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About a decade after its release, William Reid of the Mary Chain described Psychocandy as "one of the greatest records ever made". The remark is indicative of a) William Reid's chronic immodesty where his band are concerned and b) the unarguable truth. Every indie guitar group since that has tried to either lend portent to a sweet melody by drenching it in feedback or render a messy guitar wipe-out palatable by stringing a semblance of a tune through it--and that's all of them--got the idea from Psychocandy. Given that it has been reinvented, borrowed from and downright burgled continuously since its release, it is further testament to Psychocandy that it still sounds so fresh in its own right. William and Jim Reid displayed from the off an innate understanding of how best to balance their acute melodic sense with the racket that emerged from their guitar amplifiers. "Some Candy Talking" and "Just Like Honey" are just two of the tracks which, it seems reasonable to believe, would have drawn applause from both Brian Wilson and John Cage. --Andrew Mueller
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CD
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
OK, you will of heard that this album is many things; grating, noisy, simple, beautiful whatever. One thing that you have to remember is that when it was released it took apart the music scene at the time. Emerging out of the dross that was electro-pop, thumbing a nose at the pretty boys of DD and Wham etc, this album (and subsequent live shows) defined a whole era of alternative music to follow ( MBV, Pixies et al) that is now going through a re-surgence. The basis of all the songs are simple 12 bar, but it is the imagination of the Reid Brothers to craft something unique at the time that is the genius of this recor. To the generation that heard Psychocandy for the first time, it had the same impact as Nirvana's Nevermind a decade later. Buy it, play it and remind yourself that British Indie music has everything to thank this album for.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
bought this album on day of release in 1985 as a 14 year old just gettin over being into queen and wham.heard never understand and thought what the hell have i been missing .totally changed my listening habits forever.no record before(and none since)has affected me so dramatically.every song on this album is a classic pop song,some are hidden behind layers of feedback ,others such as just like honey,and taste of cindy are perfect pop tunes.it influenced so many bands since from the brilliant(my bloody valentine)to the awful(black rebel motorcycle club).i stopped listening to this album about 15 years ago cos i had played it almost every day for 5 years.listened to it again last week for 1st time since,still had that same adrenalin rush like when i was a (very)spotty teen.the main point of this review though is ,at the end of the 80s nme did a poll to find the best and most influential album of the decade and psychocandy won ,yet when there is a reader/viewer top 100 poll psychocandy doesnt make the list,how can an album as great as this be so totally overlooked.its as tuneful as the stone roses,and as influential as ok computer ,which seem to dominate the lists now.people should go and listen to this album and give the jesus and mary chain the credit they deserve
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The first few times you listen to Psychocandy, virtually all you hear are shards of feedback, Jim Reid's monotone mumbling and the echoey thud of Bobby Gillespie's drum. Nothing wrong if you like that kind of thing, but the more you listen, the more you become aware that every song has a tune buried beneath the wall of white noise. Noise-for-noise's-sake is one thing, but using it to cunningly disguise the fact that you are, in essence, a pop band was, and still is, something else entirely.
There has never been an LP quite like Psychocandy. It still sounds as scary now as it did back then. It remains totally unique; oft imitated, but never bettered.
There has never been an LP quite like Psychocandy. It still sounds as scary now as it did back then. It remains totally unique; oft imitated, but never bettered.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By R. Nathan
Format:Audio CD
Let's put this in perspective. In 1985, the charts were encrusted with soulless, cynical commercialism (sound familiar?)and yet within the potent 'little underground' rock's consistent capacity for rebirth produced at least three of the greatest records of the decade - The Smiths 'Meat Is Murder', New Order's 'Lowlife' and this - certainly a candidate for the top 10 greatest debut albums. Like any perfect debut it draws the listener into a consistent, exhilirating new world that encapsulates a style, a sound and an attitude (black, black and er...black), in short, it blows you away.
The influences may now seem well worn - the quintessential cool of the Velvet Underground, the three chord simplicity and inventiveness of punk and the early 60's beat groups (The Strokes, anyone?), but the combination with elements of Spector's 'wall of sound' and the genius stroke of immersing elegantly constructed gems in shards of feedback was a revelation.
So, let's put this in perspective, back in 1985, I was 16 years old and this record (amongst those others mentioned above) dominated and drenched my life, so much so that I've been unable to return to it until now. I still marvel at the songwriting and amidst any of today's offerings, it more than hold's it's ground. In amongst The White Stripes, Eminem and Gareth Gates, I wonder how it sounds to 16 year old ears today? But this now, buy a guitar and be in black.
