Reviews (page 6 of 7)
I thought my AirPods were messed up because of the sound quality. Did not enjoy this other than “Just like honey”.
borderline unlistenable
Þetta var alls ekki skemmtilegt stöff. Mjög hrátt og meira eins og bílskúrsband að semja sín fyrstu lög. Ég var ekki hrifinn og vildi helst bara klára þessa plötu, sem öll hljómar eins, sem fyrst.
Meh. Not for me
Ok
meh. not the biggest fan and it's the kind of band that the emo kids from South Park would listen to.
This noise rock isn’t for me. Tries to emulate the 60s distortion revolution but instead comes across as too punky to mix well. Much prefer the shoegaze of the 90s to this, a genre which was evidently still in its gestation period with this one.
2 stars from me, I love the type of rock that albums like this surely inspired. This was ahead of it's time for 1980s definitely. But I do find it even a bit rough for this noisier type of early hardcore. A bit too raw for my taste.
2.2 1x
This is probably a better album than I’m giving it credit for but the production made it hard to listen to. Probably needs repeated listening but there’s always the next album.
Sounds almost identical to the stone roses. It's ok but I'm not going to go out of my way to listen to them again.
..
personally not wild about the screeching sfx and fuzz guitar to the max on some of the tracks. Its a vibe for someone, just not me. It was better over an external speaker vs phone speaker or headphones
Feels like I've just nipped out of the student union for a cigarette
está bien. no es de mi estilo pero me gustaron algunas canciones
This is rough to listen to, and I would have to be in a very special mood or at a party to listen to this. The guitar is way too screamy for my taste.
Crisse, c'était l'idée à qui d'enregistrer dans une caverne? Pour ma part, je préférais être dans la caverne (possiblement une autre), très très creux sous terre, en fait le plus loin possible de ces énergumènes, pour enfin avoir la paix.
Before there were mumble rappers, there were mumble rockers I guess. Bold choices like TV static, whispers over feedback, and a few actually nice ambient-esque tracks.
I can appreciate how new this sound was but there seemed like no variation besides a few songs, just couldn’t get going with it
Good beats, but the guitar was ass and hurt my ears, couldn’t even finish it.
Yeah this one wasn’t for me.
I’m convinced that somewhere here is a really great album.. Just Like Honey and Sowing Seeds especially are really awesome tracks… However. moments like In A Hole, with its ear piercing fuzz that covers literally everything, brings this experience right back down to earth, and completely limits the potential of the record. I see this album probably went for a similar feel as my bloody valentine, or Slowdive, but the execution was poor and the stylistic choices ended up backfiring and being to the detriment of the album.
This sounds somewhere between Joy Division and The Stone Roses, without the good bits of either. Not a fan of the screechy fuzzy static noise present on most tracks either. The songs would be a lot better without it.
Well dang. I thought this was going to be one I'd really enjoy. I did not. There was way too much fuzzy, distorted guitar feedback. A couple of songs were great, but way too many were overwhelmed by the noise to really enjoy the album.
I love the feedback laden into the pop songs, but the drums are so low in the mix that it sounds like they were recorded from another room, and the vocals take near the same approach in every song. The pace never seems to change- even faster songs sound like they’re stuck in more. I scanned a couple of their later albums- they get better. There’s something here, but I’d never want to listen to this album again.
4.5/10
I like J&MC. I remember the cancelled gigs and rock and roll lifestyle. I like Darklands and particularly Honey's Dead. They themselves would probably agree though that they are fairly limited musicians with a particular blueprint for a song, which is usually quite sweet and tender lyrically (even if it is about drugs), so when that particular song is played alongside a buzzsaw for the entire album it loses something for me.
ah yes, music for clearing out a bar at 2am i skipped most of this, not really for me but the ones i could stomach i half liked. im sure some of you like it and that's okay
They sound really “cool”
It turns out that there is a limit to how much distortion, reverb & feedback I can handle. This album pushes it too far over the limit for me. Some tracks are completely unlistenable because it just drowns out whatever else is happening. It’s a shame as there are some beautiful melodies when they choose to let them out. Later albums get the balance right, but this? Nope.
