From the same Glasgow that seven years earlier gave the artistic birth to Simple Minds, come the Jesus and Mary Chain, born in 1984 and lived on the artistic and non-artistic vicissitudes of the rough brothers William and Jim Reid (guitarist and singer). This year, therefore, the Scottish band celebrates 40 years of career and does so by also taking new songs extrapolated from their latest work “Glasgow Eyes” around Europe. They will play at the Medimex in Taranto on Sunday 23 June before Pulp.
Like Pulp, originally from Sheffield, an industrial city, and belonging to the English middle class, Jesus were born in a working-class suburb of Glasgow and in their compositions they often talk about frustration, alienation and anger, typical of those who have had to sweat their living in life. The Reid brothers represent a bit of what later became the Gallaghers (Liam and Noel) with Oasis in Manchester in the 90s from the point of view of the personal relationships between them. Often prone to quarrelsomeness but able to create a particular alchemy on stage much appreciated by lovers of dark-tinged rock, the Jesus and Mary Chain offer a sound characterized by distorted guitars but also drum machines, always however sweetened by the melody of the compositions. Unstable and exciting, this is how most British music critics defined them.
The first lineup included a name known to indie-rock fans, Bobby Gillespie who later became leader of Primal Scream.
Their discography is rather limited, eight official albums, also because in these 40 years of career there is a gap in time due to the dissolution which ran from 1999 to 2007.“Psycochandy’, their debut album, is considered by music critics to be one of the best of the ’80s. THE JMC are considered the best band capable of reproducing the influences of the Velvet Underground, one of the most important groups in the history of rock.
After four decades, the Scottish band remains one of the pillars of British alternative sound, always in balance between melodic ability and noise explosions. Their latest work, the aforementioned ‘Glasgow Eyes’, has obtained good reviews throughout Europe and recalls the sounds of their debut, full of distorted sounds but also with inserts of electronic elements with more or less explicit tributes to the history of contemporary rock , first of all Lou Reed from his period with the Velvet Underground.
Presented as a celebration of 40 years of career, in reality their live show is to all intents and purposes the promotional tour of ‘Glasgow Eyes’ (the most featured album in the lineup), even if in a retrospective key there is no shortage of their most successful pieces such as In a Hole (1985), Just like Honey (1985), Some Candy Talking (1986), Happy When It Rain (1987 ), Darklands (1987) , Head On (1989). On stage the two Reid brothers still demonstrate their ability. Lots of substance and few frills as demonstrated in the last Italian appearance at the ‘Fabrique’ in Milan last April 17th.
