Psychocandy

Needs more reverb and distortion. Also, not enough cowbell

Man... this was just a very unspectacular album. I do get the connection to shoegaze of the 90's, but there was just nothing that would make me want to listen to this album again.

Would you press the button: the album is peak, but it nearly gives you a migraine with every song

The lo-fi sounds of Psychocandy is not for all tastes. If you like the early feedback noise of the Velvet Underground and don't think bass is an essential instrument in rock, then you might enjoy the Jesus And Mary Chain. There's nothing wrong with the album and it's very limited range of sound, and there is something interesting going on that is worth the listen. This isn't ground-breaking music by any means, but deserves credit for opening the door for the possibility that this kind of music could be popular. As I said, not for everyone, but it's doesn't sound as scary as it looks.

ample amounts of distortion and gloomy vocals. not a bad album, if i do say so myself.

This was unlistenable.

**Not what I’d prefer, but endured

So Just Like Honey is fantastic, really great song and mixed well. I also really liked Cut Dead and Some Candy Talking, they all seem to have been produced by the same guy. But then it's like they got a new producer or engineer or something. The vocals are just buried and drowned completely. I like this album but whoever did the mixing didn't do them any favors. The songs are good but not recorded very well and it's kind of a shame. I'd love to hear a remix of this record that boosts the vocals and evens the rest out a bit. I think that would be a great album. It's interesting because you can totally see the influence this had on a lot of bands in the late 80s and early 90s. Giving this one a 3.5/5 but rounding down for how uneven it is. A little more attention to mixing and it would be a solid 4. Giving this one a 3.5/5 but rounding down for how uneven it is. A little more attention to mixing and it would be a solid 4.

Jaa den växte ändå på mig. Favoritlåt: The living end

It was solid but didn't really click with me.

Interesting to see that this came out in 1985. Definitely ahead of its time. But I didn’t care for it, too much noise. High 2.

I like just like honey and I had slightly different expectations for the album but like I dont even know why because it totally made sense and fit together. pretty good

4/10 - I do not really remember it all that much. I was grinding the whole time. It seemed sort of just like noise but not noise music. It was just not great and not that memorable

I fw it

That was decent enough. A lot of big sounds from the guitar and distortion. Reminds me of a tuned up Joy Division. 3/5

Fun creepy trentemøller vibes. Enjoyable but def a repetitive style.

This album is wild. It's no easy feat to combine softness and harshness with melody and dissonance and come out with a masterpiece. To my ears, that is exactly what's happened. I listened to this album, then Darklands, then this one again. The melancholic, ethereal vocals are very pleasing to me. There is brilliance in this album, if you take the time to find it. I spent a lot of the day listening to their catalog. The song with Hope Sandoval was a banger. The rest I heard is solid.

Desperdício de uso da distorção nas guitarras. Talvez tenha inspirado trabalhos melhores de outras bandas.

Promising start, good middle, mediocre finish. Grungier than my normal style, but generally enjoyed it more than I expected

Pretty good. Ahead of its time. Probably 4.5

Another love it or hate it. I understand the overdrive is nauseating for a lot of people. The songs ar really mid. Didn't hate it but will not listen to it again.

Just a bit meh really

It started off strong with “Just Like Honey” and then became a bit generic. I would have gone for 2 stars but Just Like Honey pushed it over the edge to 3.

Kinda lame.

The songs themselves sound nice... but it's like I'm trying to listen to something I might like, but someone keeps being obnoxious and covering it up with horrible noise, so I can't even hear what's underneath. I guess that was the point, but... it's not for me.

The songs are pretty good, but it feels like the effect that runs throughout the whole album was added after they were created to give it more ‘flavor’. It honestly makes the songs worse, anyway; I’d rather hear versions of these songs where you can focus on the vocals and melodies. btw this is better than darklands but i rated that a 4 for some reason

This was decent, a little noisy.

2.5

Weird but enjoyable

so boring and washed out

Made my teeth hurt

That was grueling. And it doesn't help that a majority of the songs sound blown the hell out and mastered horrendously. I don't know it was intentional to make it sound like the guitar, singing, and sometimes percussion were clipping so horrendously it sounds like it was recorded incorrectly. But even if intentional, it doesn't make it sound even remotely palatable.

I didn't believe for a second this sounds like this on purpose. This sounds like shit. And it's hard to tell if anything good if buried under all the nose. This is clearly a band trying to sound good and failing but now are claiming it was on purpose.

I was looking forward to hearing this, as I've only heard their singles in the 90s. Unfortunately, listening to it now, it sounds tired and derivative. I'm disappointed.

How on earth did they end up on the soundtrack of a John Hughes film? Didn’t like it then. Can see its merits now but still don’t like it.

Representing the Feeling of the 80s

"Just Like Honey" is routinely recommended to me by Spotify due to my other listening preferences, but I really wish it wasn't. Listening to this whole album is only going to make that worse. I don't like it. Listening to this album makes me feel like I'm standing waiting for a urinal in a graffiti and piss covered bathroom in the back of a grungy club that has flaking black paint and sweat dripping down the walls and I'm listening to the band playing in the main hall through the wall and over the sound of drunk chatter and vomitting.

2.4 - After the first song it's just a lesser version of the first song

Ok so hear me out. Just Like Honey is an all-timer, a powerful shoegaze precursor. But the rest of the album is mostly just muck. Cut Dead is EXACTLY THE SAME SONG. The drums are identical, the structure is identical, it feels like a total slap in the face. But ok, we'll let that one slide, let's see what the rest of the album has to offer... Some Candy Talking... IS THE EXACT SAME SONG TOO! Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, I'll write a grumpy review of your album on the internet. SOWING SEEDS ARE YOU FUCLKING SERRIOUS WTFFFFFFFF ITS ALL THE SAME SONG?!±!!!!!£R!££!RR!£R Fave Tracks: Just Like Honey, i like the energy on Never Understand, You Trip Me Up 2/5 (this is probably harsh but they really pissed me off with the recycling of Just Like Honey)

Fantastic, singular record. Nothing sounds like it. Especially some of that chainsaw feedback stuff like In a Hole and Never Understand. The latter almost takes off the runway in the second half. Definitely not for everyone. But it is for me.

