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THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN

William And Jim Reid

Never Understood: The Story Of The Jesus And Mary Chain - Record Store Edition

    For 5 years after they'd swapped sought-after apprenticeships for life on the dole, brothers William and Jim Reid sat up till the early hours in the front room of their parents' East Kilbride council house, plotting their path to world domination over endless cups of tea, with the music turned down low so as not to wake their sleeping sister. They knew they couldn't play in the same band because they'd argue too much, so they'd describe their dream ensembles to each other until finally they realised that these two perfect bands were actually the same band, and the name of that band was The Jesus and Mary Chain.

    The rest was not silence, and picking up those conversations again more than 40 years later, William and Jim tell the full story of one of Britain's greatest guitar bands for the very first time - a wildly funny and improbably moving chronicle of brotherly strife, feedback, riots, drug and alcohol addiction, eternal outsiders and extreme shyness, that also somehow manages to be a love letter to the Scottish working-class family.

    William And Jim Reid

    Never Understood: The Story Of The Jesus And Mary Chain

      For 5 years after they'd swapped sought-after apprenticeships for life on the dole, brothers William and Jim Reid sat up till the early hours in the front room of their parents' East Kilbride council house, plotting their path to world domination over endless cups of tea, with the music turned down low so as not to wake their sleeping sister. They knew they couldn't play in the same band because they'd argue too much, so they'd describe their dream ensembles to each other until finally they realised that these two perfect bands were actually the same band, and the name of that band was The Jesus and Mary Chain.

      The rest was not silence, and picking up those conversations again more than 40 years later, William and Jim tell the full story of one of Britain's greatest guitar bands for the very first time - a wildly funny and improbably moving chronicle of brotherly strife, feedback, riots, drug and alcohol addiction, eternal outsiders and extreme shyness, that also somehow manages to be a love letter to the Scottish working-class family.

      The Jesus And Mary Chain

      Glasgow Eyes

        Marking 40 years of The Jesus And Mary Chain, ‘Glasgow Eyes’ was recorded at Mogwai’s Castle of Doom studio in Glasgow, where Jim and William continued the creative process that resulted in their previous album, 2017’s ‘Damage and Joy’, becoming their highest charting album in over twenty years. What emerged is a record that finds one of the UK’s most influential groups embracing a productive second chapter, their maelstrom of melody, feedback and controlled chaos now informed more audibly by their love for Suicide and Kraftwerk and a fresh appreciation of the less disciplined attitudes found in jazz.

        Jim Reid says, “But don’t expect ‘the Mary Chain goes jazz.’ People should expect a Jesus and Mary Chain record, and that’s certainly what ‘Glasgow Eyes’ is. Our creative approach is remarkably the same as it was in 1984, just hit the studio and see what happens. We went in with a bunch of songs and let it take its course. There are no rules, you just do whatever it takes. And there’s a telepathy there - we are those weird not-quite twins that finish each other’s sentences.” ‘Glasgow Eyes’ not only extends The Jesus and Mary Chain's story, but feels simultaneously like a return to roots. From the incendiary ‘Psychocandy’ debut and its classic ‘Just Like Honey’ onwards, the Reid brothers steadily became the misfits who made good without compromise.

        STAFF COMMENTS

        Andy says: A gentle tweak of the template brings electronic bleeps and keys to that trademark Mary Chain sound. Hear the new track and you'll be left in no doubt. JAMC Forever!!

        TRACK LISTING

        1. Venal Joy
        2. American Born
        3. Mediterranean X Film
        4. Jamcod
        5. Discotheque
        6. Pure Poor
        7. The Eagles And The Beatles
        8. Silver Strings
        9. Chemical Animal
        10. Second Of June 1
        1. Girl 71
        12. Hey Lou Reid

        The Jesus And Mary Chain

        Munki - 2023 Reissue

          To celebrate the album’s 25-year anniversary, The Jesus And Mary Chain reissue their long-sold-out sixth studio album ‘Munki’. 

