I played this album to death in the past, not so much
recently. It is fantastic to be reminded that this short and sweet album actually
consists of 14 tracks. From a band that grew a reputation for violence,
drunkenness, short sets and no encores, there is an abundance of great pop
built around minimal major chord arrangements; not really what you’d expect from
ill-disciplined doom merchants. The thrill of the up tempo delights of songs
like In a Hole, in which one is caught up instantly in the onslaught of whirling
feedback, just as important as any of
the actual notes, contrasts sublimely with the gentler and more subtle aspects
of songs like Just Like Honey and Sowing Seeds.
Jim Reid explained at the beginning what they would be
performing: a limited set, followed by a short break, and then returning to the
stage to perform Psychocandy in its entirety. And that’s exactly what we got.
We were treated to some old favourites, and the pedant in me was pleased to
hear Some Candy Talking, quite rightly not included in the main set, and of
course Upside Down, this for me is the song that would have been least out of
place on that first album. The short break was barely a couple of minutes, and
then we were straight into the main event. With barely a let up from one song
to the next, I suppose the experience was a bit like putting on the record, but
when I listened to my cassette I was never literally moved in the way I was
when the band let rip on Never Understand. The venue shook to the more powerful
numbers, and an appreciative audience were willingly taken on what for many,
looking at the apparent average age, must have been a nostalgic as well as
immediate musical journey.
I remember being disappointed on the Darklands tour at the
foyer notices telling fans that the Jesus and Mary Chain did not do encores.
This gig did not have the sense of occasion that came with the Roller Coaster
tour. Yet Psychocandy is such a wonderful collection of songs, done in a way
that was new and exciting then, and has not really been matched for innovation
and quality since, that a concert based around it cannot really go wrong. I do
not think that a lot of bands would dare to end a set with a song like It’s So
Hard, it does not really fit into the category of crowd pleaser or chart
topper, yet in this context there is not really a choice as it is the last song
on the album. Psychocandy, like all good albums, is not
just a collection of good tracks, it is a listening experience, and performed
so well by a band that are clearly still able to deliver, it makes for
certainly one of the best gigs that I have been to. Younger bands are probably
not thinking about longevity and reunion tours as they write their material,
but to come back after 30 years and perform something that remains as truly
wonderful as when it was first released will surely not happen too often.
Perhaps the Reid brothers did get a bit lucky with the way things came about,
but I was one of a grateful multitude then, and I was one of many again as I
left the Brighton Dome. No, they did not do an encore, and this time I did not
care.
