The Jesus And Mary Chain
Psychocandy

THE REVIEW

I had never listened to anything by the Jesus And Mary Chain until today: what piqued my curiosity was a review published on this site in which the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club were "branded" as copycats, or rather, as a true cover band of the eighties group.

It's all true... unfortunately (I say this as a huge fan of the Black Rebel)! Opening the CD booklet, you start to feel ashamed for having bought B.R.M.C.: all the members of the Jesus And Mary Chain are dressed in black (photographed, incidentally, in black and white), they look like they have wicker baskets on their heads instead of hair and they don't even smile in half the photos. Listening to Psychocandy, the theory put forward by LOR15 is reinforced, song after song and it goes from shame to anger, because it's one thing to copy an image, but another to copy every tiny sound step by step.
"Just Like Honey" is the exact correction of "Salvation" by B.R.M.C. and it's also the ballad that opens this wonderful album: Jim Reid's voice is warm and never angry (as for the entire duration of the record); William Reid's guitar is a mix between continuous distortion and captivating melody that absolutely never disturbs, not even in the tracks where the guitar "whistles" for a while.

"The Living End" is the first angry song on the record (a sort of "Red Eyes And Tears" accelerated), but it's with "In A Hole" that the Jesus' style reaches its highest point: William plays the most basic riffs, but simply beautiful, while Jim, besides the vocals, takes care of the second guitar... always distorted to the max.
Perhaps the drums, played by Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream), is slightly too monotonous for the entire duration of the record and has a kind of reverb that makes it at times very distant from the overall arrangement and feels like a continuously looping drum machine: it's too eighties, in short (however, for many, this will not be a flaw at all, rather).

I'm sorry to repeat the same things, but I can't find another adjective for this record other than one already used: warm. The songs drag the listener along a dirty, whistling, distorted rock and lead them to select the repeat all option on the player without skipping a single song. I can't bring out similarities with sounds of other bands (like "William Reid's guitar sometimes recalls the sound found in the album by...") because no point of comparison comes to mind.

For fans of the Black Rebel sound, this is an album to have at all costs (speaking of costs, it can be found in many stores for only 11 euros) to "test" with your own ears how much a band can steal... er, be inspired by another. Too bad I discovered them so late.