3.5

They say that nostalgia works in 20-year cycles, which is why there were so many different homages to the sounds and spirit of the 1960s during the 1980s. Recently, I listened to and reviewed 'Skylarking' by XTC that presented this very phenomenon - a Sgt. Pepper's for a generation growing up under Margaret Thatcher. 'Psychocandy' by the Jesus and Mary Chain is no different. A pastiche of different moods and subgenres that defined the 1960s all under a veil of harsh noise and dissonance, thereby ushering a new style of music altogether. But make no mistake: as lovely as this record is (it really is!), I'm not entirely convinced we have some true musical geniuses on our hands, though I do think it's worthwhile that they were the first to arrive at what was already a logical conclusion in the world of rock and roll. But that's about it: it was a logical conclusion that someone - anyone - was bound to make. Still, I enjoy this record! "Just Like Honey" is a wonderful album opener and one of the key tracks in 1980s alternative rock. By taking an iconic drum fill (certainly one of the most iconic from the 1960s) to prime you for an overwhelming deluge of distorted guitars is just so excellent. This is exactly the music you want to hear when you are confronted with a wide range of emotions: wistful, hopeful, melancholy, lonely; like being caught in a snowstorm and knowing it would serve as a beautiful sight if only you were inside looking out. The Velvet Underground has been cited as a key influence on this record. You hear that in spades on "Cut Dead." On streaming and on the 1986 CD release, non-album single "Some Candy Talking" is included and given that the majority of listeners on this site probably listened to this record on Spotify, I'm surprised no one has picked up on "Some Candy Talking" as an even more overt Velvets homage. Maybe it doesn't sound anything like "Candy Says" from 'The Velvet Underground' but I appreciate the attempt to create a dialogue with the band. For the Velvets, Candy is a woman who hates her body and all that it requires in the world. It's not a temple nor an avenue of pleasure like in "Some Candy Talking" but that wouldn't stop others from only viewing it as such. Bobby Gillespie (from Primal Scream!) does some wonderful drum work here, echoing the primitive sound originated by Mo Tucker. But if I were to point out the problems with this record (it's not flawless), it's that even by 1985, we could already start to see the cracks in post-punk music. By nature a derivative music genre, it's clear that The Jesus and Mary Chain just didn't have the chops to produce original musical ideas for long. "Sowing Seeds" is a rewrite of "Just Like Honey," which itself is a rewrite of "Be My Baby" by The Ronettes. Many people point out that 'Psychocandy' is the first shoegaze record, which I suppose is true. But The Cure and Cocteau Twins were already exploring the tension between pretty and ugly, between distortion and tender melodies; this just seemed like the foregone conclusion, which I have to say, would be perfected by other bands. There are some other noteworthy tracks (ie. "The Living End," "Taste the Floor") and I will concede the way in which everything blurs together is part of the musical innovation. And yet, I have to conclude this is mostly due to a lack of ideas and/or skill. Either way, this still needs to be a part of the alt-rock canon. Or 1980s canon. Or any canon, really. B+ *I'm going to note here since you can't go back and edit your past reviews (why!?) but John Grant's 'Queen of Denmark' can't be the same grade as this, so I hereby demote it to a B.

This is ok I think. Kind of like that one Arcade Fire album, I need to be in a specific mood for this. It’s just a little washy rock..

I liked this one more than I expected

Somewhat unlistenable for me. I get that this kicked off shoegaze, but man it was a lot of noise.

Whoa guys.. is this how “scream-o” started? Not a fan.. volume was at 5 and it still hurt my ears..

Honestly right after I finished listening to the album and I couldn't remember a single thing about it other than distortion. It happened, and it was unremarkable

Did not particularly enjoy and was glad when it ended. Charitable 2

The songs are not terrible. I even remembered a couple of them. However, the performance is bad. If you wanna play loud, you gotta sing loud. Or no one will hear you. So this sounds very unrealistic. Production sounds like a bad demo. Favorite song: the hardest walk.

Good vibes

I didn't mind this, some tracks were better than others for sure

3.5/5

IDK. Sometiimes when you heard one Jesus and Mary chain album you've heard em all.

Better than most

Just muted and depressing

sucked

I advise everyone with sensitive ears to turn down the treble volume for this one. In 1985, this noisy, tinnitus-inducing debut was obviously a striking feat, especially compared to the bland mainstream aesthetics of the time. Yet retrospectively, I can't help feeling like the songwriting on this admittedly seminal record is so mundane at times that it becomes difficult to gulp it down in one sitting (and this is where the abrasive production can't really help redeem that flaw--whether your sound suggests you made your record in a basement or a professional studio, mundane songs will remain mundane). A potential hot take here: picking up this noisy-garage thread with nods to goth, punk, rockabilly and the Velvet Underground, a later band known as A Place To Bury Strangers has written far better songs with catchier arrangements. Check them out if you've never heard of them. Which doesn't mean that Psychocandy is ultimately bad. The way the extreme sound of "In A Hole" foretells APTB is impressive to say the least, but it also conveys some welcome dynamics in an LP lacking them overall. And on the other side of that spectrum, opener "Just Like Honey" is a gem. Too bad that the duo is stuck in those two modes, generally speaking, and rehashes the same sort of tunes elsewhere, only with a lesser impact. 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list (rounded up to 4) 8.5/10 for more general purposes. Number of albums left to review: less that 150. Numbers of albums I'll keep in my list: half approximately (including this one, but mostly for "historical" reasons) Numbers of albums I might keep: a quarter, approximately. Numbers of albums I won't keep: another quarter. 

Just okay.

A head turning sound that must have been wild in the 80s, and just smacks you in the face with a wall of noise. I think this is the kind of album that needs more than one listen, on more than one format. Every song reminds me of Heroin, and I’d normally be down for that, but on this occasion it just didn’t hit. Taste the Floor Just Like Honey

some nice songs but I spent most of the time waiting for it to be over. 2.4 stars as there are some lovely basslines and some of the songs hit well.

