The Jesus & Mary Chain's "Automatic": Classic or Dud?

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I'm listening to it right now (the first time after 3 years or so). I think it sucks. Is Psychocandy probably the only J&MC album you can listen to as a normal thinking person?

― Grand (grand), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 17:37 (nineteen years ago)

Darklands has some of their best songs (title track) and is pretty solid overall, but I found Honey's Dead, apart from some great singles (again), really boring.

They needed to stop writing the same song (or even the same vocal hook), but that's a complaint that fans are probably tired of hearing.

― ajlee, Wednesday, 24 May 2006 18:11 (nineteen years ago)

the drum machine killed Automatic...I saw them live on this tour, and the songs were infinitely better with a live drummer...

I think Munki is a great album, right up there with Psychocandy...and Honey's Dead was pretty solid too, a real zeitgeist record...

― hank (hank s), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 18:50 (nineteen years ago)

Honey's Dead >>> Psychocandy.

If Psychocandy was paced differently and three or four songs shorter, could've been their best and one of the best albums of all-time.

Haven't heard Automatic, but the two singles both make my JAMC top five. "Head On" is tied with "Upside Down" for my favorite of theirs.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 18:52 (nineteen years ago)

I do adore "Blues From a Gun" and "Head On."

Their 21 Singles comp is their best album.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 19:01 (nineteen years ago)

As ajlee said, Darklands is certainly worth hearing, unless the distortion is the only thing you liked about Psychocandy.

However, after Psychocandy I'd say that that the Barbed Wire Kisses comp is essential, if only for "Upside Down."

― D. Bachyrycz, Wednesday, 24 May 2006 19:20 (nineteen years ago)

I'm pretty fond of the drum machine on Automatic, actually. This is a band that plays nearly the same song again and again; it kind of fits that aesthetic to have that blank metronomic beat behind them. Some of the songs here ... saying they'd be better with live drums is a bit like saying Love and Rockets' "So Alive" would be better with live drums. (I.e., no, it wouldn't!)

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 19:53 (nineteen years ago)

Psst, it was a drum machine on most of the Darklands songs as well. Automatic has great songs, but it was largely downhill from there (save for "Far Gone and Out" and "Sometimes Always"). Barbed Wire Kisses is also essential.

― i'm from hollywood, Wednesday, 24 May 2006 19:59 (nineteen years ago)

SPEAK UP, SON.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 20:00 (nineteen years ago)

xpost

Love & Rockets' records would have sounded better without any musicians on them.

Automatic is kinda embarrassingly classic.

― Venga (Venga), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 20:06 (nineteen years ago)

Weird timing on this thread, by the way: I heard this album playing in a bar a week or two ago, and was kind of surprised. Especially because my high-school band did this sweet cover of "Between Planets," but I could never find my cassette of the album, so while we did most all of it fine from memory, I had to write a new JAMC-style guitar solo to play (not hard, obviously) -- point being that it was playing in the bar, and it got to the solo on "Between Planets," and I was totally freaked out because the solo seemed wrong, like this was some obscene alternate version I'd never heard before.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 20:10 (nineteen years ago)

Coincidentally, I was listening to "21 Singles" in Virgin today and realised that I song I wrote when I was a teenager (infact, one of the only songs I wrote as a teenager) is actually "Come On." And it's not even a good JAMC song!

"Honey's Dead" is the only one I can listen to all the way through. "21 Singles" should be their "Discography" but I find it a bit empty.

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 20:11 (nineteen years ago)

Ha, wait, now that I think about it, my replacement solo was basically just the solo from "Head On," only crossed a little with the beginning of "Age of Consent!" Still, I maintain our cover was awesome, maybe even better than our cover of the Candyskins' "Wembley."

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 20:17 (nineteen years ago)

Their 21 Singles comp is their best album.

well, yeah. I listened to this in the car yesterday for the first time in ages. Still revelatory.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 20:18 (nineteen years ago)

The DJ never has it, J-A-M-C Automatic.

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 20:47 (nineteen years ago)

Automatic aged poorly, but go beyond just 21 Singles. Most of their album tracks are not throwaway.

Stoned and Dethroned is toned-down, but great. It's even got Shane McGowan on "God Help Me." Darklands, again ... downbeat but pretty solid all the way through. Munki and Honey's Dead heavier and solid also. They are cheap online, but remasters with vids are due soon.

One of my fave EPs of all time is the Rollercoaster EP. Cohen's "Tower of Song"!!! Totally worth your record searching time. In fact, the Sound of Speed compilation has those tracks and many more great b-sides like Heat, Sometimes, and Reverberation. I lost my copy of this tho!

