Day 0601 - Darklands

The Jesus and Mary Chain "Darklands" (1987)

With "Darklands" J&MC move from a fuzzed-out 'shoegazer' sound, to something that almost sounds like "upbeat Joy Division".  Their drummer had left to become the lead singer of Primal Scream, so the band opted to replace him with a drum machine.  As a result of this, and I guess their general songwriting style, their songs have zero groove.  It's not necessarily a bad thing, it just means that their songs drift along like a dreamy wave heading serenely for shore, rather than like choppy surf.

I feel as though their previous album "Psychocandy" was the one that the band is better known for.  But I prefer the rolling, pulsing drone pop of "Darklands" over the fuzzy cloud of "Psychocandy".  I listened to this one 2 or 3 times and would happily spin it again.

Day 0572 - The Colour of Spring

Talk Talk "The Colour of the Spring"

 
Talk Talk, one of the earlier bands to employ the new sound of synthesizers is here, one of the first bands to abandon them.  The synths are ousted for pianos, organs and interesting guitar textures, and the results are brilliant!

There is some competent pop-rock in the shape of "Life's What You Make it" and "Happiness is Easy" which has a moody trumpet solo and a child choir to lift it above standard fare.  There are some moodier tracks like "Chameleon Day", where Mark Hollis' haunting tenor backed with a semi-classical backdrop of piano and keyboards almost predicts the moodier moments of A Perfect Circle.