This album is why reading the little Wikipedia excerpt is really important. Without that, I would have been really disinterested in this album. But knowing that this is the beginning of Shoegaze as a genre really gives the album an air of importance. Musically, this isn't really for me. Underneath all the heavy extreme distortion, it's basically just a pop album, which is why that distortion is so important. Without it, this is honestly a really bad album. Favorite Song(s): Cut the Dead, Some Candy Talking

A thick layer of sludgy noise over some 80s songs. The missing link into Nine Inch Nails.

Pretty cool.

Very meh. Sinks into the background.

I really enjoyed this. A ton more than I thought I would.

1st track. This noise... this is intentional? The static?

Always liked the pop of JMC. We played the heck out of Automatic, especially Head On. Great debut album this.

Great... Definitely influenced by the Cure.

Second day in a row I get some mediocre noisy music. 2.5/5

Couldn’t find

Just love ‘em. Such a distinct vibe.

Deliciously distorted and alternative. Me likey. Me likey A LOT.

Apparently, according to Wikipedia, thise music has been described as "bubblegum pop drowned in feedback", (or noise-pop), and helped establish the style of distortion-laden fogginess that would eventually become the foundation for shoegaze. More depressing than Joy Division, (who I like), with none of the charm or energy.

I was really surprised how fast this album grew on me - I added four songs to my "Liked" playlist. Good stuff.

Sounds like it was recorded with a potato. It's a shame because I could detect the strains of decent music beneath the horrible static. I had to skip some songs because it was just...too much. Like listening to feedback.

I enjoyed this mainly because the volume in my headphones was really low. The reverb and distortion are not enjoyable. Nevertheless, this is better than must of that new wave shit this list is full of.

I love the guitar sound on most of this album. I like blown out, dirty, distorted guitars. So I thought I’d really like this album. And I didn’t mind it, I like the sound of it, but the songs just weren’t there for me. I was mostly bored by the songs. The singer is not dynamic, and that’s a choice, but it just grew wearisome after about two songs.

Just heard "just like honey" before. But this album was using too much of the garage sound. The over use of feedback and fuzz made me jump songs.

Definitely 80's vibes. Vocals remind me of something like Joy Division or a similar group. Easily could be featured on a soundtrack to a Hughes film. 3.5

mag die band, aber leider nit ihr beates album

There may have been songs under that fuzz and distortion but I couldn’t tell. Painful dreck.

Allt distortionið á þessum gítar! Finn næstum því lyktina af þessari tónlist.

4.5

Psychocandy didn't leave me with many thoughts or emotions. It wasn't as garbage as other albums with a noise genre, but there was something lacking. Unsurprisingly it is a debut album, so perhaps I need to cool my expectations. There was more to the music than just noise, at least. The first song, "Just Like Honey," started strong, but the rest of the album was downhill.

I'm not usually one for noise rock, but something about this album just does it for me! Yes, it's very shoegaze-y, but I think part of the reason I like this is because they incorporate a dark, kind of goth sound to their vocals and style; there is an added layer to the spacey, dreamy qualities. I would say that the album loses traction towards the end, but the majority is great! And honestly, "Just Like Honey" could pass for a modern track from one of those indie bands -- you know the ones -- where the man sings kind of low and melancholic and the woman harmonizes/repeats in a higher voice. There's definitely been some inspiration being taken from The Jesus and Mary Chain! All in all, a really strong debut from this band!

Inflytelserikt album för alternativ rock och shoegaze. Känner mig cool när jag lyssnar. Det är bara min egna preferens, men när det blir för distat och noisigt över flera låtar blir det ansträngande att lyssna. Därför är de små oaserna av lugn, som 'Cut Dead', 'Sowing Seeds', och såklart 'Just Like Honey', platserna jag njuter av mest. De noisigare låtarna, t.ex. 'In a Hole', låter som Les Rallizes Dénudés, vilket är bra (i små doser). Annars är 'Inside Me' en av de bättre av noiselåtarna. Bästa låt: Sowing Seeds

Not enjoying this. Was hard to get through some tracks like In a Hole and Never Understand which are just noisy. At least most of the time there's a song underneath the noise and feedback, but this still isn't likely one I'll listen to again. Favorites: Just Like Honey, The Hardest Walk. Tempted to give 1 star because some of it's so obnoxious, but I'll be kind and round up. * 1/2

Bought this on record (not bloody vinyl) rather than tape in 85. Proving to be quite a sensible decision, as it is near mint from never being played. Thanks Q magazine, or NME, or whoever it was who told me this was the new coming. Couple of decent songs, but not what a boy obsessed with Tears for Fears was ready for. Was, and is, music for hipsters wearing black

Eh, it's fine. I see how it was impactful at the time but it's just not that interesting now

Good in a small dose.

While this is not the type of music I really enjoy, it feels way ahead of its time. This has to be a precursor to shoegaze music with the distortion and effects for the guitar.

Just Like Honey Never Understand You Trip Me Up

Not listened to much TJAMC stuff before. Liked the slower quieter tracks. The rockier tracks not so much. I was listening on a speaker in bathroom. My wife at one point asked what the funny noise was. She thought I’d left my electric toothbrush on. See what she means such is the overuse of distortion. Sounds like it was recorded in a cave or pedestrian underpass. This makes it an album you cannot listen to comfortably from start to finish. Turn down the treble please! 2/5 11/6/24

Enjoyed some of it but there were a lot of tracks with high pitched noise that just took the pleasure away

There are definite roots of the upcoming rock scene here. Kind of rough, distortion-y, precursor to grunge and the other alternative stuff coming down the pipe. It never really grabbed me, though. I appreciate its place, but it’s not something I am likely to listen to again.

pretty good stuff maynard. 4 stars.

Total classic. I’m seeing shoegaze getting lots of hate on this site, just let it wash over you… 🌊

Inventive as anything in 1985. Guitar tone is golden, low volume bit highly distorted, lashings of reverb and fuzz. A joy to behold, and interesting pairing with such catchy simple melodies. Jack this into my veins and give me all you've got.