2,25
Alternates from attempts at more hardcore music to sleepy attempts at being Joy Division. 2/5
Can i please have some distortion in my distortion?? Certainly not to listen to on your way to work
Awful
Psychocandy is often praised for its influence and boldness, but as a listening experience, it’s a tough sell. The album buries its pop sensibilities under a relentless wall of distortion, feedback, and static — what the band likely saw as avant-garde now feels more like self-sabotage. Songs are drenched in noise to the point where melodies struggle to breathe. It’s like trying to enjoy a great song through an AM radio station that’s just out of range — you think there’s something good underneath, but the interference wears you down. The combination of sweet vocal lines with ear-piercing feedback is jarring, and not always in an interesting way. Credit where it’s due: they were doing something different. But different doesn’t always mean enjoyable. This might be a landmark in noise-pop, but that doesn’t make it easy — or pleasant — to sit through.
Their distinct sound sounds awful.
There is some good on here but the abrasive production just ruins it. You'll get some nice, chill, and almost ethereal song then you get hit with some songs that sound like nails against the chalkboard. Them going in-between nice and soft music to the abrasive almost rage inducing makes me want to vomit, it's sickening. Top 2: Just Like Honey and Cut Dead(Best) Worst: Taste The Floor, In A Hole (fuck this song), and Never Understand 2.00-2.25/5
This feels squarely in the “influential at the time but hasn’t aged well” category. Feels like the Stone Roses buried under a wall of noise. I dunno, it’s not horrible it just doesn’t feel like something I’ll ever go back to.
This is awful and I like this band in general. The distortion ruins it. What is the point of having the other instruments. Some songs don't have it too loud so that's why it gets to a 2
Not a fan of the vocals
mah
It sounded unlistenably bad but the first song was ok
Ella is incredible, but this one is 4 discs too long.
While I can appreciate what The Jesus and Mary Chain brought to music, I don't really like it.
Look, I really wanted to like Psychocandy but when the production is just this bad, i gotta dock major points from this album. I am no stranger to noise rock as i have listened to many of those types of albums through this project but i have never seen them have production that is this low quality. Its a real shame too because there are things i like about this album. There are some decent ideas with the guitars and the vocals and it is a good thing this album isn't very long so it never got unbearable to listen to but i can not get over this production. This album isn't horrible but i just am having a really tough time recommending this to even noise rock fans since the production here is so bad and makes awful ringing noises and when there are just far better albums like this. Best Song: Just Like Honey Worst Song: It's So Hard
80’er indierock, ok melodier, lidt irreterende lyd
for me this was completely forgettable
It was alright, not much of something I'll remember.
There was something in the first half, albeit with the tinge of a cover band. Then it leapt into self-indulgent eternity. I wonder if they ever got out of their own way (tho not enough to seek out more!)
I had heard a few songs from this album before. They're good but the style makes it all sound really similar. I thought I'd like this more than I ended up with.
Having heard Just Like Honey before and really liking it, I thought I would like the rest more than I did. I tend to like some noise based music, but this was making me very anxious. There are some interesting songs inside, but I don't have the energy to find them anymore.
The dynamic of the sound of this music is so confusing. The background guitars are screeching and constant and overwhelming. The vocals? Underwhelming. Like even the lyrics match the instrumental like this should be hard and loud and badass, talking about girls and riding motorcycles but then the vocals are so soft and quiet? It doesn’t go well together.
Honestly this did not live up to our expectations.
Starts off like any other average 80s alt rock album, but Taste the floor has white noise covering the whole song making it hard to hear, and several other songs are similarly noisy because of the amount of feedback used. It’s a good album to include on this list because the experimental, borderline psychedelic sound influenced shoegaze, but it’s not a good album by itself.
The reverb and sustained fx pedals was a little too unbearable. I don’t mind this band, just this combination.
Not for me, and will be the lowest score I've given so far!
Meh, kinda flavorless.
Needs more distortion lmao.
I really, really enjoy "Darklands" but The Jesus And Mary Chain's "Psychocandy" is simply too abrasive on the ears. Would rank higher but there's a line drawn b/w experimental and disruptive, and the gritty reverb crosses that line. ⚠ Would not recommend to sensitive ears and/or people with tinnitus. That goes for all shoegaze albums. Proceed with care.
