The Jesus and Mary Chain albums poll

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I feel so quick in my leather boots: poll of PSYCHOCANDY by THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
I'm just your longtime curse: DARKLANDS by THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN, POLL OF
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Automatic poll

MARY CHAIN SINGLES POLL

I have signed up to do their artist poll but will probably never get around to it. I'm seeing them, yet again, in about 10 days. ILM has done a few albums so I thought an albums poll would be good to close out this shoegaze run since they are the masters.

Poll Results

OptionVotes
Psychocandy (1985) 44
Darklands (1987) 28
Automatic (1989) 6
Honey's Dead (1992) 4
Stoned & Dethroned (1994) 2
Munki (1998) 2
Damage and Joy (2017) 0
Glasgow Eyes (2024) 0


Bee OK, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 17:29 (two weeks ago) link

I didn’t get them as a band until Honey’s Dead, which is still my absolute favorite

DJP, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 18:02 (two weeks ago) link

"Far Gone and Out" is a marvelous single.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 29 October 2024 18:14 (two weeks ago) link

As is “Reverence”

DJP, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 18:31 (two weeks ago) link

“rollercoaster” too

brimstead, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 19:12 (two weeks ago) link

Automatic

Cognosc in Tyrol (emsworth), Tuesday, 29 October 2024 19:31 (two weeks ago) link

Psychocandy is one of the most overrated "classic" albums ever. Their next three are all better. Haven't heard the two post-reunion albums, although I did see them live post-reunion, pre-new albums and they were a blast.

Automatic is my pick. It's such a great, feel it in your guts, thrills and singalongs rock and roll album.

NoTimeBeforeTime, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 19:45 (two weeks ago) link

I won't keep knocking Psychocandy, clearly one of those Ya Had to Be There albums, but, yeah, I listen to Darklands and Automatic way more, and 21 Singles best of all.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 29 October 2024 19:52 (two weeks ago) link

Psychocandy then Darklands for me + write in vote for Barbed Wire Kisses. I like it most when they sound like a Scottish band hoovering up ideas from pop history and spewing them out in their own style.

Automatic is horribly hollow and American sounding, can't stand it.

Position Position, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 20:18 (two weeks ago) link

You people would say that.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 29 October 2024 20:20 (two weeks ago) link

The first thing I heard was Barbed Wire Kisses and at the time I thought it was one of the worst things I’d ever heard

DJP, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 20:24 (two weeks ago) link

Ya Ha To Be There but if you WERE... well, I voted Darklands, it's the one I truly imprinted on, but much as I like "Far Gone and Out" I just can't see anything post-Automatic as anything but a footnote to what I consider their real output -- "Reverence" in particular feels like an imitation J&MC song to me. "Barbed Wire Kisses" not really an album and thus not on here but "Everything's Alright When You're Down" really one of their highights.

Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 29 October 2024 20:26 (two weeks ago) link

If everybody had an ocean WALL OF NOISE across the usa BIGGER WALL OF NOISE

Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 29 October 2024 20:26 (two weeks ago) link

you people speak madness! psychocandy or go home! i mean for pete's sake...

overrated, i'll give you overrated...right in the snoot!

scott seward, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 22:55 (two weeks ago) link

Anyone that thinks it overrated needs the severe malky!

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Tuesday, 29 October 2024 22:57 (two weeks ago) link

I wasn’t there, this is Psychocandy hands down.

brimstead, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 23:07 (two weeks ago) link

I wasn't there, 21 Singles.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 29 October 2024 23:35 (two weeks ago) link

Psychocandy is the most important one but I like Darklands the best. They proved that they were at least a two trick pony with that album.

StanM, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 23:52 (two weeks ago) link

Psychocandy is massively underrated. So great that there was just no point listening to another JAMC album again. Even if it had been a one track album with just The Hardest Walk on it it would have got my vote. Psychocandy era live however was one of the worst gigs I ever saw.

stirmonster, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 23:57 (two weeks ago) link

psychocandy, i like the feedback, give me more of that

c u (crüt), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 00:14 (two weeks ago) link

Challop: "Just Like Honey" is not in the top half of the songs on Psychocandy

Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 01:52 (two weeks ago) link

I don’t necessarily disagree but it’s a really killer opener

brimstead, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 02:07 (two weeks ago) link

Psychocandy is better than BWK, definitely

DJP, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 02:19 (two weeks ago) link

My take remains that they should have announced their breakup the day Psychocandy was released; it's not only a great album, but a beautiful gesture that could only have been improved by their immediately ceasing to exist.

