Heavy Rotation: Week Ending December 4, 2009

01. The Jesus & Mary Chain – Stoned & Dethroned, (American Recordings.1994)
02. Future of the Left – Travels With Myself And Another, (4AD.2009)
03. The Clientele – Bonfires On the Health, (Merge.2009)
04. The Raveonettes – In And Out of Control, (Vice.2009)
05. “Ghost Town” by The Specials, (2 Tone/Chrysalis.1981)
06. Annie – Don't Stop, (Smalltown Supersound.2009)
07. “What Matters More” by Derek Webb, (INO Records.2009)
08. Various – Indie Dance Party USA, (personal mix.2009)
09. Blue Trapeze – Sanctuary, (Fullspead.1985)
10. The Strange Boys – The Strange Boys And Girls Club, (In The Red.2009)

I thought it was stupid and ridiculous when Depeche Mode wore cowboy hats in the “Personal Jesus” video (c'mon). So when I opened the newly released CD (Stoned & Dethroned) by my all-time Top 5 favorite band (yes, The Jesus & Mary Chain) and saw the photographs of Jim Reid wearing a cowboy hat, concern engulfed the small-warm-spot deep in my cold black heart. The mid-tempo alt-pop with prominent acoustic guitar on the opening track “Dirty Water” … shrouded me in unbelief. What the hell was this?

Soon after I saw the video for “Sometimes Always”. There I saw it again: Jim Reid in a cowboy hat (the video stills comprised the photos in the CD booklet). He looked so out of place – that hat sitting precariously on his bushy-teased-up-hair and wiry frame – like a Scottish rock star playing American cowboy cool. Fail. I didn't care how fucking ridiculously great “Sometimes Always” was, I didn't care how damn hot Hope Sandoval sounded and looked in the video, the acoustic guitars and that damn hat was too much. I said “Fuck this record.” And I didn't touch it for many, many years.

It's amazing what some maturity does to the youth of indie-music-snobbery. This week I listened to Stoned & Dethroned every single day, at least once per day (one day three times), and guilt saturated my being. How could I be such a snot to The Jesus & Mary Chain? That wasn't nice. I should not have been shocked by the musical direction taken, “Drop” from 1987's Automatic would've fit perfectly here. The record is chock full of incredible guitar licks and has some of the band's greatest songs ever written, in addition to the aforementioned “Sometimes Always” check out: the Velvets-esque “Come On” and “Save Me” (a wonderful sublime world weary, half-ass, piss drunk gospel cry to God sung by The Pogues' Shane MacGowan), bouncy indie pop on “Between Us”, “She”, and “Girlfriend”, and the slimy/smarmy “Hole” (which recalls “Teenage Lust” from Honey's Dead). We've got seventeen songs here and it doesn't feel like overkill. How could I have been so quick to dismiss this LP? I was so dumb back then.

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