I feel like this had potential but really missed the mark. Wasn’t a fan of this one
Didn’t make me wanna burst my ear drums but not good
This has potential. If they had dialed the static and guitar feedback down like 70% and unmuffled the singer, the stuff underneath wasn't bad. But as it stands, some of the songs were hard to listen to. Also, I'm pretty sure Mimi won an album by this band ~30 years ago in a church raffle and had no idea it wasn't religious music.
This album was underwhelming. Too much distortion and reverb for my liking. This feels like a filler album.
Did the distortion knob get stuck on 11 for this album? It's overbearing and ridiculously annoying for most of the album. For the tracks where you're not getting sonically abused by that the standard 80s pop songs are OK.
Así como La Beriso es Callejeros sin gracia ni acordes, esto es The Cure sin gracia ni acordes. Lo la men to Nota:1.8
When they recorded this album did they double check that the guitars were plugged in properly.
The best thing I listened to today, which isn’t saying much. High 2.
You have to have a certain level of commitment to the band to join them in their exploration and exploitation of sound, dissonance, distortion, etc., and I realize that I cannot join Jesus and the Mary Chain as they engage in their work/art. Sadly, I believe there was a time in my life where I certainly would have. Glad I listened, but I cautiously wait for their next album.
Highlight: Just Like Honey In a nutshell: needs more noise. The beginnings of shoegaze can be seen here. Maybe there is some audio-osmosis going on because I think Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr were playing around with noise rock around this time. Overall: 4/10
2.5
mmm demasiado ruido, demasiada repetición, demasiada distorsión.
Nothing to see here but incessant, irritating noise.
Bit of a let down to be honest. There were a couple of good tracks but In A Hole was just unpleasant to listen to.
15/1089 - Not my style of music for sure but the guitar playing is good (voice is not since it keeps the same quality for the entire record). It makes sense why it was influential.
Man, did they record this with a static TV blaring in the background? It started off fine, but Taste The Floor was hard to listen. Hated the mumbling vocals there. The following song was less intense, but then the fuzz returns in a bad way with In A Hole. Sowing Seeds was probably my favorite track of the album. This album isn't all bad, but some of the songs here are brutally bad, at least in my book. It's enough to knock it down to a 2.
Hard to distinguish one song from another, a reasonably decent idea for a song stretched across an entire album
Meh. I’m all for blending scuzzy noise and dreamy melodies as a concept, and if these guys were the first to do it then that’s something, I guess. But the actual songs are so average, and so samey. I gave TJAMC the benefit of the doubt on my Darklands review, but not this time.
I feel like I've heard music from The Jesus and Mary Chain that I liked more than this? But maybe I'm thinking of a different band. This wasn't awful, but I'm not a huge fan of noise rock. I can see the value in something like this being on the list, but I didn't like it all that much.
Was never really a fan of this band
Another group I have heard of but knew nothing about. Did not really hear anything extraordinary. Punk-ish groove.
I found this largely unlistenable, its got too much just noise and it was a struggle to vibe with
Indie Rock with blown out guitars which give a dry brightness, providing a fuzzy texture that swallows up most other contrasts in the middle while the songs themselves are simple, happy and poppy, almost 1950s bubblegum. Unfortunate combination for me.
Too much noise and whining from the singer for me. Just all sounded like one melted together song
I enjoyed this honestly a lot more than I expected. I didn’t really know what to expect but it was a fine album. Probably not something I’d go back to but I can see why people love it. Really probably a 3.5. The instrumentation is great.
Too noisy for my taste
This album wasn't new to me. While there are some good tracks on here, the soundscape definitely gets a bit much, leading to listener fatigue, and possible headaches. Catchy pop melodies underlay a carpet of fuzz that tends to overwhelm most tracks.
Too much flavour for my bland self. This sucks, this ain't for me. I need to clean my ears after this one
Okay album.
Mostly slow and sad with some good Pop touches.
There is good music under all the ridiculous noise.
If they were trying to make it sound like shit they were successful. Occasionally, I heard some potential in a song, but it never lasted.
Felt like I nearly vibed with this but just never got there
Remember when dark and discordant was a thing? Then you might like this! Otherwise, not much to recommend.
