Similar Albums:
- Artist: The Jesus and Mary Chain
- Rating:
- Release Date: 1992 03
- Total Time: 42:22
- Genre: Rock
Review
Again working with Alan Moulder but now also using a live drummer on most tracks -- namely Monti from Curve, one of the Mary Chain's many descendants -- the Reids came back strong with Honey's Dead, on balance a more consistent and satisfying record than Automatic. There's a sense of greater creativity with the arrangements, while the balance between blasting static rampage and precise, almost clinical delivery is the finest yet, making the album as a whole the best straight-through listen since Psychocandy. Monti's drumming finally replaces Bobby Gillespie's properly; he's a much more talented musician than the Primal Scream overlord, using the warped funk hits familiar from Curve's work to the Mary Chain's advantage. Even the drum machine-driven cuts work better than before, especially the brilliant, coruscating opener, "Reverence." Burning with some of the best nails-on-chalkboard feedback the band had yet recorded, combined with a whipsmart sharp breakbeat, all it took was the finishing touch of Jim Reid's sneering lines like "I wanna die like Jesus Christ" to make it another stone-cold classic single from the band. Other winners include "Sugar Ray," with beats and melody so immediate and addictive the track was actually used for a beer commercial, of all things, and the steady slap and crunch of "Good for My Soul." If there's a danger in Honey's Dead, it's that the near bottomless pit of reworked melodies and lyrics had almost reached its end -- even the final track, "Frequency," combines both "Reverence" itself with the Modern Lovers' "Roadrunner" -- which made the stylistic shift on Stoned & Dethroned a logical follow-up. William and Jim Reid split all the vocals almost evenly, the former especially shining on the nearly gentle "Almost Gold," the closest the record comes to a sweet ballad. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music GuideTracks
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Reverence | The Jesus and Mary Chain | (3:40) | |
| Teenage Lust | The Jesus and Mary Chain | (3:06) | |
| Far Gone and Out | The Jesus and Mary Chain | (2:51) | |
| Almost Gold | The Jesus and Mary Chain | (3:19) | |
| Sugar Ray | The Jesus and Mary Chain | (4:41) | |
| Tumbledown | The Jesus and Mary Chain | (4:10) | |
| Catchfire | The Jesus and Mary Chain | (4:47) | |
| Good for My Soul | The Jesus and Mary Chain | (3:05) | |
| Rollercoaster | The Jesus and Mary Chain | (3:46) | |
| I Can't Get Enough | The Jesus and Mary Chain | (2:56) | |
| Sundown | The Jesus and Mary Chain | (4:59) | |
| Frequency | The Jesus and Mary Chain | (1:19) |
