THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
21 Singles (1984-1998) (Rhino)
Reviewed by Holly Day

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Gosh, I was so excited to get this in the mail, because I used to love Jesus & Mary Chain's Psychocandy and couldn't remember if I'd liked any of their other music, since I hadn't really listened to them since I was 15. And now I know why. While Psychocandy was an amazing collection of songs that featured intense, heavy feedback, a beautifully cheesy drum machine, and just heart-wrenching, dead-to-the-world lyrics, pretty much everything the band released after that album was self-indulgent pap that was much too cleanly produced to hold their previous fans' (my) attention, or sound anything at all like their stunning first two albums (Barbed Wire Kisses and Psychocandy). It's so weird. Some bands just shouldn't be given a budget to work with. They sound much better when they're too poor to afford decent equipment.

© 2002 - Holly Day