The Jesus & Mary Chain
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The Jesus And Mary Chain: Stoned and Dethroned (Blanco y Negro)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 13 August 1994
WHEN YOU ARE the Jesus and Mary Chain and your life is willingly bounded by certain influences – let's rise once more from our orthopaedic ...
Audio interviews
The Jesus & Mary Chain's Jim Reid (1986)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 1986
Jim Reid talks about their live show; guitar noise and pop noise; their treatment in the UK pop press; recording plans, and visiting the USA.
File format: mp3; file size: 23.8mb, interview length: 26' 02" sound quality: ***
The Jesus & Mary Chain's Jim Reid (1986)
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, Spring 1986
Jim Reid talks about his dislike of interviews; wanting to be pop rather than avant garde; making the Mary Chain's first album Psychocandy; taking the sounds to their wildest level; lyrically being both psycho and candy; replacing drummer Bobby Gillespie; Sigue Sigue Sputnik and the state of pop in 1986; a healthy-looking Johnny Thunders; refusing to explain his lyrics; the nature of showbusiness and the riots at their shows; the good and bad of the Velvet Underground; their difficult reputation... and what’s coming up.
File format: mp3; file size: 57.5mb, interview length: 59' 51" sound quality: ***
List of articles in the library
The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Living Room, London
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 8 September 1984
ATTIRED IN the standard tatty black outfits and tatty black haircuts of today's young folk, The Jesus And Mary Chain play their tatty white music ...
Creation Records: Lions In Our Own Garden
Report and Interview by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 3 November 1984
BRUCE DESSAU rustles the roster of London's pop-punk indie, CREATION RECORDS ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Three Johns, Islington, London
Live Review by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 3 November 1984
HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SEING... ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Vile Evil From East Kilbride!
Interview by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 8 December 1984
NEIL TAYLOR suffers a collision with THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN, a smash'n'grab gang from Scotland who're terrifying audiences and dopey record biz types everywhere. ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: ICA, London
Live Review by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 12 January 1985
JESUS SLAVES! ...
The Jesus and Mary Chain: Like A Virgin
Profile and Interview by John Robb, ZigZag, February 1985
GLASGOW 1984 AND punk is dead (At last, positive punk had become a coral reef of untold disaster, sinking outfits such as Silly Death Cult ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Bawl and Chain
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 9 February 1985
THRASH! IS that the sound of the music business frantically searching in the debris of past trends for something new? Or is it The Jesus ...
Jesus & Mary Chain: Chapter, Verse and Worse
Interview by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 16 February 1985
Nine months in the making, the far from immaculately conceived Jesus And Mary Chain, from Glasgow, have alternately been heralded as new messiahs or dismissed ...
The Jesus and Mary Chain: Chapter, Verse And Worse
Profile and Interview by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 16 February 1985
I: BLAST! ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Some People Never Understand
Interview by Max Bell, No. 1, 9 March 1985
"The most revolting and disgusting group I've ever heard" — that's one description of The Jesus And Mary Chain. Some jealous rival maybe? Nope — ...
Interview by Chris Heath, Smash Hits, 14 March 1985
They're all either 19 or 20 years old. They smash equipment on stage. They wear obscene t-shirts. They play chaotic pop tunes and they want ...
Report by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 16 March 1985
Neil Taylor witnesses yet more violence at a Jesus And Mary Chain concert. ...
The Jesus and Mary Chain: Jesus Wept
Profile and Interview by Max Bell, The Face, June 1985
ACCORDING TO MR Geoff Travis, chief of staff at the born again, doubly hip Rough Trade records (purveyors of high class pop to the gentry), ...
The Jesus And Mary Chain: Unchained Melody
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 14 September 1985
Fourth single and an LP coming up? Surely THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN aren't becoming veterans? DON WATSON chronicles the rise of the best bit ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Psychocandy (Blanco Y Negro BYN7 pre-release tape)*****
Review by Jack Barron, Sounds, 2 November 1985
CHRIST! THE crucifixion of preconceptions on the Calvary of pop. ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Sweet Chain
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 2 November 1985
The brothers Reid unveil the long-anticipated JESUS AND MARY CHAIN album Psychocandy and explain their philosophy of life and leather to CHRIS ROBERTS. ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Psychocandy (Warners)
Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 23 November 1985
THE NEGATIVE VIBES ...
The Jesus and Mary Chain: Have they got a prayer?
Interview by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 13 March 1986
THE GAUNT, black-leather-clad members of the Jesus and Mary Chain are perched about the dressing room of the I Beam in San Francisco like four ...