That said, it's fun to listen to Automatic and Honey's Dead in the car, the former more than the latter. And if Barbed Wire Kisses was an option I'd seriously consider voting for it.

That new album is fucking awful.

Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 02:23 (two weeks ago) link

Psychocandy then Darklands for me + write in vote for Barbed Wire Kisses

This is me exactly, I love Barbed Wire Kisses. Darklands might be my actual favorite, it's hard to say, but there's just no way around Psychocandy. I was 16 and I'd lie on the floor of my bedroom and put it on as loud as I could get away with. I thought it was amazing. (My freshman year college roommate was a super straitlaced guy with a clutch of Amy Grant albums, and he refused to believe me that the album was supposed to sound like that. He assumed they were just incompetent musicians lol.)

Blitz Primary (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 02:27 (two weeks ago) link

I only know the first two (and the EP between); Psychocandy by a mile.

clemenza, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 02:32 (two weeks ago) link

The next few albums that followed all had something to them one way or another but only Psychocandy has "My Little Underground" on it so there ya go.

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 02:45 (two weeks ago) link

Of course, psychocandy. Maybe should have excluded it...

Psychocandy era live however was one of the worst gigs I ever saw.

― stirmonster, Tuesday, October 29, 2024 11:57 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

No no no noo noo noo...
Hammersmith Palais, May 8 1986, a brilliant gig.

Just looked it up, support was Sonic Youth, Pink Industry and The Servants (missed Servants, sorry guys)

J&MC 45 mins, I believe it is was the first gig where they kept it together and did it right.

Oh, and I got to see John Peel in the audience, and met three of New Order. So yeah, maybe best gig ever....

But, even if it had been just the headliner for that 45 mins, still great

Mark G, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 07:48 (two weeks ago) link

I think Bobby had left by then and they were using a drum machine...?

fetter, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 07:58 (two weeks ago) link

If we're doing write-in votes, then I would pick the Complete Peel Sessions. I listen to it more than any of the studio albums. The Peel Session versions of the Psychocandy songs are all better than on the latter album.

NoTimeBeforeTime, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 08:10 (two weeks ago) link

Xpost think it was James pinker, but there was definitely a real drummer

Mark G, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 08:46 (two weeks ago) link

The most recent album is not shite

(Had third thoughts...)

Mark G, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 08:48 (two weeks ago) link

Just looked it up, support was Sonic Youth, Pink Industry and The Servants

yes, that sounds excellent. when i saw them they could hardly stand up, started fighting the audience, didn't manage to play a single song all the way through, played for 12 minutes and literally got run out of town right after.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-jesus-and-mary-chain/1985/coasters-edinburgh-scotland-23c77c37.html

stirmonster, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 11:35 (two weeks ago) link

BWK was the big one for me — probably because that was the first one I heard. When Automatic came out I was like “where’s the feedback?” and never tried to keep up with them after that. Unfair? Probably. But there’s a lot of music in the world.

dentist looking too comfortable singing the blues (hardcore dilettante), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 11:45 (two weeks ago) link

xpost "Jim Reid falls off stage" lol

StanM, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 12:57 (two weeks ago) link

My history with this band is hearing Reverence on the radio in probably 1995 and made a mental note to try to buy the album this is from. I didn't actually buy Honey's Dead until a couple of years later but did in the meantime stumble upon a used copy of Stoned & Dethroned which didn't sound at all like I was expecting, though I did listen to it quite a bit anyway and did appreciate parts of it. When I eventually found Honey's Dead I liked it, but not as much as I thought I would. Then when I started going online on music message boards I saw that Psychocandy is supposed to be the best Jesus & Mary Chain album, which I eventually bought and didn't get at all and that was the end for me with this band.

So, probably going to vote Honey's Dead here.

silverfish, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 13:47 (two weeks ago) link

Just looked up stuff regarding that gig. Found the poster which says The Servants as third-billed but no Pink Industry, so I'm guessing there was a last minute replacement and there was no Servants.

