The Jesus & Mary Chain - psychocandy

The long play debut of the Jesus & Mary Chain changed the world, or at least the indie rock part anyway. What is commonplace nowadays (shoegazing, feedback noise buried in a pop beat) was fairly unknown back in the mid-1980s when this came out and this album inspired so many. So what is it like, apart from iconic naturally?

A lot of it is very simple, classic pop melodies under a harsh layer of noise. But noise is beauty as has been proven so many times and this is beautiful pop. "You trip me up" is one amazing track among many, a growl under a chainsaw. "Never understand" and "The living end" also excite. Unlike quite a few iconic albums Psychocandy actually stands up pretty well, and noisily well too.

Jesus & Mary Chain - honey's dead

Or the Mary Chain go indie-dance. Released in the early 1990s this album perfectly captured the dance beats prevalent in indie at the time along with the earlier feedback drenched sound polished to perfection.

The album mixed cultured feedback noise with an infectious beat. Cultured? Well yes. A lot of bands at the time threw feedback at the audience to bludgeon them with a wall of noise (not that i am saying this is a bad thing of course). On "Honey's dead" the feedback is buried deeper and works into the song. Like a virus.

On this album the Reid brothers bought live drums back into the mix and the result is pretty fantastic to be honest. Songs like "Far gone and out" and "Almost gold" are epic pop songs. There are a few fillers but no dogs. The album still stands up as being one of the best indie albums of the decade. A hey hey hey!

Friday Links (10/02/12)

• And the latest 80s indie legend to reform and go back on the road is... the Jesus & Mary Chain. The gods of feedback noise terrorism will play 4 dates in the USA.
• Madonna was at Superbowl, yeah whatever but here she is back in 1983 as part of the Guardian's re-issues of old interviews.
• Photos of 60s and 70s pop and rock stars and their parents...
• The buried treasure of B-sides