Automatic

by

The Jesus and Mary Chain

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"Automatic" is my least favorite JMC album, which, perhaps, is a testament to my opinion of the band, because I think it's quite a bit of fun. I just think most of the songs sound quite similar, and, besides occasionally wonderful electric guitar work, consist of "paint-by-numbers" type instrumentation. Basically, the Reid brothers are taking fifties and sixties type melodies, and dressing them in new wave attire. At times, Jim Reid sounds like a poor man's Billy Idol, who probably could have sung these songs better. The Stone Roses and Raveonettes, to name two bands, had better results with the same concept.

I do especially like two songs on the album: "Her Way Of Praying" (which I believe is the first time that JMC referred to one of the individuals from which they derive their name), and "Head On." If you don't feel like listening to the entire album, these two songs will give you the gist of it.

Fortunately, the band's next album, "Honey's Dead," would be much better, and is still my favorite JMC album.