Mark G, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 13:59 (two weeks ago) link

Phil King of The Servants later joined the Mary Chain, iirc.

fetter, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 15:35 (two weeks ago) link

only saw the J&MC once in November 1992 (Spiritualized was the opener, the Fucked Up Inside set) and they were laughably bad, the edges and noisiness all polished off. But the main thing that stuck in my mind as ridiculous was their visuals/projections - spinning clipart of a star, a gun, a heart etc. - which, especially compared to Spiritualized, felt very lazy.

Psychocandy is amazing but voted Darklands, would also have considered voting for BWK. Have a soft spot for the overly long Stoned and Dethroned and its weary, hungover vibe.

famous instagram dog (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 15:50 (two weeks ago) link

Write in ballot for Barbed Wire Kisses. A compilation, yes, but so good. Like VU, the odds and ends assembled here make for a more accurate and more FUN listen than the more dour and scowling "real" albums.

Brio2, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 15:51 (two weeks ago) link

I also saw them in '92 -- Lollapalooza! And like Shakey said they were awful, just indifferent if not sloppy, and I wasn't much of a fan yet. I suspected that booze and being on so early in the bill affected their mood, and the Reid memoir confirmed it.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 16:05 (two weeks ago) link

psychocandy the work of my hero john loder. john loder the very very rich man's steve albini. albini tried to be loder but he never got there. probably my fave brit producer/engineer of all time. (partly because i have no idea who produced a lot of the 60s freakbeat that i love. and shel talmy is disqalified. have no idea who produced the first small faces album for instance. having said that, still, if i were a recording engineer i would want to be john loder.)

scott seward, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 16:25 (two weeks ago) link

I really love those chimey jangly lofi demos from 83 (?), “up too high” and the demo of “on the wall”. so dreamy and melancholic.

brimstead, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 16:33 (two weeks ago) link

Omg lol Nitsuh:

Obviously the drummer for such a group couldn’t sit behind a big kit looking like he knew what he was doing, so the JAMC stood Bobby Gillespie (yes, that one) up behind only two drums-- a floor tom and a snare-- and had him bash away like he was pissed off at them but either too bored or too drunk to finish them off. A similar approach was taken to bass guitar and vocals.

If the band had applied these tactics to knotty, difficult music, you would never have heard of them, and Dominique Leone would be reviewing these reissues.

Patti The Pone (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 16:33 (two weeks ago) link

Also, their live album (from Barrowlands) is awesome

Patti The Pone (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 16:43 (two weeks ago) link

Looking at the singles results from 2008--I definitely would have voted "Never Understand."

clemenza, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 16:48 (two weeks ago) link

quite surprised by the affection for Barbed Wire Kisses!

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 16:49 (two weeks ago) link

why though it has so much great stuff on it.

scott seward, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 17:02 (two weeks ago) link

It does, just surprised it might match Psychocandy in votes.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 17:03 (two weeks ago) link

i wish there was a book with different musicians talking about how they felt about JAMC when they came out. i feel like they were definitely one of those bands. i don't know if i've ever read kevin shields or justin broadrick talk about them. i'm sure there were all kinds of people who were blown away by them. and not just shoegaze types.

scott seward, Sunday, 3 November 2024 16:13 (one week ago) link

Sonic Youth were big supporters, not surprisingly, despite the groups' obvious differences.

three of the doctor's valuable bats are now dead (broom air), Sunday, 3 November 2024 20:11 (one week ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Monday, 4 November 2024 00:01 (one week ago) link

glad this poll exists, i've really only heard psychocandy and darklands. barbed wire kisses contains some of their most supremely fucked material alongside some of their catchiest, it's really weird that it works at all. big revelation from hearing automatic for the first time is "between planets" is the best song ever written

ivy., Monday, 4 November 2024 15:02 (one week ago) link

Glasgow Eyes is going to win this, isn't it?

StanM, Monday, 4 November 2024 17:04 (one week ago) link

the first time is "between planets" is the best song ever written

The way I can sing "Head On" on top of those chords is one of the great things about JAMC, just like how 'April Skies' and "Happy When It Rains" are practically the same song.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 4 November 2024 17:06 (one week ago) link

First three are the only ones I listen to fairly regularly. Darklands is the one I'm most often in the mood for, and it gets played much more than the others, but had to vote Psychocandy as it still knocks me off my feet every time. I and I think most of my friends picked up Barbed Wire Kisses when it came out as Sidewalking was pretty big on the local college radio stations, and it sounded massive on the ridiculously large (and in retrospect probably pretty lousy) speakers that came with the Fisher component system I bought with my paper route money. I'll often put on their "Guitar Man" cover too.

