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"Psychocandy" by the Jesus and Mary Chain marked a turning point in the '80s rock scene. It was an album that effectively generated a movement, a new way of understanding music through a different way of conveying content, which also changed.
"Psychocandy" was released in 1984 by the band of the Reid brothers, bassist Douglas, and drummer Bobbie Gillespie, who would later become a member of Primal Scream.
Before "Psychocandy" and the Jesus and Mary Chain, there was the wild punk of the Sex Pistols, the less noisy (but no less incisive) one of The Clash, the intellectual pop-rock, sad, sarcastic of The Smiths, the melodic punk-rock of The Jam by Paul Weller, which perhaps shares something with some works by The Police.
Joy Division with "Unknown Pleasures" and "Closer" introduced a new type of disturbing rock, psychedelic, dark, Baudelairean, at times characterized by chilling silences and at times noisy with primordial sounds.
The Jesus and Mary Chain pick up on all this: punk attitude, flippant and indifferent; a certain propensity towards catchy, almost '60s melodies; surreal, ethereal atmospheres.
"Psychocandy" is characterized by distorted guitars to the extreme, deafening feedback, heavy reverb, the use (in almost all tracks) of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound; in short, the combination of a dirty, aggressive accompaniment, where the sound of the electric guitar is very different from what one would expect, and sweet and beautiful melodies.
The album begins with "Just Like Honey", a two-chord song of incredible beauty. The melody is simple and sweet, the lyrics sad and reflective, the accompaniment becomes increasingly full as the song progresses. It's a catchy song, very far from the atmosphere of other tracks on the album.
The second track is "Living End". The lyrics talk about a motorcycle ride, and the music is absolutely appropriate: it almost feels like riding along with Reid. The drums, as is the album's trademark, are monotonous but very present, as are the bass lines. It's a heavy and almost annoying song - but also very beautiful - because of the feedback and distortion.
"Taste the Floor", the third track, has something of the Sex Pistols and especially Iggy Pop and the Stooges, due to its sharp but still quite bright distortion, unlike the rather dull one in other tracks. A somewhat monotonous and repetitive track.
"Hardest Walk" is a track that, arranged differently, could almost be by The Beatles. Catchy, brisk, with its focal point in the bass line, an instrument very present in this song.
"Cut Dead" is almost a ballad, a slow and beautiful song, with rather interesting lyrics. A much emptier track than others (like "Taste the Floor" or "Living End"), saturated and deafening.
With "In A Hole" the feedback, distortion, and heavy atmosphere return. The guitar strumming is indistinguishable from each other.
Some Candy Talking, like "Cut Dead", is a sweet, calm song, with something, however, of the Velvet Underground, if not for the distorted riffs. It has dark lyrics and a sound quite reminiscent of the '60s.
In "Never Understand" the drums are very present and repetitive, and the shoegazer atmosphere is always present but not as cacophonous as in other tracks. A fast song with some similarities to Living End.
The bass line of "Sowing Seeds" is very similar to that of "Just Like Honey". An interesting song, with some beautiful variations, clean riffs, an atmosphere that is at times psychedelic, at times punk.
This album is generally one of my favorites. After "Psychocandy," the Shoegazer phenomenon will emerge, which will take up feedback, reverb, distortions and give life to bands like Boo Radleys and Swervedriver.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Just Like Honey (03:03)
Listen to the girl
As she takes on half the world
Moving up and so alive
In her honey dripping beehive
Beehive
It's good, so good, it's so good
So good
Walking back to you
Is the hardest thing that
I can do
That I can do for you
For you
I'll be your plastic toy
I'll be your plastic toy
For you
Eating up the scum
Is the hardest thing for
Me to do
Just like honey (x 17)
02 The Living End (02:17)
I get ahead on my motorbike
I get ahead on my motorbike
I feel so quick in my leather boots
I feel so quick in my leather boots
My mood is black when my jacket's on
My mood is black when my jacket's on
And I'm in love with myself
And I'm in love with myself
There's nothing else but me
There's nothing else but me
And an empty road
And a cool cool wind and it makes feel so good
Just like I knew it would
Just like I knew it would
I get so wild on my motorbike
I get so wild on my motorbike
I'm breaking loose on this moonlit night
I'm breaking loose on this moonlit night
I cut the road like a sharpened knife
I cut the road like a sharpened knife
And I'm in love with myself
And I'm in love with myself
There's nothing else but me
There's nothing else but me
And an empty road
And a cool cool wind makes me feel so good
I'm moving too fast, * I'm moving too fast *
I'm moving so fast that I can't control the wheels
I'm moving so fast, * I'm moving so fast *
Yeah, I'm going for a tree, yeah it's going for me, yeah
My head is dripping into my leather boots.
