Jesus and Mary Chain – Glasgow Eyes – Album Review
by Killian Laher

It feels improbable that the Jesus and Mary Chain are still putting out music, 40 years on from debut single Upside Down.  Yet here were are, with their second album since reforming and eighth overall.  So what’s distinctive about this Jesus and Mary Chain album?  This time around we’re getting lots of tinny synths and William Reid taking vocal duties on a few songs.  The album opens with the lively Venal Joy, which features Jim Reid duetting with Fay Fife of the Rezillos.  It feels reminiscent of old school JAMC, but their late 80s Automatic era.  Tinny keyboards introduce the very chilled-out American Born, a track that still contains the JAMC DNA, of growly guitars and bored vocals, William’s this time.  Mediterranean X Film is equally laidback with William Reid (again) whispering “darkest days”.  JAMC OD doubles down on their aforementioned DNA, with a standard issue JAMC bassline (a good thing) and spiralling keyboards in the background.  There are electronic squelches on Discotheques, with William Reid’s breathy vocals: “19, 19, 1965” and later “discotheques, discotheques, discotheeehhhques”.  Not bad, if a little odd.

The awesome slow grind of Pure Poor has the ‘tude of old, Jim Reid growling “4 billions of years” sounding cool as fuck in the way only he can.  It’s one of the strongest things here, if a little out of place on this album.  After this, the album is a little mixed.  The Eagles and the Beatles has an unimaginative riff that we’ve heard a million times before, combined with screaming sounds and a lyric about “I’ve been rolling with the Stones, Mick and Keith and Brian Jones”.  The riff is recycled later to better effect on Girl 71, with a backing vocal by Rachel Conte and occasional handclaps for good measure.  The perky little beats of Silver Strings are enjoyable, muted moody pop that suits them quite well.  Chemical Animal has the classic ‘boom, boom boom, thwack’ beat popularised by the Ronettes on Be My Baby and so beloved of the Jesus and Mary Chain while Second of June evokes their sun-dappled Stoned and Dethroned period as Jim Reid sings the line “jesus and mary chain”.  The six-minute Hey Lou Reid is new ground for them – a two-part song!  It starts like a standard issue JAMC black hole for the first two minutes before morphing into a very fetching slow crawl.

So it is reminiscent of the Jesus and Mary Chain of old – but it’s their Automatic or Stoned and Dethroned era that springs to mind, so pretty much second-tier Chain.  Still, they’re definitely not ‘phoning it in’ and it’s good to have them at all forty years on.

JAMCOD