THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN

The cult of alternative rock makes for uncertain terrain with the supposed innovations pioneered by some bands ridiculed as nothing more than party tricks or not-so-clever novelties. The naysayers come down from their mountain tops to point out that a band like Sonic Youth have continually covered up their minimal songwriting and musical ability through pointless feedback jams that the slack-jawed hipsters lap up too enthralled by the lure of the cool to notice their mistake. It is obviously difficult to discern who is the real Zarathustra and who just belongs to the mindless herd with a variety of targets dressed down, often with conflicting results. I can safely say, though, that never have I heard an album so lavishly praised for what clearly seems to be simply a case of terrible production. The Jesus and Mary Chain's Reid brothers are clearly good songwriters and therefore I have no problem highlighting the great quantity of stripped-down rock'n'roll songs with surprisingly appealing vocal melodies. Quite why the band then felt the need to record said songs with a ludicrously unprofessional production job (by Flood and Alan Moulder, who went on to far better things, particularly with the Smashing Pumpkins) is beyond me. It actually sounds like a mastering fault, with the rhythm section horribly trebly and thus tinny, and the dishwater fuzz of the guitars sounding like the sort of noise that usually indicates that a lead has not been properly connected somewhere. The band were no doubt keen to emulate the chainsaw buzz of early punk records but it is an infinitely thinner sound than the classic Ramones albums. If the misplaced praise that is heaped upon this supposed seminal album is yet another case of the Emperor's new clothes it isn't so much that he isn't wearing anything than he has picked up a mismatching suit in a hurry on the way out. Up, then, goes the critical hype as I so perceptively burst yet another artificially inflated bubble. But no! Despite the pretty shitty production what lies beneath is actually a set of reasonably impressive rock songs. Like many of their eighties contemporaries, they set no store by unnecessarily long arrangements and therefore even the best songs (the brightly melodic "Taste of Cindy") slip by in under two or three minutes. The influence of punk is clear, with the likes of "The Living End" and "In a Hole" attempting to make the most of the chainsaw guitars with a vicious alacrity. The Reid brothers' vocals are far from characterful but work well with their poppy melodies with the climatic "The Hardest Walk" being one of the best numbers, and the famous ballads "Just Like Honey" and "Some Candy Talking" equally as successful. Rather surprisingly, as well as the punk influence the band show a clear love of simple sixties pop music, with "Never Understand" even coming close to sounding like a cover of an early Beach Boys song, albeit contorted by the deliberately grating production. The sound of the album is certainly unique and whilst you wonder whether the album would have garnered so much attention without it it is hard to really see how it actually improves it. Thankfully, you can never go far wrong with good songwriting and one of the most surprising things about this album is that it should rely so much on appealing pop melodies. Supermen or not, I'm sure that is one thing everyone can agree with.

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Email me at: jackfeeny@yahoo.co.uk