Album Reviews
The Power of Negative Thinking: B-Sides and Rarities
2008
Listening to The Jesus and Mary Chain often feels like watching a sleek train careen off the tracks and crash into a power plant. As their shiny Beach Boys melodies collided with reverb-drenched feedback, the band's early albums laid the groundwork for the noisy but delicate dream pop of acts from My Bloody Valentine to the Verve. Disc One of this set finds brothers William and Jim Reid developing their sound on obscure singles, B sides and previously unreleased tracks: The 1983 demo "Up Too High," for instance, sounds like a Morrissey-fronted version of Joy Division. Elsewhere, 11 covers reveal the band's sense of humor: There's a childlike delivery of "My Girl"; a dirty, Scottish good-ol'-boy take on "Guitar Man" that'd make Elvis blanch; and a hilariously earsplitting sendup of Prince's "Alphabet City." Four discs of this kind of horseplay might be too much for casual fans, but feedback freaks will savor the nuclear noise pop.
(Posted: Oct 2, 2008)
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