The second album released by Scottish indie legends,
The Jesus and Mary Chain. Released in 1987, it is has a noticeable change in style from their debut,
Psychocandy. The
white noise and
feedback that characterised
Psychocandy is absent, and the vocals are high enough up in the mix so you can hear the lyrics. Instead this is a classic guitar pop record, featuring tunes that would have made
Brian Wilson proud. As usual with the
Mary Chain, all the songs are written by brothers
William Reid and
Jim Reid. After
Bobby Gillespie was making a name for himself with
Primal Scream, the drumming duties where handed over to
John Moore, who would later be part of
Black Box Recorder and one of the UK's foremost importers of
absinth.
Darklands has a far gloomier feel than Psychocandy, and casts an atmosphere of unsettling nihilistic despair in the rain. The imagery is dark and claustrophobic as demonstrated by lyrics such as "making love on the edge of a knife", which replace the joyous candy, sugar and honey motifs so prevalent on Psychocandy. If you are a fan of any post-punk new wave bands from Britain than this record should prove to be a valuable addition to your collection
Track listing follows
- Darklands
- Deep One Perfect Morning
- Happy When It Rains
- Down On Me
- Nine Million Rainy Days
- April Skies
- Fall
- Cherry Came Too
- On The Wall
- About You
As you can see from above
Darklands is also the first track on the album of the same name.
The song was written by
Jim Reid and
William Reid, and is sung by
William Reid.
Here are the lyrics;
I'm going to the darklands
To talk in rhyme
With my chaotic soul
As sure as life means nothing
And all things end in nothing
And heaven I think
Is too close to hell
I want to move I want to go
I want to go
Oh something won't let me
Go to the place
Where the darklands are
And I awake from dreams
To a scary world of screams
And heaven I think
Is too close to Hell
I want to move I want to go
I want to go
Take me to the dark
Oh god I get down on my knees
And I feel like I could die
By the river of disease
And I feel that I'm dying
And I'm dying
I'm down on my knees
Oh I'm down
I want to go I want to stay
I want to stay