There's a lot of punk here, but there's also a lot of early shoegaze. The middle ground is interesting, but not pleasant.
Thought i would like it, but it really wasn't my taste.
whew there is a shit ton of feedback on these tracks. I guess its sorta like a poppy/distortion laden The Cure? Almost every track is just a wall of noise at some points, like they recorded guitar over tv static. None of the songs are particularly good or stand out, I guess they catch the mid 80's fairly well, just replace the synth with noise, feedback and distortion.
Not for me
I love some distortion, but Christ and his mother... too much. It's like someone wanted to recreate a 60s Garage album and forgot to turn the distortion down, then smatter in some Gothic New Wave. Hard work this one.
I am tired of 1980s Brit pop-punk
It was very 'eh' like mashed potatoes, if it sounded like the constant droning of a chainsaw.
Not for me. I'm really starting to see how particular I am about 80s music. It was a good era but I'm not feeling this album.
Just Like Honey was pretty good, I did enjoy that song. Also found these OK: - The Hardest Walk - Taste of Cindy - Some Candy Talking (reminds me of Velvet Underground) - Sowing Seeds I do like a trashy, distorted guitar sound, but this is a bit much. Plus a lot of the songs sounded very much alike. I had to skip a few songs where the background distortion was so crunchy. Going with a 2 for this album
Maybe getting old lol but kinda noisy
I feel like these were really talented songwriters that felt too cool to sound nice.
sorry not sorry
meh
A fascinating lesson in the materiality of music. I buy "reasonably priced" everyday earbuds, and I drive them into the ground. I'm aware that the ones I'm using are on their last legs at the moment, but they've still been acceptable for getting the sense of a song. Except not for this album. The feedback and distortion sounded unlistenably tinny; I was constantly getting on the JBL app to try a different EQ setting just so the album didn't sound like the static-y fringes of a radio station's signal. To be fair, I got home and listened again on my better headphones. With these, the fuzz did start to take on more shapes and layers, and the feedback, while still piercing, was less unbalanced. I could start to parse a little bit of what was going on. But it's still not for me. It struck me as repetitive and monotone; nothing was able to cut through the fuzz and grab me. Maybe this would be an album that rewards careful listening and study, but frankly, the message I got was "listen or don't; it's all the same to us." So, I'm moving on. 2.5, rounding down.
kinda unpleasant tbh
This wouldn’t be so bad if half the songs didn’t have insufferable screeching/white noise. 2.
This album feels like walking through fog. The fuzz and distortion are heavy, but it doesn’t quite land. It’s like listening to The Velvet Underground but without the warmth or charm. The vocals hide behind the noise, never really pushing through. It’s an interesting vibe, but it lacks depth. You could get lost in it, but I’m not sure you’d want to.
Ok. Best I can do…
I found this to be nearly good, which made it worse to me. It's fine, probably even good, but I found it pretty irritating, especially when it just seemed like it was noisy
I hate shoegaze for the most part. This album should be called 'Music to induce headaches'.
I think they need more reverb. .... This band also had the worst snare drum sound outside of an 808 in pop/rock history. From the literal first measure of the album I can't get by it. My music tastes changed a ton since the 80s and I like most of what I'd thought I hated back then but this one I just can't - the songs are not bad at the core yet wholly unremarkable so of course the band was all about the sound, which is frankly terrible. Zzzzz.... there were/are so many other better retro 80s alt-rock artists. Pass. 3/10 2 stars.
Second Jesus and the Mary Chain album. Didn’t enjoy the music. The fact that it Wikipaedia notes it was influential in shoegaze is not surprising. 2/5.
Ugh
Compressed fever dream. Favourite track: Something's Wrong.
It just turned into nothingness and I feel like I have said that a lot recently regarding albums
At first I was like "okay a lot of distortion but there's some catchy hooks and lyrics buried underneath, I can get behind this". Then after about the ninth song I was like "okay guys it's just the same schtick over and over again". Each song sounds very much the same which is disappointing. That's probably my biggest complaint is just the repetitiveness of the album. Also using crazy fuzz on every single song just kinda dulls your overall use of it, too much of a good thing and all that. Really disappointed me beginning was pretty strong.
this wasn't horrible, but I wouldn't seek it out to listen to again either. too much distortion/feedback & mumbling vocals
Bad
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.
