Psycocandy is 39 minutes of noisy, abrasive, feedback laden pop songs that harken back to the Shanri Las and the Beach Boys as well as Einstürzende Neubauten and the Velvet Underground. I recently broke out my old copy of Psychocandy and had a listen. One of my all time favourite JAMC songs is on there: "Never Understand". What a perfect pop song. As much as I love this album though, it definitely hits differently in my 50's than it did when it came out in my teens. Hell, it hit different two years later when Darklands arrived.
Before Darklands arrived though, the JAMC gave us a clue that they were heading in a new direction sound wise. Some Candy Talking had that same pop song sound but the feedback was sidelined for deep faraway reverb soaked acoustic/electric guitar mix. Depending on how you bought it Some Candy Talking was a four song EP that opened with a fuzzy but warm song called "Some Candy Talking" which would have fit perfectly on Darklands. It's followed up with a completely stripped down acoustic version of "A Taste Of Cindy". The third song "Psychocandy" also feels like it could be a song from Darklands with it's acoustic/electric fuzz and much less feedback. A fourth song called "Hit" sort of brings it all back to Psychocandy (the album) with feedback and noise. There was also a double EP that had 4 songs from Psychocandy that were stripped down and performed acoustically on the John Peel show.
Then came Darklands which saw them conpletely abandon the sound of their first album. People seemed mad about the change in reviews and interviews. For me it was a brilliant move. The pairing of the acousting and electric guitars drenched to drowned in reverb just made for a perfect second album. Sure it was fuzzy at points but it never got overbearing the way Psychocandy could (or seems to now). Once again it is an album just filled with brilliant pop songs. Some upbeat and some mellow. Hell, The Brian Jonestown Massacre mined the fuck out of this album for much of their early and middle discography. The b-sides on the singles released from Darklands contained some of the noisier, feedback laden songs if you were still looking for that but I think Darklands is now seen as their perfect album.
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They followed it up with an ok album called Automatic. Throw on any songs and it is pretty good to great. But listening to them all in a row just leaves you... kind of bored. They all sound and feel the same after a while. I remember feeling that way when it came out in 89/90. I tried it again (really listening to it over and over) sometime while I was living in Brooklyn in 2004 and the same thing happened. Just recently from my little Quebecois village I gave it another go and, yep, it just happened again. So I decided to take a deep dive and listen to all the other music they released with this album. The bonus CD only songs, the b-sides from the two singles they released from Automatic, some alternate takes and the Peel/BBC Sessions. I managed to make a much more repeatably listenable album by removing a few songs, adding a few songs and switching out one for a BBC Session.
Tracklisting:
Here Comes Alice
Coast To Coast [BBC Radio Session]
Blues From A Gun
Break Me Down
Her Way Of Praying
Between Planets
Head On
Halfway To Crazy
Take It [MF Edit]
Shimmer
Sunray
Subway
Drop
Makes you want to feel, makes you want to try
Makes you want to blow the stars from the sky
I can't stand up, I can't cool down
I can't get my head off the ground
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