The influences may now seem well worn - the quintessential cool of the Velvet Underground, the three chord simplicity and inventiveness of punk and the early 60's beat groups (The Strokes, anyone?), but the combination with elements of Spector's 'wall of sound' and the genius stroke of immersing elegantly constructed gems in shards of feedback was a revelation.
So, let's put this in perspective, back in 1985, I was 16 years old and this record (amongst those others mentioned above) dominated and drenched my life, so much so that I've been unable to return to it until now. I still marvel at the songwriting and amidst any of today's offerings, it more than hold's it's ground. In amongst The White Stripes, Eminem and Gareth Gates, I wonder how it sounds to 16 year old ears today? But this now, buy a guitar and be in black.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By Rob Monster
Format:Audio CD
In 1985 the Reid Brothers emerged after years plotting away in their bedroom exactly how their band would look and sound. They wanted to take the 80's music scene on and destroy it with noise. They took every rock cliché - the shades, the leather, the attitudes and songs about motorbikes - and then blasted it back into relevance with the then radical notion of covering pop tunes with a hideous noise racket. Nowadays Psychocandy sounds conventional such is it's greatness.
The Jesus and Mary Chain took a lot of their blueprints from the Velvet Underground. They used the same simple drumbeats, the feedback and dark lyrics. Behind all the noise and feedback of every song on this album there lies a cracking simple pop tune worthy of the greatest 60's girl vocal group. This album is full of great moments, from the fuzzy melody of the opener Just Like Honey to the way Jim Reid could sing "She takes me back again, and I see something" and somehow make it rhyme. Every single track on this album is a classic, and this is the only album I've owned that I've never skipped a track on it. There is not one dull moment.
One small complaint I have is the presence of Some Candy Talking on this reissue. Some Candy Talking is a fantastic song but I don't really think it belongs here on Psychocandy, poping up halfway through as it does. Some Candy Talking was released as a single between Psychocandy and Darklands and it is much closer in tone to Darklands than Psychocandy. It doesn't fit on this album and it sticks out as a different style. It would have fitted much better on the Darklands reissue, or better still on Barbed Wire Kisses. The song interrupts the flow of the original album. I guess I'm just too used to the original tracklist and I'm nitpicking.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent!
Excellent. Highly recommended . The Cd is in a very good state. It arrived in the previous time. Good bye and Hello
Published 2 months ago by kaiser
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best pop record of the 80s
There are insufficient superlatives available to express my deep love for this record. It is quite possibly the very best debut, the coolest LP, the most fully realized vision,... Read more
Published 3 months ago by K. K. Jakubczyk
5.0 out of 5 stars
An 80's masterpiece.
Along with The Smiths these guys are crowned as the savers of 'guitar music' of the 80's. Now everyone rants and raves about The Jesus & Mary Chain but most don't go further than... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Jack WMS
3.0 out of 5 stars
Heard it all before.
To read the reviews here, you'd think the JAMC invented this style, "without them you wouldn't have the pixies etc;"
Maybe not, but without songs like "Sister Ray" + European... Read more
Maybe not, but without songs like "Sister Ray" + European... Read more
Published on 6 May 2011 by The Loner
4.0 out of 5 stars
A must-have album! But not perfect...
This album is a must have for any fan of indie rock, Brit Rock in the past 30 years.
Also worth mentioning, over a quarter of a century since it began and a decade after... Read more
Also worth mentioning, over a quarter of a century since it began and a decade after... Read more
Published on 14 April 2011 by scott w
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply FANTASTIC
Psychocandy paved the way towards shoegaze, by infusing dream-pop (already established way back in the 60's with songs such as "Sunday Morning" by The Velvet Underground) with lots... Read more
Published on 16 Feb 2011 by P. Frizelle
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gruff Rhys Says
In a recent edition of retro music magazine Mojo Super Furry Animals Gruff Rhys was asked, if push comes to shove, what is your all-time favourite album? Read more
Published on 8 Oct 2010 by S. Bailey
3.0 out of 5 stars
Over-rated slice of British psychedelia
Jesus And Marychain coined 'feedback-pop' which was a variation on the psychedelic revival of the 1980s. Read more
Published on 5 Sep 2010 by Daniel Margrain
5.0 out of 5 stars
Still room in the Stable
A whole plethora of experimentation went wild on the skin, shredded noise from six metal strings and crooned, screamed, dipped and soared in the 80's, a time of unremmitting... Read more
Published on 14 Aug 2010 by Dr. Delvis Memphistopheles
5.0 out of 5 stars
A TRUE CLASSIC!!!! NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAY!!!
Some reviewers might not get this album and think, what's all the hype about!?.....it's overrated!!!
If you were not in your teens while this album came out... Read more
If you were not in your teens while this album came out... Read more
Published on 8 Aug 2007 by Faridon Telefoni
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