Honey Coated Beehive...

From the age of about ten onwards music became a huge part of my life after hearing bands like The Specials, Blondie, The Jam and Adam And The Ants for the first time. At eleven I was wearing a pork pie hat, skinny tie, sta press trousers, Harrington jacket and sporting a rather fetching crew cut. By twelve I was going to a local under 18's disco with a white stripe across the bridge of my nose and wearing the Adam Ant gold and black jacket that he famously wore. How I didn't get a kicking walking down the streets of Lanarkshire I will never know !!

For the next two or three years I would have been listening to great bands like Dexys, Style Council, EATB, The Smiths, until life changed musically late '84, when one winter night listening to the great man himself between ten and midnight, at fifteen years old, I heard for the first time the glorious noisefest that was "Upside Down". Much as I still love all the other bands mentioned here I was just at the right age and in the right place for The Mary Chain. Being from the same town just seemed to cement the thought that this was the band for me. Suddenly I found new friends at school who were also talking about The Mary Chain and as we entered '85 with the prospect of an album we had our own wee gang where we shared our love of all the early Creation bands and the twee, shambling bands that were emerging from Glasgow at the time.

Fast forward to the fag end of '85 and fourteen tracks of sugar coated noise appeared in the shape of the unique and classic "Psychocandy". The influence that this album had on us spotty, angst ridden sixteen year old boys cannot be overstated. Even today it's influence can be heard on any number of bands, perfect pop songs drenched in feedback that although hugely influenced by the likes of the Velvets, Iggy, Spector, Beach Boys, stood out massively from all the dross that was clogging up the charts in the mid 80's. The feedback never overwhelms the pop tunes under it, it seems somehow to complement the melodies that the Reid brothers put together so beautifully. At the time the music was sometimes overshadowed by the "riots" at their legendary live shows but there is no getting away from the fact that The Jesus and Mary chain recorded an album of perfect pop songs that still sounds fresh today and would be in my Top 10 albums of all time. It would be almost impossible for me to single out individual tracks from "Psychocandy" but outside of the singles my favourite track on the album would have to be the majestic "The Hardest Walk".

No idea what it will be like but can't wait until November to see them perform the album in it's entirety, over 27 years since I first saw them live.

Fingers crossed that this and the other nine postings over the next few weeks will complement the Top Ten rundown posted recently by George and the forthcoming rundown by Charity Chic and hopefully by Walter.

The Hardest Walk

Nine Million Rainy Days....

With Bobby Gillespie gone and replaced by an unobtrusive drum machine, The Mary Chain turned down the noise for the follow up to their seminal debut and worked on developing the back-to-basics pop songs that were always underneath. Shorn of their trademark feedback, the melodies are what really shine through on the songs on Darklands. Thought of by some as William's masterpiece Darklands was proof positive that when it comes to delivering a brooding, classic rock n roll album they were second to none.

This track was on Darklands but this version was released on a free 7" given away with Sounds and recorded live in '87 in Detroit.

JAMC - Nine Million Rainy Days (Live In Detroit)

Coulda Been A Contender....

I had not watched any of the Best Scottish Album shows on STV that have been on for the last 4 weeks but decided to watch the grand finale last night. As I had not seen the show I had no idea what would make it onto the album that would comprise the most voted for tracks and, to be honest, it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. The album would contain three tracks from the 70's/80's/90's and noughties to make a 12 track album. I'm not for a second saying that I would have picked any of the tracks on the final list for my own 12 track album to sum up the best that Scotland has had to offer musically over the last 40 years or so but there's no denying that Sunshine On Leith is a great track and it was also nice to see Mike Scott and Franz Ferdinand in there. Was quite amusing right enough to hear one of the panelists talking about how original Franz Ferdinand were. Obviously he had never listened to The Fire Engines or the bulk of the output of Postcard Records.

Anyway here's a couple of tracks that I would like to have seen included....

JAMC - Upside Down
Orange Juice - Falling and Laughing

Year Of The Roses....

All the stuff in the news over the last few about The Stone Roses cast my mind back to '89 with the release of their eponymous debut release and to what a great year it was for music.

I was having a look at the NME's Top 50 albums of the year last night and thinking back to the sounds that shaped my early days working in record stores. Notwithstanding Madchester's finest you also had the Daisy Age sounds of De La Soul, Lou Reed's best album for years, the masterpiece that is Doolittle and the heady mix of classic pop songs and guitar laden, dance tracks that constitute Technique. There is an element here of rose tinted glasses but there's no denying the amount of quality albums in '89.

1989 also saw the release of the most under rated JAMC album. Automatic was a touch rougher and more aggressive-sounding than Darklands and the mountains of screeching feedback from Psychocandy had been largely subdued but this isn't necessarily a bad thing, making the album as a whole more accessible than its predecessors. For me the album's not quite as strong as their first two albums, although it does contain some classic Mary Chain tracks such as Head On and Coast To Coast, but still deserves it's place as one of the best albums from a very strong year for album releases.

I didn't try and get tickets the other day for The Stones Roses and haven't really came to a decision as to whether I will if they announce any dates in Scotland. I was fortunate enough to see them at Glasgow Green and although it was certainly not the best gig I have been to the memory of the occasion is still highly vivid and I may prefer to keep it that way.

JAMC - Coast To Coast