          Originally released June 2nd 1998 on Sub Pop / Creation Records, ‘Munki’ was – up until the Mary Chain’s reformation in 2007 – an experimental rock’n’roll masterclass turned swan song for the Reid brothers, whose fractious in-fighting culminated in the band’s break-up less than a year after its release. It was perhaps fitting, then, that ‘Munki’ is argued by some as the definitive Mary Chain record in the way it seemed to chart the full array of musical directions the band had ploughed over the five records that came before.

          The decision to bookend the album with Jim’s rousing sing-along ‘I Love Rock 'N' Roll’ and William’s caustic white-noise anthem ‘I Hate Rock 'N' Roll’ perfectly captures the two-fold tension at the heart of the Mary Chain at that time – a tension between noise and melody, and warring brothers. Across the album’s 17 tracks and 70-minute running time, there are the expected abrasive noise-rock epics ‘Cracking Up’ and ‘Degenerate’ by way of fuzzed-out pop hits like ‘Fizzy’ and the tender acoustic slow-burner ‘Never Understood’. Between the Reid’s Glaswegian snarls and unapologetically insolent lyrics – "I'm a mean motherf*cker now, but I once was cool”, “McDonald’s is sh*t!”, “Children are fools!” being just a few lyrical highlights – ‘Munki’ also features two great guest appearances. Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval returns for another Mary Chain duet on ‘Perfume’, which has a swagger that’s equal parts menacing and bittersweet, and the Reid’s younger sister Linda.

          TRACK LISTING

          1. I Love Rock 'N' Roll
          2. Birthday 
          3. Stardust Remedy 
          4. Fizzy 
          5. Moe Tucker 
          6. Perfume 
          7. Virtually Unreal
          8. Degenerate 
          9. Cracking Up 
          10. Commercial 
          11. Supertramp 
          12. Never Understood 
          13. I Can't Find The Time For Times 
          14. Man On The Moon 
          15. Black
          16. Dream Lover 
          17. I Hate Rock 'N' Roll 

          The Jesus And Mary Chain

          Sunset 666 - Live At Hollywood Palladium

            Recorded at the Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles in 2018, ‘Sunset 666’ is a new live album from The Jesus and Mary Chain, due out August 4th 2023 on Fuzz Club. In 1990, a young American band, full of a precise kind of noise and darkness, were special guests on the US tour being undertaken by a group who had noise and darkness, poise and catharsis of their own. The young band: Nine Inch Nails. Those headliners: The Jesus and Mary Chain. Almost thirty years later, an invitation was extended. Would the Reid brothers care to reverse the roles and open for Nine Inch Nails on their own North American tour? Trent Reznor had been a fan of the Mary Chain, and influenced by them since hearing 'Psychocandy', so it felt a good fit and the Reid brothers accepted.

            The resulting tour ended with a run of six shows at LA’s Hollywood Palladium and the seventeen tracks captured on the ‘Sunset 666’ double album were recorded from the desk on two of those nights. Sides A, B and C are from the final show, December 15. Those twelve songs were the full set that night, in sequence, meaning the show began with the here-wef* cking-go drums of ‘Just Like Honey’ and ended with the ferocious euphoria of an eightand- a-half minute ‘Reverence’. Side D of the vinyl record is taken from the December 11 show and serves almost as a mini-showcase of the ‘Automatic’ album, featuring versions of ‘Blues From A Gun’, ‘Between Planets’ and ‘Halfway To Crazy’.

            STAFF COMMENTS

            Andy says: This is a brilliant record, classily packaged and a far stronger artistic statement than the Mary Chain's previous live outing (a warts'n'all document of their Psychocandy anniversary tour). The sound is great, for starters (Jim's vocals in particular) and the song selection spot on. For me this is the band's first proper live LP and therefore it is fabulous!

            TRACK LISTING

            1. Just Like Honey
            2. Sometimes Always (feat. Isobel Campbell)
            3. Black And Blues (feat. Isobel Campbell)
            4. Amputation
            5. All Things Pass
            6. Some Candy Talking
            7. Head On
            8. The Living End
            9. Cracking Up
            10. Teenage Lust
            11. I Hate Rock 'N' Roll
            12. Reverence
            13. Blues From A Gun
            14. Far Gone And Out
            15. Between Planets
            16. Half Way To Crazy
            17. In A Hole

            The Jesus And Mary Chain

            Live At Barrowland - 2022 Reissue

              In November 2014 The Jesus and Mary Chain celebrated three decades of their incendiary cult-classic debut album, ‘Psychocandy’, with a run of tour dates in which the infamous Scottish group played the album in full for the very first time in the band’s history. As part of the ‘Psychocandy’ tour, the Mary Chain descended on Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom – a legendary venue down the road from where the Reid brothers grew up in neighbouring East Kilbride – and tore through the songs that would propel them to worldwide acclaim upon ‘Psychocandy’s release in 1985.

