6th April, 1998


Slim pickings this week. Wasn't he a blues guitarist?

Single of the Week

"Cracking Up" by Jesus And Mary Chain



Any record that begins with the noise of the amps being turned on has to be good (it's in the law). "Cracking Up", after this auspicious start, continues in a similar fashion with a crashing and underproduced slice of dark-hearted rock and roll that only the Reid brothers know how to write. "You say I'm a freak, I am a freak" drawls Jim in his best cannae-be-arsed post-bottle of Jack Daniels fashion. Hanging off a bassline that escaped intact from Psychocandy-era Mary Chain, "Cracking Up" is in a way a return to the band's roots, with its rawness adding to the feeling of the last gang in town mentality. Which, in a town with few heroes left to speak of, is exactly what the Mary Chain are.

"Hide Myself" is the kind of blues-tinged gentle ballad that the group specialised in around the time of "Darklands". Soundtrack to some fictional hybrid of dustblown mid-America and scheme-ridden urbanity, this sort of thing is the perfect flipside to the narcotic anarchy of the a-side. "Rocket", written by bass player Ben Lurie, is another brooder, similar in style to "April Skies" or "Happy When It Rains". Starting soft and low, it explodes in a kinetic flash of energy, like Rocket From The Crypt would be if they'd grown up in East Kilbride too. Last up is "Commercial", another Psychocandy-inspired frayed drone, but with the wonderfully subtle lyric refrain of "McDonald's is shit" (allegedly). Guess Ronald won't be dancing around to this one then.

A return to form to rank alongside Echo And The Bunnymen's, the Mary Chain's reappearance should manage to reach out to a whole new generation of chemical youth (even though they're old enough to be your parents now). Drugs, guns, sex and slagging off burger joints. That's what rock n roll's all about.

Rating: 10/10

The Rest

"78 Stone Wobble" by Gomez

What are the chances of that? Another record that starts with the sound of the amps being switched on. This could be a case for Mulder And Scully. Anyway, what do you get when you cross Black Grape and Radiohead? Well, Blackheads notwithstanding, the answer to that approximates the original sonic mishmash that is "78 Stone Wobble". A swaggering little urchin of a song dressed up in shimmering swathes of guitar, alternating vocals between megaphone bravado and sweet innocence, it has enough originality to stand out on its own, instead of drowning in the swirling sea of its contrary influences.

The perennial question "Who's Gonna Go The Bar" appears next, sounding terrifyingly like Stevie Winwood jamming with ultra-stoned members of Happy Mondays. If you ignore the vocals, this is a trippy drippy bit of guitar funk, but the AOR-ish histrionics spoil it. "Steve McCroski" brings up the rear, a dirty half-alive thing, like the zombie version of Shaun Ryder listening to Portishead on his walkman whilst looking at you with a decidely unattractive leer. Which makes it pretty good, really.

Rating: 7/10

"Invisible Balloon" by Midget

This starts off promisingly, sounding for all the world like the theme tune to Super Mario Brothers. Then, things go a bit mental and we have a meeting of EMF, The Monkees, The Ramones and Symposium (hurrah), which although spirited, manages to avoid extracting the best bits from each of the aforementioned groups (admittedly they'd have a hard job with Symposium). Instead, it comes across as punk for little kids, the sort of group that like to think they could feature in a cartoon series when in fact they're more likely to have their records given away free in cartons of cereal.

"Prince Valium" (how we laughed) is next, a 100mph pointless joyride where the singer sounds as though he needs to clear his sinuses. Bouncier than a spacehopper, but not nearly as much fun (and spacehoppers are crap). "Kevin's Girl" wants to be The Undertones, and is actually the best song on this single, but still the singer sounds as though he should be in the school choir instead of a punk pop band. Spoils it a bit, really - like Aled Jones fronting The Clash.

Rating: 4/10

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