Apocalypse

Apocalypse

Monday, November 15, 2010

Quarter Century Review: Psychocandy

The Jesus And Mary Chain
Psychocandy
Blanco y Negro
Produced by The Jesus And Mary Chain

What to say about this? Loud, cacophonous, poppy, shoegazey, lovely. There are few albums off the top of my head that are this drenched in distortion and feedback while being this breathtakingly beautiful. This is widely accepted as the first album in the rock subgenre of shoegaze and definitely one of the greatest.

Psychocandy, with its huge wall of sound and mumbled vocals, is an album that is enjoyable in spite of itself. Upon listening, you try to decipher lyrics or if there even are any words but the feedback keeps you just out of earshot. It is as if the lyrics contain the answers to life's great mysteries but the guitar's first line of defense disorients you and the monotonous beats are further pummeling your senses into submission. These secrets belong to the brothers Reid and they are not for you to know. It doesn't stop us from searching, though, does it?

Overall Grade=9.0