              The Barrowland performance – an equal-parts deafening and blinding assault on the senses – was cut to vinyl by engineer Noel Summerville and originally released in 2015. Fast forward to 2022 and the ‘Live at Barrowland’ album is now being reissued by Fuzz Club Records. 

              The influence that ‘Psychocandy’ and its pioneering sonic belligerence had on popular music cannot be overstated. Taking bittersweet pop melodies and tearing them up apart through the medium of buzzsaw guitars, ear-piercing feedback and an unapologetic hostility towards their listeners, the band’s breakthrough album experimented with noise in a way that had never been done before and would inspire for generations to come. The ‘Live At Barrowland’ LP captures ‘Psychocandy’s complete 14 tracks in a live setting and in all their boundary-pushing and feedback-ridden glory. The CD and digital versions of the reissue – including the download card that comes with the vinyl – also feature seven bonus tracks taken from the prelude set on the night, including such fan-favourites as ‘April Skies’, ‘Head On’ and ‘Reverence’.

              TRACK LISTING

              1. Just Like Honey – Live
              2. The Living End - Live
              3. Taste The Floor - Live
              4. The Hardest Walk - Live
              5. Cut Dead - Live
              6. In A Hole - Live
              7. Taste Of Cindy - Live
              8. Never Understand - Live
              9. Inside Me - Live
              10. Sowing Seeds - Live
              11. My Little Underground - Live
              12. You Trip Me Up - Live
              13. Something's Wrong - Live
              14. It's So Hard - Live

              The Jesus And Mary Chain

              Damage And Joy - 2022 Expanded Reissue

                Originally released in 2017 on the band’s own label Artificial Plastic and now being reissued by Fuzz Club Records, ‘Damage And Joy’ is the seventh studio album from Scottish alt-rock legends The Jesus and Mary Chain. The long-awaited follow-up to 1998’s ‘Munki’, ‘Damage And Joy’ was the band’s first studio album in nearly two decades and contained brand new material alongside reimagined versions of songs that had been released in various forms by the Reid brothers in between the Mary Chain’s 1999 break-up and 2007 reunion. Coproduced by Youth (Killing Joke) and featuring the lead singles ‘Amputation’ and ‘All Things Pass’, ‘Damage & Joy’ also featured guest appearances from Scottish singer-songwriter Isobel Campbell (‘The Two of Us’, ‘Song For A Secret’) and American alt-pop star Sky Ferreira (‘Black And Blues’).

                Included in this reissue and available on vinyl for the very first time is ‘Ono Yoko’ (originally only available on the Japanese CD version of the album), as well as alternative versions of ‘The Two Of Us’ featuring Sky Ferreira and ‘Black And Blues’ featuring Isobel Campbell.

                As Pitchfork wrote at the time of the album's release: “It will take more than a nearly twodecade recording hiatus to diminish the band’s intrinsic ultraviolet vibe. ‘Damage And Joy’ carries the reassurance that now, more than ever, The Jesus and Mary Chain are united in holy acrimony.”

                TRACK LISTING

                1. Amputation
                2. The Two Of Us (feat Sky Ferreira)
                3. All Things Pass
                4. Always Sad
                5. Song For A Secret (feat. Isobel Campbell)
                6. War On Peace
                7. Black And Blues (feat. Isobel Campbell)
                8. Los Feliz (Blues And Greens)
                9. Mood Rider
                10. Presidici (Et Chapaquiditch)
                11. Get On Home
                12. Facing Up To The Facts
                13. Simian Split
                14. Black And Blues (feat. Sky Ferreira)
                15. Ono Yoko
                16. The Two Of Us (feat Isobel Campbell)
                17. Can't Stop The Rock


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