A couple of months ago I was listening to Psychocandy while finishing up some yard work with the 2-stroke weed wacker. I noticed my kid trying to get my attention so I switched it off and pulled off my headphones, through which JAMC could still clearly be heard. The kid started to ask a question, paused, and said "Dad, your music sounds exactly like the trimmer."

early rejecter, Monday, 4 November 2024 17:25 (one week ago) link

I played "Sidewalking" on my college radio show during my one and only ill-fated year at college. I'd like to think I changed the lives of hundreds of children in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania that night.

scott seward, Monday, 4 November 2024 17:35 (one week ago) link

Right around that time my family was on a road trip and flipping through the radio late at night somewhere in PA I heard the Screaming Blue Messiahs for the first time. Maybe that was you? Wouldn't say it changed my life but I did buy the cassette at the next record store I stopped into!

early rejecter, Monday, 4 November 2024 17:50 (one week ago) link

On the other side of the dorm wall was a guy who spent a month playing his Sidewalking 12" over and over, and it put me off this band for decades. Honey's Dead is certainly sounding much better right now than I figured possible for its ubiquity in used bins.

Theracane Gratifaction (bendy), Monday, 4 November 2024 18:17 (one week ago) link

I wanted to listen to all of these again before voting but that didn't happen. Was too young for Psychocandy. Darklands is probably the correct answer but I got the most joy out of Automatic.

Bee OK, Monday, 4 November 2024 20:05 (one week ago) link

honey's dead is absolutely my fave of these

ivy., Monday, 4 November 2024 20:11 (one week ago) link

i also really love munki on first listen

ivy., Monday, 4 November 2024 20:18 (one week ago) link

love “moe tucker” off munki

brimstead, Monday, 4 November 2024 20:30 (one week ago) link

Pleasantly surprised by the affection for "Sidewalking."

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 4 November 2024 20:35 (one week ago) link

I'm on pins n' needles waiting for the results of this! And the other election.

henry s, Monday, 4 November 2024 20:44 (one week ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Tuesday, 5 November 2024 00:01 (one week ago) link

the way it should be. good work, everyone.

scott seward, Tuesday, 5 November 2024 00:08 (one week ago) link

Stoned & Dethroned too high but looks good otherwise.

early rejecter, Tuesday, 5 November 2024 00:42 (one week ago) link

I’m surprised Automatic did better than Honey’s Dead.

Cow_Art, Tuesday, 5 November 2024 01:17 (one week ago) link

I need to give Automatic a good loud listening. It's been a long time!

scott seward, Tuesday, 5 November 2024 01:52 (one week ago) link

was 1990 the first time i saw them, which was the Automatic tour (with the telescopes at the town and country), and then twice, i think, on the rollercoaster tour (brixton). both tours quite multimedia from what i remember, the films projected behind them being a large part of the experience. Douglas Hart was big on the film side of things iirc.

but my heart lies with the earliest stuff, i was never entirely convinced by Automatic.

koogs, Tuesday, 5 November 2024 01:58 (one week ago) link

saw them December 11, 1985. Die Kreuzen opening, First Avenue. fantastic. 20ish minutes as advertised, not a word to the audience, William facing away, Jim rubbing his guitar on the mic stand. mohican at the edge of the stage next to me yelling "play some fucking rock and roll" and telling him this is fucking rock and roll. the Upside Down and Never Understand singles were the biggest things in my musical world.

bulb after bulb, Tuesday, 5 November 2024 02:28 (one week ago) link

the Automatic tour (with the telescopes at the town and country)

that show was the one time i saw them.

visiting, Tuesday, 5 November 2024 03:36 (one week ago) link

Is anyone else here seeing JAMC with the Psychedelic Furs on Saturday night here in Los Angeles? If so hit me up,

Bee OK, Tuesday, 5 November 2024 07:18 (one week ago) link

I'll be there

Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 5 November 2024 07:49 (one week ago) link

I approve of these results.

completely suited to the horny decadence (Capitaine Jay Vee), Tuesday, 5 November 2024 09:11 (one week ago) link

pleasing chronological results

nxd, Tuesday, 5 November 2024 10:46 (one week ago) link

I'm surprised, too, that Honey's Dead didn't rank higher. I remember that record as being a big deal at the time, including with the fans who had loved everything.