― bkjj40a (bkjj40a), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 20:59 (nineteen years ago)

tower of song isn't that great, it got lots of radio play in detroit at the time, never knew why. i think darklands is my favorite one. automatic is too much one speed, it all blends together and with the exception of 'head on' and 'blues from a gun' none of it is exceptional. psychocandy could have the same said for it but it's consistently thrilling. honey's dead is great too, with the darker edgier stuff happily coexisting with some terrific pop songs. 'catch fire' is fantastic. lost interest when they started dating mazzy star.

― keyth (keyth), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 22:50 (nineteen years ago)

reid and roback, together at last

― electric sound of jim (and why not) (electricsound), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 22:59 (nineteen years ago)

Once you accept that "Automatic" is a balls-out classic rock n roll album and not a proto-shoegaze/"we're trying to destroy rock n roll" album (meh, only about half of "Psychocandy" is any good) then I think it stands out as one of their finest albums. "Between Planets" and "Here Comes Alice" are gorgeous, heartbreaking songs.

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 23:36 (nineteen years ago)

Awww, what's with all the JAMC threads lately? Is it the rerelease season?

I haven't heard this album in years, but I've still got a lot of love for mid period drum machine JAMC. I mean, the singles from this album are killer slabs of dirty pop.

(But then again, I don't think they ever put out a bad album - even Munki grew on me after a while. Like mould. Or William's hair.)

Still don't have 21 Songs - is it worth getting if you've got everything else?

― The Minimal Criminal (kate), Thursday, 25 May 2006 08:22 (nineteen years ago)

I made my own 21 songs CDr a few years before it got issued.

This was when my PC only had a 1/2 gig disk, so I had to do Each Track as an individual burn (i.e. upload track, burn track, delete track) actually all as wav files (before Mp3's were 'invented'...

Naturally, I lost/overscratched it.

Which is something I never do with real/proper cds.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 25 May 2006 08:31 (nineteen years ago)

Not worth getting, Kate, if you've got everything else.

On the other hand, it is a fiver in Fopp.

I haven't got anything else, and I think 21 Singles is too much.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Thursday, 25 May 2006 08:51 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, for a fiver in FOPP, and it being payday, I'll pick it up at lunch. I mean, I've got everything, but most of it's on formats I can no longer play. (lots of vinyl.)

― The Minimal Criminal (kate), Thursday, 25 May 2006 08:55 (nineteen years ago)

I had the Upside Down 12" up till recently. Taped it on Minidisc, naturally.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 25 May 2006 08:57 (nineteen years ago)

I tried to like the JAMC several times and this album was as close as I got - I liked the sleekness of it, it sounds like they'd washed their faces. "Blues From A Gun" is good.

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 25 May 2006 08:57 (nineteen years ago)

it sounds like they'd washed their faces.

Oh no! No, no, no, no NOOOOOOOOOO!!!

― The Minimal Criminal (kate), Thursday, 25 May 2006 08:58 (nineteen years ago)

And combed their hair.

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 25 May 2006 08:59 (nineteen years ago)

Do they count as Dronerock? Obv, if they've washed their faces / combed their hair, they no longer 'dirty'...

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 25 May 2006 09:00 (nineteen years ago)

What am I saying? Never combed their hair! Not William, anyhow.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 25 May 2006 09:00 (nineteen years ago)

I don't see nae brushing going on here:

http://www.rollingstonela.com/anexos/imagen/05/443516.JPG

I mean, maybe sonically they sounded less dirty - they'd stripped away most of the reverb and some of the fuzz. But Automatic was still dronerock, yes.

― The Minimal Criminal (kate), Thursday, 25 May 2006 09:10 (nineteen years ago)

Kate otm, love the way they try to make a sleek Billy Idol robopop and its still sounds scuzzy and chaotic, without the grid keeping them in line it'd just be a mess, in much the same way that ZZ Top kept the bluesy noodling tight on Eliminator or Afterburner.

When the vocals drop out on 'coast to coast' and it cruises off into the night is one of the most thrilling things they did.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Thursday, 25 May 2006 09:12 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, that's it. I like the sort of tension between the sleek, robotic drums and the dirty mess of the guitars. They'd perfected this by Honey's Dead, but that's got a lot of early 90s shoegazer production which - although I obviously love it - was a bit odd. Like "You INVENTED this bandwagon, why are you jumping on it now?" But maybe that was the point.

― The Minimal Criminal (kate), Thursday, 25 May 2006 09:14 (nineteen years ago)

Sorry, I ramble. God, I love this band.

― The Minimal Criminal (kate), Thursday, 25 May 2006 09:14 (nineteen years ago)

OK, maybe they hadn't combed their hair, but it sounds like they'd bought some nice suits.

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 25 May 2006 09:15 (nineteen years ago)

What they had actually bought was a CLICK TRACK.