My favorite distortion preset on my guitar amp is called JAMC. I can sit down any day, switch to that preset, and it feels like a cheat code to creating a full sounding song. This is an album literally anyone can hear and immediately attempt to inject its sound into their own music. The Beatles would've gone crazy if they'd known about noise pop (they maybe kind of did on Helter Skelter). The influence Psychocandy had is obvious. From just the 1001 albums on this list alone: Nirvana, My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr, Pixies, Ride, Pavement, Smashing Pumpkins. Pretty much any band that used non-pop sounds (namely distortion and feedback) to make pop songs. Where this differs from The Human League - Dare is that while JAMC did not perfect the art of pop songwriting but they did more or less perfect the sound of noise pop. This is the intersection of no wave, The Velvet Underground, post-punk, acid rock, and psychedelia. Better songwriters (see the list above and more like Stereolab, Alvvays, Yo La Tengo, and Shinsei Kamettechan) made better songs than are on Psychocandy but it wasn't until glitch/electronic made it's way into the genre that the actual noise pop was meaningfully progressed. I'm always surprised listening to this that Just Like Honey is the big song when The Hardest Walk or Taste of Cindy or Sowing Seeds or Something's Wrong have more flavorful melodies and song dynamics. Not a knock on the track, it's just sort of plodding in comparison to the rest.

Just like honey on biisi, johon palaan (jo siis ennen tätä kuuntelukertaakin). Täydellinen tv-sarjabiisi kuten moni muukin tällä levyllä - tällä on tietynlainen tunnelma, joka toisaalta taipuu hyvin monenlaiseksi taustaksi vähän haikeista kohdista indie-bileisiin. Pidän siitä! Mutta tbh kaipaan levylle enemmän koukkuja, yksittäisiä esille nousevia täkyjä.

Soundimusiikiksi yllättävän välittävää. Silti liian riippuvaista siitä, tykkääkö kiertävistä sähkölaitteista. 2+

Young boys took the girl group structure/beats (particularly young hal blaine's be my baby) put some fuzzed out yet quiet guitars over it, in the 80s fashion, reminds me of psychedelic furs/big country etc ( I have no idea the timeline of these acts) and created something that sounds like nothing else, and sounds pretty damn cool. Not a 5 cause that's pretty much all they did.

I guess this is one of those albums that was really influential in the time and place of it's release. I found it to be thoroughly bland and static. I didn't hate any of it, but it was underwhelming.

This has probably been the hardest album to rank so far. I was quite off put by how noisy this album was on the first listen, and felt that the noise and pop structures were disjoint. For a few songs, I thought the noise was too strong, and the melodies too boring. I was ready to give this album a 2 or 3 at best. But then I gave it another listen. And another one. Now, I hear the noise and instrumentation mix together beautifully (most of the time), because I hear these opiate tones drag on behind it all. For the first time, I felt like I understood what draws people in with shoegaze. So many songs manifested this melancholic, numbed out, blacked out, sound that I couldn't pull away from. The noise and various effects really reframe the purpose of the pop oriented rock, and caused me to reinterpret entirely the emotionally felt senses that pop goes for. You know those cringey memes where people say something along the lines of "happiness is listening to the music, sadness is understanding the lyrics"? This album feels like the band wanted to bridge that gap, to create the body that feels the weight of the words it hears sung to it, while still remaining familiar at its core. I truly still don't know how to rank this album. In some ways I don't see myself listening to this regularly, and I still think the album as a whole is a little rough around the edges and simplistic at times. But at the end of the day, Psychocandy unwrapped some unexpectwled, brand new appreciation for a music genre I've been otherwise unsuccessful at getting into, and that feels well worth rewarding on it's own. I think I'll look back on this album as fondly as my other 5s so far, but it really stands out on its own for the effect it had on me. TL;DR I'm Frank Reynolds saying "oh my god, I get it"

Weird album. Liked a few songs but overall found it hard to get into

For me, this was the peak for TJAMC, before they toned down the feedback and distortion a little. The simple song structure over a wall of white noise never fails to satisfy. I can hear so many influences, but more importantly, other bands who were in turn influenced by this sound. Spacemen 3 were probably closest for me, with Sound of Confusion coming out just a year later. There was also MBV, and a host of other shoegaze bands that followed on from where this album left off. Obviously it's a 5 star album, it's also a great discriminator, as people giving this album 1 stars obviously have a totally different idea of what music actually is.

Reeevvveerrrbbbb

listened on 08/05/25 whilst making my dissertation presentation :)

Don’t listen to this if you have budget headphones

You call it ear barrage, I call it white noise. Nevermind that my ears are bleeding, it's a statement.

Hmmmm. I love a noise band, take Low for instance, they are one of my favourite, but I just can't handle the treble focused guitar noise from bands like this.

Pretty generic mid 80s fare. Unobtrusive and unlikely to cause me to become a fan.

I like it. Didn't listen much on the day but I'm listening now. Nice sounds.

3-

3.5

Indie rock. Tostón monótono. Un 2.

Alrighty. Fuzzy and dreamy but also harsh at some parts.

This was terrible. Not something I needed to experience.

Hmmm. Garbage? Great? Dull, certainly.

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.

This album was really influential for me. I started listening to Triple J about the time this came out, and so thought this was kind of normal. Later, I discovered it was not. The J&MC really picked up on the noise factor from the Velvet Underground (along with other influences, like the Beach Boys, girl groups, Suicide, Einsturzende Neubauten, and Phil Spector) to create a "high IQ, low technique" (to quote Lou Reed's NYT obit) pop musique. It is hard to think of worse sounding guitars ever appearing on record (with the exception of a few of the more extreme VU tracks) before this, but there are some fair melodies under the noise, feedback and reverb. I still wonder how the Reid Brothers came up with this sound. It is in the lineage of the Velvet Underground, the Stooges, and the Ramones (all of whom I got into after hearing the J&MC), but how did these two guys from Scotland with little or no musical training or background manage to craft into songs that sound this extreme? It is still a wonderous and coherent vision. I do note the presence of Flood and Alan Moulder as recording engineers. They both became very influential engineers, mixers and producers over the coming decades, and are (I feel) responsible for bringing a noisier, edgier production style into the mainstream. It makes sense that J&MC recorded with then relatively unknown engineers who were open to the possibility of noise. I wonder how much they added to or encouraged the sound of this record. This album is not easy listening, but I like that. I like that a lot. Anyone who has ever heard me play guitar in public knows how much I like this record.

