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Rating: If for some crazy reason I wanted to divide the career of the Brian Jonestown Massacre into periods, as is done with Deep Purple, I might find myself in some embarrassment: a constantly changing lineup and continuously reshuffled musical choices. The only certainty is that I'll find old-school stuff that constantly harks back to some group of addicts from past decades: music you've probably heard before, but always played with enviable class and a recognizable imprint. First, the shoegaze beginnings, with that Methodrone (1995) worthy of being deemed a staple of the genre, then the sumptuous sixties trilogy of 1996, followed by the 1997-2003 period in which folk was tinged here and there with country and psychedelia took on more composed forms, and finally, the latest period, a mix of the noisy acidity of the late 2000s and the oriental relaxation of recent years.
Why this preface? Because …And This Is Our Music, released in 2003, manages to effortlessly mix that psychedelic and folksy rock already thoroughly explored with a definite anticipation of the more ethereal atmospheres of subsequent albums. All permeated by a decidedly melancholic vein, which differs both from the drug-induced deliriums of their more chaotic moments and the lighthearted vein of other releases (remember when talking about BJM you always had to mention the Dandy Warhols or the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club?).
And here is our music, an appropriate title for this collection of songs, not without allusions and tributes, in which the supreme skill of Anton Newcombe, the undisputed leader of our band, immediately stands out. Two brief intros open a first-class folk rock sextet, with the dreamy Starcleaner and Here to Go, great more lively classics like When Jokers Attack, Prozac VS Heroin and Geezers, and the intimate Maryanne. From here begins an untangling in multiple genres: folk gems, melancholic like A New Low in Getting High or rural and sunny like Some Things Go without Saying, the first attempts at more nervous solutions in the synths of Prozac VS Heroin Revisited, the piano and brass of Tschuss, a western scenario admired riding into the sunset, foreshadowing insights picked up later, and the majestic ride of You Look Great When I'm Fucked Up, perhaps one of the group's best pieces, as epic as a Thelma & Louise with Morricone’s music. At the tail-end of the album, The Pregnancy Test, where the Hammond organ reappears, already heard in Starcleaner, just enough to add a krautrock touch to the mix.
An album varied and multifaceted, yet always incredibly cohesive and fluid. Something more than just an album for fans alone, which I would recommend to any lover of the genres explored. Certainly, the flaws of other BJM albums are not absent: innovation fans won’t find much to chew on, and the album may be a bit too long, seventeen songs are a lot. Perhaps it doesn't bore, but it likely dazes the unsuspecting listener. Although, I believe this is exactly Newcombe’s goal.
Awaiting our turn to surf or Hawaiian music, I think I'll put the album on once more to feel more at peace with the world, knowing that today's heroes are watching over us tomorrow.
Tracklist and Lyrics
02 Starcleaner (02:28)
I have missed the shiny beams
Vapor floating in the breeze
In your mind
Just goes to show
No matter what you think you know
It's never right
We could
walk for miles
In our lonely minds
This is the greatest time
We could walk for miles
This is the greatest love we can find
Oh-whoa
Oh-whoa
Oh-whoa
Ohhhh
Ohhhh
This is the
greatest love we can find
04 When Jokers Attack (03:42)
love dies fast, now
whenever you're uncertain how
this unsure that you love
dreams die fast, fast
whenever you dream they can last
take this pain when you go, yeah
life is fast, now
whenever you're uncertain how
this unsure do you know
love dies faster, fast
when you think it can never last
take me please if you go, yeah
05 Prozac vs. Heroin (03:58)
Stars
Come out of the sky
You shine like the summer's sun
And
I might even die
Whatever thy will be done
Smile
Try for the heaven
Or maybe just kingdom come
And I will be done
And I will be done
So
Talking ?
Whatever their words must say
If
Heaven could fall
It's not gonna make him stay
Try
To keep it together
Or make it to kingdom come
And you will be done
And you will be done
Smile
You open the sky
You star like the sunken sun
I
Might even die
Whatever, I will be done
Just try
To make it together
Or maybe to kingdom come
Add you will be done
Yes you will be done
And you will become
But you will
Become
06 Geezers (05:18)
Geezers
Believe us
Believe us 'cause we taught you what you know
Dreamers
Keep dreaming
'Til the dream ends then they tell you where to go
Believe us
Believe us 'cause we taught you what you know
Well you know
Geezers
Believe us
You lead us 'cause we taught you where to go
Dreamers
Keep dreaming
Keep dreaming 'til we say it’s time to go
Believe us
You need us
And we’ll tell you where to go
To go
Geezers
Believe us
Believe us 'cause we taught you all you know
Dreamers
Keep on dreaming
Keep dreaming we’ll say when your time to go
Believer
Keep believing the thing that you know
Believe
Believe
Yeah
You know
You know
09 Here It Comes (03:14)
Ohhh
Here it comes
Ohhh
Here it comes
Yeah
Old Mom and Dad
Couldn't believe
They made me so mad
I had to leave here
Ohhh
Here it comes
I went to the man
Took my decree
Said please understand
I've got to be free
Ohhh
Here it comes
Ohhh
Here it comes
Yeah
Ohhh
Here it comes
Ohhh
Here it comes
Lying in bed
Talking to you
The things that you said
Baby, none of it's true
Ohhh
Here it comes
Ohhh
Here it comes
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Other reviews
By cappello
When Jokers Attack is electric with a nice guitar work that reminds me of Elliott Smith.
With You Look Great When I’m Fucked Up, you can feel western and spacey atmospheres at the same time.