The Jesus And Mary Chain: The Ritz, New York NY
Live Review by Jeff Tamarkin, Billboard, 5 April 1986
LlKE MANY previous "Next Big Things," The Jesus And Mary Chain is actually a mixture of next big things which came before. The Scottish quartet ...
The Jesus And Mary Chain: Psychocandy (Reprise 25383-1, Distributed by Warner Bros.)
Review by RJ Smith, High Fidelity, May 1986
Silly Love Songs ...
The Jesus and Mary Chain: Paint It Black
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 5 July 1986
"IT IS A bit of rock'n'roll cliche. I like it, but you are open to a slagging." ...
Interview by Chris Heath, Smash Hits, 16 July 1986
• Loathe Radio 1 • Can't stand A-ha • Hate badly-arranged hotel towels • Don't believe in happiness • Think their records are "wonderful"... Two spotty ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Blasphemy of Stardom
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 21 July 1986
Mark Cooper reports on the brothers from East Kilbride they banned on Radio 1 ...
The Jesus And Mary Chain: National Ballroom, Kilburn, London
Live Review by James Brown, Sounds, 3 January 1987
HEEEEEEY! MONDAY, The Jesus And Mary Chain take the stage, grey skeletons of their former selves. Five nervous under-rehearsed men with an expectant audience ahead ...
The Jesus And Mary Chain: The Glummest Group In The World
Interview by William Shaw, Smash Hits, 22 April 1987
The Jesus And Mary Chain hate travelling, hate Ferry Aid, hate Curiosity Killed The Cat, hate being pop stars, hate just about everything actually... "Grumpy ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: An April Shower
Interview by Robin Gibson, Sounds, 2 May 1987
Absent from view for almost a year, THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN are now back with a new single 'April Skies' which is likely their most commercial song ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Rock City, Nottingham
Live Review by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, 19 September 1987
ONCE IN a while, a band produce a performance that glows with pop's heady desire, thrills to the core and makes you reconsider all your ...
The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Motorcycle Boy: Rock City, Nottingham
Live Review by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 19 September 1987
KICKSTART ME, JESUS ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Ah, Showbusiness...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Q, October 1987
...the roar of the crowd, the smell of the greasepaint, the reverberating thud of boot through amplifer. Live sets lasting nine whole minutes. A riot ...
The Jesus and Mary Chain: Darklands (Warner Bros.)
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 3 December 1987
IN ITS own way the Jesus and Mary Chain's second album is just as audacious as the band's controversial debut, Psychocandy. On the first album ...
The Jesus And Mary Chain: In Never-never Pop Land.
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 1988
In their promo videos the Jesus and Mary Chain aim to be as disorientating to the eye as they are to the ear. Look again ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Darklands (Warner Brothers)
Review by Richard Riegel, Creem, February 1988
IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS... ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Darklands Visible
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, March 1988
1. I Fall To Pieces. ...
Jesus & Mary Chain: Barrowlands Ballroom, Glasgow
Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 7 May 1988
APOCALYPSE NOW! ...
The Jesus And Mary Chain: Brixton Academy
Live Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 24 December 1988
FOR TOO LONG, this was the doldrums, the Reid brothers meandering through the dry ice as if it were a miserable February fog in Brechin. ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Automatic (Blanco y Negro)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 14 October 1989
"Don't let your life be the butt of the joke/Get your lips round a pure black Pepsi Coke" – 'Here Comes Alice' ...
The Jesus and Mary Chain: Automatic
Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 12 November 1989
THE BROTHERS REID have made an art form of abrasiveness: a first album that dragged you through thickets of distortion to reach the sweetness at ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Importance Of Being Angry
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 8 September 1990
Five years ago The Jesus And Mary Chain were the best pop band in the world, but with little mainstream media attention they've been overtaken ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Honey's Dead (blanco y negro)
Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 21 March 1992
WOULD WE have thought, seven long years ago, when news of The Jesus And Mary Chain swept the land like an ugly rumour, that we'd ...
The Jesus and Mary Chain: A Spectacle Of Eclectic Rock
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 29 March 1992
For a while it looked like The Jesus and Mary Chain had slipped into the ‘where are they now? file. "We’re lazy bastards," says William ...
Rollercoaster: Will and Jim's Excellent Misadventure
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 4 April 1992
The Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr, Blur: Glasgow SECC ...
Alan Moulder: Alan Be Praised!
Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 18 April 1992
As the man behind Curve, Ride, the Valentines, JAMC and more, producer ALAN MOULDER doesn't seem to be able to put a button-pushing finger wrong. ...