Love this album. Post punk vibes on top of the wild guitar feedback distortion makes this album hit for me. Make sure to turn it up.

Easy 1 star for "actively bad". Almost no melody and lots of staticy noise makes for an unpleasant listening experience

Sounds like a bad electrical connection

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.

Never heard of this group. Good listen

Lots of noise but pretty repetitive

pop rock songs emerging from goopy noise

Played it on proper speakers. Love it.

Couldn't determine whether it was the mixing. or that the vocals could barely be heard but am sure deep down its a wonderful record.

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

All the negative reviews complain about the distortion and all the positive reviews praise the distortion I think the distortion and the shoegaze-y vibes of it make it enjoyable I do however always hate these "Extended Version" "Unabridged Release" "2005 Remaster Re-release Expansion Version" albums because they always add another 30 minutes of songs that weren't good enough to be on the album in the first place and still aren't. Only 3 stars if I take into account the extra bullshit

lvery fuzzy noise based rock

Pretty average

Det er en ret sjov oplevelse nu når at jeg bedre kan lide et af de bands som de har influeret, end selve bandet. den første halvdel var jeg godt inviteret i, men efter 35 minutter ish begyndte det hele at flyde sammen for mig. Men det er fedt alligevel!

Pop-perler svøbt i støjrock. 2 dele Sonic Youth 1 del Joy Division Rør rundt og drys med lidt Beach Boys

Scottish rock band eh? SCOTLAND FOREVER!!! Wasn't a fan though, the music sounds like it was recorded behind the otherside of a dungeon door. I picture them kind of doing their music at the table of Frankenstein's laboratory as the electricity crackles.

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

J'ai l'impression que cet album a du avoir un impact majeur sur la scène underground shoegaze/post-rock, mais j'ai l'impression que ça a un peu mal vieilli. C'est très monotone et la distortion est vraiment trop présente. 4/10

Something’s Wrong (with the sound board.) Or maybe this is an album for the audibly impaired? Every song but one (Sowing Seeds) has massive background noise of jet engine, buzz saw, or really loud feedback over simple beats and lyrics making the album difficult to enjoy. The experience would have been much better if someone, anyone, just told the lead singer to not bring the microphone so close to the speakers (1.1*s)

This noisetrash for music really grated on me and I struggled to find something, anything, even a little tiny bit redeeming but could not. I don't mind some distortion and effects if used right but this whole album just bothered me. Everything is drowned out and the singer sounds like he's singing from underneath a very plush (and badly stained) basement sofa. Please stay there.

Jesus the Jesus...WTF? This hurt to listen to...quite literally. Had to turn it down and almost off. Were they recording while the studio construction was being completed? Yell the guy cutting tile to take a break. I can't even give this a good rating for being experimental/unique and maybe 1st to use guitar feedback. A little is ok...they way overdo it. Yeah lets add that ripping through a bag of rusty nails with a band saw sound instead of good lead guitar. Forget about a good riff...bring in the angle grinder and go to town on this barnacle covered boat hull. Songs wouldn't be half bad if they weren't attacking a chalkboard with a Sawzall. I felt relief when the radio static from hell would cease but it was short lived. The squeeling train wheels I hear by my apartment every 10 mins are now not so bad. Mary chain, you brought the pain.

When this first started I was on board. A couple of low key melodramatic songs with the distortion and reverb turned way up was at least a somewhat unique sound. Unfortunately this continued for 40 minutes straight. Ever song used the same trick and sounded the same. By the end of this album I was frustrated and wanted it to be over. Despite only being 40 minutes long I can't believe how long of a listen this felt like. Not sure if this is The Jesus and Mary Chain signature but this album is completely a one-trick pony. Listen to one song then turn it off. 0.30 stars

All due respect to Christgau, comparing them to the Ramones is disingenuous, there is as little melody here as there is self-deprecating humour.

This isn't the most pleasant album to listen to, the distortion is at times creatively wielded but more often than not feels a bit excessive.

I skipped through the songs and they mean nothing to me. The 'Mary Chains' had no meaning for me in the past and even less so today. They are a typical product of their time and have not aged particularly well. The 'guitar fog' is just irritating. Linking them to the 'Stooges' is just ridiculous, they will never reach their class. The Stooges will stay, the 'Mary Chains' will disappear into the abyss of music history. Good!

Trochę jak ride, ale słabsze

Psychocandy I am a fan of this album, but I can see why it might be a bit marmite, they have a template and they work some variation around the edges, occasionally speeding things up, but there’s no doubting the songs are cut from similar cloth. But I like that cloth a lot. Phil Spector/girl group/bubblegum pop drum foundation, Velvet Underground tempos and drone, Stooges guitar, a slowed down punk noise and sensibility, lots of feedback, some Beach Boys melodies and then some 50s echoey fraternal harmonies. Mix those threads up in a garment gumbo and, to my ears, you have a tasty outfit. What I also like is that this is one of those albums where you can simultaneously hear both the influences and who they influenced. Just Like Heaven, have always loved it, a great tune, their best version of their song, but there are other highlights, The Hardest Walk, Cut Dead, Taste of Cindy, Never Understand, Inside Me, My Little Underground, Somethings Wrong, It’s Do Hard. Actually that’s nearly every song. Some Candy Talking is probably their second best song, really very good. So it comes down to whether you like their template or not. As you can tell I think it’s great, so it’s an easy 4 for me. I’m tempted to go 5, but Rubber Soul’s excellence is casting a bit of a shadow today. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Short review today because I’m sleepy. I hoped this would be good because I’ve really enjoyed this band previously. Unfortunately, this album is dogshit. There are a couple of decent songs, and the. A lot of tracks that sound like TV static. Avoid this one.