04 The Hardest Walk (02:40)
I never thought that this day would ever come
When your words and your touch just struck me numb
Oh and it's plain to see that it's dead
The thing swims in blood and it's cold stoney dead
It's so hard not to feel ashamed
Of the loving living games we play
Each day
And I'm stuck in a shack
Down the back of the sea
Oh and I'm alive and I'm alone
Inside a sick sick dream
Oh is it me
Is it me that feels so weak
I cannot deceive but I find it hard to speak
The hardest walk you could ever take
Is the walk you take from A to B to C
I walk
Oh honey I talk
Don't want you to want me
Don't want you to need me
Don't want you to need me
Don't want you to need me
And I walk
05 Cut Dead (02:47)
What can I do
It's gotten me beaten black and blue
Why don't you know
You got me moving much too slow
Why can't you see
You got me chasing honey bees
You made me fall
Broke me up and took it all
Call me your messed up boy
Just what I've found
You knock my body to the ground
Just what I've said
You're tearing up my weary head
Do I still shine
After such a lonely time
You cut me dead
You nail me down and kick my head
Cut dead your messed up boy
hey hey hey
hey hey hey
hey hey hey
07 Taste of Cindy (01:41)
Crack of dawn
Cindy's movin' on
Talking Cindy to everyone
Until she's had her fun
She has me
We twist the sun and sea
Still she's talking to everyone
Cindy's had her fun
Though I've heard it before
Still I need you more and more
But I just can't get away
Cindy kills me every day
And I tried and I tried
But you looked right through me
Knife to my head when she talks so sweetly
Knife in my head when I think of Cindy
Knife in my head is the taste of Cindy
08 Never Understand (02:58)
The sun comes up another day begins
And I don't even worry about the state I'm in
Head so heavy and I'm looking thin
But when the sun goes down I wanna start again
You never understandin'
You never understand me
Yeah
Don't turn around until you look at me
Why don't you take a second and tell me what you see
Things I see you only disagree
You never understand that's what I want to be
You never understandin'
You never understand me
Yeah
Not wishing to hide but you just can't see me
I tell you the truth but you don't believe me
Thinking of love but I can't hear what you're saying
Tomorrow I'm leaving
Cause I'm not understanding you
10 Sowing Seeds (02:51)
I see people going down
All gods people going down
And I should not be alone
And I should be on my phone
Yes I should be on my phone
Yes I should be on my phone
I'll go where that apple goes
I touch with an apple touch
I see people
Candy people
I'm sowing seeds
I'm sowing seeds
I feel as sharp as a carving knife
So I feel in love for the very last time
I'm sick of the beating by everyone
I'm sick of the beating by everyone
I want peace
I want peace
I want peace
I want peace
I'm sowing seeds
I'm sowing seeds
I'm sowing seeds
I'm sowing seeds
I'm sowing seeds
12 You Trip Me Up (02:26)
Sometimes
I walk sideways
To avoid you
When I've annoyed you
Love's like
The mighty ocean
When it's frozen
That is your heart
What would I be
If I could be free
I couldn't even walk
You trip me up
But you break me in two
And you throw me away
And you spit in my cup
You trip me up
And you break me in two
And you throw me away
Knock me on my back
I'll send a heart attack
I'd like to trip you up
I'd like to trip you up
I'd like to trip you up
I'd like to trip you up
I'd like to trip
I'd like to trip
I'd like to trip you up
I'd like to trip you up
14 It's So Hard (02:36)
It's so hard
To get love
Jump and push and shove
To get the hand in glove
So it seems
That things are in your dreams
So it's said
Things get done in bed
It's so hard
To walk tall
To be unlike like a doll
To walk and not to crawl
So it's said
All our life is dead
So it seems
All our life is dreams
A poem in the head
Of a poet that's dead
Walk walk walk walk
Walk/up/up/walk
Oh it's god to me
Oh it's god to me
Oh it's god to me
And it's
Be in black, be in black, be in, be in black
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Other reviews
By giov
"I can’t find another adjective for this record other than one already used: warm."
"Too bad I discovered them so late."
By R3765214
Simple melodies and a voice that comes from afar, almost ethereal, it seems, but extremely intense, all literally covered by a cascade of feedback and distortion.
Psychocandy is an album that owes much both to the famous punk fury, the more depressed kind, and to certain typically dark cadences, while passing through the melancholic pop of the Smiths.