Manual Overdrive: The Jesus And Mary Chain: Honey's Dead (blanco y negro BYNLP 26)
Review by Keith Cameron, Vox, May 1992
SINCE THEIR last album, 1989's impressive but thinly spread Automatic, a host of fledgling noise outfits have weighed in with claims for the Mary Chain's ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Honey's Dead (Def American)
Review by Richard C. Walls, Musician, May 1992
EVER SINCE the J & M brothers — Jim Reid, vocals; William Reid, guitar — shaded down the obliterating blasts of white noise which made ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Honey's Dead (Def American) ***½
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 14 May 1992
AN APPETITE for self-destruction, any psych major can tell you, is a cry for attention. So when Jim Reid of the Jesus and Mary Chain ...
Lollapalooza 2: One Nation Under a Groove
Report by Andrew Mueller, Melody Maker, 15 August 1992
It's Glastonbury on wheels, a mobile Reading, the lovechild and legacy of ex-Jane's Addiction frontman and all-round chap, Perry Farrell. It's LOLLAPALOOZA, in its second ...
Creation Records: Creative Accounting
Interview by Max Bell, Vox, April 1994
Primal Scream, Jesus And Mary Chain, Boo Radleys... Creation has nurtured a family of provocative rock rebels. Alan McGee looks back on the first ten ...
Jesus and Mary Chain: Sporran Co-Despondents
Profile and Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 24 September 1994
After ten years on the road, the Jesus and Mary Chain find themselves in pretty much the same place they've been for years: on licensed ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain/Mazzy Star: The Academy, New York City
Live Review by Eric Weisbard, Spin, January 1995
TWO BANDS, and for the whole evening not one word was exchanged between performers and audience; the spotlight never shined in the musicians' eyes. Wouldn't ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Chain Reaction
Interview by Andrew Mueller, Melody Maker, 17 June 1995
"I MUST REMEMBER," says Jim Reid, "never to come here again." ...
Alan McGee: The father of Creation
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 5 July 1997
Hedonism was a way of life for Alan McGee. And who would expect anything less from the man behind Oasis? But the road to pop-tycoon ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Water Rat, London
Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 28 March 1998
THERE HAVE always been four steadfast rules regarding the Jesus And Mary Chain live experience. They don't talk, they never smile, they'd rather die than ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Water Rat, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 28 March 1998
THREE YEARS AWAY from the fray, denied the Mercury Prize, shunted off their major label deal and back in the bosom of Creation, can the ...
The Jesus And Mary Chain: Snaps Crack-Ups and Strop!
Interview by Robin Bresnark, Melody Maker, 4 April 1998
To find out if THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN are really "cracking up", we meet them in a pub with three photos from the past ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Welcome to the Resurrection
Interview by Stephen Dalton, Uncut, June 1998
The most fearsomely iconoclastic anti-rock band since The Sex Pistols are back with a blistering new album. Stephen Dalton meets THE JESUS ANF MARY CHAIN ...
The Dawn of Creation (and the middle and the end)
Report by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 11 December 1999
SO THE party's over. Alan McGee has picked up his ball and moved on, to pastures new — multimedia and, no doubt, highly lucrative. Although ...
The Jesus and Mary Chain: Crash And Burn
Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, August 2000
FEBRUARY 2000. Seventeen months after the corpse of The Jesus And Mary Chain finally stopped twitching. In the claustrophobic interior of London's 12-Bar Club, a ...
Various Artists: Creation Records - International Guardians Of Rock'n'roll 1983-1999
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, December 2000
Best of the late, legendary indie label ...
The Jesus And Mary Chain: Black Eyes, White Noise
Retrospective and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, October 2006
Born of new town alienation, sibling rivalry, and teen dreams of the ultimate band, the Jesus And Mary Chain cut through the glossy flab of ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Upside Down – The Best Of The Jesus & Mary Chain
Review by Wyndham Wallace, bbc.co.uk, 27 September 2010
TO DECLARE, as this CD's artwork does, that East Kilbride's Jesus & Mary Chain are "arguably the last great British rock'n'roll band" is almost as ...
Brown Acid Black Leather: The Story of The Jesus And Mary Chain's Psychocandy
Retrospective and Interview by Julian Marszalek, The Quietus, 8 November 2011
Jim Reid and Douglas Hart give Julian Marszalek the low down on the making of one of the best rock albums of the 1980s, Psychocandy. ...
The Jesus and Mary Chain on Psychocandy: "It was a little miracle"
Retrospective and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 26 October 2014
How did two dreamy, painfully shy brothers from suburban Scotland create one of the most remarkable albums of the '80s? As the Reids prepare to ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Irina Shtreis, Rock's Backpages, 26 November 2021
THE PATH from the platform of Chalk Farm tube station to the Roundhouse inevitably summons the lyrics from'Hardest Walk': "The hardest walk you could ever ...
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