It was ok

Psychocandy, qu'est-ce que c'est?

did nothing for me, but I guess it has some musical merit so not a 1 but close.

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 !

I love to imagine what was happening in the studio during the making of this album. "Guys, I have a great idea. What if we make an album, with super airy vocals that are completely incoherent, and a bunch of really tinny empty sounding guitars." "You're definitely on to something, but I feel like there's just something missing from it." "I've got it! What if there's just constant white noise in the background, that way the airyness and tinnyness of the album is exaggerated even more!" "How did we not think of that? You're a musical genius man!" This album is truly hot garbage. If you think that there is anything even remotely worth admiring about this, I will never be able to take any of your music opinions seriously. This makes My Bloody Valentine's debut sound like the greatest album of all time.

Good early British goth

More Reverb Please!

I feel like I’m hearing the album from down around the hall, around a corner. It may have been something at it time, but the production does not wear well. It’s just a wash of conflicting sounds, which to me ultimately does a disservice to the songs.

meh. though i can see where nirvana may have gotten some influnces.

I was very close to turning it off in the middle of the album. Hard to hear anything else besides guitar feedback.

Hated it. As mom used to say, just noise.

This was fun -- I lost track while listening to it and tuned in like 2 hours later still listening to it.

I wanted to like this more and there was a time when I would totally jam to this noise, but alas, either this, or I, did not age well. I'm giving ** on optimism that it's not me, it's them. I've become my parents. My parents were great, I've subsequently learned.

"Psychocandy" is deceptive. It sounds like a droning, boring, generic rock effort. But if one pays attention, it actually packs a dark, brooding brand of rock topped with extreme, deliciously wooshy distortion that made me think it was from the '90s. Apparently, it was from '85. These guys are quite ahead of their time.

Good

There's a lot of good things about the album, I like the vocals, they can be very expressive. My favourite is probably vegetable man on the extended version.

Perfect noise for a rainy Tuesday morning. The sun came out just at it was ending and ruined my mood.

Ehhh I also wanted to like this more but it’s Fine

I seriously had to fast forward multiple songs because it hurt my ears to listen. I don't know why or how they make it sound like that but I wish they hadn't. The parts of the song before that happened I enjoyed, but then the sound quality would get distorted and I just couldn't handle it. I want to give it higher, but honestly I just could not listen to it again even if I wanted to.

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.

I don’t love the sound quality, it sounds too muffled and that’s kind of annoying. Most of the songs are cool enough when they start, but they get pretty chaotic with all the background noise that gets added in. Kind of hurt my ears after awhile. Really liked Some Candy Talking.

Yea this blows. Feedback for its own sake, the lead singer cant fucking sing a bar, flat affectation and a lack of connection caused by the first two points. Make this stopppppppppp.

Spacious and dreamy throughout. I'm a big fan of this kind of shoegaze.

Couple goood stand out jams; overall it all beigns to sound the same but i love it! i own this record its good.

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.

Sikkert banebrytende for sin tid, men disse ellers "myke" melodiene med overdreven noise og feedback funker ikke for meg, og jeg liker mye lo-fi.

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

Wow. What a sound! This is an album you can feel! Standouts: Just Like Honey, Taste the Floor, Cut Dead, Taste of Cindy, Never Understand, Sowing Seeds, 4/5

I really hated this album. The distortion was just all I could hear. I felt like my ears were bleeding and not in a badass way. I really love the classic 80s vocals but I can find that with another band. Never gonna listen to this again. I feel worse off for it. I hate to be so negative, but this album really was not the move in ANY sense. Did not have a favorite song. Did not add to my Spotify library.

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

Best album

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*

Enjoyed it in small does but found it easy to tune out.

Piercing noise, swooning melodies, and caveman drums performed by the coolest Scots to ever walk the Earth

Lots of feedback noise

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.

Forgettable

Kinda reminds me of the three chord songs of the 60s, Gloria, Louie Louie and the like, of course with tons of distortion and reverb. The high distortion pedal tones are interesting, I would hate hearing them live. I wonder how many cases of tinnitis were caused by this band. Only sorta joking here. However, there's actual music going on here, with a lot of feeling. I'll give it a few stars for that.

3/10

Horrid guitar playing and everything seems to be overmodulated? Also I can't make out any lyrics; just mumbling around on mic and the reverb is totally out of control. Can't imagine having to listen to this with headphones. This is as if static was music. 3/10.

Crunchy 80s stuff

Fuzzy!

i expected to like this more than i did. a couple good songs but otherwise sort of forgettable

It felt very dated

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

First half is boring. Second half is annoying.

Just two guys and some instruments and drum machine. The flipside to My Bloody Valentine, the British Sonic Youth. It's rough around the edges but kind of beautiful in its sheer brutality.

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.

Rating: 8/10 Great album overall. Almost every song is extremely catchy and fun to listen to. The vocal and instrumental melodies were very strong throughout, even though the guitars were very distorted. The distortion is overwhelming at times, creating a wall of noise. I had a revelation while listening to this that there is beauty and emotion in the noise, so I definitely see the appeal to this style of music. The last three songs felt redundant and a bit boring compared to everything else but the rest of this was great; this might score much higher (or much lower) on repeated listens depending on how I end up feeling about the noise. Favorite songs: all but the last three. Worst songs: You Trip Me Up, Something's Wrong, It's So Hard.

Interesting but back ground noise mostly. The reverb or background fuzz of the guitar. I get it but not a huge fan.

It wasn't really good. It did drone on and there was nothing really noteworthy about it.

Meh. I liked the distortion and the general vibe, but it didn’t really do anything for me.

First time hearing this full through but I think I’ve gotta go 5. Just Like Honey is a killer debut opener. Love the high pitch noise in several of the songs. The Hardest Walk and Taste of Cindy were other faves. Kind of proto shoegaze. Need to soend more time with it but a great way to start the week.

Didn’t really do too much for me. I’m not really a low fi rock guy

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.

