and it was night and day. vocals more up front in the mix, faster tempo, more prominant beat and guitar.
I was only half listening to this, and glad it was over speakers and not headphones. I didn’t mind some the songs, minus all the distortion, but even then it was just ok. I can think of several people in high school who would have dug this, but I wasn’t even in the same realm of music as this in 1985.
All the gripes about two banging Elvis Costelo albums has brought the wrath of the 1001 album gods upon us. I feel like the one guy in Sodom that was reading a book in the corner when the fire and brimstone started raining down. Not a fan of depressing, err I mean introspective, goth. Some of the more palatable songs sounded like the Romones on Prozac with guitar feedback, which I think they added just to jar people awake. Don't like the album, but respect the impact they had on the genre.
This was a really rough listen. I'm trying to see some of the good here, because there are good songs here, but they're buried under a wall of noise comprised of half distortion/fuzz tones that are cranked way too high, and half feedback.
Pre: heard a few songs on radio bit that's it Post: liked it at times but was too much for the work shift I was having, over all to chaotic and noisey industrial rock with echo and the bunny man flavour
These guys should’ve gotten paid overtime for working so hard to keep punk alive this far into the 80s. They could’ve used the extra cash to buy new speakers to replace all those they ruined with the over-the-top reverb and distortion that makes so many of these otherwise cool songs unlistenable.
Way too much distortion on nearly every track. It's like when I got my first Boss DS1, cranked the distortion knob wayyyy too far over, and had no idea how horrible it sounded.
British punk
We zijn halverwege de jaren '80, dus dan weet je wel ongeveer in welk hoekje(s) we dit moeten zoeken. De new wave is niet ver weg, maar ook de postpunk niet. Ze staan weer in een veel te grote fabriekshal of in een te kleine badkamer, waardoor het allemaal dof klinkt en met teveel galm. Ik snap niet zo goed waarom dit de trend was in die tijd. Dit was een van de grondleggers van de schoenenstaarmuziek en zoals zo vaak moet er aan die grondleggers nog tyfusveel gepolijst worden, voordat er wat moois uitkomt. Ik hoor onder die laag galm dat er best mooie liedjes in zouden kunnen zitten, maar de productie staat me simpelweg tegen. Doe me hier een moderne interpretatie van en ik zou het heel gaaf kunnen vinden denk ik. Voor nu vind ik het eigenlijk vrij kut.
So forgettable 2/5
Too much noise for my liking. It had its moments though, and I liked “Sowing Seeds” and one or two other songs. Overall, not for me.
Feels dated, feels like honey is a classic though
Probably was wild in '85
It’s like listening to cool 90s alt rock but through the shittiest speakers ever. I don’t understand this level of distortion on melodic music. Rly don’t get it at all.
4.29
Wanted to enjoy this more as they are really good live, but the album just didn't really do anything for me
Bland. Nothing memorable. Id throw it into stoner noise as a category.
I get the importance of this album. It forms the sonic bridge between 70s Velvet Underground and 90s grunge. But as a listening experience, it wasn't my favorite.
I was intrigued with this. Heard the name previously but never really listened to their music. Quite dark and noisy in places which surprised me (god knows why it did!) and definitely territory that I wouldn’t have ventured into had it not been for this list. It didn’t sound of its time either, and could have been released today. Interesting, and with depth.
Ho sentito solo metà album e non è per niente il mio genere. Non l’ho finito neanche ciao
mood ok, sonorità anche interessanti in alcuni casi, ma non mi convince la costante presenza di rumore di sottofondo da azienda siderurgica metalmeccanica. Canzoni interessanti Some Candy Talking(ca nn se capit se sta nell'album o meno) e Sowing Seeds.
Pretty average shoegaze album did not enjoy the more noisy parts. Favourite Just Like Honey
Boring post-punk with a few good moments, but really not much to see here. 2.0/5.0: Disappointing
No Standouts
Could be called early grunge, but the didn't hit with the others for some reason. Having heard Nevermind so recently, my theory is that The J&MC is too monolithic and distorted. All these songs sound similar and ...thin.
Ok so F my ears i guess why don’t you.
Maybe I'm missing something with this album. It's just really bleh to me. It didn't sound great like they tried being too cute and instead of awesome it came out more, why. I've heard other stuff by them and enjoyed it. So it's a bummer this one fell so flat for me.
White noise: the album!
This album isn’t bad, but someone in the band decided to periodically put a belt sander to some sheet metal in the middle of every song. I don’t get turned off by noise rock often, but I found myself needing to turn this down to avoid literally hurting my ears. The Velvet Underground-esque grooves are enough to save it from the dust bin.
I wanted to like this, cuz I was actually getting into a lot of these songs and then for some of them, a massive noise wall would destroy my poor earbuds and my ears along with them. It was only a few songs like that, but yikes DO NOT listen to this album with earbuds.
Not my cup of tea at all. Just seemed like noise.
You can probably trace genres like Britpop and Shoegaze to this album which is quite a mix of sounds. Just Like Honey works for me and Never Understand would be good if the tinnitus guitars were removed so a mixed bag really. Wanted to like more but got a bit fed up with it.
Fifa-rock. Mye distortion, hele tida. 2,5/5
Great Lo-Fi comes from bands who want to capture their spirit and believe that studio gimmickry interferes. This is more Anti-Fi; the use of studio gimmickry to create a conscientiously shitty sound. And Dear God the early 80s solid state effects produced such shitty sounds - the aluminum taste of the overdrives and the mud of those reverbs is just horrible. The pretentiousness of the Anti-Fi could be forgiven if the songs were worth listening to. There are some interesting melodic ideas here. But nothing approaching a great song.
Just like honey is a classic, but all the rest sounds too fuzzie for me. 2 stars
The lofi vibes of this album ranged from being really appealing to painful. But landed more on the latter.
Perhaps slightly better than Darklands but still more of the same. I like the drone and noise aspect but the vocals and lyrical content are just annoying.
I’m sure it’s for someone, but it wasn’t for me.
Just boring to me had me yearning to listen to other artists. 2.5