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The Power of Negative Thinking: B-Sides & Rarities
Participated by The Jesus and Mary Chain
Studio : Rhino Records
by Rhino Records
Release Date : 2008-09-30
Publisher : Rhino Records
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
EAN : 0081227997977
UPC : 081227997977
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 6 reviews)
List Price : $59.98
Our Price : $39.95
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Product Description |
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Founded and led by brothers William and Jim Reid - guitarists and vocalists both - these Glasgow-based post-punk icons changed the course of alt-rock with their bold Velvet Underground-meets-Brian Wilson sound. |
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J&MC rarities and b-sides box |
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If you are a real fan of the Reid Bros, buy it; if you don't know the band, buy it too. The best band in the 80's, ahead of their time mixing chaos with melodies and Can with Beach Boys. What else can i say? |
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This is a gem |
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I fell in love with the Jesus and Mary Chain as an eighteen year old away from home for the first time at the dorms in Santa Barbara in 1985. Much to my delight they were playing at the UCSD dining hall when I returned home for Xmas. They were an immediate impact on my way of viewing the world and the connection between sound and art and songwriting and the idea that this world is ours. There are people like me. The B-sides to I Hate Rock and Roll, I Love Rock and Roll and Cracked were a genius album in their own right. This is a box set I've long wanted to compile. Thank You, Reid Brothers. Sister Vanilla had me still believing. |
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Do Not Adjust Your Controls |
When The Jesus & Mary Chain released their debut album "Psychocandy," they touched down for a club gig at Traxx, on Gratiot near 8 Mile (one of Detroit's worst neighborhoods), to promote it, if you can call a 15-minute set - 20 minutes, tops - promotion.
It was a monotonous roar of mammoth unarticulated reverberations, like a beast that had been tossed into a sawdust pit to fight for its life then amplified through a fast-food restaurant drive-through speaker in a wind tunnel, with an occasional hook or melody coming through the din - sandpaper on top of cotton candy - the brothers Reid not bothering to turn and face the audience much except for an occasional turn at the mic. If not for their sheer audacity and the inner-ear disorienting sonic maelstrom swirling around them, it may have turned very ugly. In hindsight, Traxx's policy of serving drinks in plastic cups was eerily prescient because - let's face it - plastic does a hell of a lot less damage to the human skull than glass.
There's a lot of ear-bleeding psychedelic noise here, Disc 1 in particular a dense helix of sound, corrosive love songs drenched in adrenaline backwashes of sludge and slow-motion fuzz rubbing elbows and knees with shimmering pop delights like "The Hardest Walk," "Some Candy Talking" and "Psychocandy," the Reids obviously smitten with sweets, the...um...pudendum, and any and all analogies and metaphors for both. At times, Jim Reid's crystalline, near-fragile whisper almost begs to be nailed to the deck to keep it from floating away yet there are moments - like the monaurally-titled "Suck," "Ambition," "Head," and "Cracked" - that sound like some terrible accident in a tool and die works, as troubling as they are magnificent. You know you'll recover, but you're not sure when.
Whether by design, accident, or necessity, things get a little more orthodox - but no less refreshing - beginning with Disc 2, the howling workshop of distortion and white noise vacated in favor of digs far more uncluttered and easier to penetrate, a change mirrored by the radical differences between "Psychocandy" and sophomore album "Darklands." Along the way, we're treated to scary, perverse, unsettling, apocalyptic-exploded covers and tributes to Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Elvis Presley, and The Beach Boys that are filled with echo, the sound of amp tubes going up in smoke, and carnivorous moans grisly enough to curdle milk. Conversely, their take on The Temptations "My Girl" is much more...er...pleasant, even drowsy, than their customary killer bee buzz.
"Terminal Beach," "Silverblade" "Easylife, Easylove," and "The Perfect Crime" - the latter over much too soon in about a minute - may be J&MC-by-numbers, but they are vital, classic blasts of bubble gum pop from surly, brazen young men who skirt the fringe of punk without descending into incompetence, tipping their hats more than once to the Velvet Underground, the kids you couldn't catch while playing tag as a kid on the playground. These guys should be someone's heroes by now. Too bad they couldn't play nice... |
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Don't Ever Change |
The Jesus and Mary Chain are slowly becoming my favorite band. In the recently released box set "The Power Of Negative Thinking: B-Sides And Rarities" JAMC prove themselves as a band that has variety and have a deep understanding of the rock and roll format. I'm a sucker for that format especially when the blues are more of an influence than the folk. i.e. T. Rex (not Tyrannosaurus Rex), The Doors, 13th Floor Elevators. However, the Jesus and Mary Chain don't sound like any of these bands, in the slightest.
This compilation includes some great covers of really really old, like oldie old songs I've always loved like: 'My Girl', 'Surfin' USA', 'Who Do You Love' all with their trademark spice.
So don't think The Jesus and Mary Chain are just the Kings of Leon of the 80's, oh no. They are much more... |
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Here's a quick rundown of what's not on this great boxed set |
Thank you Rhino, I love this. Thank you Reids, as well. This list is only intended for those completist fans wondering what didn't make the box, and are almost all from UK-only vinyl releases:
1) "Upside Down" (demo) - from the extremely rare w/l testpressing of the unreleased 12" version of said single.
2) The live Can cover, "Mushroom (Head)" - previously on the "Barbed Wire Kisses" compilation, and culled from the b-side of "April Skies."
3) "Psychocandy" & "Some Candy Talking" (both acoustic) - from the acoustic 2nd 7" single of the "Some Candy Talking" double 7" set.
4) "Some Candy Talking" (NME version) - kickin' noisier version from the NME freebie 7" EP from 1986, called "NME's Big Four."
5) "Nine Million Rainy Days" (Live) - from the 1988 Sounds - Waves 2 freebie 7" EP.
6) "Taste of Cindy" & "April Skies" (both Recorded Live in Detroit) - b-sides to "Sidewalking."
7) "Happy When It Rains" (Long Version); various mixes of "Sidewalking," "Reverence," "Far Gone and Out" & "Teenage Lust."
8) A live Cramps cover, "New Kind Of Kick," from the "Come On" CD #2 (recorded live at UC San Diego CA 11th November 1992); also appears on the "Alternative NRG" live compilation to benefit Greenpeace.
9) The 3 live b-sides from the limited-edition 10" of "Almost Gold."
Thanks for reading, and please enjoy the wonders of the box. |
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