Like in Copper Blue there were some decent melodies hidden in these harsh sounds, but they were MUCH more hidden. In no world would I feel a need to listen to this ever again.

2 albums for the band. Is this not a bit of a stretch for their impact

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.

Suicide watch music

generic sound in my opinion, pretty fuzzy and distorted. not to my taste

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.

Not for me, this one. Vocals are a bit weak and low, it's somehow halfway between grunge and Joy Division and it's hard to get a handle on the lyrics. The most successful song on Spotify (the opening track) is the most accessible, it doesn't have the grungey noise sound behind it and it works a bit better - otherwise, it all gets a bit lost. A high 2 for me.

very 80s. not my fav but i enjoyed

It’s no Pogues but I’m surprised how much I liked this album. Favorite tracks include Taste of Cindy and You Trip Me Up. I wouldn’t have guessed this album was made in the 80s.

To quote you guys about some other albums — meh.

Nothing that caught my attention here. The hit me flat years ago, and remain there. Not bad, just not for me.

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

Buzzing and rattling, and soothing. Feedback is an instrument in this album, akin to a violin or pad of some sort and at the front. There are a few more radio friendly songs. Vocals are acid-washed out and low; the guitars are the important bits. Feels like a space heater on high.

Really not there for me. I like a song or two but this just isn't my jam. I get why its so popular - for the time, it was revolutionary - but what it inspired ended up being so much better than what this was its hard to look at it today and call it great.

Some sounds gone through.

Not my kind of music but I can see the appeal

Crap in the 80s and still crap now......

The album was not available in the US via Apple Music. Listened to a couple of songs. Not my jam.

I like fuzzy guitars as much as the next guy but when that's all that can be offered, it gets annoying. There's no substance to this album. It's the same exact sound and I can barely tell when one song ends and another begins. There needs to be other components to the fuzz and noise. I dont understand why this album is on the list.

Jesus and Mary Chain låter ju astufft måste författaren ha tyckt och la till minst 2 plattor av dem på den här listan. För musikaliskt hör de inte hemma här.

Loads of reverb, what’s not to like

Gets a bit samey towards the end, and not as polished as Darklands, but an absolute classic

I like it. Simple as that.

Awful.

There's some catchy tunes here. Too bad they ruin it with distortion.

Oohh litt både og

Meh, didn't really do anything for me. Never seemed to evolve or change or try to say something in particular. Just sounded like a noisier more boring beach boys.

Really dug this one. It's not great but you can definitely hear how it served as an influence for grunge.

All the tracks have that much distortion going on they sound a bit samey, with no chance of understanding the lyrics. Bah humbug

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

Weird, what about all this feedback, and the sound of vacuum cleaners I thought once, listening to the album for first time. By now every single note is part of my brain. The romance in Just Like Honey, the aggression in Never Understand , this is such a brilliant album it makes you think: why "1001 albums" to listen before you kick the bucket, 1 is enough! A very dear one had psychcandy as her email address when I met her and now already for many years is dead, at the funeral I wanted to play one of the songs of this album and I selected the most accessible one, Just Like Honey. All other funeral-goers found it tough to listen too (-:

Really good album, can’t believe I didn’t listen to them more back in the day.

Vette sound, coole nummers. Wel heel ongepolijst af en toe

Not for me

Released in 1985, "Psychocandy" by The Jesus and Mary Chain is a landmark album that significantly contributed to the evolution of alternative and shoegaze music. This revolutionary work marries a unique blend of noisy, distorted guitar soundscapes with hauntingly sweet melodies, creating an album that remains influential and relevant to this day. 1. Lyrics (Pros and Cons) Pros: The lyrics of "Psychocandy" are often overshadowed by its groundbreaking sound, but they play a crucial role in conveying the album's themes. The lyrics are cryptic and abstract, evoking a sense of disillusionment, alienation, and desire. Tracks like "Just Like Honey" showcase the juxtaposition of sugary-sweet melodies with darker, introspective lyrics, creating a compelling emotional contrast. However, the cons lie in the album's intentional obscurity. Some may find the lyrics too enigmatic, making it challenging to decipher their meaning. Yet, this ambiguity adds to the album's mystique, allowing listeners to interpret the words in a way that resonates personally. 2. Music (Pros and Cons) Pros: "Psychocandy" is celebrated for its innovative use of noise and feedback, which was revolutionary at the time. The amalgamation of the Reid brothers' distorted guitars, reminiscent of The Velvet Underground, creates a dense sonic landscape. The album opens with the intense "Just Like Honey," instantly introducing the unique wall of sound that defines the band's style. The incorporation of classic pop melodies into a chaotic and dissonant sonic environment is a notable strength. This fusion of sweetness and dissonance, exemplified in tracks like "The Hardest Walk" and "Never Understand," sets The Jesus and Mary Chain apart from their contemporaries. Cons: The deliberate overuse of feedback and distortion may be an acquired taste. Some listeners might find the abrasive nature of the music challenging to digest, especially those accustomed to more polished production. This intentional rawness, while central to the album's aesthetic, may alienate some listeners. 3. Production (Pros and Cons) Pros: "Psychocandy" showcases a groundbreaking approach to production. The album was produced by John Loder, who successfully captured the band's vision of combining pop sensibilities with a cacophony of noise. The deliberate choice to saturate the tracks with feedback and distortion contributes to the album's visceral impact. The unconventional production techniques were ahead of their time, influencing countless artists in the alternative and shoegaze genres. The production also cleverly balances the dualities within the music – the soft and the harsh, the melodic and the dissonant. The result is an immersive listening experience that defies traditional expectations. Cons: The intentionally lo-fi and abrasive production might be off-putting to listeners accustomed to cleaner, more polished soundscapes. The decision to push sonic boundaries, while groundbreaking, may limit the album's accessibility to a broader audience. 4. Themes "Psychocandy" explores themes of love, disillusionment, and existential angst. The juxtaposition of sweet melodies with harsh noise reflects a nuanced commentary on the complexities of relationships and the contradictions of human experience. The album's title itself, a portmanteau of "psycho" and "candy," encapsulates the duality of its themes – the sweetness of life tainted by a darker, more unsettling undercurrent. The album's thematic richness lies in its ability to evoke a range of emotions. Tracks like "Just Like Honey" capture the bittersweet nature of love, while "You Trip Me Up" delves into the volatility of relationships. The overarching theme of disillusionment permeates the album, making it a cohesive and emotionally resonant work. 5. Influence "Psychocandy" stands as a pivotal influence on the alternative and shoegaze genres. The Reid brothers' innovative use of noise and distortion paved the way for bands like My Bloody Valentine, Lush, and Ride. The album's impact is evident in the sonic experimentation that characterized the late '80s and early '90s alternative music scene. The Jesus and Mary Chain's fusion of pop melodies with noise laid the groundwork for the shoegaze movement, where the emphasis on atmospheric soundscapes and dreamy textures became a defining feature. The album's influence extends beyond its contemporaries, shaping the trajectory of alternative music for years to come. Conclusion "Psychocandy" by The Jesus and Mary Chain remains a groundbreaking and influential album, pushing the boundaries of alternative music with its unique blend of noise, melody, and introspective lyricism. While its intentionally abrasive production and cryptic lyrics may not appeal to everyone, these elements are integral to the album's lasting impact. The duality of sweetness and dissonance, explored thematically and sonically, creates a timeless work that continues to captivate and inspire new generations of musicians. As a seminal piece in the alternative music canon, "Psychocandy" deserves recognition for its role in shaping the sonic landscape of the late 20th century.

