Our Little Underground: The Jesus and Mary Chain Song by Song

Wow. I haven’t gotten alerts from this thread for days now! Will need to catch up…

 

Yes, we need your thoughts on Zodiac Mindwarp!

 

TWO THUMBS UP!!!

WELL I LOVE TEEVEE AND I LOVE T REX!

 

Not on every song. I don’t think it suits the Marychain all that well, tbh. At the time it wasn’t noticed really as it was everywhere.

 

Coast To Coast

This is my favorite JMC track that wasn’t on a single, and I’ve rewound the cassette or hit the “repeat” button on the CD player countless times while playing Automatic just to hear this again and again. My only regret about this song is that it’s not a couple minutes longer. A paean to the joys of driving fast, and such a quantum leap upward from a similarly minded track like “Rider” it’s hard to believe the earlier song was a Bside just a couple years ago in their timeline. In my mind’s eye, one or both of the JMC brothers are riding on a motorcycle through Monument Valley in the US as I listen to this, but it’s great driving music no matter what your vehicle of choice.

The part with the sound effects and the lyrics “on the road/under a sky/coast to coast” raises the hairs on the back of my neck, but the entire song is a tour de force. Each new section adds a new guitar part and something of interest. There are hooks galore. Previously, the JMC were somewhat minimalist but I’d swear there’s four guitars dubbed together in some areas. If the rest of the album was as good as this it’d be one of the greatest ever.

As far as similarities, I can hear ZZ Top in here for sure, but I also hear something like “Blue Highway” by Billy Idol - another great driving tune. No matter. This is the JMC and the song is all theirs.

 

Is it possible to dislike a band with members named Zodiac Mindwarp, Cobalt Stargazer, Thrash D. Garbage, and Slam Thunderhide?

 

It is not possible at all. Best names EVAR.

 

This is pretty much how I see it. JAMC are picking oddly chosen influence points....Billy Idol after he became watered down, ZZ top after they traded in their AMAZING 70's heavy boogie for 80's sequencer electrobeat. "Coast to Coast" is a good fun surf romp but I guess I'm not seeing the brilliance at all. The drumming on this track is pretty bad, IMO. The guitars save it.

3/5

 

Yes, and much better as a result.

 

I'll second the Honey's Dead recommendation. It was a grower for me.

 

Coast to Coast

This isn't what I came here for. A measly 1 point. Then it all went wonderfully weird for an extra 2 points. 3/5

ZZ Top, Zodiac Mindwarp, Billy Idol? Yeah, but the girl can't help it!

 

I had the Prime Mover single but not the album.

Here Comes Alice saunters in and then Coast to Coast struts to take-off, it’s a good opening combo. 4/5 for both. I hear a bit of ZZ Top, too. They were both on that Elevators tribute, weren’t they? Maybe there’s a distant echo of Tommy Hall’s electric jug in the sequencer burbling away. Also a bit of Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s “Flaunt It” album. I like the self-consciously trashy plasticness of Automatic.

 

"Coast To Coast"

Walkin' with Idol, VU and a few more... but far from the perfect prescription.

2/5

 

Coast To Coast - Excellent track. 5/5

 

This video.

It was on a various dvd that was a pound in Fopp. Playing it at home with the kids, I did wonder if Alice would be a bit scared of all the teddy bears bursting into flames etc, but she loved the whole thing!

This video turned my daughter into a rock chick! She still is! (24, running her band down in Brighton)

 

Ah, yes...what I like to call their 'good' phase!

Not just sequenced beats but sequenced dance moves, too. My favourite may be the bit in the 'Sleeping Bag' video where they do some hand gestures and 'magic' a, yes, sleeping bag into existence. And they do all this whilst the music underneath continues to propel itself along with those electro pulses, with a few pinch harmonics chucked on top in the guitars...

 

'Coast To Coast' - brilliantly mindless rock'n'roll, which I mean as a compliment. It taps into a primal part of the being and won't let go. This isn't the most melodic tune but it doesn't need to be to work in this scenario. Like a cold drink on a hot day, you just want it to keep going... 4.5/5.

 

Coast to Coast: Proper driving song. Takes the motorcycle-based themes we've heard previously and upsells them; I have visions of blowing across desolate sections of Route 66. A late 80s hard-rock sleaze underpins this song, packaged into something more pop and commercial. That goes for much of Automatic, based on my several listens to the album so far. The second half where JAMC drop into a more muscular sound adds variety. 'Coast to Coast' is a fine song.

 

Coast to Coast - 3.5/5

The song is great, the drums are awful, and cost one star. This is by the numbers rock and roll, which is fine, and right up their alley in a way, but it feels too artificial. I guess that's the point, and in a more charitable mood I could thumbs up them, but really, I can't stand that drum sound.

That "under the sky" section is gripping, and is reminding me of how I felt about the album when it came out... Love the songs, just can't hang with the production... and consequently Automatic fell out of rotation at my place soon after release. Kind of a drag.

 

I'm preferring the sound of it now with a lot of distance to what I thought of it in the early 1990's when it seemed horribly dated but was only 4-5 years old.

 

Coast To Coast. This song does very little for me today. Wanted to be kinder so gave it a few plays but it's a 2.5/5.

 

Our votes for Coast to Coast

2 - 1
2.5 - 1
3 - 2
3.5 - 2
4 - 6
4.5 - 3
5 - 2

Avg: 3.82

Automatic Ranked

1. Here Comes Alice 4.08
2. Coast to Coast 3.82

 

Today's song: Blues from a Gun

 

Blues from a Gun

That's how it's done. So much crunchy coolness with one of William's best vocals. This song always gets me hyped. The lyrics works as a series of images rather than any coherent message, and it couldn't work better. One of my favorites.

5/5

 

Blues From A Gun

The first JAMC record I bought. I'd liked their previous hits and thought they were cool but this is really where I came in. It's still one of my favourite singles from them. I love the T. Rex riffing and Jim coming in for the "I guess that's why I've always got the blues' chant is sublime. The lyrics are great too. Pure rock n' roll. From this point they were one of my favourite bands for years. Great stuff. 5/5