**Not what I’d prefer, but endured
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.
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
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
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.
2.5
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.
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)
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.
IDK. Sometiimes when you heard one Jesus and Mary chain album you've heard em all.
Just okay.
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.
Very meh. Sinks into the background.
Second day in a row I get some mediocre noisy music. 2.5/5
Couldn’t find
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.
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
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
Soundimusiikiksi yllättävän välittävää. Silti liian riippuvaista siitä, tykkääkö kiertävistä sähkölaitteista. 2+
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.
Reeevvveerrrbbbb
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.
Indie rock. Tostón monótono. Un 2.
Hmmm. Garbage? Great? Dull, certainly.
Lots of noise but pretty repetitive
lvery fuzzy noise based rock
Pretty average
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.
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
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.
It was ok
did nothing for me, but I guess it has some musical merit so not a 1 but close.
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.
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.
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.
Enjoyed it in small does but found it easy to tune out.
Lots of feedback noise
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.
It felt very dated
First half is boring. Second half is annoying.
It wasn't really good. It did drone on and there was nothing really noteworthy about it.
Didn’t really do too much for me. I’m not really a low fi rock guy
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
generic sound in my opinion, pretty fuzzy and distorted. not to my taste
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.
To quote you guys about some other albums — meh.
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.
Not my kind of music but I can see the appeal
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.
There's some catchy tunes here. Too bad they ruin it with distortion.
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.
All the tracks have that much distortion going on they sound a bit samey, with no chance of understanding the lyrics. Bah humbug
Not for me
Whatever
"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
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).
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.
Meh
Got bored with this. I feel like I should like this more than I do, which is not much at all.
Very noisy
Not fussed by this
Not sure what that was all about but won't be listening to that again. Guitar sound like the amp is fucked in half the songs.
I find the songs uneventful and the singer dreary. That said, I remember they created a lot of buzz at CKCU with the younger guitar-oriented crowd, due to the feedback and sonic production. So, I’ll admit that in 1985, this was a new sound, like White Light/White Heat was in 1968.
Had high expectations. Disappointing.
Lärmteppich
Bof, c'était du rock saturé assez quelconque
Not for me
Not my style
Glad I listened, but this one was pretty challenging to get through. The distortion will probably keep it from being a repeat listen, but can definitely hear this band in other groups. It's not for me though.
hard listen
Not the worst.
Indie rock. Tostón monótono. Un 2.
Next time, I’ll just play white noise over The Cure songs
I’ve tried to listen to Psychocandy many times in the past, and I’ve never got past track 4. I love Just Like Honey, but I think that’s probably because it’s the only track that really truly lives up to the name Noise Pop. Taking the iconic opening to Be My Baby, adding heavily feedbacking guitars and a new catchy melody. That’s lightning in a bottle. And then they do it again on Sowing Seeds. But it’s less good. In fact a lot of the songs on this album feel as if they’re just rehashes of previous songs with more distortion. You Trip Me Up uses the riff to Blitzkrieg Bop, Taste the Floor sounds exactly like the Stooges. The influences are there, and they’re influences that I really like, but they’ve never been truly reconciled themselves to me. I love a lot of what came before Psychocandy, I love a lot of what it influenced. But as a stepping stone, The Jesus and Mary Chain always just slipped for me
Not my cup of tea.
Way too much distortion for my liking, muddied the vocals which lessened the end product, it's a no from me.
Not a fan of how they "sing" or the style in which they sing. I'm fine with experimental noise rock/music, but that's if the singing or whatever else the noise accompanies is actually enjoyable. This fucking sucks. This is a low 2/5, honestly might even be a 1
Generic. Nothing remarkable or memorable. Did not dislike but don't find myself clamoring to listen to more.
Other comments pointing out that this kind of lo-fi fuzz effect was basically Not Done when this released. Which is pretty cool, but there's stuff around these days that executes better on that vision I think
Sekava kokonaisuus joka tavoittelee vähän kaikkea, muttei saavuta mitään. Semisti vitutti kuunnella...