Agree that "Sidewalking" is all-time JAMC. Top ten no doubt.

three of the doctor's valuable bats are now dead (broom air), Tuesday, 5 November 2024 14:37 (one week ago) link

threw munki and automatic onto phone for randomised listening and keep hearing songs i don't actually know, but which are obviously jamc. birthday, for instance.

koogs, Tuesday, 5 November 2024 22:19 (one week ago) link

bought it at the time and also have the rhino extended version and still...

koogs, Tuesday, 5 November 2024 22:20 (one week ago) link

Though the first two records have a few good songs each, I'd have voted for the first I heard of them, a 1985 interview on The New Music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS8nmyOlINU

Halfway there but for you, Friday, 8 November 2024 00:04 (six days ago) link

The best. "My favorite color is gold."

city worker, Friday, 8 November 2024 00:11 (six days ago) link

LOL @ Bobby being the boring sensible one.

biting your uncles (Tom D.), Friday, 8 November 2024 07:43 (six days ago) link

i listened to this the other day. nice shout-out to billie eilish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_OmkaD7JYA

scott seward, Friday, 8 November 2024 13:55 (six days ago) link

Not that I think they deserved votes, but the results make the two recent albums seem much worse than they are. I particularly liked Damage & Joy and would personally have ranked it above Munki.

Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 8 November 2024 15:16 (six days ago) link

the new one is pretty bad imo

something like this for me:

Psychocandy
Automatic
Darklands
Honey's Dead
Munki
Damage and Joy
Stoned & Dethroned
Glasgow Eyes

Colonel Poo, Friday, 8 November 2024 15:29 (six days ago) link

I'm trying to get excited about tomorrow night's show but it's so hard.

Bee OK, Friday, 8 November 2024 21:14 (six days ago) link

Just found my "Stoned and Dethroned" red shirt and probably won't wear it.

Bee OK, Friday, 8 November 2024 21:15 (six days ago) link

I'm trying to get excited about tomorrow night's show but it's so hard.

Just make a point to start a riot after the third or fourth song.

Halfway there but for you, Friday, 8 November 2024 21:19 (six days ago) link

threw munki and automatic onto phone for randomised listening and keep hearing songs i don't actually know, but which are obviously jamc. birthday, for instance.

― koogs, Tuesday, 5 November 2024 22:19 bookmarkflaglink

I really like Birthday fwiw. I might move Munki above Honey's Dead in my ranking above

Colonel Poo, Friday, 8 November 2024 21:51 (six days ago) link

Elvis, check your email

Bee OK, Saturday, 9 November 2024 02:14 (five days ago) link

Perfume is another nice track from munki i had forgotten about, if i ever knew. laid back, dub Mary Chain. and Black as well, sounds like teenage fanclub.

3x4 track EPS from that album, i should give those a listen too

koogs, Saturday, 9 November 2024 09:00 (five days ago) link

Bee OK, just messaged you

Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 10 November 2024 00:35 (four days ago) link

ilXor meet up did happen and I met Elvis Telecom last night after the show. We talked about old gigs and first times, conversation could have went on for hours actually. Security had a different idea and cut the meet up way too early. It was a pleasure and happy that we meet.

Bee OK, Monday, 11 November 2024 00:19 (three days ago) link

What cracked me up most is that what happened was exactly what I expected to happen.

Bee OK, Monday, 11 November 2024 00:21 (three days ago) link

Aw that’s great!!

brimstead, Monday, 11 November 2024 01:39 (three days ago) link

ilx people are awesome people to talk to in real life! i don't know what its like for other online communities but i immediately feel at ease when i hang with an ilxor. i end up blabbing a lot. its like i finally get to talk to someone who gets stuff that other people i know don't get. if you know what i mean.

scott seward, Monday, 11 November 2024 02:29 (three days ago) link

ILXors in being awesome non-shocker. Excellent to meet Bee OK after almost 40 years of going to the same gigs around LA - we could have kept the conversation going until sunrise. I warned Ms. T to expect a firehose of remembered gigs and

JAMC was good, if surprising to see them now as a super-tight band knocking out one song after another. Really wanted to hear "Sidewalking" though.

Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 12 November 2024 01:38 (two days ago) link

"and we exceeded even that" at the end of that sentence.

Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 12 November 2024 01:40 (two days ago) link


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