Unique but too noisy for a whole album. I knew the first song which I loved.

unintelligible garbage 1.5

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

Whatever

This album caught my ear from the very start. The opening beats were straight from the Ronettes' Be My Baby. But then it transition into what almost sounded like a '60 psychedelic song. The whole album had a '60s fuzz sound to it. It almost seemed like they were emulating their favorite bands from the era on different songs with a little punk mixed in. But they executed well. I almost want to give it a 5 because of my unexpected enjoyment of it. But I can't put it on my list of absolute favorites. So it gets a 4. Scale: 5 - My absolute favorites. 4 - Albums I like. 3 - It was ok to listen to but I wouldn't seek it out. 2 - Didn't like. 1 - Absolute shit.

"Oh there are roadworks outside, that's good I can put on music to block them out" This album: "VRRRRRRRRRRRR". I liked the first song, but I got a bit bored of the album as a whole, and wasn't in the mood for the dissonance. I think if I listened to it on a different day it would get a higher ranking

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

Not a fan

suprised at how much i liked this music. didn't know it existed

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

I enjoy a good amount of noise rock, but I have never really connected with JAMC. It clicked with me a little bit on this listen. I like all of the guitar tones and effects I just wish that the underlying songs were more complex it feels like every song vamps between the first and fifth. I will probably enjoy this much more on a 2nd listen. I give this a 3.5, but I can't so I guess it rounds to a 4

great album - not sure how I'd missed this one in the past

Heard a bit of the Stooges and The Beach Boys- interesting combo. And liked some of the lyrics. But I have moved on from this nihilistic phase of my life (thank god).

Weird. Sounds bad.

I wouldn’t listen to this every day, but there’s definitely a time and place for it.

Meh... Just a bunch of noise to me.

1987 - Alternative rock; Shoegaze; Indie rock; Post-punk; Noise pop; Indie pop

Lo-fi earworms for days, this is some proto-shoegaze Scottish loveliness. Wouldn’t recommend listening to this on the Jubilee line, you can’t hear shit

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

Just psychodelic

Imagine what a shock to the system this was in the mid-80s, a blown-out firestorm of distorted guitar amid a sea of the cheesiest synth pop man has ever produced. Many often credit My Bloody Valentine or Ride as the first shoegazers, but this band truly laid the groundwork by taking well-written rock and pushing the instrumentals to 11. What's so profound here is that the songwriting is similar to many rock bands of the time with a touch of new wave idealism/vocals, but coupled with the wall of roaring sound, each track takes on a hazy, dream-like quality that would become a staple of shoegaze down the line. Jesus and Mary also get big props for being so consistent yet exploratory with their sound, still pumping out LPs today with another one on the way in a few months (a more fun-loving attitude towards making music I wish Kevin Shields would take some notes from).

Music sounds like it’s coming out of a cheese grater. Couldn’t hear or understand a word of what the singer was saying

Wow. I've heard so much about this album my whole life and thrilled for the opportunity to actually listen to it. This is absolutely godawful.

Somewhat decent music ruined by background sound making it sound like they recorded this under a waterfall

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've heard noise albums that are less noisy than this.

I liked the first track

Not notable really

Well I've always wanted to explore these guys, which I did after recoiling from this album and turning it off. Their others are pretty good and much easier to listen to. Psychocandy might have been interesting if the vocals, instruments, and electro-racket were better balanced. Instead, the accessible stuff is drowned out by sonic shrieking. No thanks.

Everyone's complaining about the distortion but I think this album's greater crime is just being really boring.

Hey, how about EVEN MORE distortion. 4.5/5

While the last few tracks lean too heavily towards distortion and screaming, this is a strong album.

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.

Meh

Very fuzzy sometimes a little too much. You’ve heard one song here you have basically heard the whole thing.

I don’t know, I feel like this album could use a little more reverb.

Not a fan

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

I really should listen to more Jesus and Mary Chain, this is neat. B

A quite brilliant debut, up there with the best debuts of all time. Just Like Honey showed that beneath the noise there was a sturdy songwriting chassis that would enable them to evolve (a bit!).

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

could not listen to it after a while -- too much white noise on the album making me sick.

I’ve heard of this band but never intentionally listened to them. I liked it! Reminded me of Nirvana. Listens: 2 Fave Tracks: Just Like Honey, Taste The Floor, Never Understand.

While I believe I should like this album I don't. It is of "my era", and fits with music such as Love & Rockets and The Cure, but the constant 'in a cave' sound irritates me. I'm certain the album belongs on this list, it's just not on mine personal list.