Hälyä, skebat kuraa. Mut ihan paskaa ei kuitenkaan
Het zal vast invloedrijk zijn, maar om gewoon voor je lol te gaan luisteren? Nee bedankt. Door de enorme distortion is er weinig muziek te herkennen.
Don’t think I’m into the whole noise rock thing. They’re an OK indie pop band covered in feedback noise for no apparent reason. I guess there’s something there with the contrast between soft melody and harsh noise, but it didn’t stick for me. Best song: The Hardest Walk
The opening song is good - it was used in the movie, "Lost In Translation". But overall, the band uses WAAAAAY too much distortion. I get the idea of doing this for one or two songs, but not an entire album.
Not a big fan of this sound.
Love the first song, not so much the rest.
Too lofi to be enjoyable
Just ok. I feel like it work listening to them.
I was disappointed with this Long wanted to give them a listen as lots of artists I like were influenced by them But I found this to be a good sound that wore thin over the course of an album
"white noise", super constant background wall of distorted guitar. Surprisingly mellow, despite that
Some ok, but mostly nah
I thought it was boring, felt like ive heard it before even though I never heard of this band.
This is another album added to the evert confusing list of how is this must listen to music. Much of this was hard to understand as the instrumentals took over most of the sound. It was a little weird and overall not that enjoyable. It bewilders me the choices of albums on this list yet here we are. Not gonna revisit this one. 3.9/10
Catapaulted back to early 80s. Good digital distortion production. But everything sounded the same.
It feels like the only reason anyone still talks about this band is because Sofia Coppola immortalized "Just Like Honey" by using it in Lost In Translation. There ain't a whole lot to work with after that song.
Fine ⛓️
Four or five times I played this on Spotify and after two or three songs it just became part of the background noise and I really didn't think of it until after Spotify jumped to completely new songs and I remembered that I was supposed to be appreciating this album. So, completely forgettable.
Holy reverb batman 2.5
Lots of white noise and feedback that generally doesn't satisfy my brain. There's already enough noise in my noggin, this only amplifies that.
The all-high-end guitar grunge just doesn't sit well with me. I tried without headphones and it was next to impossible. Headphones give me a better picture of the soundscape, but still.... The hardest walk, candy, enjoyable.
Like 7000 nails on a chalkboard. 3/10
It's okay. Walls of fuzz and mumbly melodies. Feel like other bands took this and ran with it better after this, but fair play for a fairly clear fuzzyvision? I do feel that a lot of music journos were so desperate not too like hip hop and dance that they'd hail anything with guitars that was slightly leftfield as the second coming. Beneath the walls of distortion, the songs are alright, as I said. Solid. A bit dull. You can see how McGee found his way from this to O*sis. Bands that are kind of faux interesting for people who like music, but don't truly love it.
Bit noisy
👍🏻 6.5/10
Alternated between undesirable noise and interesting, catchy melody. Standout is "The Hardest Walk"
An additional star for a few tracks that were alright, otherwise I found this to be pretty unlistenable.
Muy largo. No puedo aguantar tanto ruido por mucho tiempo. Just Like Honey es un temazo
Muy de weba
It was a nice shoegaze album with some really nice moments, bur also with couple annoying parts, that had brought the whole experience down. The guitars wall of sound was setting up the atmosphere really well, I think it was a great foundation for a breathtaking piece of music (when comparing it to a band like Deafheaven). Unfortunately, band decided to add a very calm vocal, which wasn't perfect, but also wasn't a real, glaring hole on the album. What was breaking the immersion you felt, created by other instruments, was drumming line. The rhythmic and rather rock'n'roll style of drums was like from a completely different story than the rest of band. I even think that some of the songs were unlistenable because of it. A very big mixed bag. I was thinking it's 2,5 stars, which I usually round up, but in this case I will rather go with a lower end.
early grunge/garage rock its like they wrote a bunch of boring rock and added a shit ton of reverb to it
I did not like this one as much as the first one I was given to rate (Darklands). It has a definite 80s sound, not a timeless sound. They seem to like surf music as well. It was ok but did not grab my attention much.
There were moments it was alright, but a lot of the time I was glad I wasn’t wearing headphones.
