Damage And Joy

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Throughout their original six-album run, it was simply accepted that The Jesus and Mary Chain’s lyrical obsession with sex, death, and God was underpinned by a steady stream of intoxicants. This was, after all, a band that named its own studio The Drugstore. Booze and drugs are also present on the JAMC’s seventh album—their first after an 18-year studio absence. Only now, inebriation is seen through the lens of hedonistic elder statesmen who strive for—though may not maintain—sobriety. Lines like “It’s wine today but piss tomorrow/I don’t know, I guess that we’re all through” from the album opener “Amputation” hits different when the singer is pushing 60. Although, technically, Jim Reid first released the song (then titled “Dead End Kids”) as a 2006 solo single when he was a wee 44. “Amputation” isn’t the only song here revived from an earlier decade. “All Things Pass” was originally released in 2008 as “All Things Must Pass,” the JAMC’s comeback song on the <i>Heroes</i> soundtrack. This time, it was brother William’s turn to wrestle with abstinence, penning the line “Each drug I take/Is gonna be my last/I hope I don’t fry/I hope I don’t die.” It could have been an eye-roller—aging rockstars romanticizing their days of youthful consumption. But the Reids’ songcraft has always been good enough to earn even the most hackneyed lyrics a pass. In the case of “All Things Pass,” it’s the clever A-B-B-B/A-B-C-C rhyme scheme that is irresistible, even if it means forgiving them for rhyming “last” with “pass.” On paper, the lyrics look even lazier on “The Two of Us,” with verses that go “...me/...maybe/...free/…me,” then later, “...me/…me/…free/…me,” but the childish simplicity works. There’s also the chorus, “The two of us are getting high/We don’t need drugs ’cause we know how to fly,” which fits in nicely with the album’s themes of temperance. Finally, in keeping with the album’s discombobulated assemblage, “The Two of Us” actually dates back to 2002 when it was released by Jim Reid’s post-JAMC band Freeheat as a duet with band member Romi Mori (previously of later-day Gun Club). The song was rerecorded for <i>Damage and Joy</i>’s 2017 release with Isobell Campbell replacing Mori. Then, following a live TV performance of the song with Sky Ferreira, the group decided to re-rerecord “The Two of Us” and release the Ferreira version as a digital-only single. Henceforth, all subsequent releases of <i>Damage and Joy</i> include both takes. If all of this rehashing sounds like a recipe for a disjointed mess, what holds <i>Damage and Joy</i> together is the same thing that has always saved the Reid brothers from potential disaster: The fact that no matter how they dress up their music, the singular style that is The Jesus and Mary Chain manages to shine through.

via Apple Music