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Rating: June 9, 1984. We are at The Living Room in London. 20 people present. The Jesus And Mary Chain, aka the brothers William and Jim Reid, Doug Hart, and Murray Dagleish (later replaced by Bobby Gillespie) perform for the first time. The show lasts ten minutes and is the beginning of a myth.
Deliberately provocative, they mix punk with the icy sounds of the Byrds and Maureen Tucker's percussion, are regular features in the pages of NME and Melody Maker, and herald devastating concerts (often interrupted by incidents), with sets lasting about 15/20 minutes. Well, what else can be said: the guys pull out all the stops to play the role of rock stars. Amidst all the chaos, they release "Psychocandy", a vinyl that overturns the rock landscape of the eighties, then, continuing down this same path, they stumble and let slip "Darklands": more than just a record, the beginnings of a musical downfall.
It will take "Barbed Wire Kisses," a collection of b-sides and much more, to return the Jesus to their best form to the spirits chosen by rock. It's already all clear with the initial "Kill Surf City", "Head", and "Rider": intro of the bass drum like "Just Like Honey", a wall of maximally distorted guitars, and the dubbed voice of William that tries to unfold through the chaos from one track to the next. The strident "Hit" is a hybrid explosion of noise that connects the grotesque and cavernous atmospheres of the Birthday Party with the wild ones of Stooges-style rock.
Besides the noisiness of Einsturzende Neubauten, already present in several song snippets and then powerfully amplified when "Cracked" starts, there is also room for the country tinges in the sound of the four from Glasgow: those of "Don’t Ever Change", "Psychocandy", and "Taste Of Cindy", which in the acoustic version becomes even more beautiful because between the voice and the guitar a perfect fusion is created, in which, however, something dark, spectral, like in ancestral Scottish folk ballads, always remains.
The Reid brothers and their associates deserve great credit for having reintroduced the formula of the three-minute song, already tested in the sixties by the Beatles and the Beach Boys (here honored with the cover of "Surfin’ Usa"), updating it with the sounds of bands like Television Personalities, combining an underlying melodic structure with a shower of thunderous, explosive feedback: "Upside Down" and "Everything Is All Right When You’re Down" are conceived using this formula just like, even though with a clearer sound, the memorable riff that runs from the first to the last second of the beautiful "Sidewalking". The Jesus manage to venture into musical territories almost unexplored until then, spreading in the desert of indie rock the seeds from which powerful shoegaze and fuzz pop vibrations will grow. Grand finale with "Bo Diddley Is Jesus": a turnabout. To the dirty feedback a funky bass and the tight rhythms of the drum, which incessantly marks time, are added. Like the timer of a time bomb. There, in the background, echoes, still detonations of riffs and distorted voices.
"We are the Beach Boys of the 80s; say what you want, but ours are just pop songs, even if they are different from all the other pop songs and even if they are not suitable for morning show deejays." (Jim Reid)
You can say that again, baby.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 Rider (02:11)
Going on a motorbike, ride it to the beach
Screaming at the sun, ??? out of reach
Come on little honey come take me in the dark
Come on little honey (?? just take down the spark ??)
I got a lot of wait
I got a lot of space
I got a lot of time
I look at my hands I got you
I got nothing to lose
On my motorbike dodododododoo dododoo
dodododododoo dododoo
dodododododoo dododoo
dodododododoo dododoo
Here comes now
Here comes now
Here comes now
?? come now
Here comes ?? take it away
Here comes ?? Talking 'bout something makes you want to feel
Kicking to the end ??
Aw touch me baby
Touch me baby
Ride in to the sun cause you tried to move me
Take a ride on down, run out of road
Take a ride my baby (?? and remove this ??) load
Come on baby try to understand
Come on baby let me take your hand
04 Hit (03:29)
Well you had tried to walk away
And the sunshine on the dark side of your day
Don't get hit
Don't get hit
You get hit
It's a kick
Don't get hit
??
Don't get hit ??
??
On the coast
Don't get hit
Don't get hit
Don't get hit
(aw she said)
(hey hey hey)
(hey hey hey)
(hey hey hey)
06 Just Out Of Reach (03:06)
Take a walk, to the beach
Take a walk, back to the sea
Take a walk with me, back to the beach
I take a walk with you, just out of reach
Just out of reach (x4)
I see the sun here
I see the sand
I see the sun here
You take my hand (x4)
* ? * sand
Just out of reach(x4)
You take a walk with me, back to the sea
You take a walk with me, back to the beach
Just out of reach (x4)
I see the sun on you
I see the sand
I see the sun on you
You take my hand (x3)
Back to the sand
09 Sidewalking (03:34)
Chilled to the bone and five miles to home
I'm messing in the dark and feeling all alone
I got ice in my fire got the heat in my wire
Inject a little heat I'm burning up the tyres
Sidewalking sidewalking sidewalking sidewalking
Talking like I'm on and I'm the only one
I'm making like I'm done and staring like a gun
And I gotta get a car and I gotta get a ride
Gotta get a car got jesus on my side
Sidewalking sidewalking sidewalking sidewalking
Messing in the dark and walking all alone
Alone in the streets I know just where I'm going
Sidewalking sidewalking
Chilled to the bone Chilled to the bone
Hot wired heat all the way home
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