This album sounds like complete garbage. An abuse of distortion and reverb in the production, took away all hope from the songs. Some parts are punk, others 80s pop, but who knows, it’s hard to hear clearly.
Not bad, some fun moments in between all the haze. Noisy stuff is a bit much to be super enjoyable. Best tracks: the hardest walk, just like honey, sowing seeds
Just Like Honey was a great start to this album, but this was unfortunately also the albums only strength. The rest of the album sounded the same, so the album got old really fast.
Meh - not for me
There was a time when I had more patience for music like this. But then again, I never really loved J&MC as much as the bands they inspired. Their sound always irked me. Too much high-pitched noise drowning out whatever the hell is going on underneath. I can take it for a song or two maybe, but a whole album? Nah. Give me Medicine or My Bloody Valentine over these guys. Anyway, I think here is where I gripe about the ridiculousness of giving an album one rating. I feel like there should be four criteria. 1) How well are they succeeding in pulling off their artistic endeavors? 2) How much do I like this? 3) How much does it belong on this list? 4) Random other contributing factor. On that scale, I give this album a score of 4, 1, 3, and Highly influential. Or I can just give it a 2 and be done with it. The other day, I gave Tommy a 2, which I think isn't fair. According to my new system, its rating should be: 4, 2, 3, and Highly influential.
Noise pop
Aptly name album.
Lukewarm. More of the same 80's stuff. Favorites: Just like honey Sowing seeds
Sacando algo de toda esa distorsión que, por momentos, abunda puede sonar como a The Velvet Underground 15 años después y del otro lado del Atlántico. De todas maneras era el sonido británico de esos años. No hay mucha diferencia con The Stone Roses por ejemplo.
I just didn't like this one at all... :(
Just looked back to see that "Psychocandy" was 38 minutes long. Only 38 minutes!? That seemed to drone on and on forever! We last listened to The Jesus and Mary Chain 346 albums ago, and I remarked then that nothing stood out on "Darklands." And the same is so true here. There are no real standout tracks for me. One or two memorable or attention-grabbing songs could possibly elevate this, but instead I just kept dwelling on the fact that the excessive distortion and feedback just went on and on. On "In My Hole," they lamented that there was "something dead inside my hole." First of all, clean out your hole. And second of all, maybe stop recording all your music inside a hole filled with dead things. Maybe you'll get a better sound.
i mean, respect for being a genre-defining album and everything but uhhh this doesn't do anything for me personally. Also the way it's mixed grates on me, I'd much prefer the way MBV albums sound if we're doing shoegaze
Not really a fan of this. The songs all felt the same. The only song that I had heard prior to this was on the Crow soundtrack, which I did enjoy.
There's so much noise and distortion that it literally hurt my ears
Album is ok. Couple tunes I liked.
I GET what they're doing, presenting poppy tunes under a wash of screechy distortion. I just don't know WHY. Brittle, thin treble-y mess. Almost like the dude thought writing pop melodies was nerdy, so wanted to prove to his chums he was really a rocker. Kinda like a Tom Waits approach. But I'll "Wait" for Tom. These weirdos? Fuck no.
better than Darklands, still the most over-rated band of their era
U neemt een theelepeltje The Cure, vervangt de groove door een stofzuiger en laat deze lui een paar dagen niet slapen... y voila! Ik presenteer u The Jesus and Mary Chain. Weltrusten.
Le vocal est intéressant. Je n’ai pas porté attention aux paroles par contre. Le mix a la qualité de volontairement déplaire à un public qu’ils ne veulent pas. Ça devient une affirmation et c’est louable. Par contre, le guitariste et le batteur sont mauvais et je pense que le mix sert aussi à cacher ça. En fait, si l’album était mixé d’une façon plus classique, ça donnerait un genre de New Wave un peu beige. L’emballage est donc plus important que le contenu.
Gen X goes to the mall. 2/5.
Maybe if I has listened to this when I was much younger, I'd have been impressed, but at this particular stage of my life, I'm not really looking towards listening to a music that purposely goes out of it's way to add lots of noise and distortion.
I remember nothing from listening to this. It was a blur. Nothing notable, nothing too terrible (I guess?). Don't see myself picking this up again. There are a zillion better droney/fuzzy indie rock records out there.