― The Minimal Criminal (kate), Thursday, 25 May 2006 09:18 (nineteen years ago)

The great JAMC drum-machine track is Kill Surf City, esp. the bit at the end where it sounds as if someone has forgotten to turn it off properly.
Blues from a Gun seemed part of a late 80s T-Rex revival (along wiht Panic, Sheila Take a Bow etc)

― bham (bham), Thursday, 25 May 2006 09:42 (nineteen years ago)

"Sidewalking" even more so.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 25 May 2006 10:41 (nineteen years ago)

i love automatic but i remember wishing they'd put out an lp of gimme hells. i felt cheated that they were heading off to some preposterously filthy loud stoogy place and all you got was that one song. and THAT snub tv appearence. i don't think i could listen to honeys dead now. sickly and slick in all the wrong ways.

― cw (cww), Thursday, 25 May 2006 11:55 (nineteen years ago)

Everyone was heading towards Iggy/Stooge land, but then suddenly "Loaded" and "Screamadelica" happened, then suddenly everyone was all "oh there's always been a dance element to our music"...

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 25 May 2006 11:57 (nineteen years ago)

I've never been that fond of Honey's Dead, the singles are great but the rest just seems a bit mediocre. I like Automatic a lot more. Yeah it's a bit tinny and 80s sounding but the songs are better. I've never been able to get into Head On though cos I heard the Pixies version first and the original sounds weak next to it.

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Thursday, 25 May 2006 11:59 (nineteen years ago)

The DVD portion of 1989's Automatic is comprised of "Her Way Of Praying," "Blues From A Gun" and "Head On."

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 25 May 2006 12:02 (nineteen years ago)

five years pass...

baby
you drive me crazy

― dayo, Friday, 3 June 2011 14:32 (fourteen years ago)

ha – I listened to "Blues From a Gun" on my way to work.

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 3 June 2011 14:47 (fourteen years ago)

DON'T COME AROUND HERE NO MORE

― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Friday, 3 June 2011 14:52 (fourteen years ago)

Fact: That is my favorite Jesus and Mary Chain song.

This week.

― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Friday, 3 June 2011 14:53 (fourteen years ago)

This is supposed to be worse than the first two right

I suppose I must have heard it but I cannae remem

― http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WhiteAmericanFolks.jpg (nakhchivan), Friday, 3 June 2011 14:58 (fourteen years ago)

isn't that Tom Petty?

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 3 June 2011 14:58 (fourteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzuHsu1jQgM

hahahaha really cannot believe how fat william reid has gotten

― dayo, Friday, 3 June 2011 15:00 (fourteen years ago)

that is just... nagl

― dayo, Friday, 3 June 2011 15:01 (fourteen years ago)

It's as good as "Darklands," I think, with the drum machine and jagged guitars giving its this really neat industrial tinge. Good driving album.

Flipside: this album is to the JAMC what "Eliminator" is to ZZ Top.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 3 June 2011 15:01 (fourteen years ago)

lol alfred

― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Friday, 3 June 2011 15:02 (fourteen years ago)

When I first moved to Boston I wound up subletting a room for 3 months from some kid who left behind all of his CDs most of which were shit but he did have this one. I hadn't hear it at that point and so I listened to it one afternoon and it wound up becoming the soundtrack to those three ridiculous months. I totally love it.

― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Friday, 3 June 2011 15:04 (fourteen years ago)

I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE STATE OF MY HAIR

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 3 June 2011 15:06 (fourteen years ago)

"Between Planets" is so ace. The solo is unexpected affecting, kinda like the solo on "The Flowers of Guatemala" in that it's from a band I don't expect to make much of solos. Plus it just makes me feel cool, I don't know how else to put it.

― Euler, Friday, 3 June 2011 20:31 (fourteen years ago)

The above video of fat/old J&MC is really depressing for some reason.

― dlp9001, Friday, 3 June 2011 22:49 (fourteen years ago)

Songs on Automatic are too long, and it's not one of their greats, but the singles are ace. Has anyone given Stoned and Dethroned any love? I prefer the noise, but that was a real nice rekked too.

― broom air, Saturday, 4 June 2011 01:54 (fourteen years ago)

Has anyone given Stoned and Dethroned any love?

Well, I certainly have!

― Mark G, Monday, 6 June 2011 09:29 (fourteen years ago)

^ listened to it this week, great record

― i genuinely thought when i first joined that he was the admin (ilxor), Friday, 10 June 2011 01:39 (fourteen years ago)

get your lips round a cool black pepsi coke

― buhlogna mindstate (Pillbox), Friday, 10 June 2011 01:46 (fourteen years ago)

― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Friday, 10 June 2011 02:30 (fourteen years ago)

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