I could only find the extended version on Spotify. The cover is pretty boring for an album with Psycho in the name. Matches the bland vocal delivery. Which I actually like, but mostly fails to stay adequately above the noise, which again would be fine, but in a different context. Except for the first track, Just Like Honey, which is already familiar, the rest blurs into a smear of sound. My favorite on the album, past Just Like Honey, was the alternate version of Never Understand. Considering that song on its own, the contrasting noise and Beach Boys like chorus are interesting and fun. But 27 songs worth of similar stuff is crushing. I can understand the appeal to kids who didn't feel like Duran Duran represented their deep inner turmoil. I wasn't one of those kids.
Sludgy. Druggy. Droney
Why is adding white noise to music desirable? Mostly simple, uninteresting tunes that just faded into the background for me.
Thrashy, chaotic and unpleasant
I liked the first half and then I hated it.
Look, I know you're cool and everything, Mr. Jack Black, but recommending this album in a feature film was a moment of real cringe.
Average rock music with too much feedback.
Couldn't finish. Except for "Cut Dead", it was just an aural assault. Obviously, didn't add.
I guess not for me
You know how you can tell your headphones are on the verge of breaking because everything sounds pinched and crackly? And how when this happens you get really pissed off because you go "damn now I need to go get new headphones because all this music sounds like total shit"? Well, what if your entire album sounded like that on purpose apparently?
On wikipedia, it says 'the music has been described as "bubblegum pop drowned in feedback"...' This seemed pretty accurate. In fact the feedback was so bad I could barely tell the songs. The noise was just too much. And can we talk about the recording itself? It sounded like it was in a garage, or an echo chamber. I could barely hear the singer. It was awful. I'm sure there's something there, maybe it's like the Sonic Youth the first time I heard them. I don't know, it just seemed like the band thought the waves of feedback would make them more endearing, but really it just annoyed me.
Quite bland
If you are into punk rock, I'm sure this is fabulous. A lot of it sounded like noise to me. If your song is overwhelmed by speaker feedback, I'm probably not going to like it much, but maybe that's just me.
Pretty ok album. Blended together a lot though. Favorite Song: Just Like Honey
I bet I would have enjoyed this more if it wasn’t so distorted. As an audiophile (sometimes), this was a tough listen.
I enjoyed the more mellow tracks like Just Like Honey, Cut Dead, Sowing Seeds, My Little Underground, but the harder stuff like The Living End, In A Hole, etc I didn’t like as much. Overall, it’s just not my kind of thing, but I can 100% understand how this album would be very influential for a lot of punk and grunge bands and all that.
If this album is some kind of lo-fi post-punk on purpose, I really didn't get it. To me, it looks like bad songs with the worst recording process. "Jesus and a Mary chain" looks better on paper than in the real world.
This time, the more I heard this, the angrier I got at it. I liked the first song, "Just Like Honey." I was looking forward to more of this. I thought it had a very cool 80s sound to it. I really liked the vocals. And then, so much horrible, ear splitting noise! I seriously checked to see that I hadn't messed up the playback with some terrible setting. I couldn't even hear the vocals! "Never Understand" sounds like the neighbor in the next door apartment is listening to a catchy song, the other neighbor is trying to log in to AOL, and 10 garbage trucks with bad brakes are emptying all the squeaky-hinged dumpsters behind your building. Why? It's a shame, it made me more and more sensitive to all the overuse of feedback noise in the album. A shame, because, underneath it all, I really liked the music.
Decent, showgaze vibes.
It's not for me. The waily guitars churning out the same two chords for an hour just gives me a headache
Rating: 5/10
Lo cierto es que por el tipo de sonido y por ser tan parecidos los temas, pensaba que me iba a gustar un poco más, pero lo he encontrado muy plano en muchos sentidos y sin que destacase especialmente. Mezcla de pop intimista con tonos un tanto lúgubres
Puh…
It’s obvious they like their distortions and feedbacks much more than I do. Couldn’t stand it by the fourth song
Not my kind of music
Not a fan of the white noise guitar effects on this one
its starts with decent noise rock/punk and then starts incoorperating these earbleeding screeches that just want me to turn it down
This sounds like it was recorded in an alley. Ugh.